Symbolizing the Bow and Arrow in Contemporary Films: A Comparative Analysis of Hollywood and Korean Cinema

• In Event: Local and Regional Information, Infrastructure, Ideologies, and Ideas

Abstract

This paper textually analyzes two films in order to find distinctive characteristics of Western movies and non-Western movies that use the same tools, here the bow and arrow. Since the textual analysis becomes very important to understand how media texts might be used in order to make sense of the world we live in—meaning it is significant to contextualize it within our life and/or society, as Mckee (2001) point out, it investigates the ways in which the major themes developed in these two movies have developed and what their representations are. Given that ‘Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon’ was embedded in Buddhism as its major philosophical background, it especially analyzes the ways in which this Buddhist religious thought-driven local popular culture has utilized hybridity to make the unique conciliate between local forces and global forces to develop the third space. This eventually leads us to determine the major characteristics of hybrid Korean cinema and the possibility of the creation of local films developed by local forces and ideologies.

Author

• Dal Yong Jin, Simon Fraser U