우리의향기

In Contemporary Korean Cinema, Hyangjin Lee writes “in North Korea, like other many socialist countries, [film] is conceived primarily as an instrument for socialisation and effective political propaganda of the masses.” Our Fragrance is of no exception made to be a seed, to implant the idea of “nationalism protection”.

“Modelling” is throughout the entire film. Both families are models, one is positive and the other negative. The grandfather’s family function as good citizens, a model that every North Korean family should mimic. All the Confucian traditions are promoted, such as strict greeting rules, eat in separating tables, never shake hands with the elders. The grandmother’s family represents those who, under globalization, are curious about exotic culture and think that foreign products are more precious. The comparison of these two families dominates. One of the representative scene is that when the actress wears Korean traditional dress, the grandfather thinks she is pretty, while when she wears a common westernized dress instead, the grandfather does not think she is the same girl. With the progression of the movie, the grandma’s family learned to be proud of Korean history and culture from the grandpa’s family.

How the grandma’s family changed in Our Fragrance is how the government want viewers who are affected by westernized culture act—to protect traditional culture, to pursue traditional value, and ultimately to not change. That is to say, when North Koreans are forced to watch the movie, they are actually in a broader form of education—an education not only for students in school, not only for members in Party, but for all citizens in the society. As a “compulsory” task, it is a way for the government to present what a qualified citizen should be like. Although the nation is excluded, or to clarify, it chooses to exclude any other countries in the world, citizens still cannot be excluded from the trend in globalization. Especially because of the fall of communism worldwide, the public start to doubt the correctness of socialism. The Party wants all the citizens to be always on the Party’s track that Socialism, Korean Workers Party, and the Kim regime, cannot be threatened. Besides, Our Fragrance was created approximately ten years after Kim Il Sung’s death, however, Kim Il Sung is still frequently mentioned in the film because of Kim Jong Il’s supervision as a tool to gain public support.