Effect of Movie on Racism 2

This is another movie that I would like to talk about. The movie is called 역도산 and it's a Korean film that was opened in 2004. This film is about a Korean man trying to succeed in Japan as he tries Sumo, a traditional Japanese wrestling. The film is based on an actual man named 김신락 who had to suffer discrimination from the Japanese, but later became very popular in Japan. However, even today, not many Japanese know where he was borned or where he was from. The Japenese media at that time made him as a Japanese person after he became so popular. The reason that I want to talk about this film is because of the way it shows how racism affects a person. As the movie would later depict, 김신락 becomes very selfish and ego-centric after he gets fame in Japan. As I saw this film, I wondered what made him so selfish and what changed him, was it the fame or the money? However, I came to the conclusion that it is actually racism that changed him. Since young, 김신락 had to suffer racism from other Japanese and at a young age, realized that there was no one to support him except for himself. Discrimination made 김신락 to toughen up and taught him the way to survive in a hostile environment. After he gets fame, 김신락 tries to retain these fame and popularity and desperately tries not to lose it. Later in age, he begins to suspect every Japanese that they are all trying to steal his place. Therefore, discrimination made 김신락 into a tough man, but ironically, made him to a selfish, cold person because he had no one to trust except himself.
The movie is unlike other movie that depicts racism. Other movies depict racism on how it becomes a barrier in a minority's life. However, this movie focuses on how racism affect a person's personality and its inner self.

Chun Han