Conventions in How Korean Films Mean
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Loli Kim
Abstract
The concept of ‘conventions’ in how meaning is made has become an implicit part of a dogma that surrounds South Korean films (K-film) popularized through the Korean Wave. However, the nature and content of any conventions discussed is only addressed vaguely and mostly in terms of narrative rather than film form. It also lacks much of the theoretical background and appropriate terminology needed to situate conventionalized usages within other relevant fields of film and communication research (e.g., multimodal film analysis, semiotics, semantics, pragmatics). In this chapter, we present a pilot study whose aim is to evaluate whether ‘Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structures’ (SFDRS) - a formally specified notion of film discourse - can help to identify conventions in meaning-making processes in K-films in a reliable fashion. This framework has not previously been employed for analyzing conventions, although it has been suggested. We focus our analysis specifically on the ‘final goodbye between parent/guardian and child’ event, extracted from films selected for their similar narrative and production criteria. By transferring film extracts to SFDRS and comparing the resulting representations across films, it was possible to identify certain reoccurring patterns in their configurations.We suggest that these stand as good candidates for conventions among these films. Further, patterns were found strictly within the boundary lines of meaning types at every level of discourse, supporting the validity of the patterns found being conventions in types of meaning and suggesting that these conventions may well be found in similar events in further films. Thus, the results of this study demonstrate that conventions benefit from more empirically-supported testing, and that SFDRS is a means of doing so.
Abstract
The concept of ‘conventions’ in how meaning is made has become an implicit part of a dogma that surrounds South Korean films (K-film) popularized through the Korean Wave. However, the nature and content of any conventions discussed is only addressed vaguely and mostly in terms of narrative rather than film form. It also lacks much of the theoretical background and appropriate terminology needed to situate conventionalized usages within other relevant fields of film and communication research (e.g., multimodal film analysis, semiotics, semantics, pragmatics). In this chapter, we present a pilot study whose aim is to evaluate whether ‘Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structures’ (SFDRS) - a formally specified notion of film discourse - can help to identify conventions in meaning-making processes in K-films in a reliable fashion. This framework has not previously been employed for analyzing conventions, although it has been suggested. We focus our analysis specifically on the ‘final goodbye between parent/guardian and child’ event, extracted from films selected for their similar narrative and production criteria. By transferring film extracts to SFDRS and comparing the resulting representations across films, it was possible to identify certain reoccurring patterns in their configurations.We suggest that these stand as good candidates for conventions among these films. Further, patterns were found strictly within the boundary lines of meaning types at every level of discourse, supporting the validity of the patterns found being conventions in types of meaning and suggesting that these conventions may well be found in similar events in further films. Thus, the results of this study demonstrate that conventions benefit from more empirically-supported testing, and that SFDRS is a means of doing so.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface and Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
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Part I: Introduction
- Empirical Multimodality Research: The State of Play 1
-
Part II: Charting Paths for Empirical Research: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections
- Dimensions of Materiality 35
- From Data to Patterns 65
- Thinking in Action 91
- Computational Approaches for the Interpretation of Image-Text Relations 109
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Part III: Empirical Inroads: Case Studies and Results
- “I can’t see why you’re laughing”: Multimodal Analysis of Emotionalized Political Debate 141
- A Corpus-Based Approach to Color, Shape, and Typography in Logos 159
- Pixel Surgery and the Doctored Image 187
- Multimodal Discourse Analysis Based on the GeM Model 211
- Conventions in How Korean Films Mean 237
- An Empirical Multimodal Approach to Open-World Video Games 259
- List of Contributors 281
- Index 285
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface and Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
-
Part I: Introduction
- Empirical Multimodality Research: The State of Play 1
-
Part II: Charting Paths for Empirical Research: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections
- Dimensions of Materiality 35
- From Data to Patterns 65
- Thinking in Action 91
- Computational Approaches for the Interpretation of Image-Text Relations 109
-
Part III: Empirical Inroads: Case Studies and Results
- “I can’t see why you’re laughing”: Multimodal Analysis of Emotionalized Political Debate 141
- A Corpus-Based Approach to Color, Shape, and Typography in Logos 159
- Pixel Surgery and the Doctored Image 187
- Multimodal Discourse Analysis Based on the GeM Model 211
- Conventions in How Korean Films Mean 237
- An Empirical Multimodal Approach to Open-World Video Games 259
- List of Contributors 281
- Index 285
