Why Jo-Pok (Korean Gang) Movie?

For a long time in Korea, Korean movies retained a lead in the race against Hollywood movies. There are several conspicuous contributors to this trend: the screen quarter policy, systematic advertisement plan, and the themes which appeal to Korean emotion. In particular, ‘Jo-Pok (Korean gang)’ movie is doubtless the major genre that attracted a lot of Korean people. Korean people love Jo-Pok movies, especially they like the humorous aspects of Korean gangs in the movies. Obviously, Jo-pok movies are one of the representative beloved Korean action movies.

However, we should not forget the possible negative effects from predominant Jo-Pok movies in Korean society. First of all, most Jo-Pok movies tend to infuse a misconception into people. In other words, by embellishing and glorifying gangs’ life, these movies may mislead people to think that gangs are just our friendly neighbors and in some extreme cases, our heroes. When it comes down to juveniles, the problem gets even worse. This is because young boys are usually affected much more seriously than adults, because they are in the formative period of characteristics.

Second, a predilection for Jo-Pok movies hinders the development of Korean movie industry. For example, it impedes the diversity of themes; movie producers are constantly making gang movies only because it guarantees higher probability of success. Moreover, this theme can only appeal to Korean people, because people from outer world may not be able to understand the movie without the Korean emotional context. Therefore, these kinds of movies are not competitive in the global movie market.