TOTALITARIAN HOBBIES - NICE NEW RATTLE

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Back to Home Written on 29-Dec-2008 by patencia

"Prevention and more prevention. Let’s fully establish a veterinary system for the prevention of epidemics!”

The attraction dictators feel towards cinema is not news. We all know about Hitler's fascination with filmaker Leni Riefenstahl's work, which he generously sponsored. Similarly, the real identity of the scriptwriter of the Spanish fascist film Raza is no longer a mistery; it is well known that the so called Jaime de Andrade was really El Generalisimo, Francisco Franco. But what is probably unknown to many is that North Korean totalitarian leader Kim Jong Il is actually a Film Theorist, or at least, he has written a treatise on The Art of Cinema.

I haven't read it, so I can't tell you what his views are. Yet, I think I can perfectly imagine part of its content, especially after having a look at the excerpt amazon provides:

“The cinema is now one of the main objects on which efforts should be concentrated in order to conduct the revolution in art and literature. The cinema occupies an important place in the overall development of art and literature. As such it is a powerful ideological weapon for the revolution and construction. Therefore, concentrating efforts on the cinema, making breakthroughs and following up success in all areas of art and literature is the basic principle that we must adhere to in revolutionizing art and literature.”

If any of you want to read it, the book is translated in English; I will be delighted to hear your comments on it.

The cool illustration above is another example of North Korean political propaganda, and probably yet another proof that the bad guys also have good taste.

*UPDATE (31/12): For more excerpts of Kim Jong Il's book, check this site. I ctrl+C one of my favorites:

"No revolutionary actor has ever actually been a Japanese policeman or capitalist... To effectively embody the hateful enemy, the actor requires an ardent love of his class and a burning hostility towards the enemy."

It seems Aristotle's Poetics has not yet reached North Korea.

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Tags: film,books,kim jong il

Comments

written on 29-Dec-2008

cuaimon says:

Bad guys with a taste for nurses? You are talking about Kim Jong Bill, right?
written on 29-Dec-2008

CannaPrincess says:

Ahhhh...it was only a matter of time before the Koreans jumped on the "Cinema as a weapon of war" bandwagon anyway. After all, how could they fail to notice how well this particular strategy is working here in America? I am sure it did not escape them that one of the best ways to brainwash the general public is with loud moving pictures aimed at a particular target audience. We have been producing movies to manipulate the emotions of Americans since The Wizard of Oz. This is nothing new, only the hands that have grabbed hold of this weapon.
written on 30-Dec-2008

cristian.saracco says:

Cinema as well as new media is of high interest for people who want to understand (and manipulate?) our minds... E.g.: the ones who are right now seated on Paul Casimir Marcinkus' chair also have cinema as a target... And they are also writing books
written on 30-Dec-2008

patencia says:

No surprise, yeah, Koreans are following the "yellow" path ; Bill, in turn, walked that path already, as Shaolin in Kung Fu. As for Paul Casimir et al... mmm... well we're pretty much used to the "cuentos chinos del Vaticano".

(forgive me for this out-of-topic-comment... again, the inscrutable mental paths!)
written on 31-Dec-2008

patencia says:

Coming a little more on-topic: No doubt, films as literature and other arts can be used (and are 'de facto' used) as efficatious ideology vehicles. However, sometimes the actual message of a film is completely misinterpreted or its power to "brainwash" on certain topics overrated. Take for example FBI's interpretation of "It's a wonderful life" as a communist propaganda film: http://www.wisebread.com/fbi-considered-its-a ... ganda

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