Chapter 669 Learning from the Past: "Gentlemen," Ban Qingwen said with a smile, "since everyone has different opinions on the film's portrayal, why don't we step outside the film and take a look?"
A culture is a reflection of the politics and economy of a society, and in turn influences and affects the politics and economy of that society. There is no art in this world that exists independently of politics and economics, and film is no exception.
Although some artists like to tout the artistry, purity, fairness, and neutrality of major film festivals around the world, in reality, no film festival or award, large or small, dares to claim that it is completely free from political interference.
As Asia's premier film award, the Screen World Film Festival is naturally closely linked to politics. When the nominees are of similar caliber, the political and contemporary relevance of the characters becomes the decisive factor.
This is what Ban Qingwen meant by "stepping outside the movie and looking at it from a different perspective".
Since the judges feel that Ye Chu and Yang Huanyi's performances are equally good and that no one can argue about who is better, why not look elsewhere?
Park Se-jin glanced at her, a strange look on his face. As a renowned South Korean director, he certainly knew what Ban Qingwen meant. The Chinese were political experts, a fact known worldwide. But what was the connection between Ye Chu's character, Zhao Lele, and contemporary social issues?
If it's an LGBT issue, Lin Fengyu and Zhao Lele are both gay, so identity politics won't work. If it's a matter of nationality and culture, Yang Huanyi and Ye Chu are both Chinese, so there's not much to discuss.
Where else can Ban Qingwen put it?
"Off-screen?" Another judge seemed even more confused than Park Se-jin. "In that case, please tell us about it."
Ban Qingwen nodded, then suddenly turned to another female judge in the room and said, "Speaking of which, I haven't been able to congratulate you in person yet. The court has finally ruled that the abortion law is unconstitutional."
Before he could finish speaking, Park Se-jin's expression changed drastically!
What Ban Qingwen was talking about was a hidden pain in South Korea.
It is common knowledge that abortion is illegal in many Western countries. However, few people know that South Korea criminalized abortion as early as the last century when it enacted legislation. Pregnant women who perform abortions themselves can be sentenced to up to one year in prison, and doctors who assist in abortions can be sentenced to up to two years in prison.
For more than 60 years, South Korean women have lived in the shadow of this law.
As we entered the second decade of the 21st century, with economic development, the rise of women's consciousness, and the popularization of emerging online media, opposition to this regulation gradually grew.
Around 2010, a midwife was sentenced for assisting a pregnant woman with an abortion and filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court of South Korea challenging the constitutionality of abortion laws, but lost. This incident triggered a huge social backlash.
Women's groups took to the streets to publicly express their demand that "abortion is not a crime"; the medical community also stood up to protest, arguing that it was a medical procedure, not a crime. However, conservative forces in South Korea were still very strong at the time, and this spark was quickly extinguished.
Abortion is undoubtedly a crime against women. Because it is illegal, many South Korean women are forced to secretly seek out unlicensed clinics or use unregulated medications to induce labor or terminate abortions. This causes immense harm to their bodies and often poses a life-threatening risk. Due to the abortion law, over 500,000 South Korean women underwent illegal abortions in 2016 alone.
In 2017, more than 200,000 South Koreans petitioned on the Blue House website to abolish the abortion law, forcing the government to respond to the people's voices and claim that it would respond as soon as possible.
Then, between 2017 and 2018, South Korean women continued to stand up and protest. Dressed in black, they took to the streets and held up whiteboards displaying the numbers "2, 6, 9," signifying their resistance against Article 269 of the Criminal Code, the crime of abortion.
Countless ordinary women, including students, office workers, stay-at-home mothers, mothers, daughters, doctors, and nurses, joined the march and protest, chanting slogans such as "My body belongs to me" and "Legalize abortion."
Under the combined influence of large-scale protests, immense public opinion, and protests from doctors' associations, the Constitutional Court of South Korea finally ruled this year that abortion laws are unconstitutional!
Of course, this is a long and arduous road. Although abortion has been ruled unconstitutional, subsequent legislation has not yet followed. Women are demanding the complete abortion law be abolished, while South Korea's large religious groups insist on protecting the right to life of unborn children; the struggle between these parties continues…
Ban Qingwen was referring to this very matter.
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