1961 Seoul, South Korea 3

Yang Sun Lee

Born in 1940

Seoul, South Korea

Interviewed on February 7, 2023

by Josie Jahng

(Translated from Korean)

The first movie I remember seeing was an American film…I think it was called Roman Holiday. A lot of the movies that were played were imports from other countries, especially the United States. I must have been about 19 or 20 years old, in my senior year in high school or at the beginning of college, so this was probably in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Back then, you couldn’t go see a movie unless you were around that age because minors were not allowed to go to the theaters. South Korea was a conservative military country, and we were still coming out of the wartime era. If you got caught then you might get in trouble and suspended, so many of my younger friends would have to sneak into the theaters and be careful during the screenings. There was even a strict curfew at night that applied to the whole city, adults included, so you couldn’t stay out too late either.

I didn’t grow up frequently watching TV or films like you did. No one really had televisions, as South Korea was still quite a poor country, especially after the war. There were very few movie theaters as well. I believe I watched Roman Holiday at 단성사 (Danseongsa), which was the first movie theater that was ever built in Korea. It was considered a cool place that everyone wanted to go to, especially young teens and young adults like my friends and me. If I remember correctly, it was located pretty centrally in the city — I want to say it was somewhere in the Myeongdong neighborhood. Back then there was only one screen in the theater, although since then I am sure it has been renovated to maintain several different screens and movies at once.

I remember that going to the theater was considered a really, really big deal. Back then, going to see a movie was like going into New York City to see a Broadway show nowadays. We didn’t go very often, and in this case I think we went as a family as a special occasion to celebrate my birthday. I remember looking forward to the outing for weeks. I have seven siblings and I remember being so excited to go see the movie that anything annoying that one of my siblings may have done completely faded away. When the time came, we all eagerly piled onto the bus to get to the theater since it was across the city and not in walking distance. Back then, you would have to take a bus or a taxi, as there was no subway or railway system like they have now in Seoul.

There was no concession stand or snacks or anything, and as I mentioned earlier there was only one screen in the theater. So we got on line, bought our tickets, and then raced over to the theater. There were no ushers either, so it was a bit difficult to find our seats due to how dark it was in the theater. But wow, I can really remember the anticipation and excitement when the movie started to play…I’m pretty sure my heart was racing like the speed of light!

Hmm what do I remember from the movie? I thought that it was so refreshing to see the Western style of life — from the way they dress to the way they talk and act, it was so different from our lives [in South Korea]. I really liked the main actress Audrey Hepburn. She was so pretty! Although seeing a young woman being so adventurous and traveling alone was a complete shock. A woman traveling alone was unheard at the time, not to mention the fact that she was traveling in foreign countries too. I would have been so scared to travel like that by myself. Well, my parents probably wouldn’t even allow it in the first place. Also, traveling in general was sort of a foreign concept in Korea. There weren’t really planes, so people did not go out of the country. People also couldn’t afford to go out of the country for holiday because plane tickets were so expensive, and the whole country was so poor. 

I also remember being very surprised — and a little uncomfortable — by the romance and the way that the characters would so publicly express their feelings in the film. Since we had the curfew, socialization, dating, any fun nightlife that you experienced when you were in Seoul last year, etc. were very curtailed since no one was supposed to be outside. So all of the romance and such between Audrey Hepburn and the news reporter was very very strange to see on the screen. Even until the 2000s, boys and girls were kept separate after elementary school. We would go to different middle and high schools until college. It was really eye opening to see expressions of one’s feelings, love, etc., especially since we were taught to repress our emotions and keep to ourselves. It really was like seeing an alternate universe or something.

Watching movies in general at that time was a real treat, but watching American films in particular was considered special because just a few years later there was a crackdown on the film industry. When Park Chung-hee became the interim president in 1962, he passed some sort of law (Motion Picture Law of 1962) that increased government control over the film industry substantially, including a quota on the number of imported films allowed per year. So I feel lucky to have watched Roman Holiday and some other American films like Singing in the Rain when I did.