1969 Suncheon, South Korea
In Sun Park
Born in 1951
Suncheon South Korea
Interviewed on September 20, 2019
by Kevin Choi
I grew up with my family in the countryside of Suncheon, so there were no nearby movie theaters. I did get many chances to visit the city, however, since I took a bus every day to attend middle school in the city. It was a long bus ride, around 100 li, or 40 kilometers. One day, I learned about a movie theater nearby called Chung-ang Theater, and every time the bus would drive close to the theater, I couldn’t take my eyes off the window. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to stop by it until several years later since my parents were busy making a living for our family. Especially since the city was so far from home, staying until late without supervision was not an option I could take. Several years later, my sister, the oldest of us five, left for work away from home so that she could contribute to our finances. Naturally, that left me as the second mother of the family, which came with more independence. So when I was around 17 or 18, I had the chance to take my little brother along with me to the movie theater, and we watched The Ten Commandments.
The movie theater back then was nothing close to what they look like today. Really, it was no different than just a large commercial building. It sounds like in the same era, movie theaters were extravagantly decorated in the United States, but it was quite the opposite here. People say movie theaters today have minimalistic design, but this movie theater that I first went to – now this was the definition of minimalism. For one, the floor didn’t have any carpeting, so you could hear the pitter patter of shoes hitting the ground, which I actually found quite pleasant. Also, the chairs were hard, wooden chairs, but at the time, since I was so deeply mesmerized by the movie, I didn’t find the chairs that uncomfortable. After all, I didn’t get to sit in many chairs with comfortable fabric back then, so maybe I just got used to them. The projection method, on the other hand, seemed rather similar to that of modern times. The projector was behind us, emitting beams of light over our heads, just like they do now. Of course, the machine was probably significantly worse, judging by the loud sounds it made during the screening. I’m not sure if Korea ever went through a phase of having extravagant theaters. Personally, I don’t remember any, but I can’t say for sure because I didn’t live in Seoul.
As for the film itself, the one thing that I remember most clearly from The Ten Commandments is the scene of Moses crossing the Red Sea. Contrary to Korea today, where churches basically line the roads, religion was not something we could encounter by chance on a day-to-day basis. In a sense, this movie was my first encounter with Christianity, and it was definitely a memorable one simply because of the sheer size of the screen. The Red Sea spanned across the entire screen, filling up almost every corner of the screen, when suddenly, as Moses stood with his arms apart, it swiftly split into two parts. In that moment, I was awestruck. I don’t quite remember what the characters said in that scene, probably because the character were all speaking English, but I can recall the image quite clearly even to this day.
I’m sure there was a concession stand in the movie theater, but I didn’t care to stop by because the theater was so close to a marketplace nearby. After the movie ended, my little brother and I strolled through the marketplace, stopping by carts with snack home to our country. Even if the concession stands had snacks like popcorn, I don’t think I would’ve bought them anyways because I grew up eating more savory snacks like steamed potatoes or steamed buns, so I never grew to become fond of sweet snacks. Maybe my little brother wanted some; I’d have to ask.
