1960 Yangpyeong, South Korea

Jeom Soo Lee
1950
Yangpyeong, South Korea
Interviewed on February 12th, 2023
by Eunsoo Hyun

장화홍련전 (1956) – The Story of Janghwa and Hongryeon

(Translated from Korean)

The first movie I watched was 장화홍련전 (janghwa hongryeon jeon). I watched it when I was around 10 years old. A little over 10 years old, I think.

Janghwa hongryeon jeon is actually a famous Korean folk tale. There have been many movies made based off of it. I watched the 1936 movie– wait, no, I must have watched the 1956 version. Yes, see: I was born in 1950 so I would have been 6 years old when the movie came out, so it makes sense that it was being shown when I was around 10 or 11.

Back then, there were no movie theaters where I lived, so we watched the movie outside. The people showing the movie would put up a square frame with poles taller than you were, then drape fabric over the sides to make a kind of room. When we sat there was nothing above us but the night sky. The movie was projected onto a fabric screen inside.

There was a small entrance where you could go in, and there would be a person standing there to sell you tickets. Of course, there was nothing like popcorn at the time.

When the movie was over, they’d lift the fabric and people could leave in all directions. You didn’t have to leave the way you came in!

I went when I was young and the movies were shown at night. This would all stop when I got older, because they discouraged women from being out after dark.

All I remember about the movie is that it was really scary. At the time, I didn’t go alone – I went alone with my grandmother and aigoo, so scary! It wasn’t fun, just scary. There weren’t really any age-appropriate movies for me at the time. But I wasn’t going to the movies because I wanted to see the movies; I was just following my grandmother around! I still remember clearly how scary it was.

Your grandpa wasn’t scared when he watched the movie, though. He was at the age where he wasn’t scared of anything. He also went with all of his friends. There were really no theaters around, so whenever a movie came to town, they would borrow a school playfield – or anywhere with lots of space – and go watch it there. But the movies didn’t come by often, so it was a big deal when they did and he would always go with his friends.

The movie people used to bring these films around the countryside and set up theaters. After a few weeks, they’d pack up and move to another town. And then they’d bring a new movie.