Modern to hypermodern: The theater as a fantastic space
Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
By Michael W. Hurt
I've just finished the final stage of a book with professor of sociology Ikki Kim that compares Beijing and Seoul at different stages of their development, titled, “Beijing to Seoul, Modern to Hypermodern,” which visually documents the former city's journey through modernity, and takes the latter as an example of the cradle of hypermodernity that will soon engulf all of humanity.
This short text essay and longer set of images is just one of 15 such chapters in the book.
There are different types of space in cities, ranging from the pragmatic and leisurely therapeutic, all the way to the fantastic such as the theater, which is a special staging area for otherworldly experience.
The cinema has always been a handmaiden to modernity, the magical screen through which modern populations caught a glimpse of a wider world and all its modern charms. Like the department store, the movie theater has always been a place of consumerist leisure, where only modern subjects could enter, or at least with enough time spent inside it, one eventually left a modern man or woman. One came to see oneself within a broader universe of social possibilities within modernity, as well as someone who shared affinities with similar viewers as audiences across the world.
The cinema ― like the newspaper and then radios that would mark (and shape) the modern age ― created the foundation of a screened identity itself. It is in such spaces in hypermodern Korea that adults engage in actual play in the newer, multi-use spaces of cinema complexes in Seoul, such as in the way the CGV theater chain has constructed it. Because adults do also “play.” This is what CGV knows well and has made into one of its slogans: “Evolving beyond movies.” But still, adults do play differently from the way that children play with toys or simple games.
Adults play in the space of consumption, with discretionary income. In leisure time. And while consuming. This is one of the social uses of space in (hyper)modern Korea. This makes sense, since the cinema has long been a place of looking and fantasizing in modern Korea, but has become a kind of prism for all kinds of use as a fantasizing, fantastic space in hypermodern Korea.
The first movie theater in Beijing, near the Front Gate, 2017. Photo by Professor Ikki Kim.
A movie theater in West Beijing, 2019. Photo by Professor Ikki Kim.
A collection of movie-related material inside a theater, 2019. Photo by Professor Ikki Kim.
Korean moviegoers watch “Guardians of the Galaxy” in a 4D CGV theater in 2016. Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
A couple finds disappointment during the end credits of “Spider-Man 2” in the Yongsan CGV in Seoul in April 2014. Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
The CGV Yongsan has become a multi-use play space for adults, more than just a cinema, indeed “evolving beyond just movies.” Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
Perhaps not coincidentally, this moment of a public display of affection took place in the Shinchon Artreon CGV in November 2015. Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
A full-size Ironman figure aims his repulsor beam inside the Yongsan CGV, 2019. Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
For the premiere of “Black Panther,” the CGV Yongsan staged a full exhibition of visual artwork in the theater lobby, 2018. Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
The theater is also a gallery space in the CGV, as with this selection from a “Black Panther”-themed art exhibition at Yongsan CGV during the premiere of the film in 2018. Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
A panel from a Black Panther-themed art exhibition at the Yongsan CGV during the premiere of the Black Panther film takes the form of the famous original painting “야묘도추도" (“Chasing Away a Street Cat”) by Kim Hong-do, 2018. Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
Cherry blossoms in full bloom at the Lotte Cinema Junjaland, 2018. The theater is definitely a place of hyper-reality in Seoul today. Photo by Dr. Michael W. Hurt.
Dr. Michael W. Hurt (@kuraeji on Instagram) is a photographer and professor living in Seoul. He received his doctorate from UC Berkeley's Department of Ethnic Studies and started Korea's first street fashion blog in 2006. He researches youth, subcultures and street fashion as a research professor in the Center for Glocal Culture and Social Empathy at the University of Seoul and also writes on visual sociology and cultural studies at his blog and book development site Deconstructing Korea, and contributes to the podcast "Two Brothas and a Korean Chick." His PR/image curation company Iconology Korea also engages in an effort to positively shape images of social others in Korea, construct a positive face for Korea-based or Korea-interested clients, and positive images of Korea in the world.