Spirit-senders, multiple-timers create buzz

Cause-driven audiences show support for low-budget films

By Jung Hae-myoung

Some film lovers watch the same movie in theaters twice or more. Some buy tickets for their favorite films online but don't show up at the theater, leaving their seats vacant. They either have seen it before or don't have time to make it but they buy the tickets because they want to show their support for the films, so the directors or producers are encouraged to produce similar works.

In this Korean trend, cause-driven fans are called “spirit-senders” as they send their mental support for their favorite films by purchasing tickets.

Together with "multiple-timers," spirit-senders are emerging as new film consumers. Multiple-timers made the news last year when the British rock band Queen's biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” went blockbuster in Korea. Over 9 million tickets were sold for the movie, sparking Queen fever in Korea. Some watched the same film twice or more.

Spirit-senders are a relatively new phenomenon which was captured in two films ― “Miss & Mrs. Cops” and “Miss Baek.”

“Miss & Mrs. Cops,” which deals with the struggles of two female cops, and “Miss Baek,” a film about a young woman named Baek Sang-ah who tries to help an abandoned young girl, created much buzz not because of ticket sales but because of the film lovers who identified with the films.

The cop movie sold 1.3 million tickets and the other sold 720,000. What made those films stand out from others was avid audience support.

“I booked eight seats in the morning for the first day of Miss & Mrs. Cops,” one fan tweeted. Another posted an image of two seats noting, “I bought two seats. I think there should be more female narrative in Korean films.”

Lee Ji-eun, 27, is one of the spirit-senders. She said she is “tired of male-dominant films.”

“I showed my support for Miss Baek because as an audience, I wanted to see films starring female leads breaking the notion that films featuring female leads are not profitable,” she said.

Another spirit-sender who asked to be identified only by her surname Kim, praised “Miss Baek” for its unique theme and storyline.

“Miss Baek broke the mother-daughter relationship cliche that is prevalent in films featuring female leads. It is a genuinely good-quality film,” she said.

“Miss & Mrs. Cops” is another film showing strong female characters. Unlike other crime action films, in “Miss & Mrs. Cops,” women are the main characters.

Culture critic Cha Woo-jin noted, “If Miss & Mrs. Cops becomes a box office hit, then more films featuring female leads will be produced.”

Another film critic Sim Young-seop said spirit-senders could lead to a new cultural movement.

“The sending spirit movement is sort of fans' expression of their views on certain films,” she said. “So it is fair to say it is a cultural movement.”

Some have concerns about the phenomenon. Critics said booking tickets for movies that they are not going to watch could cause market problems.

“I think economists and sociologists would answer differently whether spirit-senders do a disservice to the market or not. I personally believe it would not make any difference in the market, but wouldn't the filmmakers want more people to actually watch their films, rather than vacant seats?” Jung Jae-yoon, 23 said.

According to an economist, purchasing tickets for films that they are not going to watch on this scale cannot be deemed as “market disruption.”

“Market disruption occurs when players try to manipulate the market. But such a phenomenon is unlikely to occur in the local film industry because there is no such deadly rivalry there,” Woo Suk-hoon, a culture economist, told The Korea Times.

“In Korea, there is no support system for the film community, and the screen monopoly is serious.”

Some European cases show that consumer-driven movements can make a difference.

There has been a theater movement in Europe, where artists and audiences resisted nationalism and free market ideology and searched for “the third way” in cinema.

In Belgium, the 1999 film “Rosetta” led changes in employment policy among young people with a similar movement. The film shows an unemployed young people in poverty, reflecting on the endless insecurity of modern-day life.

Woo said purpose-driven consumption is a phenomenon that occurs in developed nations.

“In developing countries, people pay for certain services. But in some developed countries, concerned consumers are willing to pay for certain causes or principles even though their spending doesn't guarantee materialistic compensation for them,” he said.

The consumer-driven movement in Korean film industry is something positive for independent filmmakers as they are struggling to find investors.

Actors and other film industry workers appreciate cause-driven audiences.

“I am just grateful to all the support with the spirit-sending movement,” Choi Soo-young, a supporting actress in “Miss & Mrs. Cops,” said in an interview with the press on May 9.

Jeong Da-won, the director of “Miss & Mrs. Cops” also noted, “I think audiences are supporting the film in that way because it is so hard to see female-led films in the Korean film industry.”

“Film is a sensitive product and a device that gathers people's opinion. Film is a public sphere as well as art,” Woo said. “Currently there is a gender problem to solve which rose to the surface, but this can happen with any other films that have significant social problems to solve.”