Overview
Watch the Film: Ode to My Father (2014) and write a response paper
Choose one of the following questions to address in your response paper. (Please note the number of the question that you are responding to at the beginning of your paper.)
1. Ode to My Father is easily read as a “national” or even “nationalist” film, representing the nation and promoting a certain understanding of the recent South Korean past. There are moments in the film, however, that appear to push back against such a straightforward reading. Use one such incident or scene to discuss the status of the national “home" in Ode to My Father. How have Tŏksu’s experiences shaped his perception of what it means to be “at home” in a nation?
2. Early in the film, the young Tŏksu meets Jung Ju-yung, founder of the Hyundai conglomerate, who tells him: “There are trials, but there is no failure.” Ode to My Father goes on to dramatize a series of trials endured across decades by the main character. Does Jung’s optimistic assertion apply to Tŏksu, or is he represented as also having failed in important ways? Use evidence from the film to support your conclusion.