The Representation of Refugees in Films and Its Impact on Attitudes Towards North Korean Defectors

Abstract

Widespread social prejudice and stereotypes toward North Korean refugees in South Korea further exacerbate their adversities as asylum seekers. In light of this social problem and its long and complicated context, this study aims to show the important roles, past and present, that media–especially commercial movies–have in the social and cultural perspectives of people towards refugees. In this article, I discuss the role of the media in shaping general perception through reviewing psychological theories and experiments. Furthermore, based on the cases of North Korean refugees, the study examines the challenges many refugees face in the countries they immigrated to, such as social prejudice and discrimination, but the article specifically focuses on the experiences of North Korean refugees in South Korea. The study examines how North Korea and its refugees are represented in various South Korean commercial movies to anticipate their potential impact on society. This research is necessary because it claims that portraying only the limited aspect of refugees through media can possibly spur diverse social problems. Through my research, I concluded that the future films should portray the humane parts of the characters, not using them as characters representing specific political ideals.