"Manshin: Ten Thousand Spirits" Filmmaker Understands Vitality of Tradition in Contempo Life

Park Chan-kyong in the Korea Herald: 

“The point is, we should really learn to look at our traditions in a different way,” Park said. “We are always talking about developing so-called ‘culture contents.’

“But we look down on and dismiss shamanism in spite of its rich artistic and cultural value. Pansori originates from gut, and morning prayers at modern protestant churches originate from shamanism.”

When asked why he is so drawn to gut, the filmmaker said it is the earnestness of those who do it. “People resort to gut when they are faced with something that is out of their control, such as a fatal illness. It really is their last resort,” said Park.

“They try everything they can to solve the issue, and they try gut when they feel completely helpless. So they are desperate and ardent. And it is that earnestness that makes gut an art. A really great art.”

Click here for an English language discussion about the film with great clips. 

Click here for another, more extensive article.

Sa-I-Gu (4-2-9) Remembering the "Kut for Harmony and Reconciliation" in Los Angeles

I will write more about this, but I wanted to remember to do so. On April 28, 2002, I produced in Los Angeles a kut, Korean shaman ritual, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the L.A. Riots.

The idea took 2 years to bloom, during which time I tried my best to inspire highly Christianized / Westernized Korean expat community about the traditional ways that villages of their root culture would reconcile differences. They really would hear nothing of it, rather waiting to have yet another round of exchange between distinguished people (men -- business leaders, pastors, civic officials and university professors) discussing it with another person (same profile) in an isolated, albeit "public" forum. Perhaps that is what started the problem ... lack of understanding one's roots. It took about 20 years for the Korean businesses to hire their closest neighbors -- El Salvadoran and Latino immigrants -- and give them progressively more trust-worthy positions in their stores ... from baggers to checkers. That's not what I'll write about, however.

Here's the article that ran in The Los Angeles Times the week before the event. It was the lead in the "Calendar" section usually reserved for the philharmonic, opera, big theatre and occasionally dance (if it is classical). More will follow, as will photos.

Meantime, too, here's one of the articles that I wrote about how I got into this thing in the first place ... It originally ran in Kyoto Journal and also Korean Culture, the latter a now-defunct publication of the Consulate General of Korea in Los Angeles. It's called "Old Ways in the New World".