Copyright © 1997, 2000 by Hugo S. Cunningham
Individual, non-commercial reproduction is authorized, provided this notice is retained.
Bruce Cumings, "Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History," W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1997; cloth, 527 pages, $35.
Chapter 9, pp. 434-455: "America's Koreans"
My original text (replaced on 000607) read:
Thank you for your review of Cumings's book. I agree with almost everything you said, but I think you have one error (or maybe omission):
C: p. 445, paragraph 1--BC cites the villainous "Oddjob" character in Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger" as a typically vicious anti-Korean stereotype. What BC must have been aware of, but deliberately omits, is that "Oddjob" was carefully presented as a North Korean. American movie audiences at that time naturally accepted that South Koreans were loyal allies, even while North Korea was a Cold War enemy.
I have not seen the movie version of "Goldfinger". But I believe Cumings referred to the book. Ian Fleming's book does not mention Oddjob's being from North Korea, and makes quite a few bigoted statements about Koreans -- in particular, that they are the "cruelest people on earth". Oddjob and his Korean companions also lust after white women, who are provided by Goldfinger. Apparently most of this was cut from the movie (and a good thing too).
One odd thing I noticed was that Cumings appeared to be relying on a secondary source for this--an article about the portrayal of Koreans in western books that quoted some passages from Goldfinger. The quotes Cumings reproduced were some of the milder ones.
Joseph Eros
Information Markets Corp.
joe.eros@infomarkets.com
Thanks for your thoughtful input; I had indeed forgotten about Ian Fleming's written work, which has not aged nearly as well as the Hollywood "James Bond" films. Now that you mention it, I recall racist remarks in some of Fleming's other books, and not just about Koreans. Even apart from racism, the books do not invite re-reading.
[...]
In any case, Fleming, as a Brit, is not a valid example of US anti-Korean racism. (Or was Cumings talking about racism in the anti-Communist West in general?). As I recall, Ian Fleming's books were written in the early 60s, when racism was far more pervasive in the West than in the 1970s, when the films came out.
Regards,
--Hugo Cunningham
>Thanks for your thoughful input; I had indeed forgotten about Ian >Fleming's written work, which has not aged nearly as well as the >Hollywood "James Bond" films. Now that you mention it, I recall >racist remarks in some of Fleming's other books, and not just about >Koreans. Even apart from racism, the books do not invite re-reading.
They are very strange, and I have found the three or four I've read most interesting as period pieces. In Goldfinger, for instance, the portrayal US gangsters was (to me) unwittingly hilarious.
[...]
> In any case, Fleming, as a Brit, is not a valid example of US >anti-Korean racism. (Or was Cumings talking about racism in the >anti-Communist West in general?).
The Goldfinger material appears in the chapter "America's Koreans"; I think Cumings's failure to identify Fleming as a Briton was at best disingenuous.
>As I recall, Ian Fleming's books were written in the early 60s, when >racism was far more pervasive in the West than in the 1970s, when the >films came out.
A Google search tells me the books were written in the years 1953-66 (Goldfinger came out in 1959). The first movie was in 1962 (Goldfinger in 1964). So it looks like the producers wisely toned down Fleming's more offensive statements right from the beginning.
Joe