The Definition of JoPok

America has the Mafia. Japan has Yakuza. Hong Kong has the Triads. And Korea has JoPok. Many years ago in Korea, a slew of action films came out that was somewhat different from other countries. A new genre was being born: the JoPok Korean gangster films. JoPok is a abbreviation derived from "Jo Jik Pok Ryug Bae", which means "Organized Gangsters". The classic Korean gangster films aren't considerd JoPok, but after mid 1990's they became the JoPok films.

The Situation

In 2001, the Korean film industry had a JoPok wave. Lots of Koreans worried about this trend, and even some critics blamed that JoPok would spoil and ruin the Korean film industry. But my conclusion is different. JoPok films are not such a bad thing. Actually, this current trend helps out the industry more than it hurts it.

The money earned and the praises for the JoPok films were actually very profitable and very worthy of the Korean public. JoPok wave was less terrible than they initially had thought. Lots of Koreans mistook JoPok movies for saturating the market, but that's totally wrong. So I'd like to let you know about the truth with this article.

A. Are there many JoPok movies in 2001?

If you look into Korean Film Archive (http://www.koreafilm.org/) database, the amount of Korean films/animation in 2001 was 60, and JoPok film list is way below that amount.

(This is based upon the Korean page, so it would be different if you look into the English page.)

1. Friend
2. Kick the Moon
3. Failan
4. My wife is Gangster
5. Hi Dhalma
6. Doo Sa Boo Il Che
7. Gun Dal Wi Bub Chik (Law of Gun Dal)
8. Gun Dal Bon Saek (Real thing of Gun Dal)

Only eight JoPok films were made in 2001, and 2 of them were rarely even known even in Korea. Even if these films were poorly made or got panned by critics, they made up in the box office earnings (except for Failan). 2001 was a highlight for the Film industry, so as far as we know so far, the JoPok films were beginning to be a force to reckon with.

"…My Wife is a Ganster and Hi Dhalma made up big earnings at the Korean box office in 2001"

B. JoPok in 2001 was much better than horror in 2000

Now I'd like to compare JoPok films in 2001 to Horror in 2000. The list below contains all of the horror titles of the 58 films that were released in 2000.

1. Spooky School
2. Truth Game
3. Black Honeymoon
4. Secret Tears
5. Harpy
6. Kawi (Nightmare - Nine Lives)
7. Rec.
8. Bloody Beach
9. Vanishing Twins
10. Ghost Taxi
11. Just do it
12. Teenage Hooker Became Killing Machine
13. Terror Squad
14. Artist
15. Paradise Villa

Of course, that list has some thrillers in it, too. The Horror and related genres were many in 2000, and the total amount was 15. Almost double from JoPok in 2001, and almost every of them were released in the theaters.

I've seen every JoPok in 2001, and almost every horror in 2000, except for "Terror Squad." Among those horror flims, "Kawi" was just over average in sales market, and all of the others failed. In my opinion, only "Secret Tears," "Kawi," "Bloody Beach," "Just Do It" were good, and the others were a waste of time.

But how about JoPok in 2001? Much better than Horror in 2000! I didn't think those JoPok movies were as good as let's say, for the General Tao Award, but almost every of them were average or a little better. "Failan" was a very particular JoPok Melodrama fusion,. "Friend" was above average, but had broken the box office record, and "Kick the Moon" was very fun! Some JoPok Comedies such as "My wife is gangster," "Hi Dharma," and "Doo Sa Boo Il Che" followed 1980's Korean B-movie formual straight up, but was still enjoyable with some funny humor in it. And "Gun Dal Wi Bub Chik" was hardly even known in Korea, but it's still another good movie that included the sensibilities of JoPok action and drama.

Of course, I'm too deep into Horror genre by myself, so I could be too strict on Horror because of saturation, but if you see every Horror in 2000 & JoPok in 2001 here, you might agree with me.

"...Friend" broken the box office record and "Kick the Moon" was a very fun movie!"

C. Korean film needs character, if they would go abroad!

There are many famous American, Japanese, and Hong Kong gangster characters. Some have been timeless and have lived in our memories for a long time. Korean gangsters are no different. It is easily recognized that JoPok films make a lot at the box office, but filmmakers don't make JoPok films because of that reason alone. There are many great stories that range from human emotions and tragedy to comedy. Do they make only Mafia movies, because Mafia films can earn money? Or Yakuza or even the Triad ones? No. Not at all! Gangster films is a stylistic storytelling element that fits into every genre and category. Even if the gangster or JoPok trend ends, people will always be making them soley because gangsters in general are good templates of analyzing morality outside of the law.

Nowadays, a lot of Korean films go abroad, as you know. But Korean film industry is a small baby at exporting until now, so they might need some ways of advertising their gems. The term JoPok is a great way explain these genre of films. Just like the terms Mafia, Yakuza, and Triad for their respective countries.

Korea needs some character for their films. Just recently, only a few foreigners would consider seeing a Korean film. And it looks like the JoPok genre is going to put Korea on the map for the film world.

"Gangster films is a stylistic storytelling element that fits into every genre and category."

D. 2001 was taken by JoPok. Then how about 2002?

If that JoPok wave continues onto the next year, the year after that and so on, I might be the one to blame (ha!). But are there any JoPok movies scheduled in 2002? As of right now, there aren't that many listed currently slated for 2002. But that will soon change. Up until now, there were many other genre films being released internationally, but because of the JoPok craze, more and more of these films are being made and distributed all over the world.

"Miramax is now preparing the remake of My Wife is a Ganster."

E. JoPok is not sudden wave at all!

Koreans have been making Gangster films for a long time now. It started with the "Son of General" trilogy in the early of 1990's. And if I count some more classic films, that would go up to the middle of 1970's. Of course, there might be some more old ones, but to my knowledge, that's the oldest. I'm not big fan of Korean classic gangster movies, but I know that there were really many made here. Even a fool can improve, if he struggles. Then if Korean Gangster movie has such a long history, how much they could develop?

Right now, I might compare JoPok films to Melodrama and the horror genre. Korea has many Melodramas on TV and in the theaters. Truly, Melodramas were the most important films in Korea. We range from the simple ones such as "Ghost in love," and "Last Gift," to complex ones as "Art Museum by the Zoo," and "Failan". But about Horror, although Korea has lots of good old films here, after late of 1980's, almost no horror films were made. And that genre was almost cut off, except for some Thriller films. So that is why recent Korean horror films are not very good as some of the classics. Many made, many improve. That's why JoPok genre has been doing very well in box office earnings and in quality, and is able to push the envelope even more.

In Conclusion

Was JoPok wave in 2001 so bad? Of course, it earned too much money, but that depends on the growing of Korean film market, and are always room for the other genres, which were unavailable in the Korean Film industry. Among 1993 - 1997, Korea has made about 60 movies each year, but all of them couldn't reach the expected earning.

The reason for this column is to prove that you shouldn't blame a film genre for its popularity and trivializing it by calling it a trend. The JoPok films are deeply rooted within Korean culture and spans many years before the boom even hit. This column was originally written in Korean for Korean readers, but I felt that, internationally, people should understand the reason for this craze currently for the JoPok genre and why the popularity has increased passed the Korean borders. If anything, the Korean film industry is young, and this is something that people are noticing, which is making the industry stronger financially and credibility.

That something as significant as this isn't bad for the Korean Film market, but very helpful in expanding their horizons.

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Kim Jin Sung
02/20/2002