Exhuma (2024) & The Art of Nationalist Propaganda

Exhuma (2024): An Excellent Lesson in Nationalist Propaganda Filmmaking

The best and most effective propaganda never looks like propaganda. After all, propaganda can be dressed in any attire. The key is that this attire must be so stylish and comfortable that everyone would want to try it on.

Whenever people imagine propaganda films, they either think of the Soviet Battle Ship Potemkin (1925) or the Nazi Triumph of the Will (1935) because of how obviously propagandistic these movies are, especially to people who are not Fascists or Communists. These two are classic examples of unashamed in-your-face propaganda that appeals only to those who already agree with the message, however a more sophisticated observer may also regard Rocky IV (1985), the Schindler’s List (1993) or Django Unchained (2012), for its obvious promotion of certain values in addition to telling a great story.

A more refined propaganda piece aligns with Edward Bernays' principles of propaganda which is skillfully catering to the audience’s expectations while simultaneously embedding a message that influences their subconscious. If an audience wants to see a great horror film, great - show it to them! But make it associated with a particular message which needs further dissemination in the public.

You wanted to watch a wholesome series about Christianity? Awesome goy, now get lectured about homophobia, White privilege and inceldom in the background as you’re watching a wholesome series about Christianity. Immature and non-ideological minds who like Christianity but can’t tell a leftist messaging from a Christian one, will embrace the “full package”, without thinking that there are contradictions between the two.

Modern Korean cinema has long emerged from the shadow of festival exotica and confidently secured its place under the sun of global box offices. The loud international success of "Parasite" five years ago only cemented South Korea's status as one of the centers of contemporary cinema.

This year, the highest-grossing Korean film was "Exhuma" . The movie is made in the genre of detective horror. But in reality, it turned out to be pure, distilled political propaganda, which only the blind could fail to notice. Now, just like Edward Bernays, I don’t believe that propaganda is good or evil, it is neutral, for it depends on the kind of message it wants to promote. This movie is a study of one of such messages, which I don’t particularly object or subscribe to. I am simply a neutral observer who admires the achievements and cultures of both Korea and Japan and so I’m not taking any sides here.

The plot, to be frank, is not the most banal. A wealthy Korean family from the USA unexpectedly learns that they are suffering from the spirit of an angry grandfather and so they summon a team of experts capable of stopping the spirit. The team of experts consisted of a shaman, an expert in necrofengshui (who is also a geomancer), and a funeral home owner. All of them are Koreans for the record, but the Korean-American family doesn’t act all as the rest of Koreans (keep that in mind for later).

Initially, the task seems simple. All they need to do is dig up a coffin from the grave and, without opening it, cremate it as quickly as possible. However, a cunning morgue worker, believing the rumors about treasures hidden there, opens the coffin and releases the evil spirit of the grandfather.

The evil spirit of the grandfather immediately begins to punish his relatives in various ways. Sometimes in quite comical forms. For example, he possesses his billionaire great-grandson, makes him Sieg Heil, and deliver stand-up pro-Japanese routines in the spirit of Mishima.

Soon it turns out that the grandfather was not just a regular grandfather but a former Korean collaborator who sold out to the Japanese. That's actually where the Korean-American family's wealth comes from. Moreover, the Korean cosplayer of Mishima was buried in a magical place where an evil samurai-Korean butcher had previously been buried.

Therefore, the malevolent spirit of Japanese militarism relentlessly haunts the Korean countryside, while devoted native Korean patriots using feng shui and other traditional magic practices to combat it.

Symbolically, the four main characters of the film are named after fighters for Korea's independence from the Japanese Empire, and the mother of the American family is named after a pro-Japanese official and informant while the magical burial ground, from which honest Korean patriots either bury or dig up coffins, is located right on the 38th parallel.

If you observe the symbols closely, the film reveals a conflict between Korean spiritual identity and the lingering influence of Japanese militarism, which has fragmented the once unified Korean people. This struggle is portrayed through both spiritual and cultural tensions, reflecting the ongoing cultural war between Koreans and the Japanese.

The message of the movie is that the Japanese element in Korea must be completely destroyed, if it comes down to digging people from their grave - so be it. The country must be reunified again and purged of race traitors which is what the main protagonists of the movie were busy with throughout the film.

Most Western viewers of the film likely did not recognize the final message, as they may not be familiar with the symbolic context it draws upon. However it resonated deeply with Korean audiences, who are able to understand and interpret these symbols within their cultural and historical framework, thus deciphering it.

To quote Edward Bernays:

The media by which special pleaders transmit their messages to the public through propaganda include all the means by which people to-day transmit their ideas to one another. There is no means of human communication which may not also be a means of deliberate propaganda, because propaganda is simply the establishing of reciprocal understanding between an individual and a group.

Therefore, propaganda must be so seamlessly integrated into popular culture that it does not appear as propaganda at all. People who know - know, but those who don’t will still get a subconscious message regardless and think they’ve only watched a detective-horror movie about ghosts and spirits. Basically like Rocky IV or Django Unchained, but super-based instead.

Obviously I don’t expect something like that coming out of the West any-time soon, but there are a lot of good ideas to think about. I trans-hearted the film and so I highly recommend watching it, after all even if you disagree with the message, it’s such a good slop ;)

Inspired by: https://t.me/ordinaryczarizm/3913