Spiritualism and Realism. The Representation of Violence in Kim Ki-duk's Movies

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2020 in the subject Film Science, grade: 5/5, Eötvös Loránd University (Faculty of Humanities), course: Thesis, language: English, abstract: This research opens up a critical discussion regarding the representation of violence through spiritualism and realism in Kim Ki-duk¿s movies. It will project the similarities as well as the dissimilarities between Kim Ki-duk and Martin Scorsese based on spirituality in correspondence to the use of realism in a cinematic style. This sheds a light on the significances of portraying their cultural and political ideologies. Kim Ki-duk¿s effort is to portray spiritualism and realism; Kim Ki-duk does this by depicting Christianity along with Confucianism, Buddhism, and the practice of silence, in addition to his adaptation of minimalistic style to portray violence.

As a result, this research will conclude that Kim Ki- duk is a unique consequential illustrator of South Korea by translating realism in a symbolic manner, which will prove him an auteur.