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North Korea screens Bend It Like Beckham

Started by Santa's Boyfriend, December 31, 2010, 10:46:29 AM

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Santa's Boyfriend

This is quite cool, really.  I wonder what kind of insight the North Koreans will have got about the UK from watching this?  Will it confirm the belief that we're all selfish capitalists, or will it show a more caring human side to us?  I have to confess I haven't seen the film, but I know it was heavily edited for broadcast, clocking in at just over an hour.  It also marks the first ever western film to be broadcast over there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/31/north-korea-david-beckham-film

(notice in the comment section some wag suggests that the North Koreans will no doubt think Keira Knightly needs to eat more.)

What does our resident DPRK-friendly verbwhore think of this?  Also if you're reading this, is it possible to find DPRK-made films online?  I'd be curious to see one.

Famous Mortimer

Robert Popper recommends listening to their propaganda radio, which is available on SW the world over and is hilarious in its over-the-top-ness.

Santa's Boyfriend


Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Santa's Boyfriend on December 31, 2010, 02:08:09 PM
SW?  Could you linky please?
It was on Twitter a while back, so you could always do a search for "Korea propaganda @robertpopper Twitter" or something of the sort (Twitter's blocked at my work, because we've got a deal with the immensely shite Yammer instead).

NoSleep

Quote from: Santa's Boyfriend on December 31, 2010, 02:08:09 PM
SW?  Could you linky please?

SW=Short Wave Radio, I believe.

I had visions of North Koreans flocking to cinemas throughout the land to watch this. It was shown on TV. How many people have TV in NK? I thought it was electricity-scarce.


Santa's Boyfriend

They're common in the cities, I would imagine some people would have them in the country too but not that many.  There's only one channel if I recall correctly.

Some Herbert

The vast majority of capitalist propaganda films would be of no interest to people in the DPRK. From what I've read, Bend It Like Beckham was shown as a sop to the pathetic pleading from the UK Foreign Office to show something that portrayed a supposedly "better" side to life in Britain. Not easy to do when so much of the UK's film output is just thinly-disguised propaganda, fed to its bovine population to keep them from discovering the truth.

For DPRK films I can recommend the excellent Pulgasari, which you can watch here: video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-4299325314122049461

Santa's Boyfriend

Thanks for the link, will watch it later.

I'm not sure you can class the vast majority of UK films as thinly veiled propaganda though (with the obvious exception of the James Bond franchise and some old wartime movies).  You might have an argument with US movies but British movies are so often self deprecating and about escaping the drudgery of your surroundings.  They don't expect to be seen outside of the UK so don't bother to be propaganda pieces.

Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Get Carter, Kes, The Full Monty, Children of Men, Harry Brown...  They don't really paint a nice picture of this country!  Also what about a film like Land and Freedom?[nb]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114671/[/nb]  I would have thought that would go down quite well in DPRK.  (EDIT: actually, scratch that.  I forgot how it ends.  They could always cut out the anti-soviet bits though!)

Alternatively they could also have gone the other way and shown Sex and The City 2 as an example of the horrors of capitalist imperialism.  In fact, along similar lines, I've often thought the best way of describing the nature of western capitalism to citizens of the DPRK is to broadcast The Apprentice.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Santa's Boyfriend on January 01, 2011, 05:04:47 PM
In fact, along similar lines, I've often thought the best way of describing the nature of western capitalism to citizens of the DPRK is to broadcast The Apprentice.
Completely agree.

"You mean they have game shows where the prize is...a job?"