RESOURCES
                   F I L M   R E V I E W S
                                                                                                                                   These two claims—the scientific
                       inguistics,  blended  with                            Hangeul                                               nature  of  Hangul  and  its  easy
                       history,  culture,  and  a                    Korea’s Gift to the World                                     learning curve—are the basis of
               Lvision for  the  future—                                                                                           deeming it “best” linguistic sys-
               Korea’s King Sejong the Great,                                                                                      tem,  which  the  remaining  five
               who commissioned and promul-                           PRODUCEDBYSEOULSYSTEMSCO., LTD.                              segments strive to prove.
               gated Hangul (Hangul is roman-                   SSC BLDG. 213-5, NONHYUN-DONG, KANGNAM-KU                              The second segment moves
               ized  here  according  to  the                                      SEOUL, KOREA                                    the contention upward one rung,
               McCune-Reischauer  system),                    DISTRIBUTED BY THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND SPORTS                    by positing Hangul not simply as
               the  Korean  script,  553  years                                 REPUBLIC OF KOREA                                  a singular linguistic and typolog-
               ago,  undoubtedly  would  have              COPYRIGHT BY THE KOREAN LANGUAGE INFORMATION SOCIETY                    ical achievement—touted as the
               been  pleased  with  the  concept.                                                                                  only writing system that divides
               Hangeul:  Korea’s  Gift  to  the                              1997, 40 MINUTES. COLOR                               sentences into words and words
               World,  however,  is  a  mix  of                                                                                    into  syllables  and  individual
               information,  imagery,  and  Kor-                                                                                   sounds—but as a living vehicle
               ean nationalism—some of it truly      graphical     representation     of    postsecondary classroom settings       for  the  worldwide  introduction
               compelling, some of it ethereally     sounds into vowels, and conso-         in the interviews with faculty in      of  Korean  culture.    One  sees
               beautiful, and some of it skewed      nants  follow  the  shapes  formed     the  fields  of  linguistics,  educa-  Hangul Day celebrated through
               by  narration  so  heightened  and    by the speech organs of mouth,         tion,  cognitive  psychology,  and     dance,  drama,  storytelling,  and
               claims so far-reaching as to seem,    teeth,  tongue,  palate,  and  throat  computer science from colleges         breathtaking costumes.  This is
               at times, puzzling at best.           while making them.                     and universities worldwide. But        one of the more visually pleasing
                   Distributed  by  the  Republic         The audience targeted by this     high school teachers and students      aspects  of  the  video,  providing
               of  Korea’s  Ministry  of  Culture    video is sometimes unclear.  Cer-      seem to be the secondary target,       an  opportunity  for  students  to
               and Sports, the video focuses on      tainly  postsecondary  academics       as  the  video  points  out  how       become acquainted with Korean
               the  history,  singularity,  global   and  students  in  both  linguistics   numerous high schools in China         history, language, and culture by
               applicability,  linguistic  ingenu-   and  Asian  studies  programs  as      teach  Korean,  how  two  sec-         organizing  their  own  celebra-
               ity,  and  organic  structure  of     well as schools of education are       ondary schools in Moscow teach         tions.
               Hangul.  The  system  adapts  the     the most likely, evidenced by the      the  Korean  language,  and  how           But where did Hangul come
                                                                                            each  October  9  the  “birth”  of     from?  Why was it created?  And
                                                                                            Hangul in 1446 is celebrated the       what  was  so  unique  about  its
                                                                                            world over.                            development that it should stand
                                                                                                The  40-minute  video  is          as the “best” linguistic system in
                                                                                            divided into six segments, some        terms of the “scientific” nature of
                                                                                            of which can be integrated into        its construction?  The third seg-
                                                                                            the  classroom  as  a  springboard     ment  addresses  these  questions
                                                                                            for further research, comparative      from  a  fascinating  historical,
                                                                                            study, and discussion.  The intro-     philosophical, and physiological
                                                                                            ductory segment features a mon-        perspective,  which  provides  a
                                                                                            tage  of  writing  systems—from        marvelous opportunity for a dis-
                                                                                            stone  tablets,  hieroglyphics,        cussion and comparative study of
                                                                                            Sanskrit, and Arabic, to roman         global linguistics.  This in itself
                                                                                            movable type—with the narrator         might make up an entire postsec-
                                                                                            asking, “Of the many character         ondary course examining the aes-
                                                                                            sets used throughout the world,        thetic of words. Even the individ-
                                                                                            which do you think is the best?        ual  sounds  themselves  can  be
                                                                                            The roman character set?”  No,         looked at in terms of how histor-
                                                                                            we  are  told,  because  although      ical, cultural, and organic forces
                                                                                            roman  is  thought the  best,          erupt simultaneously to sculpt a
                                                                                            Hangul actually was developed          living language system.
                                                                                            in a more scientific way and is            But is Hangul the best alpha-
                                                                                            easier    to   write.    Learning      bet  ever  invented?  The fourth
                                                                                            Hangul—referred to as “morn-           segment, which concentrates on
                                                                                            ing  letters”  because  it  was  felt  Hangul’s     linguistic    merits,
                                                                                            that the basic alphabet could be       aggressively  promulgates  this
                                                                                            learned in a single morning—is         assertion,  with  American,  Kor-
                                                                                            then implemented by both pre-K         ean,  British,  and  Japanese  lin-
                                                                                            children,    and    “foreigners.”      guists attesting to its superiority
               78                   EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA                                 Volume 4, Number 3                   Winter 1999
                                                                                   RESOURCES
                                                                                                                                     F I L M   R E V I E W S
             over all other language systems.         be striving for dominance, with         or  facilitate  the  introduction  of
                  This  being  said,  the  video      Korea having a distinct advan-          Korean history, culture, and lan-
             escalates  the  study  of  Hangul        tage, by virtue of Hangul, over         guage to an increasingly multi-
             center stage into the realm of a         the others.  This is antithetical to    cultural and global community.
             global imperative.  The fifth seg-       the   spirit   of   multinational       The most effective segments and
             ment illustrates  how,  as  Korea        exchange and harmonious inte-           vignettes     demonstrate        the
             becomes  an  increasingly  influ-        gration  of  Korean  culture  and       human  means  of  expression
             ential  global  power,  there  will      language  into  the  global  com-       imbued in Hangul’s origins, the
             likewise  be  a  concomitant             munity.    Further,  non-native         cross-cultural  sharing  of  a  her-
             worldwide interest in its culture        speakers      are     redundantly       itage  as  celebrated  by  Hangul
             and language.  We see students           referred  to  throughout  by  the       Day, the visual insistence of cal-
             from all over the world—busi-            tiresome term “foreigners.”             ligraphy to wed powerful emo-
             ness people, civil servants, cler-           The saving grace of the final       tions to the stasis of words, and
             gy,  and  military  personnel—           segment is a recapitulation of the      the  visceral,  kinetic  sinew  of 
             coming to various Korean lan-            visual  evidence  demonstrating         the Hangul dance.  These ideas
             guage institutes and programs.           the beauty, vitality, and cultural      and images work best to facili-
                  This  segues  into  the  final      relevance  of  the  language—its        tate a classroom, and life, learn-
             segment: the launching of Kor-           relationship  to  the  universally      ing experience. n
             ean culture and the Hangul lan-          understood  themes  of  humani-
             guage into the twenty-first cen-         ties, art, and aesthetics.  There is
             tury.  As the culmination of the         a  captivating  demonstration  of
             video’s  entire  argument  for           how computer graphics are revi-         NAMJI KIM STEINEMANN is the
             Hangul as the “most scientific”          talizing Hangul calligraphy, cre-       Vice President of the Education
             and “best” language, this is one         ating new fonts and modalities          Division at the Asia Society, a non-
             of  the  weakest  sections,  filled      in linguistic and human expres-         profit public education institution
             with puzzling ellipses of logic,         sion.  In a spectacular vignette,       dedicated to fostering under-
             confrontational  rhetoric,  and          dancers  dramatize  and  emulate        standing of Asia and communica-
             other unfortunate choices. In the        the Hangul alphabet, using their        tion between Americans and the
             manner of the crusader, the nar-         bodies to sculpt the letters.           peoples of Asia and the Pacific.
                                                                                              The Asia Society is headquartered
             rator  describes  the  twenty-first          Hangeul: Korea’s Gift to the        in New York City.
             century as an “era of information        World seems  unsure  as  to
             war,” in which all countries will        whether it wishes to proselytize
                                                                                                                                                                        79