Week 2 Project Media Anthropology

The following post is for my Media Anthropology class.  In this activity we were tasked with creating a flyer to be attached with dollar bills that are released in to the air by South Koreans for North Koreans.  We were also tasked with giving a description of why we chose to create the flyer and describe based on research materials we felt it would be received.

     

 Today everywhere we look there is someone less fortunate than us.  In the North Korean culture they are taught to believe everything is fine because their leader says that it is, but when you take a closer look into North Korean life it is actually very different.  It is beyond heart breaking to know that if a mother cannot find the energy or finances to take care of her children she will send them away.

     As I watched the film Secret State of North Korea, I began to realize just how despairing the situation truly has become.  In the film there was a girl whom had defected to South Korea in order to have a better life.  She stated that when her friends saw her, (on the television show she is a part of) they say that she looks so different because she never used to smile while she lived in North Korea. (Jones, 2014)  

     Another piece of the film that moved me was the images of the orphaned children.  In the videos they are shown just asking for ten cents, so that they can by food (Jones, 2014).  As I began my creating my designs, I thought of those children.  They need hope and something to have that will tell them there is something beyond the despair.  These children know starvation, how it feels to loose their friends and how it feels to be completely alone.  What they should know is that there are people who care, that they are not forgotten, and that there is hope for a better life.

     I decided to create an inspirational flyer that portrayed the idea of something more.  The creation was a little more difficult than I expected, but after viewing the film I know that the flyer cannot be blatant in it’s message against life in North Korea.  In my design I made sure to include elements that would be familiar to the North Korean culture, such as the North Korean flag and a cherry blossom twig.  The words I used give a message to look past what is displayed and to not allow circumstance to hinder what could be.

     I gathered that the movement wants to free the people of North Korea from the oppression that they are currently suffering from.  I believe the change that has started to happen is in part due to exposure to the outside world, but also due to people wanting more from life than to settle in hopelessness.  Sharing a message to see beyond that will help encourage North Koreans to continue to try and better their lives.

Resources:

Jones, James, (2014). Secret state of North Korea. Frontline. Pyongyang, North Korea: PBS.