Religion, Culture, and Media in Korea. Friday, March 13, 2026. 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM PDT. Location: VCC, Room 301.
Presentations: Legacies of Japanese Colonialism Toward Religion in Contemporary Korean Media: Murayama Chijun, Exhuma, and Save Me. Presenting Author: John G. Grisafi (he/him/his) – University of Michigan. Living Religion or Past Tradition? Consuming Religion as Culture Through the Korean Webcomic Along with the Gods. Presenting Author: Yeonwoo Joh (she/her/hers) – Yale University. Grace and Guilt: Christianity and Gendered Pain in Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine and Poetry. Presenting Author: Yunshu Hu (she/her/hers) – Duke University. Faith and Fear: Religious Authority and Moral Control in Korean Drama. Presenting Author: Jeremiah Magoncia – Ateneo de Manila University.
Contemporary South Korean media―including cultural products made for entertainment such as films, dramas, and webcomics―is a major vector for influencing popular understandings of religion and culture. This organized panel analyzes religious content from such media and addresses the discursive framing of religion(s) and how media narratives reflect social realities and anxieties in Korea. Yeonwoo Joh examines the content of the webcomic Along with the Gods and controversy over whether it represents Buddhist religious beliefs or Korean traditional beliefs. Through it, she investigates the strategic use of “culture” and “tradition” to reframe religion for popular consumption. John Grisafi examines the legacies of Japanese colonialist narratives toward Korean religion in contemporary Korean entertainment, exemplified by the film Exhuma and drama series Save Me. He argues that vilification of colonialism ironically coexists with the echoes of colonialist polemics that marginalize Korean religion. Jeremiah Estela Magoncia analyzes the content of the drama series Hellbound for its portrayal of religious institutions and beliefs systems, with attention to that associated with organized religion and moral absolutism. He reveals how Hellbound reflects social anxieties regarding religion as a potential tool of oppression and the ethical challenge of blind faith in spiritual authority. Yunshu Hu examines the entanglement of Protestant religious discourse with patriarchal value systems in Korean society as seen in Lee Chang-dong’s films Secret Sunshine and Poetry. She argues that Christian and Confucian patriarchal traditions reinforce one another in Korean culture, such that the Protestant religious system both empowers and subjugates women in Korea. Liora Sarfati will lead discussion on religion, culture, and media in Korea with response to the four presentations.
Come see our panel on Religion, Culture, and Media in Korea at the AAS @asianstudies.org conference this Friday! It will feature presentations by Yeonwoo Joh, Jeremiah Magoncia, Yunshu Hu, and myself, chaired by Gloria I-Ling Chien and with commentary by Liora Sarfati.
