Reading 《Run-Off 2》: A Critical Analysis of the Filmic Representation of the Multicultural Sporting Subject with a Focus on Cultural Othering and Cultural Citizenship

Abstract

PURPOSE This study aims to critically read the film in a manner in which its narrative represents and constructs the multicultural subject as the fearful and compassionate “other,” and its structure and meanings reconciles with the concept of cultural citizenship. METHODS This research is informed by two methods: 1) text analysis by deconstructing the narrative structure and flow, and 2) contextual interpretation focussing on understanding the significance of the filmic representation in the Korean historical, political, social, and cultural contexts. RESULTS The narrative of the film portrays and constructs the multicultural subject as a cultural other, with specific styles of representation, in which stereotypical description, otherizing tropes of double process, and recognition struggle for cultural citizenship. CONCLUSIONS The study summarized the present research and laid out some suggestions for critical studies of sport films from an interdisciplinary approach and cultural studies-based methods.

Keywords

• critical multiculturalism
• conservative multiculturalism
• north korean defectors
• cultural other
• cultural citizenship