Affective capture and flight of bodies: fake man and A silk letter

Abstract

This article discusses how the bodies portrayed by Fake Man (2020), a South Korean military reality show and A Silk Letter (2010), an autobiographical film produced by a South Korean conscientious objector, are differently affective in the context of South Korean militarism. In this paper, affect is an inherently ambiguous and disruptive aspect of experience arising through the body. Politics have attempted to capture the affective experience to reinforce particular discourses and identities. Therefore, I discuss Fake Man to expose how ideal soldierly bodies capture affect. To show how an ambiguous and passive body of a conscientious objector facilitates affective flight from such capture, I discuss A Silk Letter. I juxtapose the two discussions to expose and challenge the affective process of representing ideal soldierly bodies in South Korea. This article argues that the bodies portrayed in Fake Man capture affect through the contagious celebration of brutal military masculinity and the narratives of rehabilitation. In contrast, the body shown in A Silk Letter facilitates the flight of affect through its passivity and ambiguity. The findings demonstrate that the bodies that appear weak and ambiguous may open space for reimagining the ways to secure lives. This paper addresses the shortage of visual studies on militarism in South Korea, a highly militarized post-conflict society. Also, by bringing up the capture and flight of affect, this paper suggests a novel frame for visual and affective politics research which actively recognizes that affect is inherently disruptive and escaping conceptualization.