Hell Deconstructed: Two Visions of Hell in Along with the Gods:The Two Worlds and Hellbound

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cris.lastimport.scopus2025-12-16T04:11:42Z
dc.abstract.enIn South Korea, despite views of religion as offering solace, the concept of hell maintains a strong presence. Narratives about hell are common across the major religions but are also found in the non-denominational sphere. We analyze two examples of cinematic visions of hell found in the South Korean film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (Kim Yong-hwa, 2017) and the South Korean TV series Hellbound (Yeon Sang-ho, 2021). While Along with the Gods uses hell as a spectacular space, Hellbound, by removing the question of morality from hell, subverts its meaning. Although in their depictions both series refer to the tradi- tional vision of hell, especially that of Buddhism, their interpretation goes beyond traditional models. We argue that the representation of hell in both works can be read as a polemic or even a critique of institutional religions and is an example of religious bricolage in post-secular South Korea.
dc.affiliationWydział Nauk Humanistycznych w Warszawie
dc.affiliationInstytut Nauk Humanistycznych
dc.contributor.authorHusarski, Roman
dc.contributor.authorRutana, Dominik
dc.date.access2025-09-02
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-02T07:46:59Z
dc.date.available2025-09-02T07:46:59Z
dc.date.created2025
dc.date.issued2025-08-05
dc.description.abstract<jats:p>In South Korea, despite views of religion as offering solace, the concept of hell maintains a strong presence. Narratives about hell are common across the major religions but are also found in the non-denominational sphere. We analyze two examples of cinematic visions of hell found in the South Korean film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (Kim Yong-hwa, 2017) and the South Korean TV series Hellbound (Yeon Sang-ho, 2021). While Along with the Gods uses hell as a spectacular space, Hellbound, by removing the question of morality from hell, subverts its meaning. Although in their depictions both series refer to the traditional vision of hell, especially that of Buddhism, their interpretation goes beyond traditional models. We argue that the representation of hell in both works can be read as a polemic or even a critique of institutional religions and is an example of religious bricolage in post-secular South Korea.</jats:p>
dc.description.accesstimeat_publication
dc.description.issue2
dc.description.physical27-44
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.description.volume24
dc.identifier.doi10.33526/EJKS.20252402.27
dc.identifier.eissn2516-5399
dc.identifier.issn2631-4134
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/1722
dc.identifier.weblinkhttps://www.ejks.org.uk/category/journal/volume-24-2/
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationnauki o kulturze i religii
dc.rightsClosedAccess
dc.rights.explanationzamknięty dostęp
dc.rights.questionNo_rights
dc.share.articleOPEN_REPOSITORY
dc.subject.enBuddhism
dc.subject.enhell
dc.subject.enreligion and cinema
dc.subject.enKorean Buddhism
dc.subject.enKorean cinema
dc.swps.sciencecloudsend
dc.titleHell Deconstructed: Two Visions of Hell in Along with the Gods:The Two Worlds and Hellbound
dc.title.journalEuropean Journal of Korean Studies
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle