The Stray Bullet: Spectatorial Desire for the "Other"

I find the portrayal of masculinity and of the post-colonial nation in The Stray Bullet very intriguing - a hybrid of South Korean aesthetics and Euro- American influence. Apart from the incorporation of cinematic techniques (detournement, film - noir, hollywood melodramatic tropes), the film is heavily inundated with signifiers and imageries that allude to the increasing presence of "the other" in the post-colonial era. "The other," in this case, refers to Hollywood cinema and the US - on a much broader scale than specific artistic techniques. This influence seems to play a significant role in numerous themes/ imagery choices of the film. (For example, the idea of masculinity in threat in relation to the nation in damage during post-war period.)  The notion of "spectatorial desire for the 'other' within a postcolonial setting" adds to the complexity of the national and cultural formation in the period of growing globalization. Consider the following passage by Hye Seung Chung. 

" ...not only the cross-cultural translation and adaptation of particular scenes and star-imges but also Korean audiences' unique cinephilic fixation on often overlooked Hollywood films. Korean audiences' infatuation and identification with Hollywood cinema should be historicized in the postwar cultural context rather than being simply frowned upon as a symptom of US cultural imperialism. The post- korean war generation's intense nostalgia for sentimental Hollywood melodrama is a significant indicator of the cultural displacement that occurs when spectatorial desire for the "other" operates within a postcolonial setting." 

The film, with a number of Euro- American signifiers and imageries, portrays the incoming western influence in the postcolonial setting. However, the frequency of the appearance of these imageries in the scenes particularly near the end of the film seems to suggest something more. For example, the name of the dental clinic that the protagonist helplessly sought out for - "International Dental Clinic," a place named "Bar - New York," and many other signs of stores/ restaurants in the street that indicated western identification (in korean letters). What does the director suggest through these imageries? While following the western manner of film production (techniques, scenes, etc.), the director, aware and acknowledging the korean audience's "nostalgia for sentimental hollywood melodrama," seems to lament upon this cultural displacement, the spectatorial desire for the other. In a way, the image of the protagonist rejecting the script/ actor position in opposition to the actress and the director (pipe- smoking in a rather pompous manner) seems familiar - perhaps how the director himself would appear to be at the time: as a director producing a work through an artistic medium that is primarily western- origined, facing the cultural scene of the moment - the desire of the mass for the other over the national identity/ cultural values. As a producer of this time period, it is necessary for him to accept the reality of having to follow certain conditions in order to remain being engaged in the field of cinema. Apart from the projected ideas of gender divisions, national crisis, societal issues - how do we perceive this position of the director - as an artist in struggle against the societal/ artistic expectations? (consider the history of the film - having undergone censorship by the government.)