Sinking of Sewol ferry happened on Apr. 16, 2014. Almost three years have passed since the incident, but still unsolved mysteries exist. The incident has left people with indelible scars, which only got deeper as time passed. Current state of affairs including the impeachment process brought the Sewol incident back to the hot topic. As the Sewol incident became an important topic regarding the impeachment, people are trying to remember about the Sewol, in various artistic ways.
Movies
Although there are various kinds of artworks that were influenced by the Sewol incident, movies related to the Sewol affected the society the most than any other artworks. The movie “The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol” was the first non-fiction documentary movie to unmask the true rescue story behind the coverage of major media. There are other documentary movies such as “Cruel State” or “Upside Down” each focused on the struggle or life of bereaved families.
Kim Jin-yeol, the head director of “Cruel State”, mentioned that “Cruel State” contained struggles and emotions that bereaved families have experienced for a year after the incident. He hoped the movie to be the opportunity for public to understand and sympathize the feelings and effort of bereaved families. Approximately 21,000 people have watched “Cruel State” in theater until now, which is relatively successful as an independent movie.
There are movies that are indirectly influenced by the Sewol. The movie “Tunnel” became an issue because of the behavior of characters such as the president or senior officers, were very alike to the behavior of the real people.
Japanese animation movie “Your Name” was also influenced by the Sewol incident according to the director. Shinkai Makoto, the director of “Your Name”, mentioned that the Sewol incident shocked him, especially when he heard that there was a broadcast telling passengers not to move even while the ship was sinking. Actually, there is a scene where the town broadcast tells residents to stay even though the meteor is on the verge of collision.
Music
After the Sewol incident, numerous singers released tribute songs about the Sewol incident. Kim Chang-wan, the leader of legendary Korean band “Sanwoolim”, also released a song named “Yellow Ribbon”, which is a symbol used to commemorate the memory of the Sewol victims. The song was released on Apr. 27, 2014, 11 days after the Sewol incident.
Recently, a Korea rapper Cheetah has released a song named “Yellow Ocean” through a TV program. This shows that although almost 3 years have passed since the Sewol incident, there are still singers who want to bring up the Sewol incident.
Poetry
On Jul. 21, 2014, total 69 poets participated in tribute poetry book named “All of Us was the Sewol.” The day the book was published was about 100 days after the Sewol incident. The poems all contain sorrow and fury towards the reality. All royalties that were supposed to be given to poets were used for voluntary purpose to support the bereaved families.