{ "id": "epr2m24f63", "slug": "march-of-fools", "title": "March of Fools (바보들의 행진)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "label": "Released 1970 to 1976", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "March of Fools (바보들의 행진) is Ha Gil-jong's 1975 Korean youth comedy-drama adapted from Choi In-ho's novel, following two philosophy students under the Yushin dictatorship; heavily censored, it tied for first in KOFA's 2013 top-100 poll.", "snippet": "March of Fools (바보들의 행진) is Ha Gil-jong's 1975 Korean youth comedy-drama adapted from Choi In-ho's novel, following two philosophy students under the Yushin dictatorship; heavily censored, it tied for first in KOFA's 2013 top-100 poll.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "markdown": "# March of Fools (바보들의 행진)\n\n**March of Fools** (바보들의 행진) is a 1975 South Korean comedy-drama directed by Ha Gil-jong, adapted from Choi In-ho's newspaper novel of the same name, which follows two philosophy students drifting through university life under the Yushin (South Korea's 1972 authoritarian constitution enabling Park Chung-hee's dictatorship) dictatorship of the mid-1970s.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/kofa/publication/dvds/PB_0000000104) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) Produced by Hwacheon Films, it opened in May 1975 and became a box-office success and a generational touchstone, despite losing roughly 20 to more than 30 minutes of footage to state censorship before release, depending on the source.[3](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323) • [4](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20100265) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) In a 2013 poll by the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) of the top 100 Korean films, it placed in a three-way tie for first with *The Housemaid* (1960) and *[The Aimless Bullet](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-aimless-bullet)* (1961).[5](https://eng.koreafilm.or.kr/kofa/publication/dvds/PB_0000000231)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / source | Ha Gil-jong; adapted from Choi In-ho's serialized newspaper novel of the same title[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/kofa/publication/dvds/PB_0000000104) |\n| Release | May 1975 (May 31, 1975 per KOFIC); produced by Hwacheon Films[4](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20100265) • [3](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323) |\n| Cast | Yun Mun-seop as Byeong-tae, Ha Jae-young as Yeong-cheol, Lee Young-ok as Yeong-ja[6](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_000449) |\n| Censorship | Scenario review ordered a full revision with 22 items on December 10, 1974; sources differ on the total cut, and the film opened at roughly 99 minutes[3](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) |\n| Box office | 153,780 admissions in South Korea[7](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=2749) |\n| Banned music | Song Chang-sik's \"Why Are You Calling\" (왜 불러) and \"Whale Hunting\" (고래사냥), from the soundtrack, were banned for their association with student protest[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) |\n| Canonical status | Three-way tie for first in KOFA's 2013 poll of the top 100 Korean films[5](https://eng.koreafilm.or.kr/kofa/publication/dvds/PB_0000000231) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and characters\n\nThe film follows Byeong-tae (Yun Mun-seop), a philosophy student, and his friend Yeong-cheol (Ha Jae-young), an aimless young man who dreams of catching a pretty whale, through blind dates, drinking contests, hair inspections, and brushes with the police.[6](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_000449) • [8](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=37) Byeong-tae meets Yeong-ja (Lee Young-ok), a French literature student, through a group meeting; their relationship stays at the level of meeting and talking, with no promise of love.[4](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20100265)\n\nThe opening sequence has the two young men fleeing a policeman who is trying to apprehend them for their long hair, ending with them caught and taken to a police box, from which they escape.[8](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=37) • [9](https://theme.archives.go.kr/next/koreaOfRecord/Long-term.do) The tone starts as a bawdy college comedy and shifts toward melancholy as the characters confront a society with no bright future for their generation.[10](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/LKFF19-Brochure.pdf) • [8](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=37) It closes with two of the most-remembered scenes in Korean cinema: Yeong-cheol cycling off a cliff into the East Sea, and the shorn Byeong-tae departing for military service on a troop train while Yeong-ja runs alongside and kisses him through the window.[8](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=37) • [11](https://lareviewofbooks.org/blog/the-korea-blog/march-fools-college-comedy-darkened-dictatorship/)\n\n## Censorship under the Yushin regime\n\n**The film was shaped by censorship at every stage.** Hwacheon Films submitted the scenario to the Korean Arts and Culture Ethics Committee, a body under the Ministry of Culture and [Information](https://www.edgepedia.org/information), on November 28, 1974. On December 10 it received notice that, because the flagged problems were too numerous, a full revision was required; the deletion and modification instructions covered 22 items across three pages, including a scene of Yeong-cheol striking the same pose as the [Yi Sun-sin](https://www.edgepedia.org/yi-sun-sin) statue at [Gwanghwamun](https://www.edgepedia.org/gwanghwamun) on the ground that it might give the impression of insulting a revered figure. A revised script submitted on December 13 drew nine more deletion and modification orders on December 18. After the production registration moved to the ministry's film division, a further notice on December 30 objected that the subject itself, depicting the listless youth of university districts, had many problems, and ordered 11 or more cuts and revisions. Production was approved on January 23, 1975.[3](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323)\n\nThe finished film fared no better. The trailer passed on April 14, 1975 only with two screen deletions and one dialogue deletion; the main feature, submitted on April 30, received its verdict on May 13 with five screen deletions, three dialogue deletions, and four screen shortenings, along with an adults-only rating.[3](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323) Sources differ on the scale of the losses: the film scholar Jeong Jong-hwa, a senior researcher at KOFA, writes that the film was completed at 117 minutes and released at 99 after close to 20 minutes of cuts,[3](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323) while the Film Society of Lincoln Center states that more than 30 minutes were lost at the script and print stages.[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) Among the excised material were a scene of Byeong-tae fighting a Japanese man in a bar, a scene of the two protagonists stripping a woman's clothes at a police station, and a demonstration scene.[7](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=2749)\n\nRather than hiding the damage, Ha chose to leave the traces of censorship exposed on screen, which is why the film's rhythm collapses in its later episodes; the critic Jeong Jong-hwa treats this decision as the reason a compromised film became a landmark problem work of Korean film history.[3](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323) The film scholar Jeon Woo-hyung argues that the film devised a cinematic language responding to censorship, and that passing through the state's layers of review made it, paradoxically, a better film and a break with Korean cinema's earlier conventions.[12](https://k-knowledge.kr/srch/read.jsp?id=270504902)\n\n## Youth culture of the 1970s\n\nThe film is regarded as the representative youth film of 1970s Korea, built on draft beer, blue jeans, acoustic guitars, folk songs, and university students, along with resistance to and gloom about the times.[6](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_000449) • [13](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART001552779) Its long-hair crackdown scenes reflect real policy: an October 1, 1971 newspaper report described the start of the \"scissors\" campaign against \"decadent trends,\" in which 1,164 people had their heads forcibly shaved and were released with a warning, under a standard targeting hair covering the ears or longer than a woman's bob.[9](https://theme.archives.go.kr/next/koreaOfRecord/Long-term.do) The film treats such controls, along with curfews and slogans, as the disciplinary texture of everyday life under the regime, and its protagonists' \"march\" reads as a refusal to serve as docile bodies.[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) • [14](https://www.sangjoonlee.com/_files/ugd/5a1697_dbfc7c8246784847b2c2a9f580a95011.pdf)\n\nSong Chang-sik's songs on the soundtrack, \"Why Are You Calling\" and \"Whale Hunting,\" carried the emotional energy of this youth culture and were themselves banned after release for their association with student protest.[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) • [15](https://cinemaanthology.com/korean/films/the-march-of-fools/)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film was a commercial and critical success, drawing 153,780 admissions and praise from the press, and it established Ha Gil-jong as a director of standing in Chungmuro after the box-office failures of *The Flower Pot* (1972) and *Fidelity* (1973).[7](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=2749) • [3](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323) Its success produced a \"Byeong-tae syndrome\" among audiences and led to a sequel, *Byung-tae and Young-ja* (1979), which became Ha's final film; he directed seven features in the mid to late 1970s and died young.[16](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002197698) • [10](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/LKFF19-Brochure.pdf) • [17](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002273601) Ha had studied film at UCLA, where he was a classmate of [Francis Ford Coppola](https://www.edgepedia.org/francis-ford-coppola), and on returning to Korea co-founded the *Yeongsang Sidae* (The Era of the Image) movement, which brought New Wave restlessness and American New Cinema energy into Korean commercial filmmaking.[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) • [11](https://lareviewofbooks.org/blog/the-korea-blog/march-fools-college-comedy-darkened-dictatorship/)\n\n**Preservation and reevaluation** have kept the film in circulation. KOFA digitally remastered it in 2013 and in 2014 released it, together with *The Housemaid*, as one of the first two titles of its Blu-ray Collection; the release includes the censorship documents, a compilation of the excised footage, and two audio commentaries, by the critic Jung Sung-il in Korean and Darcy Paquet in English.[5](https://eng.koreafilm.or.kr/kofa/publication/dvds/PB_0000000231) The film has since screened in international retrospectives, including a Ha Gil-jong series at the Harvard Film Archive in 2017 and a 2K remaster premiere at the Walter Reade Theater.[4](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20100265) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/) Scholars also credit it with influence on 1980s filmmakers who smuggled political statements past the censors under the guise of genre pictures.[18](https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/blog/posts/korean-cinema-before-the-wave/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [바보들의 행진(1975, 블루레이) < 블루레이/DVD < 발간물 < 기관소개 - 한국영상자료원](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/kofa/publication/dvds/PB_0000000104)\n2. [The March of Fools, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-march-of-fools/)\n3. [정종화의 충무로 클래식: 검열을 딛고 선 한국의 뉴시네마, Cine21 (2021)](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?idx=0&mag_id=98323)\n4. [The March of Fools (1975), Korean Film Archive/KOFIC](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20100265)\n5. [The March of Fools, Blu-ray/DVDs, KOFA](https://eng.koreafilm.or.kr/kofa/publication/dvds/PB_0000000231)\n6. [바보들의 행진, 시네마테크KOFA, 한국영상자료원](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_000449)\n7. [바보들의 행진 상세정보, Cine21](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=2749)\n8. [Ko-pick: Capturing Korea's Young Generation, KOFA](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=37)\n9. [기록으로 만나는 대한민국 > 사회 > 장발단속, 국가기록원](https://theme.archives.go.kr/next/koreaOfRecord/Long-term.do)\n10. [The March of Fools, London Korean Film Festival 2019 brochure](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/LKFF19-Brochure.pdf)\n11. [The March of Fools: a College Comedy Darkened by Dictatorship, Los Angeles Review of Books](https://lareviewofbooks.org/blog/the-korea-blog/march-fools-college-comedy-darkened-dictatorship/)\n12. [전우형, 〈바보들의 행진〉(하길종, 1975)의 검열 표상, KMDb (2018)](https://k-knowledge.kr/srch/read.jsp?id=270504902)\n13. [1970년대 실험영화집단 카이두 클럽과 한옥희 감독 연구, KCI](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART001552779)\n14. [Sangjoon Lee (ed.), chapter on The March of Fools: The Resistant Spirit and Its Limits](https://www.sangjoonlee.com/_files/ugd/5a1697_dbfc7c8246784847b2c2a9f580a95011.pdf)\n15. [The March of Fools, Cinema Anthology](https://cinemaanthology.com/korean/films/the-march-of-fools/)\n16. [이효인, 〈바보들의 행진〉의 탈구심적 미학, 현대영화연구 13-1 (2017)](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002197698)\n17. [하길종 영화: 1970년대 저항문화 재현, Humanities Contents 46 (2017)](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002273601)\n18. [Korean Cinema: Before the Wave, National Museum of Asian Art](https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/blog/posts/korean-cinema-before-the-wave/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/march-of-fools", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/march-of-fools.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"March of Fools (바보들의 행진)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/march-of-fools. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[March of Fools (바보들의 행진)](https://www.edgepedia.org/march-of-fools)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/march-of-fools](https://www.edgepedia.org/march-of-fools). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"March of Fools (바보들의 행진)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/march-of-fools. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "March of Fools is Ha Gil-jong's 1975 Korean youth comedy-drama adapted from Choi In-ho's novel, following two philosophy students under the Yushin dictatorship; heavily censored, it tied for first in KOFA's 2013 top-100 poll." }