대중서사연구
- P-ISSN1738-3188
- E-ISSN2713-9964
ISSN : 1738-3188
Vol.23 No.2
Abstract
This research reexamines Korean societal perspectives on migration/dispersion as a cover for the concept of Korean social imagination, and newly interprets the mythologized process of the “family narrative” (à la Roland Barthes), including restructuring the identity of the subjects (e.g., gender identity). In approaching this research, I analyzed the narrative and characters of Choecheok jeon, which is assumed to be a fictional story written in the vernacular hangeul that circulated in the 17th century and focuses on the conditions of a “wandering/migrating/drifting” life and the concept positive outcomes to the migrational experience. I suggest an analytic methodology for understanding traditional Korean thought, imagination, and viewpoints on the “object/subject/phenomenon” surrounding migration/dispersion and also a reflective take on Korean classical studies. By emphasizing the “non-script-affective” elements, I shed new light on the oppressed emotions of the migrating/wandering subjects: how their unspoken emotions affect their inner mind, and how they are regarded as “non-existent things.” Through analyzing the relationships, attitudes, and behaviors of the Other vis-à-vis the migration-subject, I argue that problematic issues involving social prejudice and suppression reposition “those who cannot return” as people relegated to incomplete existences. For this research I analyze the various and multi-layered motivations behind the wandering life as presented in Choecheon jeon, including opportunities and conditions, social status and position of the subject, and the relationship with Others and, using Judith Butler’s concept of “identity competence,” I reinterpret the way the subject is shaped in/voluntarily by his/her sociocultural environment and the self-transformation and restructuring implied in the problem of identity transformation, disguise, concealment, and regulation the wanderer experiences. If the migration-subjects disguise their identities consciously, ironically it means that they already understand “authenticity”and “value.” They mistakenly believe they can hide their identity and therefore try to disguise themselves; the resulting emotional anguish becomes thoroughly concealed, like a transparent object. From a gendered perspective, the female protagonist Ogyeong repositions her identity as “a man unable to reach the measure of a man” in order to survive and maintain a peaceful relationship with the surveillance-prisoner, control-obedience society in a male-centric foreign land. This attempt at self-concealment and substitute-performance is represented as an effective way to assimilate, hinting at the migration-subject’s social positionality already in 17th-century Joseon fiction. In this research I also analyze the structure of fictional imagination in the text: in the process of migration, the subjects must build a self-philosophy in order to exist ethically as human beings regardless of nationality, ethnicity, locality, or language barriers.
Abstract
This paper examines the changes of agricultural community and the native’s response to the changes in the colonial Korea, and the internal ruptures in Japanese imperialism by reading of Kim Nam-Cheon’s short story “A Beautiful Story(美談)” with a focus on the concept of “diaspora”. Kim Nam-Cheon’s short story concerns the diasporization of a colonial Korean peasant, and his ensuing death. Park Wal-Soo -a tenant farmer- becomes the hero of “a beautiful story” due to his diligence. He choices to become a wage-labourer when his agricultural village is reorganized due to Japanese gold mining and rural development policies. His choice induces the potentialization of his diasporic emotions which in turn lead to his excessive actions and ultimate death (a mark of his failure to negotiate his identity). The excessive actions and death of the native diaspora serve to demonstrate both the violence of Japanese colonial control and his double “diasporic intervention” in the modernized=colonized world. First, his excessive actions can be considered attempts to recover a lost home (even though it may be in an imaginative way). and second, the character’s death can be perceived as the implosion of the wage-labourer and the modernized=colonized world both. This paper’s emamination of the concept of diaspora and diasporic emotion sheds light on the existence of the modern colonial subject (dislocation), and the rupturability of the imperialist systems within which the native diaspora lives. This point may be the scandal of imperialism, which is hard to capture in terms of national antagonisms or control/resistance.
Abstract
This paper deals with cross-border immigra rampant in Korean society. link the diasporato political, economic and social problems and Korea. macro/micro viewpoint n Migration across the border is an unavoidable phenomenon due to the globalization of capital, and characterized by the feminization of migration. In Korea, mmigrant bodies have in Korean societyone of the reasons why ocial position unstable and vulnerable. The social position of immigrant women even worse in society. atred is a social emotion hierarchy of class, gender, and racial differences. atred is usually expressed in a routine and unconscious mannerhe manifestation of structural and institutionalized discrimination against social others in society. Kumhee’s novel “Okwha” “Nomad” and Korean film “Missing”. that racial hatred is hidden as atechnique for social unrest.
Abstract
In this article, we draw attention to the “moving subject ” known as “Youke.” The definition of Youke, which refers to Chinese tourists who visit South Korea, does not seem to make sense. First, these individuals are not Chinese, because the term does not encompass Chinese who dwell, work, study, and so on in South Korea. Second, such people are not tourists, because the term excludes tourists who visit and tour other countries. That is, Youke is a narrative fabricated and elaborated upon by Koreans, particularly among agents in the tourism industry, government, public institutions, and media, among other areas of society. This article examines how place, affect, and historical memory intertwine to determime the narrative strategies of representing the moving subjects, stepping beyond the diaspora discourse which has been predominant in dealing with them. In conclusion, we call for affective geographies of the mobility of travel and tourism and the immobility of conflict and confrontation struggling with discourses to represent mobility, subject and places on East Asia.
Abstract
This study discusses fanfiction as a form of contemporary popular literature and the different narrative elements that typically serve to generate works of fanfiction. The study examines principles of fanfiction generation in relation to the possible world theory of Lubomir Dolozel and Marie-Laure Ryan.They stated that the possible world which success a particular protoworld is created by quotation, transposition, displacement, and expansion of the precedent world. There are four common types of fanfiction, each of which either preserves or transforms characters or worlds. What is known as “after” fanfiction preserves both characters and worlds while extrap olating upon narrative in terms of time and space. “Self-insert” fanfiction reflects the desires of users to enter the world of a given story. “Crossover” fanfiction arises from the desire to mix different story worlds together, while “alternate universe” fanfiction reconstructs worlds through the user's imagination. This study will examine the generating principles of fanfiction by examining various reproduction patterns across each of its forms. The study concludes that fanfiction is predominantly generated in relation to developing aspects of characters and worlds.
Abstract
The contemporary era has been diagnosed by many as an age of catastrophes. Zombie narratives, which speak to this sense of catastrophe, force viewers to confront the bare facts of a world on the edge of ruin. Yeon Sang-Ho’s “Train to Busan” succeeded in breaking the notion that the zombie genre is difficult to present in Korea. Therefore, this study examines contemporary Korean society using Giorgio Agamben’s concepts of the “state of exception” and “homo sacer” in relation to Yeon’s “Train to Busan” and “Seoul Station.” Yeon, it is argued, combines the characteristics of the “running zombie” and the “walking zombie” to convey zombies as both social and political beings, through the inversion between zombies and humans. In these films, zombies consistently resemble homeless people and runaway youths, reminding us that they are the others in our society, or, the homo sacers who are excluded from life. On the other hand, humans represent the ugly monsters of neoliberalism that seek to eliminate and destroy the others in extreme competition. This situation is because the state of exception in Korean society is gradually expanding and becoming permanent. The films of Yeon Sang-Ho depict both the ubiquitous state of exception and the ugly human figures that can become monsters within the state. In the films, characters constantly dream of returning to daily life, though these dreams always lead to inevitable destruction, suggesting that the state of exception will continue indefinitely. “Train to Busan” and “Seoul Station” suggest that the state of exception is now full-scale due to systemic aspects of public power and selfish individuals who internalize the state. At the same time, Yeon offers some hope at the end of his films. While the hope in “Train to Busan” appears naïve, as the film ends with the survival of a pregnant woman and child, the finale of “Seoul Station” suggests the possibility of the other’s ability to overthrow the “potentias” that be and escape extreme situations of catastrophe.
Abstract
Intertextuality between literature and music is established via the combination of literature and music (e.g., operas, musicals, etc.), the application of musical devices in literature, and the application of literary devices in music (e.g., program music). Language and music form a complementary relationship, as "they entirely differ from one another but merge together to create beautiful harmony." To use German examples, Hermann Hesse referred to the fugue technique of Johann Sebastian Bach and the sonata form of the music of the Classical era as intertextual in nature, while Thomas Mann was interested in the leitmotif of Richard Wagner and the atonal twelve-tone technique of Arnold Schönberg. Such intertextuality has been employed by writers from both the East and the West. This research paper focuses on the Slavism that is reflected in the musical world of Milan Kundera’s literature. In particular, Leoš Janáček's music, which had a considerable impact on Milan Kundera, is noteworthy in terms of intertextuality in that it "originated from the rhythm and accent in the speeches and songs of farmers in Moravia," and thus has an ethnic nature, rather than a traditional one, and is a unique work created at the border of East and West. This research concerns the "possibility of a new writing" and "experimental narratives" in the works of Kundera in relation to a variety of relevant studies, including Mi-Young Chang's study of the counterpoint technique in novels, Ji-Yong Chung's study of polyphonic narrative technique, and Yong-Whan Chung's study of structural ambivalences in the literary world. However, this research has limitations in recognizing a systematic relation between Kundera's literary works and musical worlds therein (i.e., interrelation between musical forms and literary contents). Therefore, this research limits its examination to Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, within which a musical point of view is clearly reflected, examining the narrative and music of Kundera's literary world in relation to Janáček's musical technique. The narratives of the novel’s main characters, including Thomas, Tereza, Sabina, and Franz, are compared to a string quartet, counterpoint and polyphonic techniques in the novel are considered key aspects of its narrative (i.e., with regard to freedom, salvation, and kitsch), and different musical forms (i.e., fugue, sonata, and rondo) and dynamics (i.e., fortissimo, prestissimo, pianissimo, adagio, etc.) in the novel are viewed as reflecting different intentions of the author. This research paper relies on inductive inferences, and thus aims at narrowing the gap between facts and errors. In addition, this research paper utilizes a text translated into Korean as its basic reference material, and thus has certain limitations in terms of providing in-depth analysis on the close relationship between the original language and different musical notes. However, this research paper analyzes the correlation between the structure and perspective of the novel’s narrative and the forms and instructions (i.e., dynamics and agogics) of music to emphasize the dramatic effects of intertextuality.
Abstract
This paper analyzes the popular TV drama The Chaser, which began broadcasting in 2012. This typical “revenge drama” conveys feelings and affects such as rage, anxiety, and victimization that are felt by many contemporary individuals. Furthermore, the show expresses the ideology of neoconservatism whereby it endeavor to overcome the present social crisis via adherence to conservative values. This drama, which depicts the desperate struggle and victory of an ordinary head of the household over a giant structural evil, re-presents the dichotomy of hero versus villain as good-natured but weak individual versus bad and powerful society in an extended critique of individualism. The individual in this drama is a male hero who goes blind with vengeance and turns to violence on account of losing his lovely daughter and wife. While the character shows excessive sentimentality and empathy, he also shows excessive masculinity. The character is no different than the image of the hero as the subject of neoliberal struggle. The character’s motivations for revenge are paternal love and family loyalty. Healing the evil immorality and ignorance of his society requires a devoted and unconditional love for family members. It is even more problematic to justify the violence of the others such as women, weak people, in justification the value of the individual and family. The Chaser can be interpreted as a neoconservative text that promotes the restoration of family principles as a means of overcoming political, economic and moral crises in the wake of a financial crisis.
Abstract
Generally girls on screen are non-personsin the family and society whose futures are protected and decided by their parents. However, girls in recent Korean films have become highly sensitive to the ethics and morals of a falling nation, including its society and institutions. These girls are not merely building their own world at the center of a film, but also serve as leaders of the future, like in Hyojin (Kim Wanhee) The Wailing (2016). This essay examines Kim Saeron’s performance in A Brand New Life (2009). Saeron is used as a starting point to discuss the “new-girl” or “saeron-sonyeo” in recent Korean films, a figure with strong subjectivity who frequently challenges the patriarchal system and its capitalist cultural markets. Saeron plays a girl who is branded a “little monster” and thrown out of the patriarchal system. While she portrays pain and despair, as an actress, Saeron presents a strong and tough-girl image. She has been positioned by herself as an irreplaceable actress, establishing motives for turning point of special perception as subject at each phase of her physical growth. In her films Saeron-Sonyeo secures her own sense of identity, refusing to fall into the pitfalls of the male-centered pornographic eroticism pursued in the mass culture economy of “girl-products.” The origin of the Saeron-Sonyeo character, Saeron deconstructs myths of girl-ness and refreshes them with a “macho” feminine quality in relation to civil society. Saeron-Sonyeo serves to disrupt patriarchal systems and for the sake of social equality. This essay interprets the Saeron-Sonyeo character as a feminist warrior that speaks to feminist and democratic values, such as human rights, love, freedom, and (gender) equality.
Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyze the mode of characterization in the television series entitled “Hur Jun.” The method of characterization in “Hur Jun” is differentiated from that of other historical dramas, in that the complex and dynamic arrangement of the real-life figures and fictional characters allows a variety of dramatic functions to be configured. The characters that appear in this drama are largely divided into historical (actual) and fictional characters. The historical characters reinforce the realism of the drama, facilitating the acceptance of stories related to Hur Jun by viewers as true facts, while the fictional characters help further flesh out the character of Hur Jun. Though the historical characters shape the story framework of “Hur Jun,” the writer bolsters the ideological implications of the drama through its subplots featuring complex groupings of the fictional characters. First, the central narrative revolves around Hur Jun and Yoo Ui-tae, the historical characters who actually existed. The main plot focuses on the evolution of Hur Jun from a seoja (illegitimate son) maturing into a hero through the repeated pattern of episodes, namely, ‘Hur Jun given a task à trial à tension (crisis) à overcoming.’ Yoo Ui-tae discovers Hur Jun’s talent and supports him through the training of his skills as a doctor and as a person. The scenes of training of Hur Jun by Yoo Ui-tae were built on an appeal to humanism, which met viewers’ expectations and subsequently elicited viewer engagement and empathy. Next, the fictional characters in “Hur Jun” serve as supporters of Hur Jun. The episodes connected with the supporting characters constitute the subplots and each of such episodes strengthen and reinforce the overarching theme of the drama. Not only do these supporting roles enrich the drama as a whole, but they also add substance to the character of Hur Jun. The dramatic structure that feature the diverse supporting characters helps lighten the mood and turn this otherwise serious and somber historical drama into a more light-hearted drama. It also allows viewers to better understand the story and make inferences about what will happen just by having the supporting characters appear because the supporting characters are clearly delineated. The functions of the female supporting characters are particularly worthy of note: In “Hur Jun,” there are Da-hee, Hur Jun’s wife, and Lady Ye-jin, a nurse. Unlike previous historical dramas featuring male characters as protagonists, Da-hee and Ye-jin are actively involved in the growth of the male character Hur Jun. Da-hee, a supporting character in the domestic sphere, and Ye-jin, a supporting character in the public sphere, each play a pivotal role in the success of Hur Jun as a doctor. Dae-hee makes up for the deficiency of Hur Jun’s role as the head of their household, while Ye-jin aids Hur Jun’s growth in his medical career. If these female supporting characters were only the love interests of Hur Jun, it would have been difficult for the drama to remain faithful to the overall theme and maintain tension. In the drama “Hur Jun,” melodramatic and comedy-dramatic elements, which seldom coexist in other historical dramas, are realized in the characterization of such fictional characters as Da-hee, Ye-jin, Im Oh-geun, and Hong Chun. These characteristics of the drama allowed “Hur Jun” to be recognized as a new form of historical drama that offers viewers messages and entertainment at the same time.
Abstract
In a discussion of characters’ behaviors in the Korean soap opera Cheese in the Trap, this study explores how jealousy and envy, aggravated by a relative evaluation that controls an individual’s ability to create one’s life and sense of self-worth, serves to affect an individual’s thoughts and behaviors in postmodern Korean society. In this drama, poor students struggle in poor economic conditions that make them feel jealousy and envy toward relatively rich students. While jealousy and envy could motivate these students to work harder for a better personal future, these feelings only make them discouraged and depressed. They know that, ultimately, “the winner takes all” in their society. Moreover, they realize that simply living a “good” life is the most difficult goal. Individuals can truly understand the minds of others and define what is a good life for themselves, this paper argues, only through the open admission that negative emotions such as jealousy and envy force people to rigorously compete with one another.
Abstract
Drawing on Fredric Jameson’s The Antinomies of Realism (2013), this paper discusses the concept of “affect” in relation to the recent academic discourse on literary realism. A globally renowned scholar of modernism and postmodernim in the late twentieth century, Jameson reexamines realism in relation to feeling, or "affect," an aspect of examination that has been absent from the studies of realism over the past century. The concept of affect and its Korean translation have became the source of much controversy in 2016 in South Korea. Jameson discusses “affect,” a term that originates in the philosophy of Spinoza, as a key element in distinguishing realism from modernism. This study reconsiders notions of realism in terms of what Jameson calls the "twin sources of realism," namely, "the impulse of narrative" and "affect" including his thought on temporality and fate. Finally, the paper also reconsiders the binary opposition between the individual and the collective.