Abstract

Melo-Movies & Femininity - Based on the Articles in New Women Most of the movies introduced in 「New Women」 were female melo- movies or melodramatic movies considering female audience. Taking notice of it, this essay illuminated the problems of female public emerging as a movie audience, and the characteristics of melo-movies getting settled as female movies, from the viewpoint of feminism. In the early stage of introduction of movies to the Joseon dynasty, women were ignored from the type of audience or used as a strategic tool for male audience. In 1920's, the articles relating to movies in 「New Women」 showed rise of new women as female audience, and revelation of a viewpoint on theater full of rhetorics about love. Since 1930's, the movies of colonial Joseon entered the sound movie days out from the silent movie days. Viewing of foreign sound movies needed literacy to read subtitles, and it meant that the new women educated among the female could be the main audience of the sound movies. The western melo-movies introduced in 「New Women」, was involving as well the characteristic of antifeminism which contributed to solidification of the modern patriarchism through appearance of female baddies disturbing family and love, absolutization of love to children, victory of love between husband and wife, and the conflicting relation between country and family.