KJC Korea
Journal Central

The 『Three Times』 of Hou Hsiao-hsien is a movie about rumination. He looks back coordinate of aesthetic time and space that he had walked on until that time. I read this movie as a road movie. A road movie of remembering the memory of ethnic-nation. For this, this study requires the concept of ‘tour’ as methodology. This study is a kind of exploring note in which thoughts risen in the course of ‘tour’ were organized. This study finds a clue to interpret this movie at a Taiwan song ‘farewell of seaport’ (1937). Hou Hsiao-hsien borrows modern emotional cords of ‘dream of love’, ‘dream of freedom’ and ‘dream of adolescence’ from lyric of this song. And then he put these as chapter titles of three episodes of this movie. In this way, this movie become a geography of memory on formation of Taiwan’s modern times or ethnic-nation. The memory is beyond of a path of simple rumination in this geography. So the ‘most beautiful time’ becomes no more a lacking form, but a existing form of now and here. There are two kinds of memories. The memory is a past tense to someone, but memory remains as eternal presence to someone. If we could call former one as a ‘memory which is only a trace and classification of the past’, the later one becomes a ‘memory without past’. Hou Hsiao-hsien looks like hovering between these two memories ceaselessly. The trace of this hovering is the itinerary of people’s walking that this movie shows.

What the Laozi(老子) seeks is mildness and is the image in the form of a child. As in Daoism, the mildness was thought to be life of Gwonbeop(拳法) even in Taijiquan(太 極拳). The Daojia thinkers regarded RouRuo(柔弱) as an important element that conceives and grows human life. In other words, what is strong and firm was thought to proceed with being gradually dead in reality even if seeming to dominate and control the world. According to this, their major thought is what sees that being flexible and weak grows and dominates all things in the world. Song(鬆) was emphasized even in Taijiquan(太極拳), which was influenced by Laozi RouRuo(老子 柔弱). As Song(鬆) is what makes a human being’s mind and body soft, it is the secret code(秘典) that will need to be certainly kept in improving Taijiquan(太極 拳). Taijiquan is a kind of martial arts, but stressed mildness and slowness beyond the conventional thought. This can be known to have close relationship with RouRuo(柔弱) that was pursued by the Daojia thinkers. The Daojia theorists thought that practicing RouRuo(柔弱) in real life can lead to making it smooth for a flow of QiXue(氣血), which is necessary for maintaining a human being’s health. Perfecting the movement of Taijiquan(太極拳), which is Song(鬆) and slow, has the same effect of making it smooth for a flow of QiXue(氣血), which was stressed by the Daojia thinkers. As Song(鬆) is the heart(要諦) of Taijiquan, it is an important element that promotes a human being’s Gongryeok(功力) and health.

Beijing Opera and Joseph Campbell’s diagram of a heroic myth can be called the world’s two largest code of the current Culture Industry. A Study on Beijing Opera from the viewpoint of Joseph Campbell’s diagram of a heroic myth focuses on contents of Beijing Opera differently from existing study which focused on forms of Beijing Opera so it is crucial for Beijing Opera resurrection. Joseph Campbell’s myth theory came from theory of C. G Jung which came from the pattern of Orient thinking method, so theory comparison of the Beijing Opera generative theory and Joseph Campbell’s myth theory and is not so difficult. A brief comparison shows the commons of two circulation theory can be typicality, heroism and characteristics of Non-dailiness. Typicality, heroism and characteristics of Non-dailiness opposed to each other but can maximize the effectiveness of symmetry of Heroes circulation. In this process, the role of heroism is to harmonize the universality of typicality and the discriminability of Non-dailiness. Circulation composed of three factors. The first is verticality to causing the first separation, the second is the horizontality to maintain the verticality, and the third is the transcendental solidity to continue the verticality and horizontality. Samgang (Three Bonds) and Oryun (Five Interpersonal Relations), Ethical system representative of the East can be also regarded circulation with verticality, horizontality and solidity. Typically Chinese Zodiac Sign and Joseph Campbell’s monomyth have 12 level of circulation and 7 characters who backup circulation in commons. Heroically characters of Beijing Opera and Joseph Campbell’s myth performs in works. Beijing Opera and the works based on Joseph Campbell’s myth gave the impression using the method of Brecht’s ‘Defamiliarization’ The famous Beijing Opera ‘Farewell My Concubine’ can be compared to works ‘Thor’, ‘Casablanca’, and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ all of which came from Joseph Campbell’s myth theory. The analysis of Beijing opera shows the impression Beijing opera gave came from not only the beauty of form but also harmonization of plot and this can be crucial for resurrection of Beijing opera.

The reason why we are worthy of notice on the texts which was written in 1920-30 in Korea based on the Chinese character “Mulan”(「Mulanshi(木蘭詩」)- such as 『Giingisalok』 『Ilsayusa』 「Bunang」 『Byungjaimjinlok』- is that they had reflected the spirit and culture of the age and cultivated important cultural domains- especially the social status of women in modern Korean society. Women’s participation and contributions in the March 1 movement which played an important role in the efforts for the independence of Korea multi-cultural aspects caused the publication of female heroic novels in which women should challenge to acquire new life through the overcoming of pain and gained the improved women’s social status. These texts had chosen motif of mulan’s male attire, participation in a war on behalf of he father, changed her name as ‘Bunang’ and put her into the stage of Korean history - Lee-Guwal’ riot. The keypoint we should focus is thant insead of Chung-Chungshin who was the real hero of history, Bunang’s heroic aspects like the bravery, resource, brightness and challenge spirit as a woman had been magnified. In the 1920∼30 colonial era which could be classified as a part of Korea history of the patriotism and cultural enlightenment that people tried to maintain the traditional Korean values and ethnic characteristics, Moklan had been evolved its cultural images by adaptation of the atmosphere of the Japan colonial era based on the popular intimacy, the character as a minority woman, the ethical sensitivity and free love as well as the interests to a woman in male attire.