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Police, Violation of the Law, Desertion and The Context of These Situations - Theatre of Youth and Trilogy of Ah Ro-woon as Student Soldier Roman -
Journal of Popular Narrative
2010, (24),
pp.43-77
DOI :10.18856/jpn.2010..24.002
Publisher : The Association of Popular Narrative
Research Area : Interdisciplinary Research
DOI :10.18856/jpn.2010..24.002
Publisher : The Association of Popular Narrative
Research Area : Interdisciplinary Research
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This paper explores the state of lives of Chosun's youth under Japanese imperialistic rule during the Second World War. The specific analysis focuses on student soldiers, which are identities appeared in conjunction with biopolitics of military empire. Additionally, I intended a close examination of how their stories were recorded and consumed after the liberation. The student soldiers who were forcibly taken to a war waged by the colonizers belonged to different social stratum than that of the volunteer soldiers of mid-low-class backgrounds who appeared after 1938. The reason these student soldiers, the beneficiaries of higher education, were able to locate their positions within the horizon of national suffering and the building of a nation-state, while leaving records regarding the war and nation, is attributed to their high level of literacy. In this social and cultural context, student soldiers became a symbol of the nation's depression and delight. The imagination of popular student soldier roman shared the same framework, influencing the post-colonial collective memory and the formation of popular sensitivity. Kim Nae-Seong’s Youth Theatre and Han Woon-Sa’s Trilogy of Ah Ro-woon are representative of popular roman portraying student soldiers. Through these works, the ontology of the young colonial elite is located as a major content of post colonial cultural products and was consumed on a large scale. Both texts employ the motif of 'desertion' as the main narrative plot. Desertion is a violation of the law which break the law-order and police system of the empire during a time of war. Analyzing the cultural and political significance of the law and violations of the law that appear in these two works, this following thesis seeks to examine the historical and symbolic meaning of an empire’s governance and the agency who is trying to escape from the power of an empire.
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