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A Study on the Reorganization of the Theater Space in the 1950s - The Controversy over the Reserved Seating Policy

Lee, Ji-Youn 1

1한국영상자료원

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ABSTRACT

The implementation of the reserved seating system in the mid-1950s was a significant event that restructured the theater space in Korea. Considering the fact that the tense power dynamics cannot but be internalized in all spaces, the theater space in the 1950s was reorganized as various powers and discourses surrounding the reserved seating system came into conflict with each other. By studying various discourses on the reserved seating system, this study aims to examine the power dynamics in the theater space and the aspects of the reorganization of space which resulted from such power dynamics. In November 1955, the Korean government issued an enforcement order to implement a reserved seating system in theaters under the pretext of keeping theaters sanitary and orderly. As this system was abruptly enforced without sufficient agreement within the society, the new policy came under fire at the onset of implementation. The theater industry first voiced concerns about the reserved seating system, which they believed was premature considering the level of profits and the operation of theaters. As part of this argument, the issue of free admissions rose to the surface. An established custom at theaters, free admissions, particularly for disabled veterans, became the topic of a raging controversy. Disabled veterans were socially denied and excluded because of their unhealthy and unproductive bodies, and as a result they were not considered positive existences in terms of the “economy” and “visualness” of theaters. However, when the authorities began to impose restrictions on free admissions at theaters, the concerns of the theater owners and oppositions gradually died down. There were positive reactions to the reserved seating system as well, mainly from the performers and the audience, who acknowledged that the new policy would reorganize theaters into diegetic space of auditory and visual senses while confining unwanted noise to non-diegetic space. In this context, the reserved seating system of the mid 1950s in theaters have transformed and reorganized the theater space. The reserved seating system resolved the issue of free admissions, which were criticized as the root cause of disorderliness and filthiness at theaters, and also eliminated noise and bustle from theaters, thereby serving as a momentum to bring stability to the unstable theater space during the time of turbulence and for Koreans to overcome cultural inferiority.

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