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@article{ART002375661},
author={Jungok Lee},
title={The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest},
journal={Journal of Popular Narrative},
issn={1738-3188},
year={2018},
volume={24},
number={3},
pages={393-437},
doi={10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012}

TY - JOUR
AU - Jungok Lee
TI - The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest
JO - Journal of Popular Narrative
PY - 2018
VL - 24
IS - 3
PB - The Association of Popular Narrative
SP - 393
EP - 437
SN - 1738-3188
AB - This paper scrutinizes The Secret Forest, which has been praised as a well-made TV drama series, as work of crime fiction. While the approach in the previous study on the TV drama has confined The Secret Forest to the drama genre that touches up on a detective or crime-investigation narrative, this study analyzes The Secret Forest with the wider viewpoint encompassing crime fiction. The Secret Forest is a crime fiction equipped with both criticism and entertainment; it interweaves social issues that expose corruption in contemporary Korean society in the guise of the popular speculative drama genre. The narrative of The Secret Forest is constructed in layers where crime investigation overlaps with design of concealment and exploration. The result is a frame narrative. The space of the ‘secret forest’ is the trope that illustrates the corrupt and exclusive arena of the Prosecutors Office and its accumulated powers and wealth in politics and indictment. In this space, corrupt figures conform to the times of darkness and are engulfed in private ownership and personal interests. In contrast, political thinkers resist to escape from such darkness and corruption. Throughout the series, the corrupt society is accused and accused with disillusionment by these corrupt figures and the hope of eradicating corruption and ushering in a new era is sought by the political thinkers. Previous studies on the Korean style of crime fiction or TV drama have been fragmented or stopped at the level of journalism. In this respect, the aim of this paper can be seen to be a search for a niche of academic discussions on The Secret Forest in terms of the theory of crime fiction. However, it puts more weight on analyzing The Secret Forest itself. Thus, a further study on the genealogical or historical trends of Korean crime fiction should be researched.
KW - crime fiction;the corrupt society;moral reason;moral emotion;a corpse-as-signifier;political thinking;disillusive accusation;paradoxical illusion
DO - 10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012
ER -

Jungok Lee. (2018). The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest. Journal of Popular Narrative, 24(3), 393-437.

Jungok Lee. 2018, "The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest", Journal of Popular Narrative, vol.24, no.3 pp.393-437. Available from: doi:10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012

Jungok Lee "The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest" Journal of Popular Narrative 24.3 pp.393-437 (2018) : 393.

Jungok Lee. The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest. 2018; 24(3), 393-437. Available from: doi:10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012

Jungok Lee. "The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest" Journal of Popular Narrative 24, no.3 (2018) : 393-437.doi: 10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012

Jungok Lee. The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest. Journal of Popular Narrative, 24(3), 393-437. doi: 10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012

Jungok Lee. The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest. Journal of Popular Narrative. 2018; 24(3) 393-437. doi: 10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012

Jungok Lee. The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest. 2018; 24(3), 393-437. Available from: doi:10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012

Jungok Lee. "The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest" Journal of Popular Narrative 24, no.3 (2018) : 393-437.doi: 10.18856/jpn.2018.24.3.012