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An Ethics of Subaltern toward the Future

  • Journal of Popular Narrative
  • 2024, 30(2), pp.375-403
  • DOI : 10.18856/jpn.2024.30.2.011
  • Publisher : The Association of Popular Narrative
  • Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Interdisciplinary Research
  • Received : April 28, 2024
  • Accepted : June 20, 2024
  • Published : June 30, 2024

Lee Jae-Yong 1

1인하대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article was revealing the unique structure of repetition in Park Chan-Wook's film "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance", through analysis of its temporal framework and narrative. time and narrative. It is also revistis the themes of revenge and atonement depicted in the film. The plot of "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" has the structure of preparing, executing, re-executing revenge, and ending. During the re-execution process, the subject were changed, from the main character Geum-ja to the parents of the victims, that is 'giving up revenge'. In this process, the central character narration and character voice-over were used. In particular, it was revealed that the central narrator(a voice of middle-aged woman) who was Jenny at the end of the work , the daughter of Geum-ja, revealing that the time of the film consists of three layers. In this process, the method of producing meaning through repeated scenes rather than scene for explanation or actor's lines. In a flashback scene from the film's past, the imprisonment of Geum-ja was made by the threat of the kidnapper, Mr. Baek. Geum-ja becomes an agent of the oppressed prisoners, then kills the Witch. The importatnt motive for becoming agent of other in a different way, continues to be a psychology of atonement for the agent of the Mr. Baek. The film depicts Geum-ja who converts from agent to atonement. This film shows the presnet and future time that the victim cannot live, and the split subject that appears as an agent/atonement. In the transition of the narrative that breaks through the gap in symbolic order, the victim hovering like a ghost, passes on to the a little girl and an young man, thus testifies painfully to the loss of the present and future. This could be called 'an ethics of subaltern toward the future'. This paper underscores that "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" is a work infused with philosophical weight, necessitating meticulous analysis alongside its cinematic narrative in the tradition of Park Chan-Wook's films.

Citation status

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