본문 바로가기
  • Home

The Meaning of Tradition and National literature embodied in Movies Chunhayngjun of South and North Korea

  • Journal of Korean Literature
  • 2016, (34), pp.115-146
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Literature
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature
  • Published : November 30, 2016

Roh Jiseung 1

1인천대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The movies based on the novels Chunhyangjun(春香傳) has been produced 18 times so far. Nevertheless, most of them have very similar mise-en-Scène and plots of original novel Chunhyangjun. This paper argues the social condition and spectatorship that made those movies box office success. The first silent movie Chunhyangjun, in spite of being directed by a Japanese director, were received in the social atmosphere of national literature discourse and were involved with the agenda of standardizing premodern novels. Talkie Chunhyangjun of 1935 were supported by discourses of romantic free love and attracted attention of widely various audience from intellectuals to lower class audience. In the late 1950s, after Korean war, several movies Chunhyangjun were made again at the atmosphere of searching cultural identity of nation state and national tradition. Especially, Chunhyangjun of 1955 and two movies Chunhyangjun of 1961 bears the marks of referring to previous movies as far as can be called fetishism of patterned tradition. In movies Chunhayngjun of North Korea, the characters and mise-en-Scène were adjusted partially to socialism. However, it was not quite different from previous movies made in colonial period. Movies Chunhyangjun after liberation and division of Korea, was made not pursuing innovation and newness but familiarity. Therefore, it might be said that the audience of Movies Chunhyangjun had very special spectatorship to feel a sense of communal spirit by watching Movies Chunhyangjun.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.