Earticle

초록

영어

The traditional theme of the prostitute in popular texts has been ubiquitously employed in different times and cultures. In the South Korean context, the cultural representation of prostitutes was most prominent in ‘hostess (a Korean euphemism for prostitute) films’ during the 1970s. This was an ironic turn of events, given that state censorship was at its peak during the military regime (1960–1979). During the 1970s, South Korean cinema was often referred to as having hit a low point due to state regulation of films. However, hostess films became box office hits and contributed to the rejuvenation of the declining Korean movie industry. Hostess films are characterized by the dichotomy of realism and the hyper-stylistic representation of their heroines. They dealt with realistic issues related to the migration of peasant women during the industrialization of South Korea and involve the contradictory presentations of highly unrealistic, idealized heroines. While conventional Hollywood films portray sexually fallen women as immoral and eroticized, hostess films instead, focus on their extremely selfless and inherently good natures. The sacrificial qualities of hostess women often involve films with tragic endings that generically conclude with a heroine sacrificing herself for the sake of a man, a family and/or a nation. This article traces the cultural construction of the prostitute in popular texts and scrutinizes the major conventions of South Korean hostess films. In doing so, this work unspools how wider discourses concerning female sexuality, gender, and cultural politics were waged over the films’ deployment of the bodies of women and sex during a key formative period of Korean history.

목차

Abstract
 THEME OF THE PROSTITUTE AND FALLEN WOMAN IN POPULAR TEXTS: NARRATIVE AND CHARACTERIZATION
 AN EROTIC TALE OF A SACRIFICIAL PROSTITUTE : YOUNG-JA’S HEYDAYS (KIM, 1975) AND HEAVENLY HOMECOMING TO STARS (LEE, 1974)
 REFERENCES

키워드

저자

• MOLLY HYO KIM [ a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Communications Research College of Media and Cinema Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. ]

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  Acta Koreana

• 간기

  반년간

• pISSN

  1520-7412

• 수록기간

  1998~2025

• 등재여부

  KCI 등재,SCOPUS,A&,HCI

• 십진분류

  KDC 912 DDC 951