Han Hyŏng-mo’s Madame Freedom (Chayu puin, 1956) is often overshadowed by Chŏng Pi-sŏk’s novel of the same title, which provoked public debates about representations of the moral decadence and practices of individual freedom of the upper class after the Korean War. Shifting critical attention from its relation to the original literary work to its cinematic achievements, this article elucidates how the particular mode of address intervenes in the spectator’s viewing experience. I first propose the concept of “cinematic theatricality,” which I coin from theatricality, but the concept goes beyond its association with the theater and theatrical performance, to discuss the display–spectator relationship that the film suggests. Second, I explore the political implications of the cultural Otherness of female dancing bodies by investigating public discussions of social dance in the 1950s. Finally, closely analyzing ‘Madame Freedom’ Sŏn-yŏng’s gaze and the gazes upon her, I demonstrate how the film encourages the spectator to become aware of the act of viewing while creating a distance between the spectator and the displayed. I argue that by exploring cinematic theatricality, Madame Freedom invites the spectator to observe the gendered and ethnocultural gaze that emerged in mid-1950s South Korea and the attempt of the Cold War mechanism to place the individual body and desire under surveillance.
목차
Abstract CINEMATIC THEATRICALITY AND COLD WAR GAZE FEMALE DANCING BODIES DESIRING FROM A DISTANCE REFERENCES
키워드
Madame FreedomCold War South KoreaCinematic TheatricalityGazeFemale Dancing Body
저자
HAN NAMHEE [ An assistant professor in the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University, Netherlands. ]
한국연구원은 1970년 5월 한국 민속의 각 분야에 걸친 자료의 수집과 학술적 연구를 목적으로 '한국민속연구소'로 출발하였다. 그 후 1973년 5월 연구 분야를 확대하며 민속뿐만 아니라 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 위해 '한국학연구소'로 개편하였고, 다시 1989년 3월 한국의 국제적 위상의 부상과 함께 한국학 연구의 중요성이 높아짐에 따라 '한국학연구원'으로 확대, 개편하였다. 한국학연구원은 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 통해 지역과 민족문화 발전에 기여하며 한국학의 세계화를 위해서 학술활동을 강화하고 나아가 내·외국인에 대한 한국문화 교육을 담당하고자 한다.