판소리 서사 통속화의 의미: 일상의 긍정 · 유교의 통속화와 專有 – <춘향가>를 중심으로

Abstract

The first meaning of popularization shown by the narrative of Pansori (a Korean genre of musical storytelling) can be found in its affirmation of the daily life of the society of the time and the so-called ‘common things’, thus revealing the actual customs of the reality as they are. In other words, if popularization is a vertical view of the culture of the society from the perspective of the upper class, Pansori‘s high interest in and depiction of practical things is ‘popular’ because it reflects the social and cultural atmosphere that affirms the daily life and secular things of the society as they are. It can be described as ‘popular’ because it affirms and depicts everyday life and secular things that have not been captured by the public gaze. However, this popular view of acknowledging the realities of the times becomes stronger when Confucian morals or ethics are appropriated in conjunction with the popularization of Confucianism. The ‘popularization of Confucianism’ is similar to Yasumaru Yoshio‘s ‘commonplace morality’, but the cause and effect are quite different. While both have the same aspect of appropriating the ideology of the society of the time and extending it to the ethics of living, the popularization of Confucianism in the late Joseon Dynasty was furthered by the weakening of the rights of yangban (the nobility), especially the local noble families, and class mobility. This shift in class led to a broadening of the common gaze to acknowledge reality, which can be seen throughout the Pansori narrative. Thus, Pansori’s narrative depicts the process of the ‘popularization of Confucianism’ in late Joseon as it was. Confucian morality and ethics, which were continuously demanded by the ruling class of late Joseon society, called the yangban, were superficially accepted by the people of the time, and then, through the sincere practice of the so-called Samgangoryun (the Three Bonds and the Five Cardinal Virtues in Confucianism), the people of the time went so far as to appropriate Confucian ideology to expose or criticize the moral and ethical contradictions of the ruling class. The second meaning of popularization in the Pansori narrative is the appropriation of Confucian morality or ethics, which is revealed in the process of ‘popularizing Confucianism’. However, when popularized Confucianism, or appropriated Confucian ethics, dominates daily life, it becomes fixed as an ideology, and the ethics oppresses the people who practice it. In other words, the internalized, popularized, and appropriated Confucian ethics end up functioning as an ideological illusion for everyone, and this illusion makes it impossible to imagine a different life, a different world. In other words, the appropriated Confucian ethics may be used as a tool to attack the contradictions of the then society, but it makes it impossible to dream of a different society and a different world. In other words, one of the thematic semantic networks of the Chunghyangga Song, called Chunghyang’s fidelity, is merely a situation in which the morality or ethics of chastity was appropriated and newly captured in the eyes of the contemporaries. Furthermore, since the popularization of Pansori narratives can reflect the changing social reality of the time as it is, the audience of Pansori narratives can take advantage of this popularization to reflect the changed world outside the context of the text in Pansori narratives. The constant creation of different versions of the Pansori narratives may be attributed to this popularization of the work. Thus, Chunhyang may have initially been the archetypal gisaeng (Korean geisha) figure, Byeon Hak-do may have briefly been the epitome of a corrupt official, and ultimately Chunghyang may have seemed like a symbol of resistance to the many contradictions of the society of the time, and the subject remains open to interpretation and it is possible to create a new Chunghyang to reflect the changing times. Popularization lies at the heart of this narrative vitality of Pansori.