Representing Mothers on the Recent Korean Stage: The Fantasy Mother and the Grotesque Maternal Body

Abstract

This article investigates how the image of the mother is represented respectively in the dramatic adaptations of two novels, Mayonnaise and Please Look After Mom. This essay asserts that these two stage adaptations raise provocative questions that disrupt the conventional ideas of motherhood and traditional image of “the mother.” I analyze these two dramatized plays because, despite the large differences in their representations of the mother, the two plays share some points in common. I argue that they not only embody the mother through the feelings of the daughters and the abject bodies of the mothers, but also reverse the conventional story of mother and daughter. In particular, this article analyzes how the two theatrical works represent the patriarchal daughters and the rebellious mothers, observing that the grotesque bodies of the mother on stage is revolutionary, while the daughters, who seem to be more radical, are emotionally trapped inside the traditional fantasy of motherhood. Furthermore, this essay argues that the two plays, relying on emotions and bodies as sources of knowledge and meaning, awaken the audience to redefine motherhood and to hear the traditionally unspoken story of mothers. For this analysis, I refer to Adrienne Rich’s framework of motherhood and draw on Julia Kristeva’s critical thoughts on the abject and motherhood.