표정 없는 얼굴-팬데믹 시기 전후 대중서사에 나타난 ‘무표정’ 캐릭터 연구

Abstract

This paper discusses the meaning of the character's appearance by analyzing the works of popular narratives in which expressionless characters appear from the late 2010s to the pandemic period. ’An expressionless character’ refers to a character who drives a narrative without showing any changes in facial expressions. This paper explores the task of an era in which individuals are isolated and community breaks down through the process of examining expressionless characters by referring to Baruch Hochman's character theory. Chapter II examines Son Won-pyeong's feature novel Almond’ (2017) and the “expressionless characters” that are captured throughout popular narrative works in the late 2010s. They generally express their emotions and achieve self-subjectivity by establishing relationships with others and leading cases through their vulnerabilities that “can’t.” Chapter III discusses the expressionless characters in the drama Hellbound’ (2021), directed by Yeon Sang-ho, and the expressionless characters that appeared during the Pandemic period that sought political effects by themselves without showing emotions. They urge the government to diagnose what the political agenda should be in full swing at this time, as the problem of social sense, which was shared in the late 2010s, has intensified in the pandemic period. The process of looking at the dynamics in the narrative of “an expressionless character” adds momentum to diversifying discussions about the relationship of society now by providing a different perspective on the behavior of “an expressionless person,” which has been understood as a sign of rejection of interaction. It is said that in a society where mutual solidarity is dissolved by asking for attention to social members who cannot easily express their emotions or who choose not to, it is necessary to form an intimacy relationship that can examine each other, not in their own way.