소설 『작은 아씨들』과 영화 <작은 아씨들>스토리텔링 전환 양상과 의미

Abstract

This study attempts to provide strategic adaptation of three versions of film based on the different periods, to tell the story of the original novel Little Women. They are focusing on narrative structures and personality changes of the characters. For this, I will examine how the main stream of storytelling are changed from the original novel to the 1949 film, the 1994 film, and the 2019 film respectively. The combination of two perspectives in the original novel of Little Women opens up diverse possibilities for interpretation. First, it directly reveals on the surface of the novel as an edifying message through contents that provide education on femininity that was demanded in the 19th century. Second, it displays subversive imagination, taking advantage of existing cultural values and morals. In particular, the original novel opens up possibilities for new interpretations in that it conflicts with contemporary moral views or values through the lines or action descriptions of the characters. The mixed values of the original piece also affected the reinterpretations of the three films. The 1949 film focuses on the romantic lives and marriages of the daughters to compose the whole narration, reproducing a story of a moral family saga. Therefore, the 1949 film is limited in that it reproduces male-centered and traditional values by focusing the traditional and conservative lives of families and women on marriage instead of on the unique character compositions of each character. There is a time gap between the 1994 film and the 1949 film and they reveal values of changed feminity. The 1994 film changed the personalities of some of the characters to externally reveal subversive voices on traditional feminity and it reveals the changed values and morals of today in that the film was made from perspectives that support feminism. The 2019 film reinforces feministic views dealt with in the 1994 film and focuses even more on narrations through which the characters attempt to fulfill their dreams. This piece places the character of ‘Jo’ in the center to show narrations of a sense of challenge and achievement in relation to the dreams of today and develops the stories of the four daughters through cross editing. The 2019 film displays views that are different from those of the 1994 film in that it attempted to make reinterpretations of hidden meanings in the original piece to be appropriate for today by reinforcing the characters of ‘Jo’ and ‘Amy’ and their processes of dream fulfillment. Like this, the novel Little Women has elements of newness in that it shows possibilities of diverse interpretations through the rich imagination and multi-layered problem awareness of the original work. It is anticipated that the diverse possibilities of the original Little Women will graft with diverse perspectives of contemporary social and political realities to display free imagination.