<콩쥐팥쥐> 문화콘텐츠 활용 사례로 본 고전 인물 비틀기 양상과 의미-<내 사랑 팥쥐>, <신데렐라 언니>를 중심으로-

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss the typical characteristics of the main characters appearing in classic literature, and to examine past examples of twisting the fixed images of such characters for new content development while inspecting its impact and possible lingering issues. There are many characters with typical personality traits in classic literature. This demonstrates an aggregation of typical and general traits of the individuals of a particular class or career that play a substantial role in the transfer of the story. In other words, while attempting to convey a particular topic, the emergence of a typical character with a universal narrative structure has the advantage of being easily remembered for a long time. This is the reason this structure is still widely used in various types of narrative literature. The easiest way to elaborate on this topic is probably to present a story of the good protagonist (a child of the lawful wife) who appears in the Stepmother type family epic about the evil stepmother who harasses the protagonist. In Kongjwi and Patjwi and Janghwa Hongryeon Jeon, Kongjwi, Janghwa, and Hongryeon are framed and face the danger of death, yet they display the typical traits of good protagonists who ultimately find justice and live happily ever after. Furthermore, the antagonists the stepmother and her children, go against the protagonists, as typical characters who bully and frame the former wife's children, but ultimately, pay for their crimes. The conflict between these key figures maintains the narrative interest and its stability. However, if the stereotype is successively followed, it may be experienced as a "typical person's typical story" and regarded as boring. When that happens, one way to break through is to switch the positions of the main character with that of the antagonist, or to reinterpret the behavior of the supporting character. Since the 2000s, many soap operas have tackled new issues and delivered hidden stories with new facets by putting forward the antagonists. Among them, I compared My Love Patjwi and Older Sister of Cinderella with Kongjwi and Patjwi as contrasting narratives in order to analyze the personality traits of "Patjwi" and the sister of "Cinderella" as they broke the stereotype of good protagonists. Moreover, I thoroughly observed the implications, significance, and limitations of this classic character twist to develop methods by which it can be utilized today. First, by twisting the typical good and bad characters, various degrees of character comprehension can be achieved. Second, the realism and subjectivity of female characters can be enhanced through the dichotomy of male prince characters. In addition, it was revealed that the original story from folklore had been revised by deleting the "story after marriage" in order to change it to a folk story for children. Such new cultural content could contribute to finding and reevaluating meaningful moments obscured in classic original stories. Third, it might be suggested to focus not only on the main characters but on the supporting characters as well, in order to showcase their stories and reflect on their actions. If the father in the Stepmother type family epic involving the evil stepmother merely watched the conflicts explode in the family, yet enjoyed happiness with his daughter who overcame all hardship, he should be emphasized as a more realistic and dimensional character while developing the new content today in order to discuss his merits and demerits. Today, our society is confronted with serious issues such as generational, gender, and regional conflicts, for which there are countless reasons. However, it is necessary to consider whether the characters misunderstand each other because they view each other through stereotypes. If the characters in literature were typical, the literature would not reflect society as such. The reverse is true: society and humanity can never be explained in only one way or described through stereotyping and typification. In other words, reading literature and utilizing cultural content should ultimately lead to understanding the varieties of people. This is the very reason why I focus on the need for a twist in typical characters found in classic stories, as well as the supporting characters that do not receive any spotlight, so that they can be viewed with a new perspective.