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Abstract

This paper focuses on aspects of ‘resistance’ in its reading of Yim Seon-gyu’s Ice Flowers (Bing hwa), the most popular drama at the First National Drama Concours held in Oct. 1942. ‘National Theatre’ (gung min yeon geuk) was active only as a minor movement during the late colonial period, and failed to draw the attention of playwrights and audiences. Many dramatic playwrights used the activities of ‘National Theatre’ as a strategic means to participate in the ‘Popular Theatre’(Dae jung geuk) movement well-loved by audiences of the time. Ice Flowers achieved popularity largely because of these strategies. Ice Flowers makes frequent use of Korean music, an artistic medium that readily evokes Korean sentiments. In the play, the characters feel elation at the sound of the traditional folk song (min yo), which produces an exalted state of emotional identification among them. The Korean sentiment stirred-up on stage was directly transmitted to the audience and in turn evoked within them a strong consciousness of national fraternity. During this time, theatrical performances were the sole context in which the Korean language could be spoken, Korean music performed and responded to, and Korean identity enacted. Yim’s drama is also important for the message of resistance it delivers in the context of the Korean diaspora. The playwright’s installation of a character modeled after a national independence activist, together with the clear will by the playwright to impart that character’s spirit to audience members, makes the work’s performance context at the Concours a matter of trivial importance by comparison. It is likely that the popularity of Ice Flowers stemmed from the empowerment the audience felt through the stirring-up of Korean sentiment, and from discovery therein of the playwright’s intention to produce feelings of resistance. ‘Pro-Japanese sentiment’ plays only a negligible role in the works staged at the Concours, and in some cases these works even reveal characteristics of ‘resistance’. Therefore, re-analysis of many other works of ‘Popular Theatre’ is necessary in order to investigate the possibility of double readings. Unfortunately, most of the ‘Popular Theatre’ works are no longer extant. Although the works themselves cannot be easily read today, Yim’s Ice Flowers is highly suggestive of this interpretive possibility. Rather than deserving criticism as works containing pro-Japanese sentiments, searching for the Korean reality hidden in them is a desirable attitude for analyzing dramas at the close of the colonial period.