『論語』의 문화콘텐츠 스토리텔링(Storytelling) 양상과 가능

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the cultural content of narratives in the Analects of Confucius and to discuss the ways that mainstream trends may foretell the possibility of development of cultural content in narratives found in the Analects of Confucius. The Analects of Confucius is a classic for all people. It is a scripture that contains the key points of Confucian culture and is a primary classical text in the Chinese language. The Analects of Confucius meets the conditions for developing cultural content as it contains a host of various characters with distinct personalities and a wide variety of events and tales that occur around the figure of Confucius. Also, the Analects of Confucius, a collection of quotations from Confucius, has sufficient value to be used as the primary narrative content in Confucian countries as it conveys the value of Confucianism. This study first discusses the existing storytelling trends in the Analects of Confucius before presenting narrative possibilities. Then, it takes four works based on the Analects of Confucius that clearly demonstrate the use of storytelling. The movie Confucius, the animation The Tale of Confucius, the print work Confucious’ Last Twenty Years, and episode 20 of the webtoons About Death are all examined with regard to storytelling and the characteristics of each medium. Moreover, the storytelling trends of the Analects of Confuciusare discussed to suggest the possibility of their use as source stories in narratives. The suggestion consists of four parts: the premise for using the Analects of Confuciusas the basis of storytelling, the contents of the stories, the formal aspects of storytelling as well as other aspects. This study suggests both substantial analysis and various methodologies that might be undertaken in the future. If the narrative of the cultural content in the Analects of Confucius and other classics can be realized using these methodologies, it could allow for the acceptance of classics regardless of time as well as creating cultural content from the classics that are still valid in modern times.