한국 영화에 나타난 기독교의 의미 양상 연구 -영화 <친절한 금자씨>와 <밀양>을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify what the role of religion is in Korean movies. In the movie, religion forms the personality of a protagonist and causes characters to suffer inner conflicts. Especially, religious values provide the basis for distinction of good and evil to characters. Those measures also induce people in the movie to make the right choice through the process of recognition of guilty conscience and repentance. This research tries to examine the role of religion in a different perspective from the one mentioned above. Religion does not work only as the criteria to distinguish the good and evil. It functions as the rite of passage to some groups. The process of recognizing guilty conscience and repentance from religion is indispensable when leading a soul to the path of salvation. Redemption is only for some chosen people. The word of being chosen means that those people are privileged ones, and this could be achieved by being included to a new community. In this respect, religion could be considered as culture that members of a certain community relish. To be a member of the community, newcomers should get through the ceremony called religion. By the help of religion, newcomers are placed in the new, different status. I would like to prove my opinion through comparing two movies. The first movie is Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, which seems to have nothing to do with religion, and the other one is Secret Sunshine, which has a lot of religious features in the film. Both movies had the religious measure called Christianity. When comparing two movies, I would look over the role of Christianity portrayed in the characterization process of main character from each movie. In both movies, Christianity does not only provide people the beliefs about afterlife and the comfort to their heart. It also works as the rite to be a member of the community. In this view, the process of recognition of guilty conscience and repentance through religion should be considered as a part of the process required for entrance. This research shows why the entrance process of Christianity from Korean movies has negative meanings and how it is related with the characteristics of Christianity.