식민지기 출판매체에 나타난 재조일본인 예기의 표상 — ‘미인(美人)’과 ‘보균자(保菌者)’의 경계 —

Abstract

This thesis analyzed the conflicting representation of Japanese geisha in colonial Korea that was held by the society of Japanese settlers in colonial Korea, targeting the visual materials and articles of 『The Chosen Koron』 which was a representative general magazine in the society of Japanese settlers in colonial Korea. 『The Chosen Koron』 showed a great interest in the trend of prostitution by establishing a special space for introducing the photo and information of geishas, taking a large-scale popularity vote for geishas, and then publishing the ranking list in the latter part of the magazine. Especially, the geisha popularity vote held in 1915 introduced the multiple-voting system, which made a huge profit on sale. And at that time, the subject who sent the representation of geisha as ‘beauty’ was not an individual, but the publisher’s planning. Like this, the visualized representation of ‘beauty’ in the male-centered and rulling class-oriented media might be the product of strategy to arouse the readers’ interest by maintaining the image of woman pursued by men who were the major consumers of the medium. However, the ‘beauty’ of geisha that was consumed in the aspect of personal entertainment and hobby was connected to the prostitution in the public realm such as social demoralization and threat to family. Thus, after the geishas as ‘beauty’ were eliminated, they only had the image of ‘carrier’ that could be a threat to forming the sound society of Japanese settlers in colonial Korea. In other words, the praise for ‘beauty’ and censorship of ‘carrier’ shown in the same medium during the same period, reveal the aspect of double standards related to sex held by the society of Japanese settlers in colonial Korea of the 1920s that aimed to consume the ‘beauty’ of geisha as the only entertainment in Joseon without hobbies, and also to form the sound society of Japanese settlers in colonial Korea.