1930년대 영화기업의 등장과 조선의 영화 스타

Abstract

This work examines the changing status of film stars during the 1930s, when the colonial Korean film industry was undergoing structural changes. In particular, it pays close attention to the social and industrial implications of star status. Prior to 1930s, Koreans films were made through small scale coterie production (“donginje”). The films were often shown to audience along with theatrical performances through traveling roadshows. These modes of production and exhibition were results of the lack of capital investment within film industry as well as the inadequacy of technological expertise. The underdevelopment of large scale, i.e., nation-wide, distribution and exhibition networks also contributed to the longevity of the system. Nevertheless, these industrial features are crucial historical backdrop to understand the characteristics of the colonial Korean cinema of the 1930s. Moreover, the social and cultural significance of the emerging film stars needs to be interpreted the accordant historical context. Film stars, as exemplified by Na Ungyu, was not just a professional who cultivated and devoted to the art of acting; rather, he or she was a part of the larger film production coterie who had to involve in various pre- and post-production labors, including screenwriting, directing, editing and, of course, acting. Furthermore, they often joined the traveling roadshow screenings to give live performance to audience as “performer-participant,” offering more than recorded images to the silver screen. The advent of “talkie” pictures brought structural changes in the 1930s, and the area of film acting was no exception. Now, actors had to demonstrate narrower, but more professional expertise in acting, and a new wave of actors took the center stage as the older generation, who involved in many areas of filmmaking labor, receded into backstage. The major film production companies of the era formed close ties with the young generation of star actors, either by establishing exclusive contracts with them or through forming close business ties with the existing theater companies. It should be noted, however, that the new business practice did not last long, for the “industrial development” of Korean film production could not find proper place within the political reality of colonialism.