<하녀>(2010)에 나타난 ‘하녀적 주체’의 두 유형

Abstract

This article examines the modes of subjectivity represented in Im Sang-soo's The Housemaid, a Korean film released in 2010. The film portrays two female servants living at an extravagant mansion owned by a grand capitalist family. The story focuses on Eun-yi, played by Jeon Do-yeon, who becomes involved in a fatal sexual relationship with the master while working as a housemaid along with the older housemaid Byeong-sik(Yun Yeo-jeong). Eun-yi can be seen as a regressive subject, a childlike figure retreating from the symbolic to the imaginary. She enjoys servant life in the house without any knowledge of her symbolic status as a housemaid. By having sex with the master and getting pregnant, she presents herself as a threat to the existing order of the family. She falls victim to the hostess, losing her baby through involuntary abortion. Meanwhile, Byeong-sik is a cynical subject, because she faithfully serves the family although she detests them. In fact she informs the mother-in-law of Eun-yi’s pregnancy, resulting in the self-immolation of the young housemaid at the climactic scene. In this way the two show different modes of servility, diversely responding to the overwhelming power of the master family. Significantly enough, regression and cynicism are found commonly among individuals in the current neoliberalist society, where the logic of capital rules. The Housemaid thus can be read as a trenchant critique of the modern subject, who is voluntarily subject to, and captivated by, the power and glamour of capital.