한국 다문화가족 TV드라마의 특성 연구

Abstract

With the number of foreigners living in Korea exceeding one million, it is rapidly becoming a multinational country. Under such circumstances, this paper aims to examine the current perspective of ‘multiculturalism’ in Korean society and the public’s recognition about the Other by closely looking at the representation of a few television dramas where foreign women immigrate to become a member of Korean family causing racial and cultural conflicts while reflecting the public’s prejudice against foreigners. TV dramas featuring multicultural families should not be criticized for the reason that they describe the active assimilation process of a stranger into Korean society in a melodramatic style, but should be analyzed in the framework of a family drama which focuses on the creation of a family. Denouncing TV dramas calling them less theme-oriented because of their melodramatic elements is nothing but a prejudice which doesn’t recognize the positive effects of dramas. Through TV dramas which featured multicultural families, I tried to show the Korean society’s perspectives about foreign women who became a Korean through an international marriage. In doing so, Emmanuel Levinas’ idea of an ‘infinite and absolute hospitality’ which found the birth of a subject in serving others was adopted as criteria to find out the representation of the mutually different positions of the subject and the Other. Different approaches were used to examine the multiple aspects of the four texts for this paper. <A Bride from Hanoi> and <South village over the mountain> were examined from the viewpoint of Koreans’ double standard toward the Other with presenting hospitality externally. <A Golden Bride> was studied as the Other’s active and independent assimilation into Korean society. On the other hand, <Kkamgeun’s Mom> was identified as a process where the subject who couldn't have a hospitality to Other embraces the Other. Instead of featuring melodramatic elements, the four TV dramas largely focus on the communications between generations. All the foreign women in the dramas were thrown into the Korean society which is dominated by a family-centered ideology. In the case of the new mother who had to raise a mixed-blood son from her husband’s previous marriage, I emphasized that ‘harmony’ was unavoidably the main feature, It was not examined as the model of assimilation. Therefore, TV dramas featuring multicultural families in Korea have not to be denounced as a melodrama in the process of assimilation. As Jacques Derrida said "There is an antinomy in hospitality", it's hard to say that TV dramas as mentioned before represent the real hospitality. However, it represents the process in the throes of extending family prospect. I believe the TV dramas featuring multicultural families in Korea have given positive influence upon the change of the public’s recognition to multilateral culture.