「색, 계」, ‘정동(affect)’으로 다시 읽기

Abstract

Zhang Ailing “explored the domains that cannot be discriminated between objects and time, gender and genre, and language and world,” and described the true nature that exists in the abyss of humans in such domains rather than formats such as reproduction and imitation, and creative ego of romanticism, etc. Although she wrote a love story between a secret agent of Kuomintang of China using badger game and the subject of assassination, Hanjian, in Lust, Caution, she ultimately attempted exploration of the existence of ‘I’, significance of ‘I’ and place where ‘I’ should be. Meanwhile, Ang Lee described the process of Wang Jiazhi, who was coerced to live life that deserves to be lived by the Sovereign Power, beginning to share emotion with the subject of assassination, Yi Xiansheng, and eventually to voice her thoughts. Although she lived an existence similar to Polis and Zoe, harboring the memories of Primitive Absence, she was able to live in Polis by being chosen as the scapegoat of Biopolitics. However, through physical union with Yi Xiansheng, she managed to secure active capabilities to vocalize her own words by breaking out of the framework of passive ego that had previously been governed by sorrow and depression, and ‘affect’ provided by the Sovereign Power. As stated by Zhang Ailing, ‘Love’ blurs the boundary between the good and evil, and right and wrong, which led to the attempt to find ‘I’ by demolishing certain limitations by Wang Jiazhi presented as the author herself, thereby being explained by ‘Affective Turning’ by Ang Lee. In the movie, Wang Jiazhi resisted the phenomenon of the mechanism of the authority manipulating her life and told Yi Xiansheng to “快走(Go)!” who filled in the deficiencies of other even for momentarily although he is a traitor and protecting him leads to destruction of herself. As such, the novel and the movie displayed the process of Zhang Ailing ― Wang Jiazhi exploring her existence and ontological implications of ‘Affect’ that enables the birth of new entity.