〈臥虎藏龍〉 속의 여성과 자연의 이미지

Abstract

In this paper, I would like to highlight images of woman and nature portrayed in 〈Wohucanglong〉, which is the famous movie nominated in several divisions of the 2001 Academy Awards. This movie contains numerous feminine elements that can be found in leading roles, the precious sword Qingmingjian (靑冥劍), and martial arts of Wudang school(武當派). Particularly the two characters, Yuxiulian(兪秀蓮) and Limubai(李慕白), vividly show the feminine nature of the story. Here I attempted to analyze this movie by means of Yin respect(主陰) theory of the ≪Daodejing(道德 經)≫. In addition I have pointed out that, from the viewpoint of Taoism, the tender nature of the Qingmingjian and the martial arts of Wudang school emphasizing flexibility and harmony with mother nature are two notable aspects revealing femineity depicted in this movie. Secondly I have noted that the names of two characters, Yujiaolong(玉嬌龍) and Luoxiaohu(羅小虎), which contain chinese characters of dragon and tiger, respectively, are also related to taoistic elements. In the context of Taoism, the dragon and the tiger represent water(水)Yin(陰) and fire(火)Yang(陽) repsectively. Therefore these two animal characters attract each other but at the same time cannot be unified into a single identity due to their reciprocal natures. The tragic end of the two lovers could have been expected, once the aminal images latented in their names, long(龍) and hu(虎), were noted. Finally I have searched for the origin of images of water by surveying from chinese myth to 〈Wohucanglong〉. Overall it is believed that this movie has rich mythical and taoistic contents.