청소년영화 속 폭력, 경쟁과 호모 사케르 ― 영화 ＜소년 시절의 너＞를 중심으로

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the phenomenon that the representation of adolescents’ everyday life and culture in Chinese teen films is currently generating lots of meaningful discourses about the reality of adolescents. Running off the track of the narratives and representational aesthetics of the existing Chinese teen films, Better Days, a film directed by Zheng Guo-xiang(曾國祥), actively dealt with the problem of adolescent alienation caused by the current problems of university entrance examination, school violence, and class differentiation, thereby sparking further significant discussions about reality. Characters in the film assume the form of subordinate subjects who cannot be protected by any contemporary social system or legal system, but rather are forced out of community. The life of adolescents who cannot live a worthy life as a human being due to routine violence and competition associated with university entrance examinations resembles homo sacer’s life. The community of a school is a microcosm of society where a mechanism similar to the structure and environment of adults’ society works, and there is a strong likelihood that adolescents who fail to be warmly received and supported by school in their adolescence will not see a very hopeful world when they enter society in their adulthood. Thus, in his film, Zheng Guo-xiang emphasizes that adult generations should seek changes, being keenly aware of structured despair that neglects problems of adolescents’ society and drives them into a brutal arena of violence and competition. In this context, it may be said that Better Days is in line with the innovation of plot conditions in Chinese teen film.