내셔널리스틱한 공간으로서의 ‘연극무대’ ― 『색/계』론

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to set forth my views on an intermediate position between ‘Wang Chia-chih(王佳芝)’, the heroine of the film and ‘Eileen Chang(張愛玲, 1920-1995)’, the writer of the original novella, focusing on the controversial movie in 2007 titled <Lust/Caution> directed by Ang Lee(李安, 1954- ). The ‘Mah-jong table’ is an absolutely nonpolitical space. To those women, there is nothing but playing mah-jong, watching performances, attaining foods and jewelry, and going shopping. The situation of the Sino-Japanese war might seriously affect the life of the women, and yet political issues were hardly put on the mah-jong table. Wang Chia-chih, who did not concentrate on playing mah-jong, was eventually executed, but Mrs. Yee did not question the identity of Mrs. Mak(麥太太) and stuck to her to the end. The most interesting fact in the narratives of the movie(novella) for me was “why did Wang Chia-chih become a spy?” A spy requires a loyalty to their “nation.” In Cheng P’ing-ju(鄭蘋如), who is the model of Wang Chia-chih, one candetect a close affinity with the nation as her father Cheng Po-tseng(鄭伯曾) was deeply involved in Nationalist government, KMT(國民黨), however, no clue of this patriotism is found in Chia-chih in the film(novel). In this regard, we shall pay attention to “the stage,” another structuralized space in the movie(novella). Why is an element such as a drama inserted in the novella? And what magnetic field is formed in that stage? Wang Chia-chih, the main character of the novella <Lust, Caution>, understood the whole process of a plan to assassinate Mr. Yee as a drama.Wang Chia-chih is set to not feel free from the mood of the drama since her first appearance, and an important point in this respect is that the play Hong Kong Lingnan University(嶺南大學) staged was a very ‘anti-Japanese drama.’ Wang Chia-chih had vented her desire to appear continuously on the stage, and the stage was the space for performing things that were ‘anti-Japanese’, the theme of the nation-state and patriotism. The drama as a device plays an important role in developing the narratives of the film <Lust/Caution>. The novella ends with a description that wives at mah-jong game were boisterous being asked by Mr. Yee for dinner. It is reminiscent of an exciting and untidy mood as if the drama troupe relaxes and is about to go out for a party after the play is over. On the other hand, the movie finished with the scene of Mr. Yee staring at Wang’s empty bed, walking away from his room. The bedspread is wrinkled here and there. What does the ‘wrinkle’ mean? If we interpret the film as a love story, the ‘wrinkle’ is a symbol of memories of love between man and woman, but we may also put an allegorical meaning into it as a trace left by a ‘folded and unfolded political deed’ supposed not to be exposed. In other words, a spy’s tangled psychology and behaviors to fulfill a mission without letting an opponent read her mind.