바다 공간과 뮤지컬 형상화 연구 - <여신님이 보고 계셔>, <전설의 리틀 농구단>,<무인도 탈출기>를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Recent Korean musicals depict the ‘sea’ differently from other plays and literatures. The sea appears as a background in various times and spaces, such as foreign countries, the Japanese occupation, wars, and modern times, and serves as a device that allows the audience to sympathize with a particular character. This paper focuses on musical numbers and works that directly reveal the ‘sea’ on the stage, and examines images, meanings, themes, and contemporary concerns that the sea brings to the characters and narratives, and examines the functions of the music. The works include Ah! My Goddess, Legendary Little Basketball Team, and Escape from a Desert Island. Each work has a similar structure in which characters that used to live in the city accidentally experience the sea (a desert island, a beach) and realize their own unique way in life. In Ah! My Goddess, the sea is a space that blocks out the war. Soldiers from the South and the North escape from the ideological order and share basic human attitudes and values on a deserted island. In Legendary Little Basketball Team, the sea is a place of escape from stress, and a space where people who fail to adapt to reality learn how to communicate with others. In Escape from a Desert Island, the sea and an uninhabited island form a space that allows one to separate oneself from routine life and explore oneself. In the musical, the sea plays a role in removing the pain and danger of reality, thereby causing the characters to grow. The characters look back on the past and acquire the ability to live in the present in a space away from external influences. This is an ending tailored to modern-day audiences who seek to cooperate properly with others while respecting the individual. In each work, the sea-related musical numbers expose dramatic situations, show changes in the characters’ emotions, reveal character relationships, express vitality and create a spectacle. In the musicals mentioned above, the sea provides an opportunity for immature youth to change, and the musical numbers naturally connect points separated from reality, leading the audience to sympathize with the change. The analysis above shows that the meaning and function of the sea are being expanded in modern Korean maritime literature and art.