영화 「춘향뎐」(임권택 감독, 2000년)의 서사 검토

Abstract

When discussing the task of globalizing Korean traditional culture, Chunhyang-jeon is always at the top of the list as its asset and foundation. There is a need to check whether the love and resistance contained in Chunhyang-jeon can survive as a cultural heritage that appeals to the emotions and senses of people around the world today. In this paper, the narrative of the movie Chunhyang, released at the beginning of the 21st century, was reviewed in light of various versions of Chunhyang-jeon in the traditional era. The movie Chunhyang is the latest film based on the traditional narrative of Chunhyang-jeon. At the end of Chunhyang, a scene was created and inserted in which Lee Doryeong and Byeon Satto (i.e. the corrupt magistrate) have a direct conversation. The conversation was the most important social message that the director intended to convey, but not only was it disconnected from the reality of the late Joseon period, it also lacked logical consistency. If we leave out the visual and aesthetic achievements of the movie Chunhyang, the film did not reach the same level of success as traditional Chunhyang-jeon in the various themes that Chunhyang attempted to convey. Those important topics are as follows: to vividly depict the scene where Chunhyang meets Lee Doryeong and makes him her own spouse at Gwanghallu Pavillion, to persuade readers and audiences of the sincerity of the love shared by Lee Doryeong and Chunhyang against the reality of social status in the late Joseon period, and to vividly convey the logical and emotional necessity that Chunhyang had to take the path of resistance. In order to recreate Chunhyang-jeon so that people in the 21st century can enjoy it, the task that must be done first is to understand the text of the works from the traditional era in the context of the social reality of the late Joseon period in which those were produced and established.