도식적인 내러티브의 연극적 활용 - 분단연극의 사례를 중심으로

Abstract

The narrative scheme plays a very significant role in theatrical creation and reception, signifying a given subject in a special way. Starting from this premise, the essay attempted to design a theoretical frame of analysis that can investigate the functions of schematic narrative as follows: The theatrical narrative can employ the familiar schemes on both levels of macro and micro structures. The narrative scheme of macro structure tends to reflect the social drama that arises from the historical experience, thus including the cultural memory that understands the past in a special way. While remembering the past, the schematic narrative is apt to confront the inherent social contradiction. On the level of micro structure, the play is composed of schematic fragment stories that can be defined as ‘story codes.’ On the basis of the above theoretical frame, this essay tried to analyze the plays of national division. The resulting archetypal scheme is the macro structure of “provocation – ordeal – counterattack – death.” This archetypical scheme of death can be divided into the sub-schemes depending on the way of treating death as follows: The scheme of sacrificial death for the national salvation sees the divided nation from the perspective of country's destiny, thus remembering the past by adopting the historical view ‘from above.’ In contrast, the scheme of victimized death, focusing on the individual damage, reflects the people's position undergoing the agony of national division in reality, thus attempting to recollect the past from the historical view ‘from below.’ In case of martyrly victimized death that supports indirectly certain ideology by means of dying sees the individual life from the perspective of political history, combining the ‘from below’ view with the ‘from above’ one. As such, there is the change of recognition about the national division which moves from the will of national salvation to the victim mentality. In micro structure, a schematic fragment story named ‘story code’ produces a special meaning in relation to other story code. It seems like a film montage that combines fragments in various ways for the intended effect. One of the results in the plays of national division is the revelation of contradiction inherent in divided country. For instance, the story code of rape maximizes the hostility to the communist forces, while the story code of opposition between brothers makes feel a fraternal love to the communist enemy. The result is the coexistence of contradictory emotions to the communists, thus reflecting the unsolvable contradiction of national division. The contradiction of divided country is also expressed by a story code. Its representative case is the ‘victim/violator story code.’ For instance, the victim who are drafted into a volunteer army of communist by force became the violator who betrayed his country. At this point we need to pay attention to the continuing use of the ‘victim/violator story code’ that functions like a meme in the plays of national division. Another meme maintaining a long life is the ‘violence or plunder story code’ that condemns the communist enemy from the dichotomous thinking. From this we can surmise that the painful insight into the unsolvable contradiction and the dichotomous way of thinking to the divided country pervade almost all of the plays of national division. At the same time the meme dominating the plays of national division at the level of macro structure is the schematic narrative of death that attempts to do certain persuasion by a special treatment of death. In this respect the play of national division depends on the rhetoric of death, endeavoring to break through the problems of divided country in its own way by using death in particular manner.