구술자료를 활용한 배우 연구 방법에 대한 시론(試論) -아르코예술기록원 소장 배우 김동원 구술채록문과 관련 구술증언의 해석을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper examined the research methods of modern Korean actors by focusing on the oral records and relevant oral statements of the stage actor Dong-won Kim, which were produced by the Arts Council Korea’s Arts Archive. The oral records and relevant oral statements of an actor are useful texts that can fill in the gaps in the materials and help understand the context of acting, the circumstances surrounding the performance, and the inner consciousness and social relationship of an actor or a group of actors. In interpreting the materials, it is also important to consider the characteristics of the texts, which are ego-documents based on a sense of self-understanding and oral records based on situations and memory. Unlike autobiographies, which are also ego-documents but are completed through an editing process, oral records concern one’s memory and the circumstances of the interview and thus leave a certain “trace” that requires further interpretation. In Chapter 2, this study cross-analyzed Dong-won Kim’s oral records and autobiography to examine how the aspects of the movie experience differ in the three types of ego-documents. Even if they may be ego-documents with the replacements of the same facts or experiences, oral records had to be interpreted through a cross-examination with other materials in consideration of the oral context and the interview situation, since the aspects of the narrative are subject to change depending on the speaker’s self-understanding during the interview. In Chapter 3, this study analyzed the patterns of emphasis through repetition and the patterning of the oral narrative. Repetition and the narrative patterning were linked to the experiences and the acting methods found in the actor’s oral records. In the case of Dong-won Kim, they revealed his dilemma between his voice and vocalization and internal acting and the significance of his transformation in acting, which was possible through his performance in Death of a Salesman. In Chapter 4, this study attempted to reconstruct the situation of the performances by using the vague answers from the oral records, oral statements, and other relevant materials. The “self-understanding” found in the actor’s oral records should be treated as a material that demonstrates the perspective of a group of actors to which the actor belongs. The reconstruction of the situation of the performance through oral statements could be actively used to interpret the context of the oral records that are hidden within the structure of the “self-narrative.” Dong-won Kim’s oral records revealed the conflicts that existed between Dong-won Kim and his theater company Shinhyeop with Yoo Chijin and his Drama Center, as well as Shinhyeop’s perception of the changes in the theater scene surrounding Hamlet (1962), the opening work of the Drama Center, and the signs of a generational transition. This study found that the oral records of an actor do not only carry the value as an experiential testimony of facts but should be considered as research material for studying actors that require interpretation of the text’s meanings.