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Joke-Related Aspects and their Significance in Traditional Korean Funny Performing Arts (한국 전통연희에서의 재담의 양상과 그 의의)

Son, Tae-do
- Journal of Korean Classical Literature and Education
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- no.32
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- pp.29-61
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- 2016
A joke (才談, 재담) is "the most interesting and witty language unit" in our speech. However, the search of a joke is still starting. Although joke are related to the witty and interesting talks, stories, songs and plays, the actual object of a joke is only the witty and interesting talk. A joke is witty talk that is interesting or laughter-inducing. Many Jokes can be found in the traditional Korean funny performing arts (演戱, 연희). This is because these art forms are performed in open yards, which necessitated amusing the audience, amusement, in its turn, required jokes. Jokes in the traditional funny performing arts can generally be classified as follows: 1) Jokes related to a situation: These include right words at a given situation, exaggerating words, diminishing words, deviancy words, and cause-effect words. 2) Jokes related to discourse: These include enumerating words, amplificatory words, contrasting words, fluently lying words, undeniable words, purposely unknowing words, and deliberately incorrect words. 3) Jokes related to vocabulary: These include synonym, similar words, changed word-ordering words, and incorrect words. 4) Jokes related to pronunciation: These include homonyms, and anti-homonyms. Although there may be other jokes, those presented above are typical ones. A joke is "the result that human being can achieve when he/she has overcome natural and social difficulties and is left with only a free and creative spirit." Jokes are necessary in all ages and everywhere. Today, more varied and high-level jokes can be created by developing the diversity of jokes in traditional funny performing arts. Also, I expect new sorts of jokes, because a joke always demands a creative spirit.

The Historical Transition and Current Meaning of Traditional Language Plays - Focusing on Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng - (전통적 언어유희의 역사적 변천과 현재적 의의 - 한국 재담(才談)과 중국 상성(相聲)을 중심으로 -)

Jiang, Xiao-Qian
- (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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- no.37
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- pp.61-94
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- 2018
This article examined that the historical changes and current significance of the Jaedam(재담) and the Xiangsheng(相聲), one of the traditional Korean and Chinese language games. Both Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng are representative language games and traditional performing arts for laughing. The origin of the Jaedam can be traced back to Uheui(우희). Uheui has been called Changyouxi in China, Bae Woo-hee, and Jo Hee in Korea. Uheui is the most traditional language game and a variety of performances were derived from its spreading and inheriting process. Among them, Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng can be said to be a piece of art that has successfully inherited Uheui tradition. From the late 18th century, Korean Jaedam were established as independent performance arts, and became highly active in many performance by professional joker Park Chun-jae and other performers. With the development of gramophone record in the early 20th century, the Jaedam was mainly made on the theater stage and radio. At this time, the new performance art of 'Mandam(만담)' was derived from the Jaedam, which focused more on satire current events and criticizing the social situation. Mandam has been popular for a long time and then extinct in the 21st century. The jaedam have been handed down only in the Korean traditional performance so far. Meanwhile, Chinese Xiangsheng, which was built in the mid-19th century, a bit later than Korean Jaedam, was initially considered to be a vulgar art of the lower class, but finally became popular in the early 20th century. In the mid-20th century, Xiangsheng was transformed into a new character, which mainly deals with social praise and edification of the masses. But since 'New Xiangsheng' does not focous on a satire on social conditions, the humor has been reduced. In the early 21st century, Xiangsheng was on the verge of extinction just like Mandam, but through the efforts of young actors to revive tradition, another reformation of this art was made to return to tradition and small theater. Currently, the 'traditional Xiangsheng', which has returned to tradition, is once again receiving the love and support of the Chinese audience. Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng have many similarities in terms of history and recruitment, but they are now in different fates. There is also a great deal in common ground in terms of the content and form of the two arts. In the case of Xiangsheng, it is one of the traditional folk art forms which is still loved by the Chinese people and has become one of the most important traditional performances. On the other hand, in Korea, Jaedam as independent performance arts has disappeared and now only can be seen in traditional performances such as 'Korean mask theater'. The fact that Korean Jaedam and Chinese Xiangsheng have undergone similar changes in their spreading and inheriting process, while Korean Jaedam have disappeared and Chinese Xiangsheng is well preserved. The reason can be confirmed through the main idea of this article.

Seeking the Contact Points of Traditional Drama Education and Elementary Drama Education of Prof. Sa-Jinsil (사진실 교수의 전통연희 교육관과 초등 연극교육의 접점 모색)

Choi, Won-oh
- (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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- no.36
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- pp.553-584
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- 2018
In order to succeed to the 'Traditional Play Series 1~9' by Prof. Sa Jinsil, this article sought the contact points between the traditional drama and the elementary drama education that Prof. Sa Jinsil held. The educational perspective of the prof. Sa Jinsil is reflected specifically in the seventh and eighth volumes. However, these educational perspectives are similar to those presented in the 2015 revised curriculum. It is also similar to the cultivation of humanities through theater education. In other words, the similarity is confirmed in that the target is creativity-interdisciplinary type human. The foresight of the prof. Sa jinsil in the education for creativity-interdisciplinary type human is confirmed. On the other hand, in order to cultivate creativity-interdisciplinary type human, it is also required to cultivate the ability to 'fun speaking' as well as 'logically speaking'. In this regard, I presented Jaedam, one of the Korean traditional plays, as an alternative. The reason for this is as follows; (1)It is possible to succeed Korean traditional theater performance style through regular class. (2)Students can develop emotional and empathy skills through fun speaking education. (3)Students will develop persuasive storytelling skills. At this time, the traditional play series 1~9, which contains the works of Prof. Sa Jinsil, and cultural ideas and educational ideas, will be useful.