• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
• /
• no.42
• /
• pp.47-75
• /
• 2021

This thesis looks into the interpretation of the Korean War and mystery genre in Korea in the 1970s by analyzing the special drama , in which the theme was directly related to the Korean War, airing through MBC in 1979. It begins by finding the change in direction in the 1970s when the world of TV was dictated through the heavy censorship and the memory of the war by the government. It also looks at the intentions of the producer who was taking in the new way and the viewers who also accepted this drama and its reflections. In order to gain some insights into these issues, it compares between the drama "The Last Witness" and the original novel by Seong-jong Kim who holds the same time to see the way in which this is dramatized. The drama, "The Last Witness", was produced with a plan to generate a high-quality special drama which combined both artistry and sense of purpose. Nevertheless, as watching TV became a leisurely past-time during this period, TV dramas become more aggressive and suggestive in order to attract viewers. This ultimately was encored with obstacles due to the regime and the heavy censorship at the time. The genre of special drama that is well known in South Korea, is designed as an art form to satisfy both their unique artistry and its purpose. The conflict is seen between the key elements of the artistic drama crated by the producers and the 'encouraged' elements that often are needed to engage the viewers. Thus, more often than not, special dramas defeat the original intention of national harmony, encouraged by the regime. This is due to the 'novelty' aspect which grows from the effort of bringing enjoyment to viewers whilst also trying to achieve the artistic drama to life. Alongside this, crime element in this drama is designed in a way that visually embodies the process of deduction, becoming a new possibility to secure the reality of the times. However, it was also a paradoxical existence since it was indicated as an example of unrefined culture that lost its original intention. In that way, it is worth to think that detective suspense stories, which were not popular in Korea, influenced viewers as a tv drama series in the 1970s through the various elements that compose the genre. They went through a process of transplantation and acceptance whilst also attempting to satisfy the viewers and their encouraged elements to engage them. As is well known, crime drama in Korea has its own style by mixing anticommunism and detective reasoning. This combination is found in the way in which the genre naturally forms through the elements selected and excluded in the dramatization of "The Last Witness". The point is that the special drama "The Last Witness" can be seen as an intermediate form that shows the tendency of transformation from the detective reasoning form alongside the crime aspects as TV dramas began to include anticommunism messaging and investigation in the 1970s. In conclusion, when the detective reasoning is used as an element in a TV drama, it shows the trust of the public system and it constantly seeks the possibility of circumventing the political interpretation. The memories of the war is seen as a tool that neutralizes the dismal imaginations inscribed on the dark side of society and the system. As a result, "The Last Witness", broadcasted at the end of the Yushin regime in Korea, is a strange result which combines the logic of a special drama and the encouraged characteristics of television dramas. The viewers' desire which is the discussion about the hidden traces from the texts needs to be restored again.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.617-635
• /
• 2010

This paper argues that what Edgar Allan Poe pursues in ;The Man of the Crowd" (1840) is not a story that can be told but an active reading that must be mediated. It is not only because the subject of the pursuit, the secret of the flaneur, remains veiled until the end, but also because the story proves itself to be a reading of various kinds of other texts: that is, the contemporary urban texts as well as the city itself. Although the 'man of the crowd' and his double (i.e. the narrator) embrace the figure of a modern flaneur, it is highly questionable whether the image of flaneur in the story fully qualifies itself as that of an ideal stroller, who can represent the free spirit of a detached collector. Rather, the narrator's flaneur reflects a panoptic perspective, systematically hierarchizing the constituents of the city. Still, it should be noted that ;The Man of the Crowd" raises questions about the idea of creation and appropriation, observation and originality, and reading and storytelling by ascertaining the impossibility of reading and through assimilating to the contemporary texts not without subtle acknowledgement. In short, this novella tries a new way of storytelling, of which meaning is not to be found in creation but to be mediated in modern experiences.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
• /
• s.38
• /
• pp.195-216
• /
• 2015

'Convention' refers to custom and practice as the dictionary definition; it means genre custom. Readers feel intimate with the pattern and grammar that a genre has, and they participate in the work, predicting and expecting the next in the 'truism.' So, all popular arts targeting the public have genre custom-that is, convention. A cartoon (comics) is one of the popular arts whose convention is developed most to the extent that its law comes across our mind just with the genre's name such as 'sports comics', 'detective comics' and 'romance comics.' However, although the fantasy cartoon is a genre that has been loved for a long time, it is one of the cartoon genres that has rarely been studied on its convention. There are several reasons for the lack of studies on convention of the fantasy cartoon. The most fundamental reason may be that its basic concept has not been properly prescribed. There are some precedent studies prescribing the fantasy cartoon as an extension of the fantastic literature, but it is hard to analyze convention that only fantasy cartoon has, because its range is too wide. So, this study considered J.R.R. Tolkein's 'Lord of the Ring' had made the genre custom of fantasy novel and fantasy comics, and classified concept and type of the fantasy cartoon. And through analysis of various cases, it investigated convention of the fantasy cartoon into 6 types. Genre is not the complete format. It is subdivided and differentiated, and it becomes one with other genres and makes a new one. For that reason, there exist limitations always when we study a genre convention of a certain genre. This study confesses in advance that it also has limitations as it just suggests convention of the general fantasy cartoon.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
• /
• no.18
• /
• pp.283-314
• /
• 2009

This paper is an attempt to examine historical drama which change rapidly in the manner of seeing history. Historical records are treated differently unlike in the field of modern history. Now the distinction between historical facts and fictions becomes no longer important. This change is affected by micro history, new cultural history, or post-modern history. History and narrative become interactive each other. In this respect they are no more historical drama. by Han Areum (director Suh Jae-hyung) represents this new trends. Of course, it doesn't suddenly pop up in 2005. It began in by Lee Yoon-Taek, was reinforced in by Kim Tae-Woong, and bloomed in . I intended to search important features of by following three. First is the interest about unimportant persons such as a maid of honor, an eunuch. In , they are the main characters. The author described much about those trivial people revealing the truth in different way of the existence. Second is the way of calling a past. In this piece, the past is not continuous. The past always appears at the stage by the present in the form of split which is imagination, recollection, revival. Third is a mixing genre. Comics, melodrama, and thrillers are all together in . This is a similar phenomenon to historical novel and movie of new trend. Strictly speaking, this piece isn't a history thriller. The accident of lost prince doesn't be treated importantly and the result isn't clear either. In this piece, detective genre is used for a symbol showing that writer pursuits the history, not the event. This represents well the characters of new historical drama because how historical facts are carefully recreated and constructed are important. It's enough to show the possibility to mix genre through comics and melodrama.