Aesthetic views found in mask dance may differ from person to person. This study aims to examine the female roles of mask dance both objectively and subjectively after it is divided into outside form and inside content.
The performers of Bongsan Mask ...
Aesthetic views found in mask dance may differ from person to person. This study aims to examine the female roles of mask dance both objectively and subjectively after it is divided into outside form and inside content.
The performers of Bongsan Mask Dance are all males doing the roles of both sexes. However, in Sariwon, Bongsan, gisaeng (geisha-like female entertainers) good at dancing came to be involved in the mask dance in the 1930s by the order of Yi Dong-byeok, Chief of the Gisaeng Union. Therefore, women used to perform monk dance without wearing masks.
The aesthetic forms of the female roles in this research can be summed up as follows:
1. Sangjwa (literally first-rank monk) dance is basically modest and elegant female dance in a monk's long robe, requiring the movements of scattering, straightening, and sweeping. It was originally the dance of a guardian general to oust evil spirits, turning later into that of a weak human being. That's why a monk's begging and bowing movements were necessary. In other words, the dance was the motion to drive away wicked spirits, while bowing was a petition to help the dancer burst them.
2. Somu, Yongsan Samgae, and Deolmeorijip are young females, whereas Grandma Miyal is an old lady. Both of them are working together in a structure of conflicts, not as a wife and a concubine but as an old woman and a young woman. The old woman is symbolized as black and winter, and the young woman is represented by red and summer.
3. Grandma Miyal Scene is the criticism of men's violence. Male oppression is a problem of those who have created and developed the mask dance. So we can feel the thorough criticism of the mask dance creators. In the aesthetic structure of Bongsan Mask Dance, Old Monk Scene and Grandma Miyal Scene show the structure of indirect opposition and temporary departure. Above all, Grandma Miyal Scene repeats and contrasts the stories of finding, meeting, fighting, and dying.
In addition, the aesthetic structure of the confrontation of female roles can be summarized as follows:
Two types of women appear in Bongsan Mask Dance. One is a group of ugly women active in conversation, and the other is a set of silent, passive, and beautiful women. Male characters in the mask dance treat female characters differently. That is, only the latter are favored as the target of sexual interest and enjoy peaceful joy at least in this mask dance.
This kind of perception regarding women is nothing but the typical male-oriented thinking. It is male-centered illusion to regard an ideal woman as a mute. If a man is to exercise his own supremacy, nothing ever should happen against his words or violence. Then, a speechless lady will be the right model of an ideal woman.