폭력영화의 장르체계와 신화연구 : 박찬욱의 <친절한 금자씨> 사례분석 = A study of the genre system and the myth of violence film

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

ABSTRACT

A Study of the Genre System and the Myth of
Violence Film

Inmin KIM
The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
of the Graduate school at Sungkyunkwan University

The present study began with interest in the attitude of audience who watch violence movies and at the same time criticize violence. In particular, audience's critical attitude against violence in "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" stimulated the researcher's interest in that the film does not show any hint of beautifying violence or strikingly violence scene. Regardless of their purpose, texts producing discourses are social and political. Film "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" is a political text in that it has aroused extreme responses of compliment and criticism, and is a very significant text through which we can see contemporary culture and society. The present study analyze the narrative system of "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" based on the genre theory that the genre system of films cannot be separated from the realities. Through this, we explain the reason that "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" has aroused extreme responses of compliment and criticism and discuss its social implications.

We obtained the following results from analyzing the text of "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" Violence in "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" is not exposed by direct lynching but by indirect suggestions using its unique narration system. Violence in "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" is, first, structured through 'distancing' technique. 'Distancing' is a production technique that intentionally hinders audience from being absorbed into or sympathizing with the movie. Audience has to endure the tiring work of rebuilding the narrative throughout the film and this fosters emotional disapproval.

Second, violence in "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" is structured through metonymic, antagonistic and ironical plethoric scenes. For example, the scene that asterism is put on her head iconizes heroine Geum-ja into a saint and it satires the code of genre and the myth system of the realities. The situation of a mass revenge, which is supposed to be gruesome and serious, is reproduced by the bereaved families in a ridiculous and bizarre way into a laughing happening. Improbable sex scene, red fresh flood over the white eyes, overflowing blood, bereaved families who draw the blood in a bucket, highly patterned apartments of middle class who symbolizes usualness, bloodshed of forgiveness and redemption inside the apartment, the hairy breast of Mr. Baek, etc. provoke emotional rejection in audience and, as a result, even a trifle violence brings forth a hard psychological impact on the audience.

Third, the narrative that does not follow genre customs makes "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" recognized to be violent. Some genre customs of violence movies are clear boundary between good and evil, sufficient explanation of just reasons for violence and the violence users' expression of ethical responsibility for the violence after the situation has ended. In "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance", avengers are divided into individual Lee Geum-ja and group bereaved families. As in other violence movies, heroine Lee Geum-ja shows a reflective attitude toward her sins and violence in the later part of the narrative but the bereaved families do not. Although there exists the inevitability of vengeance as found in classical vengeance dramas, the inevitability fades away with the progress of the narrative and, for this reason, the bereaved families' violence is regarded as an one-sided lynching.

"Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" has a multi-layered narrative system and, within the system, myths and anti-myths are utilized so freely that they are sore to the audience?fs eyes. For example, the narrative that removes Mr. Baek and the a witch, who are absolute evil, is mythological but the position of those who punish them is ambiguous, women's motherly love is used as a main motif but problematic scenes contradicting motherhood denies the myth of motherhood, and heroine Lee Geum-ja has the mythemes of a saint and a prostitute but they are metonymic mythemes of satire and cynicism and in the last sequence of the film religious and mythological sememes are used excessively and seriously to suggest Geum-ja's salvation. The multi-layered narrative system is contradictory but, ironically, it is very effective as a narrative style that disintegrates the disguised violence of vengeance, namely, the myth of contradiction.

The text of "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" keeps a certain distance from popularity. Nevertheless, it was successful commercially mainly thanks to the fame of the actress and the director and extensive film marketing that had invested a huge amount. After all, "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" is a very meaningful film in that it overcame the non-popular and experimental text that is likely to be rejected by audience, resorting to stars and capitals, raised a question in the middle of popular culture, and made it discussed among people.

Film genre is a process of systematization but if a newly attempted or issued movie is rejected by audience, we can expect little from the systematization of genre. In this sense, the success of "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" is a joint achievement of industry, text and subject as insisted by Neale. Audience accepts questions raised by a new genre film critically and the genre is restructured in response to audience's demands and, in this process, popular movies can fulfill not only the function of entertainment but also that of genuine purification.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 제1장 서론 = 1
• 제2장 이론적 배경 = 6
• 1. 장르논의 = 6
• 2. 장르적 텍스트로서의 영상텍스트 분석 = 17
• 3. 폭력의 신화체계와 장르체계 = 23
• 제3장 연구문제 및 연구방법 = 30
• 1. 연구문제 = 30
• 2. 연구방법 = 30
• 제4장 영화 <친절한 금자씨>의 텍스트 분석 = 31
• 1. 서사구조 분석: 거대 통합체 분석 = 31
• 2. 영상이미지 분석 = 41
• 3. 컨텍스트 분석 = 58
• 4. 영화 <친절한 금자씨>의 서사체계와 신화체계 = 63
• 제5장 결론 = 71
• 참고문헌 = 73
• ABSTRACT = 76