영화 <마더> 속 여성 캐릭터의 그로테스크 발현 양상 = Grotesque Representations of the Female Characters in the Film Mother

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examines the representation of female characters in Mother(2009), focusing on figures who deviate from socially accepted ideals of femininity-such as a widow, a senile grandmother, a high school sex worker, an infertile woman, and a disabled individual. It explores the concept of the grotesque as theorized in both Western and Eastern traditions, and highlights how these portrayals are rooted in specific socio-cultural contexts. Drawing on prior research that connects grotesque aesthetics and femininity, this paper closely analyzes the characters of Ah-jung, a high school girl, and her grandmother. In Korea, the grotesque has been shaped by the influence of Japan’s sex-entertainment culture and was introduced in the form of ‘ero-gro-nonsense’-a hybrid of eroticism, grotesquery, and absurdity. This uniquely Korean interpretation of the grotesque is distinctly embodied in the character portrayals within Mother.