정치적 논란에서 상업적 성공으로: 『옥토룬』에서 표출되는 부시코트의 정치성 = From Political controversy to Commercial Success: Dion Boucicault`s Politics in The Octoroon

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This article aims to investigate the strategies that a playwright-producer Dion Boucicualt employed in leading the production of his play The Octoroon; or the Life in Louisiana (1859) to success. When Octoroon was first opened to the New York audience in 1859, the political-sectional antagonism, on the issue of black slavery, between the Southern Democrat and the Northern Republican was ripe to develop into a geographical division of the nation, which would be soon realized by the break of the Civil War (1861-1865). Under this milieu of the antebellum years, the premiere of Octoroon was likely to attract the contemporary critics` attention for mainly three reasons: first, the play dealt with a sensitive issue of black slavery; second, the play, set in a Southern plantation, dramatized the life of black slaves in the American South, the home of black slavery; third, the play was first presented to the audiences of New York, the center of anti-slavery sentiment. Furthermore, many contemporary critics were ready to label Octoroon as a political text, either an abolitionist or pro-slavery text, which was intended to promote the ideology of a specific political-sectional party, whether it was the Southern-Democrat or the Northern-Republican. Despite the question about the play`s political intention, there`s no questioning the play`s popularity, The stage production of Octoroon not only made an instant and big success in both the South and the North of the US, but it was also exported to the London stages, the fountainhead of American theatre history. The commercial success of the play heavily depended on the playwright-producer`s shrewdness and ability as a businessman. The evidence is found in the specific works he did for the production of the play, which included the space plan for the playhouse, the steadfastness to the genre of melodrama and the revision of the text at the audience`s request. All these detailed works of Boucicault originated from his consideration of the audience or customer public`s expectation and, therefore, they reflected his topmost principle, that is, to create the costumer-oriented theatre space and product. In this respect, the employment of such a sensitive issue as black slavery in Octoroon was rather the manifestation of Boucicault`s shrewdness as a businessman than of his political propensity. He used the politically sensitive issue as material and manufactured it to a high value-added product. In the process, he cleverly rinsed out the political color and taste of the material. In the same spirit, by calling himself a ``Southern Democrat`` Boucicault tried to grab the attention of potential customers in the South rather than to clarify his political position to them. Likewise, the success story of Octoroon reveals Boucicault`s own ``politics`` which is not predicted on a simplistic notion of politics.

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