한국 민족성은 뭐냐면 답이 두 게 가능하다. 내가 자주 하는 답은 "정"이란다. 인정도 많고 열정도 많고 도정된 것도 많고 (고정의 정 달라도). 그러나 "정"이란 것에 포함 되지 않은 한국의 다른 민족성이 있다: 자연에 대한 사랑. 여러나라 그렇다고 생각 할 수 있지만 한국 마음이 더 밀접하게 자연과 관련이 있어 보인다.
이 민족성이 전통 이야기에 볼 수 있다. 지금 고려하는 이야기 엮음에 내가 벌써 알았던 이야기 있으며 금시초문도 있다. 공통점 뭐냐면 자연이다. 확실히 말하면 모두 다 이간과 짐승이 어떤 관게 있는 지에 대한 이애기다.
그 관계는 다른 나라에 있는 이야기와 달리 친구나 적이란 관계 아니라 이간과 짐승은 친족 관계가 있다. "아기 보는 호랑이", "호랑이 형님"이란 이야기의 재목에 볼 수 있으므로 즘승은 인간을 친족으로 여기며 그 반대도 마찬가지다. 또 짐승을 살려주면 은혜를 운혜로 갚지마는 사람을 살려주면 은혜를 원수로 갚는다더니 짐승이 이간보다 이도적이라고 생각 할 수 있다. 그래서 한국 사란들이자연을 소중하게 여기는 게 놀라운 일이 아니다.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Emile Zola: L'assommoir (The Drinking Den)
It's been a while since I've been so thoroughly affected by a book. Somehow Zola managed to capture me in Gervaise's world so thoroughly that, although It's summer, and I just ate, I finished this book feeling cold and hungry, and wondered as I looked in the mirror whether someone would give me a few francs for my hair so I could buy a crust of bread.
I can't help but compare this a little to Stendahl's failure in The Red and the Black. I didn't understand a single thing those characters did , and approved of none of their choices. As comparatively unsympathetic as Gervaise was in L'Assommoir, I not only understood every thought she had, and every debasement to which she was brought, but found myself agreeing with her more often than not.
The neatest trick, however, was that even as it was clear where the story was going, and that it would end in nothing but despair, Zola held out jussssssst enough hope that I thought maybe she could pull out of it, that maybe she would turn it around in the last chapter. It's not such a great trick to paint a picture of human misery. Midnight Cowboy comes to mind as a good example. What makes this book stand out--aside from its charming dialogue, artistic language, and intricate characters--is that it made me fight for Gervaise all the way to the last page, instead of surrendering to the muck halfway through. If one were to set this to music, it would combine all the best elements of Carmen, Traviata and Street Scene, and become an operatic masterwork.
I can't help but compare this a little to Stendahl's failure in The Red and the Black. I didn't understand a single thing those characters did , and approved of none of their choices. As comparatively unsympathetic as Gervaise was in L'Assommoir, I not only understood every thought she had, and every debasement to which she was brought, but found myself agreeing with her more often than not.
The neatest trick, however, was that even as it was clear where the story was going, and that it would end in nothing but despair, Zola held out jussssssst enough hope that I thought maybe she could pull out of it, that maybe she would turn it around in the last chapter. It's not such a great trick to paint a picture of human misery. Midnight Cowboy comes to mind as a good example. What makes this book stand out--aside from its charming dialogue, artistic language, and intricate characters--is that it made me fight for Gervaise all the way to the last page, instead of surrendering to the muck halfway through. If one were to set this to music, it would combine all the best elements of Carmen, Traviata and Street Scene, and become an operatic masterwork.
Thursday, May 08, 2014
North by Northwest
I don't get it. As soon as this film picked up speed, I thought to myself, "Oh, it's one of these," by which I meant a thriller along the lines of The Net or The Game where the protagonist spends the entire film trying to convince everyone that she or he is not crazy. Insofar as this film predates all those others, I suppose I should give it some credit, but I just couldn't. I kept hoping for something inventive to happen, for for Hitchcock to toy with the audience a little more, or for things to progress in anything other than the most predictable of ways. In the end it was a beautifully shot, but empty thriller.
Objectively, I can't justify this opinion. I can't expect the first film of its type to subvert expectations, insofar as those expectations are the result of years of conditioning for which the film bears no blame. No doubt to contemporary audiences North by Northwest was thrilling, innovative and original. But film, like all literature, belongs to the audience--the viewer in this case. I found nothing significant in the performances, direction, or writing. The budget alone was responsible for anything notable in this film, and I end up lumping it in with Mission Impossible and other harmless summer fare.
Objectively, I can't justify this opinion. I can't expect the first film of its type to subvert expectations, insofar as those expectations are the result of years of conditioning for which the film bears no blame. No doubt to contemporary audiences North by Northwest was thrilling, innovative and original. But film, like all literature, belongs to the audience--the viewer in this case. I found nothing significant in the performances, direction, or writing. The budget alone was responsible for anything notable in this film, and I end up lumping it in with Mission Impossible and other harmless summer fare.
Monday, May 05, 2014
오발탄 (aimless bullet)
It was originally my intention to view this film, number 2 on The Korean Film Archive's recently published list of 100 Korean Films, alongside an item from the American Film Institute's list from the same time period (North by Northwest). Released one year apart, I assumed that the two would give conrasting takes on the world of the late 1950s in a way that might shed open an interesting conversation about Korea-American relations. Of course the two were in marked contrast in just about every way, and I'm sure I could stich together some nice comparisons and package them up in little bites that would make everybody happy.
But comparing the two would really be like comparing Jaws to Cabaret. Sure, the two were filmed at around the same time, but are so divergent as to make any comparisons seem a bit pointless. North by Northwest was a beautifully filmed, but ultimately harmless romantic thriller. 오발탄 was not only shot with seemingly the lowest of budgets and the most ramshackle of equipment (the actors were not even paid), but was so inflammatory that the fascist government of Korea forbade its screening. It was only seen at all due to the intervention of an American who managed to see a screener and bring it to San Francisco for entry in the 1963 International Film Festival. The hastily painted (and error ridden) subtitles were still visible on the copy I found. To this day it has still not been restored and is out of print. If ever a film were begging for the attentions of the Criterion Collection, this is it.
Rather than North by Northwest, 오발탄 is reminiscent of an earlier American film--to the extent that I refuse to believe Director 유현목 didn't draw inspiration from it: The Best Years of our Lives. Both movies tell the same story, with almost the same cast of characters, and it is by viewing these two films side by side that the real contrast between the two worlds comes into focus:
Character: wounded soldier returning from the war to try and find his place in a changed world.
The Best Years of Our Lives variant: real life amputee Harold Russell won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Homer Parrish, a man who lost both his arms in the war. Homer returns home to find his girlfriend waiting for him, but he can't allow himself to be loved. Ultimately he realizes that she loves him just as much without his arms, and they are married in a climactic and touching final scene.
오발탄 variant: The main character's army buddy is injured, and forced to walk with crutches. He can't bring himself to accept the love of the woman to whom he was betrothed, preferring to remember the dream they once had of a happy life together. Unable to bear it, he finally throws himself in front of a train.
Character: his beloved
TBYOOL variant: plucky and independent Wilma sticks by her man, and convinces him of her love after lovingly helping him remove his prostheses.
오발탄 variant: 명숙, unable to deal with her injured lover's rejection, becomes a prostitute for the American G.I.s .
Character: Hard working finance executive who is lucky enough to have a job upon the war's end.
TBYOOL: Fredric March's Al returns to find his wife waiting for him, and eveything changed in his absence. His children seem to have grown up wthout him, and he doesn't know where he belongs in this world any more. Over the course of the movie, he gets to know his family again, as if for the first time, and is promoted to a cushy position at his bank.
오발탄: 영호 (the eponymous bullet) works his fingers to the bone as a clerk, and brings his meager paycheck home to his family, declining even to have a painful tooth removed. But the check is not nearly enough to support his two kids, pregnant wife, brother, sister, and delusional mother, all living in the same hovel.
Character: his wife
TBYOOL: Myrna Loy's Milly has been doing just fine in her husband's absence, and helps her well-meaning husband to adjust to his new reality.
오발탄: 영호's wife, who does not even seem to be named, is malnoursished and accordingly dies curing childbirth.
Character: decorated war veteran, whose skills don't seem to have a place in a post-war reality
TBYOOL: As Fred, Dana Andrews goes from war hero to soda jerk, and even gets fired from that insulting job after defending a fellow veteran from an abusive customer. His wife, expecting a little more glamorous life, files for divorce and runs off with a dandy. All's well that ends well, though, as this frees him up to marry the woman he really loves, and accept a simple but honest position at a scrap yard.
오발탄: 철호, a well respected Captain during the war, is unable to find any work whatsoever as a civilian. Desperate, he turns to crime and robs a bank at gunpoint. He is caught and arrested, presumably to be hanged.
Character: his love interest
TBYOOL: Smart, kind Peggy (Teresa Wright) falls for a married man, but heartbreaking though it is, she does the right thing and lets him go. Only later, after his divorce, do they meet again (at the happy wedding of the first couple) and set about a simple, but honest life together.
오발탄: 철호 sees a glimmer of light when he is reunited with a nurse that tended to him during the war. They declare their love for each other, but the next morning he returns to find that her neighbor threw her to her death in a fit of jealousy.
These are only the most striking parallels that can be found in the comparison. Even without the benefit of a foil, however, 오발탄 is a masterpiece of cinema. Visually stirring, symbolically poignant, well-acted, and haunting (the insane mother's "가자!" is still ringing in my ears), and all this on a budget of around $8,000 (compared to $2.1 million for The Best Years). As good as the latter movie is, it wanes in comparison to this Korean masterpiece.
But comparing the two would really be like comparing Jaws to Cabaret. Sure, the two were filmed at around the same time, but are so divergent as to make any comparisons seem a bit pointless. North by Northwest was a beautifully filmed, but ultimately harmless romantic thriller. 오발탄 was not only shot with seemingly the lowest of budgets and the most ramshackle of equipment (the actors were not even paid), but was so inflammatory that the fascist government of Korea forbade its screening. It was only seen at all due to the intervention of an American who managed to see a screener and bring it to San Francisco for entry in the 1963 International Film Festival. The hastily painted (and error ridden) subtitles were still visible on the copy I found. To this day it has still not been restored and is out of print. If ever a film were begging for the attentions of the Criterion Collection, this is it.
Rather than North by Northwest, 오발탄 is reminiscent of an earlier American film--to the extent that I refuse to believe Director 유현목 didn't draw inspiration from it: The Best Years of our Lives. Both movies tell the same story, with almost the same cast of characters, and it is by viewing these two films side by side that the real contrast between the two worlds comes into focus:
Character: wounded soldier returning from the war to try and find his place in a changed world.
The Best Years of Our Lives variant: real life amputee Harold Russell won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Homer Parrish, a man who lost both his arms in the war. Homer returns home to find his girlfriend waiting for him, but he can't allow himself to be loved. Ultimately he realizes that she loves him just as much without his arms, and they are married in a climactic and touching final scene.
오발탄 variant: The main character's army buddy is injured, and forced to walk with crutches. He can't bring himself to accept the love of the woman to whom he was betrothed, preferring to remember the dream they once had of a happy life together. Unable to bear it, he finally throws himself in front of a train.
Character: his beloved
TBYOOL variant: plucky and independent Wilma sticks by her man, and convinces him of her love after lovingly helping him remove his prostheses.
오발탄 variant: 명숙, unable to deal with her injured lover's rejection, becomes a prostitute for the American G.I.s .
Character: Hard working finance executive who is lucky enough to have a job upon the war's end.
TBYOOL: Fredric March's Al returns to find his wife waiting for him, and eveything changed in his absence. His children seem to have grown up wthout him, and he doesn't know where he belongs in this world any more. Over the course of the movie, he gets to know his family again, as if for the first time, and is promoted to a cushy position at his bank.
오발탄: 영호 (the eponymous bullet) works his fingers to the bone as a clerk, and brings his meager paycheck home to his family, declining even to have a painful tooth removed. But the check is not nearly enough to support his two kids, pregnant wife, brother, sister, and delusional mother, all living in the same hovel.
Character: his wife
TBYOOL: Myrna Loy's Milly has been doing just fine in her husband's absence, and helps her well-meaning husband to adjust to his new reality.
오발탄: 영호's wife, who does not even seem to be named, is malnoursished and accordingly dies curing childbirth.
Character: decorated war veteran, whose skills don't seem to have a place in a post-war reality
TBYOOL: As Fred, Dana Andrews goes from war hero to soda jerk, and even gets fired from that insulting job after defending a fellow veteran from an abusive customer. His wife, expecting a little more glamorous life, files for divorce and runs off with a dandy. All's well that ends well, though, as this frees him up to marry the woman he really loves, and accept a simple but honest position at a scrap yard.
오발탄: 철호, a well respected Captain during the war, is unable to find any work whatsoever as a civilian. Desperate, he turns to crime and robs a bank at gunpoint. He is caught and arrested, presumably to be hanged.
Character: his love interest
TBYOOL: Smart, kind Peggy (Teresa Wright) falls for a married man, but heartbreaking though it is, she does the right thing and lets him go. Only later, after his divorce, do they meet again (at the happy wedding of the first couple) and set about a simple, but honest life together.
오발탄: 철호 sees a glimmer of light when he is reunited with a nurse that tended to him during the war. They declare their love for each other, but the next morning he returns to find that her neighbor threw her to her death in a fit of jealousy.
These are only the most striking parallels that can be found in the comparison. Even without the benefit of a foil, however, 오발탄 is a masterpiece of cinema. Visually stirring, symbolically poignant, well-acted, and haunting (the insane mother's "가자!" is still ringing in my ears), and all this on a budget of around $8,000 (compared to $2.1 million for The Best Years). As good as the latter movie is, it wanes in comparison to this Korean masterpiece.
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