(from http://my.netian.com/~wun113/folk_tale/folk7.htm)
see Elvis Mitchell's NY Times review
Pansori was definitely an interesting "taste". My mom used to drag me to watch Chinese opera with her, so compared to the high pitches in Chinese opera, pansori is not bad at all.
I think that the movie is very easy to understand and easy to watch, because it has a universal theme: love. Two people fell in love with each other, and they were loyal to each other. I think that the story itself is very easy to understand. However, a few aspects non-related to the plot might be confusing or difficult to understand for a non-Korean.
First of all, there is the issue of social justice. The new mayor is extremely cruel to his subjects, and clearly he is not admired by the people. He has no real reason to punish Chungyang, but nobody could do much when he decided to beat her. Why did people not stand up or her? Why did his men have to obey such injustice? I guess that in that you a officer has to obey to everything that the governor says. However, how come nobody went to the governor's superior to proclaim such injustice?
There is also something that might bother somebody who does not know much about the Korean culture... which is the scene when the husband has to depart. He leaves without even giving her a kiss or hug. Their farewell (that morning) seems quite formal. Even if she runs and begs for his stay, he just left her there. It almost seemed that he was too cruel to her. I think that before it could have bothered me (*how can he be so cruel?). However, in my Japanese literature class last year, we learned about the relationship between a man and a woman. They are not supposed to show their affection in public. Whatever love they have, they should keep it in private. Too much showing in public is simply disrespectful and unrighteous. But it doesn't mean that they do not love each other. They are just not allowed to show too much in the society in which they lived in. Also, a son's loyalty to his father is very important. The son could not let others know that he married someone form the low class. He must keep his marriage in secret in order to safe his father's job and reputation. He also needs to show loyalty to his country. He could not leave orders behind so that he could be with his wife. If one understood the duties of men towards his father and nation, one will probably not call him cruel.
Again, there is the language barrier. Since I do not understand Korean, I was paying a lot of attention to the subtitles. I could not pay too much attention to the details, such as all the gestures, movements, etc. Also, translations can sometimes be slightly different from the original.
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CA
I have just finished viewing the Korean film Chunhyang with the class. While watching it, I did not understand everything that was taking place due my limited understanding of Korean culture. Some of my questions pertain to the Korean culture and language, which I cannot decipher one bit, and others may be able to be answered by any viewer and I just missed a point. The opening is a man singing with accompaniment from a drummer. I believe that this sets the scene as the story is told from this man's performance, but we also see the characters in action. I wonder what is the significance of the audience in the film? Throughout the film, the audience is shown demonstrating an array of emotions. Is the audience there to guide the real audience into feeling joyful and sad. If so, I do not understand the necessity of the audience in the film because the story plot clearly leads the real audience (us) toward those emotions. Also, what is the writing on the yellow fan that blocks the sun in the beginning of the film and also signals the intruders into the new governor's birthday at the end of the film. This fan seems to be an important symbol in the movie. I noticed that there was no wedding ceremony, unless his penmanship on her dress and drinking of the tea is the ceremony. Especially due to his position, I would think there may be vows are something official to take place for his wedding, even if it is not approved by his father. When the young husband tells his wife that he must go away, what is the significance of the box that she breaks? Are those writing utensils, which she breaks because what he wrote on her skirt she feels is now a broken promise? The last puzzlement I have, although it may sound comical, is why the governor's son is riding a mule that is led by a servant. In the beginning of the film, the governor spoke to his son about archery and horsemanship. When he is bouncing around on that mule, I don't consider that horsemanship, especially because someone is having to run right beside him!
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AM
On September 30th we viewed Im Kwon-taek's Chunhyang. Prior to the movie, we were to read a review that addresses how Western civilization (i.e. America) is largely ignorant of Korea's social values (now and in the past). Trying not to apply too much Western thought while analyzing the movie, I pondered possible misunderstandings which I shall try to convey here:
While Chunhyang's mother may be humorous in her self importance, her behavior actually struck me as disturbing. At the end of the movie when she sees Mongryong as a beggar, she is positive Chunhyang will now die because there is no one to save her. The social system is apparently so unjust that she is not willing to hope that what she sees is actually true. She becomes rude to Mongryong (as we experience dramatic irony because we know he is really an emissary) and a social role reversal is performed: we feel compassion for Chunhyang because she is treated badly because of the limitations of her situation, but her mother now treats Mongryong badly because she believes him to be a beggar. In my opinion, Asian social systems (whether or not those involved want those systems to change) are wildly difficult to stray from; the ideas of class division are instilled in the minds of all and the dictates for each class are obvious.
Westerners may be annoyed with the traditional Pansori method of storytelling, but it actually is essential to Chunhyang. Instead of the characters directly telling the story themselves, the Pansori opera singer conveys the message. To me, this is a much better way to present a social commentary because the story is already being presented secondhand.
Another reviewer's thoughts (which also happen to be riddled with Western thought application):
"While much can be said about the social and gender issues raised in the film, Chunhyang's fairy-tale qualities greatly outweigh any serious political critique. While the men are the perpetrators of social inequalities, they are also heralded as authority figures and saviors of those less fortunate. Such simple conclusions to complicated issues leave more time to relish the young lovers and the inevitable happy ending. Besides, what is more likely to garner cheers and applause from an audience out for an evening's entertainment: two hours of social commentary and proposed solutions for such injustice, or a rescue from certain death and the reunion of young lovers?"
-Dale Leech, PopMatters Associate Film and TV Editor
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KZ
Today we watched the Korean film Chunhyang that dealt with social class and gender identity in the form of a love story. It celebrated perseverance against traditional expectations and political persecution in the tradition of pansori theater. I enjoyed the film, mostly due to Chunhyang’s obstinance and unconventional stoicism towards the men’s arrogant entreaties. She did not merely play the role of a shallow woman pining away for her “Prince Charming”. My favorite scene was when she spoke out defiantly and poetically against the new governor with every blow that she was dealt, although it would have been much easier for her to play the submissive role of victim for pity and her own survival. I enjoyed the reactions of the Korean audience to the pansori theater, although at times the narrative aspect of the story made it seem like a children’s fairy tale instead of a grown-up drama. Whether or not that was the intent of Im Kwon Taek, I’m not sure.
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DH
So we watched Chunhyang, a famous and supposedly indecipherable, or at the least confusing Korean folk tale. And now I'm supposed to write onwards about how hard I found it to accept, understand, relate to, absorb, you name it. However, to be frank, I found it to be none of those things, so perhaps instead I should write why I did feel at ease with the film. As an EAS major with a few classes under my belt, and having been to Japan spring term of my freshman year, I was able to make sense of areas that others would have trouble. The first difference to a Western eye is the 'narrator' who at times is pictured alone on a stage with his drummer in front of a Korean audience, and at other times directly sings the dialogues of the main characters, and lastly is often not heard from or seen at all. I suspect my peers will find his presence out-of-place and odd, while in reality the actors, scenery, and generally everyone seen in the movie *but* the narrator and his drummer are truly the ones out of place. It's clear to me that the audience has come solely to listen to and watch this performer tell the entire tale, and that the visual elements were only added for the conversion to film media. Lastly, the narrator's role is not unlike participants in the Japanese Noh dramas, of which Belcher-san and I have studied extensively.
One would also feel in the dark not knowing the political situation and customs of that time period. While you gave us a brief explanation of the State Exam system in reference to China which undoubtedly helped many, Americans are by and large ignorant of the realities of living in a class system. We grow up with fairy tales about people, primarily women, falling in love with princes and escaping their destitute lives, yet we know nothing of the true dynamics of those societies. Through Japanese literature I am very familiar with these systems and the rules and code they impose upon the lives of people and therefore understood the difficulties involved in the main characters' relationship.
On the whole I really enjoyed the film, and the translation, so often the weak point of many foreign films, was very well done. Humor arising out of popular slang however, such as the main character telling Chunhyang that he'd "hit it 38 times" cannot be helped, although in my opinion it actually served to lighten the atmosphere.
Good movie, let's watch another...
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MM
To call Chunhyang a bizarre film would naturally be a sin for an anthropologist who must always take cultural relativism into account. There is too much about Korean society that is completely unfamiliar to me. There are some specific questions which I cannot resolve. The use of the pansori I found to be very effective, especially toward the end of the film when the viewer is shown the tremendous emotional response of the audience. While that represents one of the most uniquely Korean qualities of the movie, it is something that you acclimate yourself to as the film progresses. Mongryong writes at the end of the story confused me as well. Certainly it was audacious and insulting, but what aspect of his writing informed some of the nobles that things were going down? Was it simply his eloquence and mastery of the brush, which a low-level noble probably wouldn't possess, or was there something specific that tipped them off? Also, why were the other visiting nobles harassed? Many of them were given favorable descriptions during their advent.
The social implications of the story are very clear, especially after perusing Rob Content's review. Mongryong's discourse with the deposed governor is an overt challenge to the rigid class system and an appeal for reason and humanity to dominate society. At the same time he slaps his "lowly servant" in an earlier part of the story. If he was such an iconoclast before leaving for school, why doesn't he display this earlier. One might say that by taking a courtesan's daughter for a life he does show a disregard for the prevailing mores, however she is also the daughter of a nobleman, so he isn't exactly fishing on the bottom. Which raises another question, which lineage decides class? Is it always matrilineal? Just a few thoughts/questions.