Period Films in the Postmodern or the “Enjoy!” Era

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Period Films in the Postmodern or the “Enjoy!” Era

Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2015, Vol 20, Issue 2

Abstract

The Treacherous is a film based on “ch’aehong (採紅, chaehong),” a historical affair through which ten thousand women of beauty were taken into the palace in the eleventh year of the reign of Yŏnsan’gun (Yeonsangun) in Chosŏn (Joseon) Korea. Numerous women from the scholar-official class to the lowest class, as well as married women, were brought to the palace. These women were called “unp’yŏng (unpyeong).” The Annals of the Chosŏn Dynasty contains records of the appointment of Yim Sung-jae and Yim Sa-hong as ch’aehongsa (chaehongsa), responsible for the whole process of ch’aehong. Director Min Kyu-dong added cinematic imagination to these records and painted a picture of the “era in which people could not live without going insane.” Yŏnsan’gun (played by Kim Kang-wu) begins to go insane upon learning the tragic truth about his mother, who was sentenced to death by poison. Only treacherous court officials surround him, telling him that they will give him the pleasure of a thousand years in just one day. Two of the most treacherous officials, Yim Sa-hong (played by Chŏn Ho-jin) and Yim Sung-jae (played by Chu Chi-hun) are father and son, who are trying to establish their positions through ch’aehong. In these efforts, they teach Tan-hŭi (played by Lim Chi-yŏn), a woman of exceptional beauty and talent, the techniques and skills to seduce the king. Meanwhile, Chang Nok-su (played by Ch’a Chi-yŏn), Yŏnsan’gun’s concubine, can no longer condone the acts and ambition of the Yims, and she also personally begins to train Sŏljungmae, one of the most celebrated kisaeng (female entertainers) of the time, to entice the king as well. Eventually, ch’aehong becomes perverted into a power struggle in this era of insanity, and the palace turns into a site of bloodbath. Furthermore, as Yim Sung-jae develops romantic feelings for Tan-hŭi, who took part in ch’aehong to kill Yŏnsan’gun, the film begins to unfold riveting scenes of desire. No matter the efforts to stay faithful to the historical truth, period films have no choice but to rely on cinematic imagination. In the same way, no matter the efforts to demonstrate cinematic imagination, it is impossible for period films to take a leap beyond the “fixed” historical truth. As a result, critical approaches to period films stand at the mouth of forking paths: historical truth and cinematic imagination. While historical truth is for historians to focus on, cinematic imagination is left up to film critics. Various characteristics of period films produced since the 2000s are condensed in the Treacherous, which provides sufficient evidences to understand the cultural conditions that gave birth to the “historical imagination” of period films in the 2000s. Historical truth belongs to the past, but historical imagination arises from social and cultural conditions of the present. This article focuses on the “mouth of the present” that describes the reenacted past, rather than the reenacted past itself. Therefore, this paper is both a question—In what way are we trying to imagine the past in the flow of the “postmodern” era?—as well as an answer to the question.

Authors and Affiliations

Sihwan An

Keywords

The Minjung’s Perception of Japan During the Period Immediately Following the Kanghwa Treaty (1876~1884) and Their Response to Japan

No Abstract

EP ID EP26423
DOI https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2015.20.2.189
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