• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.113-124
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• 2014

Ah! My Goddess has impressive narrative structure including a "narrative as a discourse," a "narrative as a story" and a "narrative by narrator": in a narrative as a discourse, North and South Korean soldiers make friendship; in a narrative by a narrator, main characters (including Sun-ho, Seok-gu, Ju-hwa, Chang-seop and Dong-hyeon) appear in the outer story and narrate the inner story of characters (including Dong-hyeon, Goddess and Seok-gu) within the frame of a play within a play; and in a narrative as a story, reality and fantasy intersect by the appearance of the "Goddess." This narrative structure contributes largely to 1) the character formation of space, 2) the strategic minimization of the stage, 3) the multiplicity of main characters, 4) the repetition of similar life story, and 5) the flexible change of a point of view. And the musical number serves as dramatic functions such as 1) pursuing the multiplicity of characters, 2) maximizing the effect of the expression of tragic feelings, 3) drawing audience's interest by irony and fantasy, 4) evoking the nostalgia for delicate feelings and pure wishes, and 5) ordinary female characters' playing the role of healing and salvation, thereby contributing to the reconstruction of reality and the style of fantasy.