• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.221-254
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• 2020

This paper finds a solution in the social context which cannot be explained thoroughly by well-timed release date, revival of comedy films, and the attraction of Lee Byeong-heon's comedy etc. while it throws question of how the film, Extreme Job captivated 16 million audience. The incredible hits of Extreme Job cannot be explained by analyzing the text alone. After this essay investigates a function and a role of comedy as a public sphere, it examines people's desires and wishes in the comedy and other genres since 2008 when the conservative government has seized power. Since 2008 a series of dark tone's action thriller, social problem film, and disaster film have emerged, these genres showed absence of public security, crisis of democracy and criticism against rulling class. On the other hand, hit comedy films have showed escapism such as weepie, nostalgia, and fantasy at the same time, generally. Although Veteran (2015) is not full-blown comedy, after this film's big success, "comic mode" has gradually revived. A light tone's films which are truer to genre rules has started representing the wishes of people toward social reforms and changes. Meanwhile, "Candlelight Protest" served as a momentum to recover the democracy which has been in crisis, but it could not lead changes in economic and daily lives. Exreme Job can be read as a question how we will survive since "Candlight Protest." The lives of detectives as self-employed workers who has taken over a fried chicken restaurant for going undercover are appearances of ordinary persons who must survive in the edless conpetition. Furthermore, this film shows a dream of a "great success myth" which becomes well-known as a famous restaurant and a self-management such as brand-naming and an exapansion of franchise business. We can read ganster's chicken franchises as a huge distribution industry which disturbs market system by delivering drugs secretly. While applauses that we give to the police having identities of self-employed workers which sweeps the ganster are giving support to oridinary neighborhood like us, they are also wishes of people who long for the restoration of publicness of police in the market which is becoming increasingly privatized today. A significance of this essay is to examine Extreme Job in terms of the geography of film genres and the revival of comic mode sicne 2008 at the macro level, and is to read the film in the perspective of the problems of economic and daily lives which has been still unsolved since "Candlelight Protest" at the micro level.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.39
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• pp.549-580
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• 2019

There are many festivals in the region that mainly use traditional performing arts. Traditional performing arts has a story that incorporates the history of the area, and it is easy to build a brand that can be distinguished from other areas through traditional performing arts, so it has conditions that are easy to grow in the local festival it can. In this paper, I researched the relationship between the significance and regionality of regional performing arts, referring to the case where traditional performing arts, which is a joint cultural heritage of East Asia, are transmitted as a festival. The performance art with strong locality has grown into a local festival, and the Kanto Festival (竿燈) held in Akita prefecture in northeastern Japan was selected as a representative example of that area. Along with the Aomori Nebuta Festival and the Sendai Tanabata Festival, the Kanto Festival is called the 3 major festivals in the northeastern part of Japan. It was designated as an important intangible folk cultural property in 1980 and became more famous. It visited Seoul several times after the 2005 Japan-Korea Exchange Festival event. It is widely known as a regional festival that represents Japan. The Kanto Festival, which was a participatory event on a village basis, has faced problems such as the migration and aging of young people since the 1970s. In order to solve this, they led the participation of schools, educational institutions, and various groups beyond the village unit and persuaded the participation to the local companies. They have been steadily promoting free lectures on technical skills and school visit events that induce children's interest. As a result, the number of moths mobilized in the current festival has reached 250, and the Kanto tournament also shows great popularity every year.