• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.9-41
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• 2020

Park Jong-won's debut film "Guro Arirang," based on a short story of the same title by Lee Moon-yeol, is the first commercial film to deal with labor struggles from a worker's point of view in the wake of the 1987 democratic movement, and a pioneering work in terms of representing female workers the Korean cinema has traditionally turned away from. In this film Park Jong-won tried to win the sympathy of the middle class for labor movement in spite of the red scare which still stood firm in the Korean society at that time. To convey its progressive message in a form acceptable to the middle class public, the film portrays labor issues in the light of universal humanity and ethics, not in terms of class hostility or struggle. Park Jong-won calls this point of view "common sense of normal people" and emphasizes its universality and objectivity. This study critically examines the cinematic strategies to deal with labor issues in a form acceptable to the public in a conventional and commercial film and the ideological implications of the "common sense of normal people" reflected in such strategies. The first chapter of the study reveals that the film destroys the irony of the original story and reduces the complex constellation of the characters to the conflict between pure good and evil, creating a melodramatic composition in which the good falls victim to evil. The tragedies suffered by the workers in the film are of course intended to arouse the audience's strong sympathy and solidarity with them. The second chapter shows that the film's various scenes and episodes converge on the them of compassion and grief, and are mostly based on cultural and real experiences and events that caused great public sensations at that time. Especially in the last decisive scene of the movie, the memory of the June 1987 uprising is strongly recalled. So "Guro Arirang" can be seen as a patchwork of proven cases of compassion and grief. The third chapter examines the implications of the scene where the workers turn back demands for wages and put the issues of human treatment and trust to the forefront at the crucial moment of their struggle. It appeals to universal moral values and sentiments that everyone has to acknowledge and removes the political dimension from the workers' campaign. While the film tends to become a pure story of humanity marginalizing irreconcilable conflicts of class interest, the workers fall to the position of passive victims who can be deeply sympathetic on the one hand, and on the other, are idealized as leaders with noble attitude keeping themselves aloof from the hard reality. As a result, the movie loses its realistic ground and weakens its narrative probability. The scenes reminiscent of the 1987 uprising which evoke the solidarity between working and middle class fail to integrate harmoniously into the whole story of the film and remain only as fragmentary parts of the patchwork of compassion and grief.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.182-201
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to examine a married nurse's experience of child rearing through being applied to phenomenological research method. By exchanging their experiences, helping and understanding one another, married nurses can work with delight considering their own present job as their lifelong job. In addition this study can help single nurses overcome the female crises such as marriage, childbirth, and child rearing they will experience in the future. The subjects of this research was 26 married nurses who work for a university hospital in affiliation in Seoul and have children. The period of materials collection was from Feb. 1st to Mar. 3, 1995. The method of materials collection was primarily to write down a questionary with openhearted contents. In collecting it, the respondents were allowed to say at their pleasure through further interview. The materials were analyzed by Giorgi's phenomenological analysis method. The findings of this study are as follows ; 1) The responses of married nurses' experience of child rearing-[pleasure] [family solidarity] [maternal-infant attachment] [understanding] [toilsome]-were induced. That is, at once affirmative experience and hard experience coexisted. 2) The method of married nurses' child rearing-[rearing politely] [raising understanding] [having the sense of family community] [rearing with praying the heart] [careless]-were induced. 3) The support system of married nurses' child rearing-[having help family] [having help from others]-were induced. According to the above findings, the married nursed showed affirmative responses about their experience of child rearing, but at the same time they expressed painful when stayed apart from their children on account of their job or when their children were sick. In the method of child rearing, they tried to grow their children polite because there was much time for them to stay apart from their children. And they tried to give a better explanation in order that their children can have an independence spirit. They tended to compensate through frequent physical touch with their children. As the support system of married nurses' child rearing, they asked their parents or their parents-in-law to take care of their children, hired a nursery governess in their houses, or used a children's home, if they can't afford to. That is, the only one who has a firm sense of her profession, tries to inspire her accomplishment, and is receiving her husband' love and understanding is considered to perform two things simultaneously with harmony, having an recognition of lifelong job. Suggestions 1. The method to solve mental troubles on child rearing should be groped. 2. Their economical burden should be reduced by establishing children's home in their working places, and the increase of maternal-infant interaction should be contrived. 3. The chance of education should be offered in order that married nurses themselves might inspire self-conceit and professionalism on clinical nursing. 4. The familiar mood should be created through planning the programs to be accompanied with children as an annual event in hospital. 5. The part-time nurse system should be suggested to utilize. 6. The system of circulation working should be converted into the system of fixing working according to the characteristic of each department. 7. Programs for special activities such as learning foreign languages and computer should be supported positively.