• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.98-113
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• 2013

This study is an attempt to analyze the daily life of the Western-yearning Seoul citizens and the inflow of the Western culture into certain social classes. The customs of the characters in the film are studied to illustrate the process of deconstruction of Korean traditional clothes due to the Western influence. The combined application of the Western and Korean styles is also observed. All this study leads to the sense of homogeneity of the times and the conformity to the culture the Korean women shared, which boils down to the social identity of the Korean women who sought an escape from the men-centered social structure by displaying their competence in the field of global modern fashion. As Seonyeong Oh, the main character of the film, , was wearing in the movie the Korean traditional dress, socks, rubber shoes, and then a western-style coat, it well shows that in 1950's, the traditional dress and ornaments were mixed with Western styles. In time, men's wear were completely changed from the traditional Korean clothes to suits, while women's could not break off from the traditional clothes and become westernized, which indicates that the men-centered conservative ideas to keep women within the feudal regime of the society remained. The military look of Seonyeong Oh while she was acting in the society was a symbol of anti-bias against women and anti-convention as well as the will of freedom as an independent woman. Besides, the modern girls would wear clothes of military fashion, Dior's trapeze line, and knit styles flattering the figures. All these well show their desires to embrace Western cultures, especially their dress fashions as well as manners as so-called enlightened ladies. All these elements show that the director was trying to represent the progress of the drama, characters, and psychological states by means of the dress and ornaments.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.639-654
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• 2014

What is noticeable in Changgeuk Madame Ong is that for "narrativization," a main character is replaced with Madame Ong and her mother and a reinvented story as a result thereof is the female liberation from oppression. The director sought for the completeness of the narrative with a plot line created (i) by daringly deleting the latter half (episode relating to Gangsoe's death), which was a persistent problem unsolved both in the original and its derivative contents, (ii) by diluting Gangsoe's patriarchal authority and thereby creating the ending of endless love and the fruition of love, and (iii) by severing the link between Madame Ong's doomed fate of widowhood and Gangsoe's doomed fate of death by the violation of a taboo (the key factors of the original story) and at the same time, thereby inserting the doomed fate of death by Jowang (god of fire), declaring a war against jangseung (Korean traditional totem pole), the aesthetic structure representing "fictionization," and enabling a female character to gain love, fame and life through free will and spirit of resistance. The director achieved a remarkable success in terms of composition by (i) taping into a variety of genres of music, (ii) by maximizing the effect of Madame Ong's solo, (iii) by strengthening the "uniqueness of each part" through chorus, (iv) by creating a dramatic atmosphere for the change of scene, (v) by applying a dual variation of tension (resistance theme) and relaxation (freedom theme), etc.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.40
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• pp.37-69
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• 2020

This study was designed to investigate the characteristics, aesthetics, similarities and differences through the flow of Korean female movies. In order to carry out this study, four movies with representations of each age had to be selected. These four films are respectively Sweet Dream produced during the Japanese colonial period, Madame Freedom which prompted the debate on feminism in the 1950s, The Silver Stallion Will Never Come which combines the devastated lives of women in the 1990s with anti-malevolent views, and A Good Lawyer's Wife which presents a futuristic selection of Korean feminist films. Especially, these works are noteworthy in that they guarantee the typicality and representative of Korean films in each period. Based on this, two common motifs appearing in these works have been intensively studied. One is a 'cage' motif that symbolizes women's detention and the other is a 'mirror' motif that women need to be aware of their situation and check the current situation. Korean women's films have not only shared some of the motifs of 'Cage' and 'Mirror', but also have focused on conveying the author's message that ultimately aimed at linking these motifs.