<돌아오지 않는 해병>스토리텔링의 이중적 구조에 대한 연구

A Study on the Dual Structure of Storytelling in 《The Marines Who Never Returned》: The Choice between the Genre and the Auteur

This study focuses on the dualism of storytelling in Lee Man-Hee’s feature film <The Marines Who Never Returned>(1963). At first glance,this film looks a faithful realization of genre conventions, but on a closer view it is far more individual and unique for a typical Korean war film which aimed to preach a stereotypic anti-communist propaganda under the military regime of those days. The story in this film chronologically follows the actual incidents and situations happened during the Korean War, but the plot proceeds in a different manner and precisely fits the conventional “three act structure”paradigm for ideal narrative feature films. While the story shows the military gains and intrepidness, the plot reveals the individual squad member’s sacrifice and helplessness. If the elaborate plot deftly plays with genre conventions, the combination of iconic characters and unusual characters reflects the auteur’s innovation. It also helps to create an unconventional atmosphere. The duality is also found in and between the characters. The pairs of characters, which at first cause conflict, complement each other at the end. The double-sidedness within individual characters represents the self in two parts: the persona and the shadow. It is not the exciting spectacle of war but the human inner existential anguish that virtually dramatizes through such a dynamic form. And if not, it presents a kaleidoscope of manifold human types which is imaginable only in an extraordinary situation like a war.