<하녀>에서 쥐라는 장치가 수행하는 역할과 위상

The Status and role of a rat in 'The Housemaid': A Study of the critical reconsideration on 'the myth of Kim Ki-young'

As is generally known, Kim Ki-young's <The Housemaid>(1960) has high status in Korean film history. When the film was released, however, it didn't receive much attention by critics compared to other films at the time. As it encountered theoretical framework of postmodernism, it started to be revalued. In that sense, there is no doubt that <The Housemaid> transcends the ages. What matters is that recent discussion over the film in accordance with the postmodernist theoretical framework could be blamed for applying present perspective to the past unilaterally. In other words, the discussion is so abstract without sociocultural contents at the time. So it can't even explain why the film did well at the box office when released. Therefore, this study is based on the idea that this film is an output of certain sociocultural contents as well, and focuses on the rat in the film which reveals effectively its connection with social context. In the 1960s, Korea began its modernization project, led by the government. Rats became considered as an outdated symptom by the process, distinct from modern creature. As such nature of a rat meets the housemaid, modern and premodern concepts coexist in the film. But this kind of approach has a risk to treat the film just as an object reflecting society. Thus this study also tries to look at the way of the rat being concretely embodied in the film. Unlike the postmodernist view, <The Housemaid> uses a clear and direct directing strategy to embody 'a rat-human being'. And the strategy makes deep structures through the whole film to bring out premodern fear effectively. In this way, it can be proved that <The Housemaid> is not a film transcending the ages, but the output of contemporary conditions. Furthermore, it leads to the necessity of a critical reconsideration on the so-called 'myth of Kim Ki-young' which has been abstractly established by postmodernist theoretical framework. It's undeniable that Kim Ki-young is a genius. But it's because he stretched his cinematic imagination within the time he lived in, not because he was advanced for his time. The problem is his perception of the times was not far from the national discourse. That is, while his film recognized the times exactly, it didn't go further to throw a doubt on the structure of the spirit of the times. It means <The Housemaid> is not a film ahead of his time.