황석영, 임상수, 그리고 <오래된 정원>

The Politics of Film Adaptation: Hwang Sok-yong, Im Sang-soo and The Old Garden

If from the early days of film criticism the cinema invited comparisons with literature, the reason was obvious. Both were narrative in format. Since Literature departments were traditionally charged with the narrative, most commentaries on literary adaptation in film are formalistic, preoccupied with issues of textul fidelity or attempts to explain the differences between media. André Bazin argued adaptation is aesthetically justified, independent of its pedagogical and social value. Serious investigations of narrative intertextuality began with Roland Barthes. From my own point of view, the study of adaptation becomes more interesting when it takes into account historical, cultural, or political concerns. So I compare The Old Garden directed by Im Sang-soo with The Old Garden written by Hwang Seok-young. The novel, The Old Garden is the sweeping and touching story of tangled passions and struggles for life of a pair of lovers during the time of social upheavals of South Korea after the 1980s and of changes in world history after the collapse of socialist nations. This novel primarily portrays the characters who went through ordeals with an agonizing resistance against a dictatorial government of Korea. In his mastery of realistic details, Hwang has successfully represented how the life of individuals is related to the flow of history. But the film, The Old Garden is cool and dry. In the months following the Kwangju Massacre, a socialist activist Hyun-woo hides from the police in a remote home, together with a schoolteacher. Soon the two fall in love. But Hyun-woo eventually determines to leave Yoon-hee. En route, Hyun-woo is intercepted by police and given a life sentence for his alleged crimes. After 16 years of imprisonment as the result of a farcical trial, Hyun-woo is shocked to discover that Yoon-hee gave birth to his daughter shortly after he was arrested, and shattered to discover that his beloved had perished during his extended incarceration. In the process of adaption, Im Sang-soo's The Old Garden becomes more oblique and more ahistorical.