[1-5세션] 다큐멘터리 <기억의 전쟁>에 나타난 베트남 전쟁 - 기억의 경합과 공존의 의미

The Significance of the Contestation and Coexistence of Vietnam War Memories in the Documentary <War of Memories/Untold>

This paper is a study on the significance of the contestation and coexistence of Vietnam War memories as depicted in the documentary <War of Memories/Untold>(2020, directed by Lee, Kil-bora). To achieve this, the theoretical background addresses the relationship between documentary filmmaking and war memories. Specifically, it highlights that the documentary, while exploring the ‘truth’ of war, serves as a cultural practice that, through its distinctive visual representational conventions, raises various questions about contemporary war memories. The results of the analysis are as follows: First, the overall content of <War of Memories> revolves around the testimonies of survivors regarding the civilian massacres committed by the South Korean military during the Vietnam War, as well as the legal proceedings surrounding these events in the ‘Citizens’ Peace Court.’ These events are represented as a ‘war of memories,’ involving a confrontation between personal memories—centered on the testimonies of survivors—and the official memory excluded by the state. To concretize this opposition, <War of Memories> represents the nature of the ‘war of memories’ through an aesthetic and symbolic structure, exploring various categories of memory. In conclusion, the ‘war of memories’ depicted in <War of Memories> reveals that the subjects of war memory are themselves engaged in a ‘performance’ as part of their process of identity formation. Moreover, this ‘performance’ is not limited to the participants within the text of <War of Memories>; it is also evident in the documentary itself, which functions as a socially participatory practice.