서항석의 친일 행적과 향토가극이라는 잘못된 명명

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the cultural geography of late Japanese occupation period, in which Seo Hang-seok, who followed the lineage of New Drama Movement through Theatre Art Research Group and Hyundai Theatre Company, threw himself in Music Drama and achieved ‘success.’ In particular, as Korea went through the problematic period of 1940s and 1970s, certain works and performances that have the room for being interpreted as Pro-Japanese were labeled the ‘Local Music Drama’ in the 1970s and gained a certain position in the history of performing arts. In this process, the duality of its ‘success’ will be revealed.BR I will also assert that naming of the genre as ‘Local Music Drama’ is a misleading one. Pak Yong-gu’s mislabeling of this genre as Local Music Drama, which was never mentioned in its time, is something unrelated to the localism, Orientalism, or nation (minjok) that was formed in the colonial discourse, which is associated with the imperial Japan’s Japanization strategy. It is a case of arbitrary appropriation that was first mentioned by Bak Yong-gu in the 1970s. Since then, the name has often been brought up by the scholars of performing arts in the hope of moving up the origin of Korean Music Drama (musical) to earlier years based on its name. While questions are being raised about the origin of the term, Local Music Drama, as the signifier, Local Music Drama keeps being mentioned by the scholars, it ends up creating the effect of reality. A thorough review and reflection of this historical process is needed. This paper attempts to access and reevaluate Seo Hang-seok’s 1940s’ activities in Music Drama, and other contemporary materials that are scarcely left and have been unnoticed thus far.