A Historical Imagination of a Neo-liberal Society:Considerations on the Korean Historical Drama Chuno

Abstract

Chuno is a TV historical drama broadcast by KBS in 2010. The drama, set in the 17th century, brings slaves and ‘slave hunters’ into foreground as its title means ‘chasing after the fugitive slaves.’ Chuno enjoyed high popularity to which several factors contributed including suggestive sexual exploitation, consumable masculinity, and spectacular and stylish action often with intertextual references. However, the most important thing is that the main mood of Chuno is characterized by mobility defining the logic and experiences of capitalist modernity, which allows us to regard the drama Chuno as a historical imagination of a neo-liberal society in the age of globalization. The fact that Chuno is dominated by mobility is more remarkable in its genre context in that the general mood of Korean TV historical dramas have been static despite several new trends in the 2000s. As a historical imagination of a neo-liberal society, Chuno establishes a strong analogy between slavery society of the late Joseon and neo-liberal society of South Korea with the slaves reminding us of non-regular workers and debtors. The political imagination of Chuno tells a story about the dream for reform and its frustration through the motif of Crown Prince Sohyeon, but its politics goes one step further to tell a story about the dream for democracy and its frustration in the age of neo-liberalism through the hopes and stories of the lowliest people.