Message from rrobinson

Just wanted to add my two won on this great movie...

The story is traditional - a fairytale, in effect - told to please its original audience of the lower strata of society (until the 20th century and the emerging nationalist movement, wealthier and more cultured Koreans traditionally regarded themselves as above and, to some extent, removed from the common herd - in fact, culturally more akin to the educated Chinese as a class) by putting forward the implausible notion that a poor girl, daughter of a courtesan, can rise to become the wife of the provincial governor, thanks to True Love ...

The movie begins as a pansori performance, with a single singer and accompianist on a stage in front of a large audience, and moves into a retelling of the story through cinematic action. The style of pansori singing is intense - the performer's voice is put through vocal hoops you'd hardly think possible to sustain for the customary two hour performance, and it shows on his face! I'd thought initially that the students would find it comical and react accordingly but, in fact, they very quickly appreciate the dexterity and sheer stamina of the performer, and the action of the story itself begins soon enough.

The camera returns to the stage performance at times throughout the movie and, by the end, the audience members - most of them elderly - are on their feet reacting to the singer and responding to the emotions stirred by the tale's telling.

This is an excellent intro to Korean culture, both folktales and the pansori tradition, and costume (the production values are superb, and the dress throughout is a really great window into traditional Korean costume) although there are a couple of points during the movie when the two young lovers get into some very heated action... fast-forwarding works, as it's only a minute or two of doing the wild thing. I follow up showing this movie with a handout on pansori - its history, and summaries of the most popular stories - which dovetails nicely with the handout on Biejing Opera which we discuss after the class has watched "Farewell My Concubine". It also fits in nicely with a later look at Japanese Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku theater.

I should say that both of these movies aren't suitable for middle school (except, in the case of 'Chunhyang', with some serious editing). If you can suggest any other movies that explore East Asian musical tradition, I'd be glad to hear from you - particularly anything that showcases any of the Japanese theatrical forms

Many thanks!

Ray Robinson[Edit by="rrobinson on Mar 5, 3:33:12 PM"][/Edit]