Im Kwon-Taek: The Making of a Korean National Cinema

5 Sopyonje: Its Cultural and Historical Meaning

CHAPTER 5 Sopyonje: Its Cultural and Historical Meaning The Movie No one involved in making Sopyonje (Sopydnje) imagined that it would become the most popular domestic movie in South Korean history, quickly topping the box-office success of the same director's famed The Generals Son (Chungun ui adul). At the time of its release in April 1993, newspapers were reporting that the nation's filmmakers were principally aiming for prizes in foreign art film festivals rather than popularity at home, yet Sopyonje won rave reviews and the adulation of viewers all over the country. By October, the number of domestic viewers exceeded one million, and the film was being screened for foreign audiences at art theaters and on college campuses in many parts of the United States and Europe. Briefly, Sopyonje focuses on a makeshift family over the course of three decades, from the 1930s through the 1960s: a father, his adopted daughter, and his stepson. The family ekes out a living performing p^ansori at parties and at the homes of rich aristocrats.1 Performers have 134 SOPTONJE: CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL MEANING 135 traditionally been relegated to the lowest class in South Korea, and the family is scorned, ignored, and often humiliated. Once the country falls under the domination ofAmerican culture, the demand for p'tmsori falls dramatically, and the family teeters on the verge of starvation. The father, however, clings to his art and insists on passing it on to his children. He trains them in p^ansori, the daughter as a vocalist and the son as a drummer. But the son, fed up with being poor and unable to fathom the father's motives, runs away from home. The movie follows his search, years later, for his sister, and it culminates in their reunion. Shot against a stunning rural backdrop, swelling with the heartbreaking strains of an original score that was deliberately reminiscent of—but not quite the same as—traditional South Korean music, and showcasing snatches of py anson and traditional folk songs, the movie was widely extolled as a major cultural achievement. The soundtrack album was also a great hit. Featuring the film's score, composed by Kim Su-ch'61, as well as excerpts from the movie's soundtrack, the album gives listeners a sampling of traditional Korean music. Both the movie and the album were widely credited with reviving public interest in p'tmsori. The movie also generated scores of articles in South Korean newspapers and magazines. In addition to reviews, the South Korean press published updates on the movie's popularity and the public reaction, as well as interviews with the director, producer, principal actors, and the man who wrote the short story on which the movie is based. Four of the nation's major dailies weighed in with editorials, and most newspapers carried columns commenting on the social and cultural significance of the Sopyonje phenomenon. Reprints of many of these articles, as well as a chronological list of them, can be found in "Sopyonje" Movie Book, a lavishly illustrated resource and fact book published in October 1993, just seven months after the movie's release.2 Apparently aimed at fans hungry for detailed and up close information about the movie, it includes a long account of the film's production, beginning with Im Kwon-Taek's recollection that when he first read the story he knew it would be perfect for a movie. The "Sopyonje" Movie Book, based on journals kept by the production crew as well as individuals' reminiscences, records enough details about locations, conversations among the cast and crew, and other insider 136 CHO HAE JOANG goings-on to satisfy even the most ardent fan. It also includes the full screenplay, interviews with members of the cast and crew, a guide to the locations where the film was shot, and reprints of editorials, columns, reviews, and articles. Moreover, it features blurbs from ioo fans about what Sopyonje meant to them, excerpts from college newspapers and Internet chat groups, and a detailed chronology of the director's life and career, including pictures of his family. Edited by the director himself, the book is unique in South Korean publishing history: the first to focus so lovingly and in such detail on a single movie. (Books containing the scripts of fabulously popular television dramas, as well as some behind-the-scenes details, have also been published, however.) The range...