희극과 분노: <침묵에 대한 의문>과 <개 같은 날의 오후>를 중심으로

초록

The paper assumes that A Question of Silence directed by Marleen Gorris and One Crazy Afternoon like a Bitch by Mihn-Yyong Lee are to be put into a category of feminist films. It insists that women’s oppression under patriarchy and explosion of women’s anger and its result, killing of a man, are enough to make the above mentioned works feminist films. Even though those films consist of similar story and similar themes, the viewers’ responses are quite different. In the case of A Question of Silence, “some women stand up and cheered, while other male viewers left enraged.” Further, “men tended to see it as a serious social problem picture or a shocking disturbing attack on them as individuals.” In contrast, both male and female viewers applauded the film One Crazy Afternoon Like a Bitch. with enthusiasm. The paper finds the cause of the radically different responses to both films in their differing uses of comic genres: the genre of laughter in A Question of Silence, and the more conventional comedic form of One Crazy Afternoon like a Bitch. This paper is divided into four parts: ‘the introduction,’ ‘A Question of Silence as genre of laughter,’ ‘One Crazy Afternoon Like a Bitch as ‘conventional’ comedy,’ and ‘the conclusion.’ ‘The introduction’ roughly examines the status of women in humor and comedy in terms of literary history. At the same time, it focuses on the most salient characteristics of women’s comedy emerging in the late twentieth century: anger and laughter. In the second part, A Question of Silence is analyzed in terms of anger and laughter. The analysis emphasizes the women’s oppression under patriarchy and their anger exploded through a silent murder committed by a whole group of women in Boutique 22. The paper also takes a hard look at conflict between women, and the silent consensus among women laughing like Medusa in the court and their threat to the subversion of male power. The third part points out that though some elements in One Crazy Afternoon like a Bitch are likely to threaten patriarchal society, viewers will not experience any feelings of being threatened, as the film contains such elements within the structure of comedy. ‘The conclusion’ examines the weakness of women films in general. It does not stop there. It thinks about the future of feminist comedy films.

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