Seopyeonje

The film, Seopyeonje (1993) was filmed by Im KwonTaek, which telss the story of a family of traditional Korean Pansori singers trying to make their life into the modern world. There were many long shots scenes when Yubong, Songhwa, and Dongho walking, and shows the landscapes of the mountains, rivers and fields. ‘The use of the long-take emphasize that the song is being preserved s it happens, in real time’ (pg. 177). They are singing while they are walking down the field, and the lyrics of the song include their hopes, dreams and visions.

            Yubong’s obsession with the sounds and his daughter led him to make Songhwa blind. Dongho thought the death of his mom was due to Yubong, and he decided to leave. However, Yubong was worried about that Songhwa would leave him like Dongho, so Yubong made Songhwa blind. However, this creates han (resentment) to Songhwa. ‘pansori is being advanced by ImKwonTaek as representative of the authenticity and emotionalism of the national culture is evidenced by the visual and aural symbolisms of other scenes as well’ (pg. 167). Some Koreans consider the fim, Sopyeonje as the Korean traditional film, because it includes ‘han’ (resentment), which is a Korean traditional sentiment. ‘While the use of music in Sopyonje has stimulated many Koreans to feel and preserve the inner domain of a shared national culture, the film reproduces some of the same contradictions that plagued the minjung movement itself (pg. 171). At the end of the film, the scene when Songhwa recognized Dongho by hearing his rhythms of the drumming and singing together, after few years later was the most impressive scene for me. The camera shows Songhwa and Dongho’s face to shows the emotions to the audiences, and the sounds were muted. Showing their emotions without any speech was the most impressive scene, which portrays Songhwa and Dongho’s han (resentment) the most.