초록
This article explores the trajectory of Song Kang-ho’s on-screen performances from the release of his fourth film, Number 3 (1997), to one of his most recent films, Thirst (2009). As a case study, it reveals new insights about this popular and representative actor’s numerous screen personae and how they have enabled audiences to peer into a cinematic surface that reflects back a mixture of anti-heroism and pantomime. Beneath the many costumes and performance styles he adopts, audiences have come to see a human being with everyday problems and concerns. In a way reminiscent of the French pantomime clown Pierrot, Song’s characters reflect a depth of human feeling and compassion modulated by a comic undercurrent—the tension between these overlapping layers is precisely what holds his various personae together.
키워드
Song Kang-ho, Korean Cinema, stardom, Park Chan-wook, Kim Jee-woon
INTRODUCTION
Song Kang-ho is a classic movie star whose acting ability is well known to the film industry and whose performances are appreciated by audiences in South Korea (hereafter Korea) and abroad. He has acted in some of the contemporary Korean cinema’s most profitable and critically acclaimed feature films, productions which have contributed to the national film industry’s current global notoriety. Song’s numerous product endorsements, ranging from the national Lotto and financial services to
This article explores the trajectory of Song Kang-ho’s on-screen performances from the release of his fourth film,
By projecting this unique mix of elements, Song has contributed to the expansion of Korean cinema beyond the country’s geographical borders. More than just another pretty face, Song’s media profile and public recognizability have enabled him, and the contemporary Korean cinema of which he is so intriguing a part, to achieve fame at home and abroad. Song became a valued commodity at the same as the Korean cinema was rising on its lion’s paws in terms of domestic audience numbers, box office returns, domestic market share—at the expense of Hollywood’s share of the local market—and the launch of fresh genres by a new breed of auteur filmmakers. Given these links, he owes much of his early development as a star to the directors he has worked with on a repeated basis, most notably Kim Jee-woon (Kim Chi-un) (three times), Park Chan-wook (four times), Lee Chang-dong (Yi Ch’ang-dong) (twice), and Bong Joon-ho (Pong Chun-ho) (twice)—in a similar way that Robert De Niro has worked with Martin Scorsese on a large number of projects. Symbiotically, these directors owe much of their success to Song; his ability to enliven his characters through physical training, manipulation of the body and dialogue ad-libbing has helped to elevate their reputations as master filmmakers and secure them a place among the foremost directors of the contemporary Korean cinema.
While Song’s popularity began to spread after his performance in
A vital element of Song’s performances, as well as his extratextual stardom, is the overlapping layers of personae that shift and change in a state of constant flux. Each layer influences the others in ways that produce subtle transformations. The discussion that follows focuses on these transformations in four of Song’s early films,
MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE
Song, who plays Jo-pil (Cho-p’il) in
Song’s portrayal of the stuttering Jo-pil has a significant impact on the chain of cause and effect that determines the relationships between the characters in the film. He is linked to nearly all the figures in the narrative in both direct and indirect ways. Jo-pil, who is nearly always dressed in black, is introduced through a montage sequence at the start of the film. He is depicted holding a menacing sashimi knife over two bloody corpses lying in a parking garage. Unexpectedly, and in silence—like a pantomime figure—Jo-pil uses his blood-soaked hands to catch and eat a cockroach (pictured in
Through the character of Jo-pil, Song projects two personality trajectories— sinister and comic—that inevitably collide. One persona is a violent and calculating killer who approaches his victims with a cold, blank face and few words. The other, a cross between a jokester and a hooligan, provides comic relief through his stutter and high-pitched, whiny shriek of a voice that emanates excitedly through curled and puckered lips. When he is enraged, the noises projected from Jo-pil’s mouth sound like a mixture of the vocal exhalations of Bruce Lee in combat mode, a meowing kitten, and a hungry, barking hyena. (There may be a reference here to the big fight scene between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris at the end of
One memorable scene shows Jo-pil in a hospital bathroom as he prepares to assassinate a major crime boss resting in a nearby room. After rummaging through his briefcase—overflowing with random items such as cigarette lighters, cans of tuna, tissues, unpackaged ramen noodles and assorted pills—Jo-pil removes a foot-long hunting knife and begins to sharpen it (rather ineffectively) against his leather belt (see
Despite his questionable record of kills (and skills), Jo-pil acts as trainer for a trio of hoodlums who aim to gain a reputation as a feared gang. After forcing them to eat take-out noodles with black bean sauce (
The last we see of Jo-pil in
In his next film,
Young-min’s childishness is signposted by a number of personal traits— including his habit of chewing gum as if he were a cow chewing its cud, making large noisy movements with an open mouth. His disregard for privacy also makes him seem juvenile. He likes to peep at and eavesdrop on guests having sex in their rooms, and pilfers money from the cash register (see
A scene that typifies the duality of Song’s character in
In the next scene, Young-min is seen sitting on the floor of a dimly lit room, quietly smoking a cigarette and contemplating recent events. This is followed by a shot of Young-min grooming himself in the mirror and tending a wound on his mouth that resembles the blemish that Jo-pil doctored in
In
However, like his distant cinematic relatives, Lee is dedicated and loyal. He is married to his career in a way that recalls the value placed on the institutions of work and family by Jo-pil and Young-min respectively. Similarly, Lee is a loner (he is the “third wheel” when Jong and his girlfriend are on a date: see the images in
After the show, while the three of them are eating dinner, we learn that Lee is a relentless hunter—he enjoys tracking people down (recall that Jo-pil stalked his victims and Young-min tracked his sister into the woods at night). Showing Myung-hyun a photo of the notorious female assassin Bang-hee (Pang-hŭi), Lee jokes that he broke up with his former “girlfriend” so that he could search for her. Lee’s light-hearted display of irony is in marked contrast with the (albeit hidden) reactions of Myung-hyun, for she is in fact Bang-hee, the woman in the photo—a double spy who has undergone reconstructive facial surgery and assumed the identity of another woman.
One of the few times that we hear a hint of the high-pitched voice reminiscent of Song’s previous characters occurs when the three friends are running toward a bus stop in the rain. In a faint hyena-like voice, Lee complains that he is soaking wet. At once, Lee takes on the persona of an older and more mature composite of Jo-pil and Young-min, but with more talent and expertise and, of course, a stable and respectable job in the big city. His agent’s revolver is a significant upgrade from the knives and shovels wielded by Song’s earlier personae. But his older incarnations are always lurking in the background. Towards the end of the film, after being shot melodramatically by the North Korean spy leader (played by Choi Min-sik [Ch’oe Min-sik]), and lying covered in blood in his partner’s arms, he croaks out the assurance that he is going to be alright (despite the overwhelmingly evidence to the contrary). Thus Lee’s one last attempt to remain serious backfires. Sure enough, seconds later Lee is gasping for his very last breath (pictured in
In retrospect, Song’s decision to appear in
3 With a total audience of 297,617,
4
NEW CHALLENGE
For his first leading role, in
While working with Song Kang-ho on
After his boss kicks him out of the office for being late one day, Dae-ho visits a neighborhood gym known for teaching wrestling (see
Audiences voted for Song’s performance in
5
6 Between January and June 2000,
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Born in 1967, Song grew up in a farming district near Busan. In an interview, Song recalled how, as a child, he had dreamt about performing on stage, and that from an early age he enjoyed making his friends laugh by telling interesting stories in an animated way. It seems his classmates all believed that the young Song would be a great actor someday
Among his acting peers, Song is appreciated for his professionalism and wit
If Song became a great comedy actor while working with Kim Jee-woon, and if
Around the time he was beginning his work with Park, Song’s face (and body image) began appearing extensively on billboards and signs as well as in magazine advertisements and on television entertainment shows. Represented as the average Korean male, he was cast in advertisements for such quotidian items as alcohol, lotto, financial services, and vacuum cleaners (pictured in
7 According to an interview with Song, Park offered him the vampire-priest role in
8 The international legacy of
THE COMING-OF-FATHER LOOK
In the early 2000s, as Song’s reputation was rising, Korean film critics would often refer to the “masks” that Song created for each of his characters. It was thought that these masks provided glimpses of Song’s inner self—particularly in his comic roles
It is arguable that the gap between Song’s anti-heroic and serious sides has been most successfully bridged in his most recent films. Critically acclaimed films such as
In
While Gang-du’s brother and sister are engaged on the hunt, Gang-du is quarantined for “coming into contact” with the monster, and is held under orders from the U.S. Army. Gang-du is thoroughly examined by a team of doctors who test him for signs of “contamination” (illustrated in
At the climax of the film, which has maintained a mixture of serious and comic tones, Gang-du thrusts a fatal skewer into the monster’s mouth before it has a chance to retreat to the river (see
Building on the momentum generated by Song’s international exposure, writer-director Han Jae-rim (Han Chae-rim) cast the actor in the lead role in
For local critics,
Yet, for up-and-coming director Han Jae-rim—
In
On the one hand, Sang-hyun’s new incarnation has a profound desire to redeem common humanity from the forces of evil—yet his gruesome appearance (his body is covered with virulent pustules) forces him to hide his face from public view (see
9 See
10 See “Wrapping Up 2007: 10 Film People of The Year (2007 nyŏn songnyŏn kyŏlsan: Orhae ŭiyŏnghwa in 10 in)”
CONCLUSION
In this article, I have attempted to expand our understanding of the contemporary Korean cinema through an in-depth discussion of the screen performances of one of its leading stars: Song Kang-ho. However, it is important to remember that Song is but a single agent in a perpetually evolving web of relationships and opportunities linking actors, directors and films and their local and global critics. The burgeoning of international relationships experienced by the Korean cinema in recent years has greatly multiplied these opportunities since the release of
Since appearing in
Standing back and considering these moving and still images in their totality, Song can be seen as representing certain tropes of masculinity that resonate across pan-Asia and beyond, superceding “Chow Yun-fat and Jet Li, the marquee names in [the] movie business in metropolitan areas of Asia”
As we have seen, most of Song’s characters have their roots in the middle and middle-lower classes, creating a connection to the common man with believable personality flaws, a sense of humor, and a range of everyday concerns that embrace family, work colleagues and neighbors. His filmography now contains as many distinguished serious roles as comic ones—each of which embodies a unique portrait of Korean manhood in its various aspects. His characters seem most comfortable when interacting with other men, often in hierarchical settings. Social environments habitually occupied by men, such as the gangster underworld in
It has been repeatedly asserted that the “real” Song acts like the characters he plays in his films. It is true that, from the start of his acting career, Song has found the source for his characters within himself. One might catch him in personal or social settings in real life laughing in a high-pitched voice and expressing a mischievous attitude one minute, and waxing philosophical the next
When asked to comment on Song’s success, Choi Min-sik, the star of Park Chan-wook’s 2004 Cannes-pleasing macabre feature film,
Song’s mass appeal reaches beyond the physical attractiveness of other Korean actors such as Lee Byung-heon (Yi Pyŏng-hŏn), Jang Dong-gun (Chang Tong-gun) or Won Bin (Wŏn Pin).
In one interview, Song was asked to comment on the use of a close-up shot of his face, which appeared at the end of
Figure 1.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 2.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 3.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 4.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 5.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 6.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 7.. Film still from the DVD
Figure 8.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 9.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 10.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 11.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 12..
Figure 13.. Recent print advertisement featuring Song Kang-ho endorsing traditional
Figure 14.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 15.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 16.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 17.. Film stills from the DVD
Figure 18.. Film stills from the end of the following DVDs. Top:
11 Lee is known (at least in Korea) for his roles in
참고문헌(33)
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[참고문헌]
2003a
“Hot Question Mark, Cold Craziness (Ttŭgŏun ŭimun puho, ch’agaun kwanggi)”.
Cine 21 (399) : 101
-
[참고문헌]
2003b
“Actor of the Year—Song Kang-ho: Revolutionary Point of View Leads to Revolutionary Acting (Orhae ŭi pae’u Song Kang-ho, kach’igwan ŭi hyŏngmyŏng ŭn yŏn’gi ŭi hyŏngmyŏng ŭl nak’o)”.
Cine 21 (433) : 55
-
[참고문헌]
2003c
“Actress of the Year—Moon So-ri Between Heaven and Hell, Between ‘Ready’ and ‘Go’ (Orhae ŭi pae’u Mun So-ri, ch’ŏn’guk kwa chiok sai, ‘Ready’ wa ‘go’ sai)”.
Cine 21 (433) : 56
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2008
It’s the Pictures That Got Small: Hollywood’s Film Stars on 1950s Television.
Wesleyan University Press
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(1994)
American Cinema / American Culture.
McGraw-Hill
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[단행본]
2010
The South Korean Film Renaissance: Local Hitmakers, Global Provocateurs.
Wesleyan University Press
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[단행본]
2003
Interview by Kim Jee-woon, The Quiet Family DVD Bonus Materials.
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[단행본]
2007
Seoul Searching: Culture and Identity in Contemporary Korean Cinema.
State University of New York Press
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[단행본]
1991
“Signs of Melodrama”, in Christine Gledhill (ed.), Stardom: Industry of Desire
Routledge
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[참고문헌]
2009
“Song Kang-ho is Song Kang-ho (Song Kang-ho nŭn Song Kang-ho ta)”.
Cine21 (700)
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[참고문헌]
2006
“Kim Hye-ri’s Personal Interview: Song Kang-ho, Actor from The Host, The Show Must Go on and Secret Sunshine (Koemul, Uahan segye, Sik’ŭrit sŏnsyain ŭi pae’u Song Kang-ho: Kim Hye-ri ka mannan saram)”.
Cine21 (568)
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[단행본]
2003
Personal interview
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[단행본]
2003
Personal interview
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[단행본]
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[단행본]
2001
Korean Cinema, 2001
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[참고문헌]
2003
“Magician of Language, Comic Poet—Regarding Song Kang-ho (Ŏnŏŭi masulsa, k’omedi ŭi si’in—Pae’u Song Kang-ho non)”.
Film 2.0 -
[단행본]
1995
“Star Studies” in Approaches to Popular Film.
79
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[단행본]
2005
South Korean Golden Age Melodrama: Gender, Genre, and National Cinema, Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television Series.
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[단행본]
2003
Personal interview
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[참고문헌]
2010
“A four-film career, but already world-class: HFA to screen—and host—the man who made ‘The Host’”.
Boston Globe : 10
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[단행본]
2009
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Wallflower
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[참고문헌]
2006
“Film&Music: First Sight Song Kang-ho”.
The Guardian : 16
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[참고문헌]
2009
“(Very) Oldboy.”
The Village Voice : 38
-
[참고문헌]
2009
“More than a blood thirst; Park Chan-wook’s funny and erotic vampire tale takes on issues of morality and mortality”.
Los Angeles Times : 5
-
[참고문헌]
2000
“Star Click—Actor Song Kang-ho, A star whose face has become very familiar to us (Sŭt’a k’ŭllik—Yŏnghwa pae’u Song Kang-ho sŭta rago hagien nŏmu salgaun ŏlgul ŭl han saram)”.
Cinema.chosun.com -
[단행본]
2005
New Korean cinema.
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[단행본]
2003a
Personal interview
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[단행본]
2003b
Guest visit and Q&A interview (with Kim Sang-kyung and Bong Joon-ho) for PIFF #8 screening of Memories of Murder
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[단행본]
2004
Personal interview
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[참고문헌]
2003
“Song Kang-ho, An Actor Who We Cannot Even Be Jealous Of: Song Kang-ho Through the Eyes of Reporter Yi Jee-hoon (Chilt’u choch’a hal su ŏmnŭn pae’u: Yi Chi-hun kija ka pon Song Kang-ho)”.
Film 2.0
1 For an insightful study of Hollywood film stars in the 1950s and the challenges that they faced during their crossover to television as it increased in popularity, seeBecker (2008) .
2 Elsewhere inGledhill (1991: 214) , stardom is conceptualized in terms of the layers formed by an actor’s “reel” and “real” personae. The “reel” refers to the diegetic character(s) and images constructed for the screen and the world of the story, while the “real” is the individual personality self-expressed by the actor and the one known to close acquaintances.