I have to say that today's VLP reading group gave me some impression not only about our academic subject but also looking at a cultural gap or differences. While group was disscussing about their point of view toward a spectatorship and a new theater form as a theatre maker, I faced the term political again. To me that word has a power like a magic, making me freezing in front of it. It sounds like echoing from another planet, at the same time giving me strange feeling that I cannot be involeved in that word forever. Unlike my personal situation, I have been confronted with that since I came to UK. In Korea, we don't say that word political very often, because that is generally regarded as a term which is related to an ideology and a politician, and we (or I)have a tendency that a speaker of this kind of term seems to have aggresive and strong personalities. Besides, Korean live still in the state which different ideologies exist, even divided into a two different contry.
On the contrary, in UK and European culture, I found out the term political is used a lot in books, conversations, and a daily life. It seems very natural to say that word and like person's own philosophy, everyone seems to have their original political issues. It's expression would vary depends on each person's personalities or situation around them, but point is that it's not something far from our daily life and society. As Christina said, in this postmodern or after postmodern society everybody seems to have a own voice, and political way of thinking or idea might be one of qualities of comtemporary theatre or art. If I have to make my conclusion of this fragmentary though, I will say that now I can be more natural and comfortable in front of political, and maybe it wll offer me more chance to open my heart more widely.
Following is what I found in "Travels in Hyperreality" written by Umberto Eco. Just like today's disscussion, he helped me understand this term.
' I believe it is my political duty. Here again I cwe the American reader an explantion. In the United States politics is a profession, whereas in Europe it is a right and a duty. Perhaps we make too much of it, and use it badly; but each of us feels the moral obligation to be involved in it in some way. My way of being involved in politics consists of telling others how I see daily life, political events, the language of the mass media, sometimes the way I look at a movie. I believe it is my job as a scholar and a citizen to show how we are surrounded by "messages", products of political power, of ecomomic power, of the entertainment industry and the revolution industry, and to say that we must know how to analyze and criticize them.'
19 February 2009
17 February 2009
2nd term group work-progression 1?
As a part of group work, Dafni, Martina, and I had a 4th meeting at 16th of Feb.
Since we had a agreement about the text in which each of us found out common in meaning of water and ritual across the our cutural diffrence, Martina recreated text, using different text. We discussed about the things that we need to take into account before moving toward practical working process. Those are following.
*We need to consider how the performance or audience fit into the TV studio.
Will audience be scattered in the space? Will they share space, being mixed with performer?
*We want to see clean and simple stage, not over designed.
*We also need to have man presence in some way.
It would be just voice.
*We might use one of direct speech from Ophelia's or Inferno.
*Keeping the idea of utilizing projection to present water, we still want to use real water, so we need to find the practical way.
*We felt sympathy for that there would be a moment of comic somehow in the middle of tradegy, just like life it is.
Since we had a agreement about the text in which each of us found out common in meaning of water and ritual across the our cutural diffrence, Martina recreated text, using different text. We discussed about the things that we need to take into account before moving toward practical working process. Those are following.
*We need to consider how the performance or audience fit into the TV studio.
Will audience be scattered in the space? Will they share space, being mixed with performer?
*We want to see clean and simple stage, not over designed.
*We also need to have man presence in some way.
It would be just voice.
*We might use one of direct speech from Ophelia's or Inferno.
*Keeping the idea of utilizing projection to present water, we still want to use real water, so we need to find the practical way.
*We felt sympathy for that there would be a moment of comic somehow in the middle of tradegy, just like life it is.
8 February 2009
2nd term group work -my text
Gong mu do ha ga
공무도하가(公無渡河歌)
Gong mu do ha 公無渡河 (공무도하)
-Dear don’t cross over the river
Gong kyong do ha 公竟渡河 (공경도하)
-Crossing over the river
Ta ha yi sa 墮河而死 (타하이사)
-you are drowning with the flow, died at last
Dang ne gong ha 當奈公何 (당내공하)
-What can I do for you
Background
It is known as the oldest Korean lyric poem. It is situated in transition period from public folk to personal poetry. In the background of this poem, there was a man who let down his white hair and walked through the river in the madness or ecstasy, holding a bottle of alcohol and his wife was trying to detain him. But he just died under the water, she sadly sang a song and died after her husband. Another man watched this on his way by chance, he said what he saw and listen to his wife. His wife was moved by that story and song, so she played Gonghooin(an ancient instrument similar with harp), singing that song. There is no one who didn’t feel sad and be impressed by that song because it was very sorrowful and beautiful.
There is an interpretation of this poem. One is about it’s periodical situation. The madman could be seen as a priest, and his madness and action which through the water could be understood that he is possessed by a spirit. This was in transition period from the unity of church and state to the separation of that. He might be loosing his power and there is no place for him, so he tried to transcend through death. In his point of view, that space ‘water’ could be explained as a place which surpasses life and death. Another interesting ides of this poem is interpretation in relation to western myth. In this case, Prof. Ahn(a scholar of Korean literature) explained that a mad man have a reference to Dionysus and his wife to a nymph.
公無渡河: Gong mu do ha: Dear don’t cross over the river
-It is the moment loving husband (beacksugwangbu) is about to run to the river. In this case, that river(water) could separate her with him forever, so she is trying to detain him by the sleeve desperately.
公竟渡河: Gong kyong do ha: Crossing the river
-Water means the end of their love and absence of her lover, so it can be seen as a symbol of death.
墮河而死: Ta ha yi sa: you are drowning with the flow, died at last
-Now it’s not just about absence of lover, extending a meaning to death. She would felt a sense of alienation profoundly through his death.
當奈公何: Dang ne gong ha: What can do for you
-She sigh for grief, lament for the death of her husband. At last burst out pathetic crying. This burst of the extremely tragic psychology cause her suicide in the background myth.
This kind of pathos is traditionally inherent in the prototype of traditional Korean women.
*one Korean singer(Lee Tzsche)compose about this theme with same title and lyric, and it is also very inspiring for me, so I put the webpage in which you can watch the music video of her song. I need to tell you that the English translation of this poem was quoted from her English version of song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQPtoqsj41s&feature=channel_page
공무도하가(公無渡河歌)
Gong mu do ha 公無渡河 (공무도하)
-Dear don’t cross over the river
Gong kyong do ha 公竟渡河 (공경도하)
-Crossing over the river
Ta ha yi sa 墮河而死 (타하이사)
-you are drowning with the flow, died at last
Dang ne gong ha 當奈公何 (당내공하)
-What can I do for you
Background
It is known as the oldest Korean lyric poem. It is situated in transition period from public folk to personal poetry. In the background of this poem, there was a man who let down his white hair and walked through the river in the madness or ecstasy, holding a bottle of alcohol and his wife was trying to detain him. But he just died under the water, she sadly sang a song and died after her husband. Another man watched this on his way by chance, he said what he saw and listen to his wife. His wife was moved by that story and song, so she played Gonghooin(an ancient instrument similar with harp), singing that song. There is no one who didn’t feel sad and be impressed by that song because it was very sorrowful and beautiful.
There is an interpretation of this poem. One is about it’s periodical situation. The madman could be seen as a priest, and his madness and action which through the water could be understood that he is possessed by a spirit. This was in transition period from the unity of church and state to the separation of that. He might be loosing his power and there is no place for him, so he tried to transcend through death. In his point of view, that space ‘water’ could be explained as a place which surpasses life and death. Another interesting ides of this poem is interpretation in relation to western myth. In this case, Prof. Ahn(a scholar of Korean literature) explained that a mad man have a reference to Dionysus and his wife to a nymph.
公無渡河: Gong mu do ha: Dear don’t cross over the river
-It is the moment loving husband (beacksugwangbu) is about to run to the river. In this case, that river(water) could separate her with him forever, so she is trying to detain him by the sleeve desperately.
公竟渡河: Gong kyong do ha: Crossing the river
-Water means the end of their love and absence of her lover, so it can be seen as a symbol of death.
墮河而死: Ta ha yi sa: you are drowning with the flow, died at last
-Now it’s not just about absence of lover, extending a meaning to death. She would felt a sense of alienation profoundly through his death.
當奈公何: Dang ne gong ha: What can do for you
-She sigh for grief, lament for the death of her husband. At last burst out pathetic crying. This burst of the extremely tragic psychology cause her suicide in the background myth.
This kind of pathos is traditionally inherent in the prototype of traditional Korean women.
*one Korean singer(Lee Tzsche)compose about this theme with same title and lyric, and it is also very inspiring for me, so I put the webpage in which you can watch the music video of her song. I need to tell you that the English translation of this poem was quoted from her English version of song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQPtoqsj41s&feature=channel_page
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