After reading the Shin article I was interested in the connection between the agrarianism discussed in Ch. 7 and the 'crazy girl' Yeo-il. Shin lists some of the ideal qualities of an agrarian community to be "diligence," "social harmony," and "female chastity" (146). As is explained, agrarianists were collectivists (147), and so group cooperation and seemingly utopian ideals were the endgame. In my reading, what better example of this type of system is there than Yeo-il? The frolicking, joyful village girl whose blissful ignorance is the source of much intrigue and- at times- chaos. The reason I was so interested, though, is because of the way the article poses the obsolescence of agrarianism. After the war, rural collectivism was "not able to offer a coherent [political] base," and it didn't fit in to the new framework of development and progress (150).
I am wondering about the fate of Yeo-il as a comment on how unviable that kind of lifestyle is in a "modern" world. The neo-Confucianism that the article discusses, where the peasant is positioned squarely at the center of society, may not apply to a capitalist, developing country where industry and entrepreneurialism is the new means of success. Yeo-il's inclination towards nature and her blatant disregard for social conformity is a parody of both the agrarian ideal and in many ways the "manic pixie dream girl" stereotype. Especially in the "epilogue" so to speak, she transcends a lot of the boundaries between fantasy and reality that are tenuous in Dongmakgol more general. She is the center of a lot of the suspense of disbelief that the audience is faced with. In that way I saw her as the representation of the 'good ole days' that were too simplistic and underdeveloped to last.
Did anyone else see her as a fairly politically charged character?
Also, what were thoughts on the epilogue? As the Bevan reading suggests, was it a resurrection, dream, or afterlife??
As the "village idiot," Yeo-il is a very complicated character. She's both exasperating and loveable for her childishness, but this is something that can only be supported by the goodwill of the people around her (in other words, she's the exemplary vulnerable subject, because she's defenseless and thus completely innocent.)
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