China, Korea, and Japan have been historically close for centuries, thus accounting for their numerous common artistic traditions. From pre-Christian times until the 8 th and 9 th century AD, the great trade routes crossed from the Middle East through Central Asia into China. Hinduism, Buddhism, some knowledge of ancient Greek, and much knowledge of Indian arts entered into China, and thence in time into Korea and Japan. Perhaps before Christ, the Central Asian art of manipulating hand puppets was carried to China. For more than 700 years, until 668, in the kingdom of Koguryo, embracing northern Korea and Manchuria, court music and dances from Central Asia, from Han China, from Manchuria, and from Korea, called chi so and kaj iso, were performed. Many of the dances were masked; all were stately as befit serious court art.
They were taken to the Japanese court in Nara about the 7 th century. Called bug aku in Japan, they have been preserved for 12 centuries and can still be seen performed at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, though they have long since died out in China and Korea. In Koguryo’s neighbouring kingdom of Paekche, a form of Buddhist masked dance play was performed at court, and, in the 7 th century, it too was taken to the Japanese court at Nara by a Korean performer, Mi maji, who had learned the dances while staying at the southern Chinese court of Wu-hou. Called kick in Korea and gig aku in Japan, the Aryan features of some of its masks clearly indicate Indian (or Central Asian) influence. Such complicated genealogies are common in East Asian performing arts. Korean drama has its origins in prehistoric religious rites, while music and dance play an integral role in all traditional theatrical performances.
The Essay on Korea China Japan Relations During The Reign Of Taewongun
On January 22, 1864, a twelve year old nephew of the late king became King KoJong with his father as regent. His father, Yi Ha-ung, was commonly known as the Taewon-gun. The period of his reign of the years 1864-1873 was known as the Dark Age Period. The economy was poor and Korea was also isolated from the rest of the world with the exception of China and Japan. Soon after the opening of Japan to ...
A good example of this classical theatrical form is the masked dance called sandaenori or talcum, a combination of dance, song and narrative punctuated with satire and humor. Slightly varying fro one region to another in terms of style, dialogue and costume, it enjoyed remarkable popularity among rural people until the early 20 th century. Pansori, the lengthy narrative songs based on popular tales, and Kkokdugaksinoreum or puppet plays, performed by vagrant artists, also drew large audiences. The shamanistic rituals known as gut were another form of religious theater that appealed to the general public.
All these performances are seldom presented today. There are a few institutions that offer various performing arts in one place, an example of this being Jeong-dong Theater in central Seoul, that presents a traditional performing arts series, drama and music. The first performance of singe uk (new drama), a departure from the masked dance and other forms of olden-day dramas, was presented in December 1902. However, modern drama began to take firm root in the 1910 s after the first Western-style theater was opened in Seoul in 1908. The theater named Wongaksa was in operation until November 1909.
Theatrical groups “Hyeoksindan” and “M unsu-seong” were also organized by those who returned from study in Japan and staged sinpa (new wave) dramas. Sinpa was a concept that countered gup a (old wave) drama, meaning kabuki of Japan. Sinpa dramas first dealt with political and military themes and then diversified into detective stories, soap operas and tragedies. While sinpa dramas proved to be a passing fad, a genuine new wave of dramas was promoted by artists who rallied around Wongaksa and raised the curtain of modern drama.
The Essay on Evaluation Of A Theatrical Performance – The Woman In Black
Our drama assessment was to watch the play “Woman in Black” at the Fortune Theatre in London. The original 1950’s play starred Orlando Wells and Michael Mears as the two main and only characters and directed by Robin Hereford. Set. As the curtain raised and the performance began a minimalist set was revealed; stool, chair, basket and a coat-rack. Initially, the minimalist set predicted that the ...
In 1922, Towolhoe, a coterie of theatrical figures, was formed, with this organization leading the drama movement across the country, staging as many as 87 performances. Drama remained popular until the 1930 s, but then subsided in the socio-political turmoil of the 1940 s and ’50 s. In the following decade, it was further weakened amidst the boom of motion pictures and the emergence of television. In the 1970 s, a number of young artists began to study and adopt the styles and themes of traditional theatrical works like the masked dance plays, shaman rituals and pansori. The Korean Culture and Arts Foundation has been sponsoring an annual drama festival to encourage local theatrical performances. At present, a great number of theatrical groups are active all the year round, featuring all manner of genres from comedy to historical epics at small theaters along Daehagno in downtown Seoul.
Some theatrical performances become very successful and are staged for extended runs. The first Korean-made film was shown to the public in 1919. Entitled “Righteous Revenge,” it was a so-called kino-drama designed to be combined with a stage performance. The first feature film, “Oath Under the Moon,” was screened in 1923. In 1926, charismatic actor-director Na Ung yu drew an enthusiastic response from the public by producing “Ari rang,” a cinematic protest against Japanese oppression.
After the Korean War in 1953, the local film industry grew gradually and enjoyed a booming business for about a decade. But the next two decades saw a stagnation of the industry due largely to the rapid growth of television. Since the early 1980 s, however, the film industry has regained some vitality thanks mainly to a few talented young directors who boldly discarded old stereotypes in movie making. Their efforts succeeded and their movies have earned recognition at various international festivals including Cannes, Chicago, Berlin, Venice, London, Tokyo, Moscow and other cities. This positive trend has been accelerating in the 1990 s with more and more Korean directors producing movies that have moved the hearts of world citizens based on unique Korean experiences and sentiments.
The Essay on Korean War 3 North Korea
Post WWII the cold war began and many problems came about. U. S. officials, concerned over Soviet pressures against Iran and Turkey, interpreted a 1946 speech by Stalin as declaring ideological war against the West. In 1947 the president proposed the Truman Doctrine, which had two objectives: to send U. S. aid to anticommunist forces in Greece and Turkey, and to create a public consensus so Americ ...
Most recently in late 1998, Director Lee Kwang-mo’s art house movie “Spring in My Hometown” earned the Gold Prize at the Tokyo international film Festival and the Grand Prize at the Hawaii International Film Festival. The film was shown with English subtitles at a cinema in downtown Seoul at the ardent request of foreigners living in Korea. Public interest in films has been mounting and several international film festivals have been staged by provincial governments or private organizations in Korea. They include the Pusan International Film Festival and the Buchen International Fantastic Film Festival. As in other countries, Korean cinema circles are seeing a noticeable expansion of the animation and cartoon industry. More than 200 companies are producing works of this up-to-date genre.
Korea sold 37 films with a combined value of about US$3. 4 million in 1998. This figure may be equivalent to the price of a handful of imported movies. In 1998, movie houses showed 43 Korean-made films. When all these facts are considered, Korea’s film industry is still in a fledgling stage despite some creative directors.
Bibliography Choe Sang Su, A Study of the Korean Puppet Play (1961) Cho Wong Gyong, Dances of Korea (1962) Halla Pai Huhm, Korean Dance, Theater, and Cinema (1983) Korean Performing Arts Nadia Yun November 29, 2000 Choe Sang Su, A Study of the Korean Puppet Play (1961) Cho Wong Gyong, Dances of Korea (1962) Halla Pai Huhm, Korean Dance, Theater, and Cinema (1983).
