This study examines the characteristics of media, the meaning, significance and limitations of "Koreanization" - the process of transforming the original text of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" into a cartoon Samgukji by Ko Woo-young which is composed...
This study examines the characteristics of media, the meaning, significance and limitations of "Koreanization" - the process of transforming the original text of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" into a cartoon Samgukji by Ko Woo-young which is composed of both text and pictures. Because of language barriers Koreans who could not read the original Chinese classic novel and since the Joseon Dynasty Koreans have been translating and reinterpreting Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the process of importing the novel. Even now, the content of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is continuously reproduced through games, webtoons, and animations, and generates various cultural phenomena. Through Samgukji which has become a cultural icon, we can explore Korean popular culture and Korean consciousness structure reflected in it. Ko Woo-young's Samgukji is meaningful in that it was one of the earlier adaptations and has set the foundation for such popularization of the novel in Korea.
If the previous research on Koo-young's Samgukji was focused on the analysis of cartoon itself through a cultural contents perspective, this study focuses on the characteristics and significance of the adaptation from the original text of Romance of the Three Kingdoms into the cartoon Ko wooyoung's Samgukji from a comparative literary perspective. were discussed. First of all, texts and comics that develop narratives through different transmission media: text vs. pictures combined with text. This leads to several differences including format and method of content delivery. Ko Woo-young's Samgukji takes the form of a comic, but it uses the genre of Polarization which was popular at the time and the story is told through the author’s detailed and unique explanations that are inserted throughout the work.
Next, Ko Woo-young's Samgukji was a series of works that began in the late 70's when the artist's creative ability and popularity reached its peak. Although his works have been censored many times because of their daring social satire and explicit descriptions, since the modern era of the 2000s it is considered a classic and has shown its value. However, because the original text is very voluminous, the author condensed and selected narratives based on his own standards. While the basic narrative is unique and interesting, the story of the unification of the Three Kingdoms after the death of Zhegalliang was drastically omitted. Also, the author creatively reinterpretation is clearly shown in his portrayal of several of the main characters. The artist emphasizes the bizarre, cruel and dull aspects of Dong-tak and the Yeopo, while comparing characters of Yubi to a sly snake and Zegalyang to a crafty fox. The author emphasizes rivalry between Zegalyang and Guan Woo creating a character image of his own.
Lastly, Ko Woo-young expanded the popularity and familiarity of his works by inserting popular cultural references of the time such as buzzwords, song lyrics, film quotes , and boxing. He also portrayed several dark aspects of Korean society at the time through scenes that show military coup e’tat, property speculation, corruption, nepotism, torture, etc. The author took advantage of the fact that newspaper comics were only censored after publication to avoid pre-censorship and to criticize the dark aspects of Korean society of that time. The effects of censorship at that time can be observed through the uncensored edition of Samgukji that was published only after the year 2000.
There are parts of the work where sexual behavior is explicitly portrayed even taking into consideration that the work was intended to be an adult drama. It is unfortunate that this reflects the common view of that time where men often looked down on women. The author depicts women as jealous and materialistic and power greedy, which depicting men as lustful and chauvinistic. Such sexual depiction and belittling of women could be one of the reasons why male readers accepted Ko Woo-young’s Samgukji with enthusiasm at that time. This further depicts the patriarchal society and lack of gender sensitivity of the Korean society in the 1970s. However, at the same time, the work is valuable because it reveals the ideological aspects of Korean society at that time.
In this way, Ko Woo-young was widely loved by Koreans in the 70's by transforming and reinterpreting the Chinese classic novel ``Romance of the Three Kingdoms '' through a cartoon reflecting his own narrative and unique interpretation.
Since the 2000s, it has risen to the ranks of modern Korean classics. The work has become a part of popular Korean literature, and set the stage for Koreans to accept other various adaptations of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms such as Japanese computer games and other translations of the original novel by Korean novelists such as Hwang Seok-young, Jang Jung-il, and Lee Moon-yeol's in the 1980s and 1990s. The significance of Ko Woo-young's Samgukji is that it was one of the very early Koreanization of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is still being recreated and reinterpreted by many authors and artists to this day. The author created his own version of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms through condensing and selecting certain narratives of the original and creatively reinterpreting the characters of the original. Samgukji contains satire and criticism of the military regime of the time, but also has certain shortcomings such as excessive sexual description and belittling of women. Nonetheless, Samgukji is one of Ko Woo-young’s most important works which also has a very significant place in the history of Korean popular culture through the acceptance and transformation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms into Korean Samgukji.