‘조선’을 연출하다: 조선악극단의 일본 진출 공연과 국민화의 (불)협화음 (1933~1944)

초록

In the late 1930 and 1940s’ colonial Korea, akgŭk, a popular vaudeville performance reached a commercial pinnacle in term of its production quantity, popularity to general Korean audience and influence in constructing visual modernity. Fueled by the commercial success in Chosǒn, many recording companies, which owned giant size of akgŭk troupes, strove to expand their companies’ influence beyond their national boundary, targeting transnational audience within Japanese empire. Among these akgŭk troupes, I pay close attention to OK Grand Show Troupe(later changed their name as Chosǒn akgŭk troupe),one of the biggest Korean akgŭk troupes in colonial Korea. Owned by OK Record Company, this troupe initiated a bifurcated commercial strategy depending on audience’s geo-political location. They had endeavored to construct transnational modern performance style in Korea, whereas they highlighted their performance style resonated from“tradition”and local Korean idiosyncrasy when they started marketing in Japan and Manchu area. Through a careful analysis on the transformation of OK Grand Show Troupe’s performance repertories and iconic hybridity in the course of changing historical situation, and invented style of“Koreanness,”I argue that the commercial marketing strategy of Chosǒn akgŭk troupe, in fact, dually functioned to reposition Koreans as participants of modern popular art industry as well as exotic local subjects in a multi-ethnic Japanese empire.

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