西便制

板索里（韩国无伴奏合唱）歌手刘本（金明坤 饰）和养女松花（吴贞海 饰）在荒野的山村里流浪，爱上了一位丧偶的母亲。为了避免别人的舌头，于本带着他的爱人松花和他爱人的儿子东浩（金奎哲金谷楚饰）去了一个遥远的地方。由于饥荒或战争，难以分开生活。流浪的生活让寡母早逝。于贲把全部精力都放在孩子身上，立志要把他们培养成优秀的歌手。受外来文化的影响，清唱艺术逐渐被世人所鄙视。董昊受不了穷困潦倒的生活，有一天他不辞而别，或者悄悄溜走。于本毒化了养女的眼睛，想让她专心练功。多年后于本去世后，松花在国外流浪，而东昊则追随姐姐的脚步，寻找他生命中失去的快乐和幸福……

Song-hwa in the film represents all the “othered” feminine in post-colonial period. Their existence in family seems like a fault, so they do everything to lessen the burden of their family. They are born to be pathetic. Song-hwa first appears as an orphan, then an apprentice of his father; luckily she met her true love, but sadly she chose his adoptive father to help her true love lead a life he wants; after her father dies, P’ansori is simply an entertainment rather than an art, and she becomes the entertainer of other males. In post-colonial Korea, women are always the sacrifice but are ironically forgotten. Women themselves, tragically, get used to this ignorance and feel like that is why they exist.

The relationship between Yu-bong and Song-hwa can be generalized as a powerless man seeking authority from a more powerless woman. Yu-bong blinds Song-hwa by adding poison to her medicine and thus makes her have no choice but to accompany him, to achieve his goal of perfecting P’ansori. From the narratives, we can only tell that Song-hwa is mentally trapped by Yu-bong; however, the metaphors in the film such as the change of Song-hwa’s hairstyle indicate that Yu-bong has sexually invaded her in an incestuous way. In the last days of his life, Yu-bong confirms all the cruel things he has done to her. However, he does not ask for Song-hwa’s forgiveness, instead, he acclaims that he is out of his goal of deepening han in her heart and so that she can perfect P’ansori. Applying this relationship to larger social context, in colonized period, when Korea lost national identity and masculinity, Korean males carry out violence on their mistresses, or even torture their souls in order to be cured from lacking of patriarchic values.

The relationship between Yu-bong and Tong-ho is always rivalry related. It is about the competition of masculinity. Yu-bong marries Tong-ho’s mother and becomes the leader of this four-person family, but his patriarchy is always challenged by Tong-ho. When Yu-bong and Tong-ho’s mother are making love, Tong-ho is sleeping just aside them. In contrary, when Tong-ho and Song-hwa grow up and fall in love, Yu-bong is in the middle separating them. However, who is the victim of this rivalry? It is Song-hwa. Yu-bong’s goal of perfecting P’ansori is reached by his adopted daughter; Tong-ho’s goal of escaping from poverty is also ensured by his first lover’s choice. The reason why Song-hwa can sublime han is that she is the only person in this battle that has no way to express her sorrow and pain. She oppresses all her feelings to help two important males in her life to express their feelings. The two males take Song-hwa for granted, so their masculinity cannot be fulfilled either.

Capitalist prohibits minjung’s true thoughts to achieve the so-called nationalism, as Yu-bong prohibits the freedom of Song-hwa for the sake of P’ansori. Both minjung and Song-hwa’s are forced to be silent, so their han deepens.