The Flower Girl

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For other uses, see The Flower Girl (disambiguation).
The Flower Girl
DescriptionTitle screen of the 1972 film adaptation
LibrettistKim Il Sung
LanguageKorean
The Flower Girl
Chosŏn'gŭl
꽃파는 처녀
Hancha
Revised RomanizationKkot Pa-neun Cheo-nyeo
McCune–ReischauerKkot P'anŭn Ch'ŏnyŏ

The Flower Girl (Korean: 꽃파는 처녀; MR: Kkot P'anŭn Ch'ŏnyŏ) is a North Korean revolutionary genre theatrical performance, which was written by the country's leader Kim Il Sung.[1][2][3]: 200  The performance is considered one of the "Five Great Revolutionary Operas", a group of classical, revolution-themed opera repertoires well received within North Korea.[1][4][5] It was also made into a novel.[6][7] A film adaption of the opera starring Hong Yong Hee was made in 1972.[1]

Plot[edit]

The story is set during the 1930s, and is based on the anti-Japanese guerrilla movement during the period of Japanese occupation in Korea.[2][5][8] The plot centers on Kkot-bun, a girl living under Japanese occupation who sells flowers on the street to help care for her sick mother and her little sister who was blinded by a landlord's wife.[3]: 200  The landlord killed her father and Kkot-bun hopes for the return of her guerilla fighter brother who has been imprisoned.[3]: 200 

Eventually, she collects enough money to purchase medicine for her ill mother, but by the time she returns, her mother has already died. The landlord's wife becomes very sick, and suspects that the flower girl's blind sister is possessed by the spirit of her deceased mother, and so arranges for her to be frozen to death in the snow. When the flower girl returns home and asks where her sister has gone, the landlord's subordinates chain her up. At this moment, her brother, who has joined the Revolutionary Army, returns home to visit family when he realises that the flower girl has been locked up, and so organises a group of villagers to overthrow the landlord.

Creation[edit]

The Flower Girl is based on a play written by Kim Il Sung in the 1930s while he was imprisoned by the Japanese,[9] in Jilin.[2] The first section of his 1992 memoir With the Century, entitled "Anti-Japanese Revolution", notes that:[7]

There was a time during our country's independence movement where we held on to our vision to build an "ideal village" concept... At the time, we adopted the Korean students in Jilin to teach village people to sing a large variety of revolutionary songs, such as the Red Flag Song and Revolution Song. In Wujiazi we formed a performance group based at Samsong school led by Kye Yong-chun. It was during this time that I was completing the script for The Flower Girl, which I had started whilst I was in Jilin City. Upon finishing the script, production of the opera began, and we staged the opera in the Samsong school hall on the 13th anniversary of the October Revolution. For many years after liberation, the opera hadn't been performed since, until it was improved and adapted for film, and re-written as a novel, under the guidance of the Organising Secretary (Kim Jong-il) and released in the early 1970s.[FN 1]

The first official premiere of the opera production was held on November 30, 1972, in Pyongyang, where it was hailed as a great success.[10]

According to official North Korean reports, in April 1968, Kim Jong Il suggested that another revolutionary opera, Sea of Blood, be adapted into a movie. Since then, other works have also been adapted into movies "under his guidance", with The Flower Girl also being adapted.[5][10][11] The opera was intended to promote the communist ideology, by incorporating themes such as the class struggle against the bourgeois;[12] such themes were similarly maintained in the film.[10]

In April 1972, the film adaptation was officially launched. The film was directed by Choe Ik-gyu and the script was written by Pak Hak; Paekdu-san Group was responsible for the production of the film, which was filmed in color.[13] The film was made in widescreen format, which according to Kim Jong Il (who oversaw the production), helped to show the emotional and psychological development of the characters.[3]: 200–201 

Reception[edit]

According to Paul Fischer, the author of A Kim Jong-Il Production, "it is almost impossible to exaggerate" the importance of The Flower Girl to North Korea's cultural history. The film was immensely popular both domestically and abroad, particularly in China. It was the first North Korean film to win an international film award,[9] at the 18th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1972,[13] and remained the only one until the 1980s.[9]

As of 2008, the opera has been performed over 1,400 times in North Korea and more than 40 other countries,[2] mostly Eastern Bloc states; other countries include France, Italy, Germany, Algeria and Japan.[5][10] The title of the opera and film was known as Blomsterflickan in Sweden, Das Blumenmädchen in the German Democratic Republic, Kvetinárka in Czechoslovakia, and Kwiaciarka in Poland.

In South Korea, the film was deemed as communist propaganda and a symbol of the enemy, and screening was banned; police were often mobilised when university students were found playing the film on campus, and the students were often accused of being sympathetic to the North.[13] In 1998, the Supreme Court of Korea ruled that The Flower Girl and six other North Korean films were "not favouring anti-ROK sentiments" in regards to national security laws.[13]

The film made Choe Ik-kyu, the director, a confidant of Kim Jong Il.[9] The film forged Hong Yong-hee into a film icon.[9] She is depicted on the North Korean one won banknote, in her role as the flower girl.[13]

On April 30, 1974, the DPRK issued four postage stamps with scenes from the Flower Girl revolutionary opera and a miniature sheet, featuring the Flower Girl character herself with flowers.[14][15]

In China[edit]

The opera and its film adaptation were both well received in the People's Republic of China when they were introduced there since September 9, 1972, the day both premiered, predominantly during the closing period of the Cultural Revolution and the beginning of the era of Deng Xiaoping's rule, where the production was known by the name of The Flower-selling Girl (Chinese: 卖花姑娘くーにゃん; pinyin: Màihuā Gūniang).[2][10][16][17] A number of theatrical tours were made in China, which were performed in 1973, 1998, 2002 and 2008.[10][18] In 2009, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was received by Hong Yong-hee during his visit to North Korea.[19] In China, the film adaptation of the opera was dubbed by the Changchun Film Studio, based on translations by He Mingyan [zh], who was earlier responsible in 1958 in the translation of the North Korean film adaptation of Chunhyangjeon.[20] The entire translation process for The Flower Girl took only seven days.[20] Although the dialogue was dubbed in Mandarin Chinese, song lyrics remained in Korean. As the film was played in Chinese cinemas during the period of the Cultural Revolution, the movie became immensely popular not just due to its proletarian revolution-based content but also since it was set in the 1930s - the same era as the beginning of the Japanese-held state of Manchukuo and during the years of the suffering of many Koreans in China under Japanese rule in the peninsula, to the point where theaters even adopted a 24-hour screening cycle because of high ticket sales.[20]

The Flower Girl features prominently in Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress.[3]: 204  In the movie and film, a village leader sends two sent-down youths to watch The Flower Girl and recount its plot to the rest of the villagers.[3]: 204  The youths embellish their storytelling with details from prohibited European novels they have read and spellbind their audience.[3]: 204 

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ English translation of memoir is abridged from the original text for conciseness, and is based on the 1994 Chinese-language publication.
    Original memoir text from the Chinese-language version published in 1994, unabridged: "有ゆう一いち个时期き，我国わがくに的てき独立どくりつ运动者しゃ们抱着ぎ要よう建けん设一个“理想りそう村むら”的てき构想，为实现这个构想そう从各方面ほうめん作さく过努力どりょく……当とう时在吉林きつりん文光ぶんこう中学ちゅうがく念ねん书的朝あさ鲜学生せい当とう中ちゅう，有ゆう几个来き自じ孤こ榆树和わ五ご家いえ子こ的てき青年せいねん，他た们常夸五家子是个好地方。因よし此，我わが就开始はじめ注意ちゅうい五ご家子いえこ，并决心しん把わ这个村むら改造かいぞう成なり革命かくめい村むら。 1930年ねん10月がつ，我わが从东满来到いた五ご家子いえこ……当とう时，我わが们通过学生せい，给村里さと的てき人じん教きょう唱了很多革命かくめい的てき歌曲かきょく。《赤旗あかはた歌か》、《革命かくめい歌か》等とう革命かくめい歌曲かきょく，只ただ要よう到いた学校がっこう去さ教きょう唱一いち次じ，当とう天てん就传遍あまね全ぜん村むら。 五家子村有个由我们组织起来的演艺队。在ざい桂かつら永ひさし春はる的てき领导下か，这个演えんじ艺队以三さん星ほし学校がっこう为据点てん，积极开展了りょう活かつ动。 我わが也着手ちゃくしゅ完成かんせい《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》的てき剧本。这个剧本，我わが在ざい吉林きつりん市し就已开始写うつし，并已试演过几次じ。剧本一いち完成かんせい，桂かつら永ひさし春はる就带领三星学校的戏剧小组成员开始排练。 在ざい十じゅう月がつ革命かくめい13周年しゅうねん纪念日び那な天てん，我わが们在三星学校礼堂演出了这出歌剧。这出歌か剧解放かいほう后きさき长期被ひ埋没まいぼつ，到いた了りょう70年代ねんだい初はつ，才ざい在ざい党とう中央ちゅうおう组织书记的てき指ゆび导下，由ゆかり我わが们的作家さっか、艺术工作こうさく者しゃ改あらため编成电影、歌うた剧和小しょう说公诸于世よ。组织书记为此付づけ出で了りょう很大的てき力量りきりょう。"
    Alternate English translation provided by Korea-DPR.com Archived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine (page 276 of 2161): "In Wujiazi we had formed an art troupe. This troupe was based at Samsong School and worked successfully under the guidance of Kye Yong Chun. I worked hard to complete the libretto of The Flower Girl which I had begun to write in my days in Jirin and then staged rehearsals for it. Once the libretto was finished, Kye started the production of the opera with the members of the drama group that had been formed at the school. We staged this opera in the hall of the Samsong School on the 13th anniversary of the October Revolution. This opera was not seen on stage for many years after liberation, and then was improved and adapted for the screen, re-written as a novel by our writers and artistes under the guidance of Organizing Secretary Kim Jong Il and presented to the public in the early 1970s. At that time the Organizing Secretary did a lot of work."

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c 가극 작품 Archived 2005-12-01 at the Wayback Machine – NK Chosun
  2. ^ a b c d e 2008年ねん03月がつ26日にち, 金きむ日成いるそん原げん创《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》5月がつ上海しゃんはい唱响《卖花歌か》 – 搜さがせ狐きつね娱乐
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Li, Jie (2023). Cinematic Guerillas: Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231206273.
  4. ^ 전영선 (2004년 5월 5일). 〈제7부 북한의 가극 – 제1장 피바다식 혁명가극의 개념〉, 《북한의 문학과 예술》. 서울: 역락. ISBN 89-5556-292-6
  5. ^ a b c d 2008年ねん03月がつ26日にち, 杭州こうしゅう大だい剧院春季しゅんき演出えんしゅつ季き－朝あさ鲜歌剧《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》 Archived 2017-09-24 at the Wayback Machine – 浙江せっこう在ざい线新闻网
  6. ^ "With the Century" – Complete biography of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung Archived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine – Korea-DPR.com. Written by President KIM IL SUNG and translated by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA), Juche 92 (2003).
  7. ^ a b [朝あさ]金きむ日成いるそん:与あずか世よ纪同行どうこう，郑万まん兴译，北京ぺきん：中国ちゅうごく社会しゃかい科学かがく出版しゅっぱん社しゃ，1994年ねん.
  8. ^ 2008年ねん04月がつ15日にち, 朝あさ鲜歌剧《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》在京ざいきょう演出えんしゅつ 刘云山やま出席しゅっせき观看 – Phoenix TV
  9. ^ a b c d e Fischer 2016, p. 61.
  10. ^ a b c d e f 2008年ねん04月がつ08日にち, 朝あさ鲜经典てん歌か剧《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》再さい次つぎ巡演じゅんえん中国ちゅうごく Archived 2008-04-12 at the Wayback Machine – 人民じんみん网 文化ぶんか
  11. ^ 2008年ねん10月がつ20日はつか, 领袖缔造文化ぶんか 金きむ正日じょんいる导演《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》? – Phoenix TV
  12. ^ 2008.04.17, (记者手しゅ册さつ)“卖花姑娘くーにゃん”让中国ちゅうごく观众回かい忆革命いのち – 韩国朝あさ鲜日报中文ぶん网络版ばん
  13. ^ a b c d e Das Blumenmädchen (KOT PUNUN COJO) – Nordkorea-info.de Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Korean Stamp Catalogue (1946-1998). Pyongyang: Korea Stamp Corporation. 1998. p. 79.
  15. ^ "Revolutionary opera "The Flower Girl"". Colnect. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  16. ^ 2008-6-4, 难忘的てき演出えんしゅつ 动情的てき告つげ别——《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》中国ちゅうごく巡演じゅんえん闭幕演出えんしゅつ见闻 Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine – 中国ちゅうごく文化ぶんか报
  17. ^ 2008-04-30, 中なか서 '대장금'은 조선족 드라마, 北きた의 '꽃파는 처녀'도 조선족 연극? – Mydaily
  18. ^ 2008年ねん05月がつ30日にち, (娱眼观点)：朝あさ鲜《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》 为何畅销中国ちゅうごく – XINHUA
  19. ^ Fischer 2016, p. 62.
  20. ^ a b c Gu Yu-Bao (顾育豹ひょう), 2008年ねん10月がつ7日にち, 突击译制《卖花姑娘くーにゃん》 Archived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine – 天津てんしん日び报

Works cited[edit]

  • Fischer, Paul (2016). A Kim Jong-Il Production: Kidnap, Torture, Murder... Making Movies North Korean-Style. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-241-97000-3.

Further reading[edit]

  • 이종석 (1997년). 《조선로동당연구》. 서울: 역사비평사, 54쪽. ISBN 978-89-7696-106-8

External links[edit]

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