ABSTRACT
The Song of Chunhyang is neither a novel nor a play, but a p'ansori: "an epic singing narrative native to Korea and perhaps the most minimal theatre form in the world that requires many hours to perform". In Chunhyang, director Im Kwon-Taek and screenwriter Myung-Kon create a fascinating mélange of the poetry and music of traditional Korean p'ansori, beautiful Korean landscapes, and a romantic storyline. Writers throughout the millennia have appropriated the Orpheus myth. Apollo is the sun god, and it is to the sun that Orpheus is first seen singing, in order to make the dawn arrive over Rio de Janiero in the opening scene of Black Orpheus. African ritual is referenced most prominently in the scene in which Orpheus, grief-stricken for his loss of Eurydice, goes to a Macumba chapel where one of the observants falls into a trance and takes on the voice of the dead Eurydice.
