Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

7-2011

Abstract

This essay engages in a comparative study of Lee Chang-Dong's Secret Sunshine (2007) in light of the biblical book of Job, focusing on issues of grief, recovery, and theodicy. Drawing from perspectives in philosophical, mystical, and pastoral theology, three allegorical interpretations of the film's title are suggested. The eponymous “secret sunshine” adumbrates, first, the female protagonist Shin-Ae's hidden journey toward her true self, a self in which the theological virtues of faith and love are mystically internalized. Second, it intimates the quiet, unobtrusive presence of an emphatic Immanuel in the figure of Jong-Chan, the film's male protagonist. Finally, through a meditative exegesis of the film's closing sequences, it will be argued that “secret sunshine” points toward the transcendent beauty and comfort that may be found in the quotidian and commonplace.

Keywords

Job, Korean cinema, Lee Chang-Dong, Religion and film, Secret Sunshine

Discipline

Organization Development | Strategic Management Policy

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Journal of Religion and Popular Culture

Volume

23

Issue

2

First Page

166

Last Page

181

ISSN

1703-289X

Identifier

10.3138/jrpc.23.2.166

Publisher

University of Toronto Press

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.23.2.166

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