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C.S.Lewis

by 하트온 Jan 10. 2021

뉴욕 타임스가 소개하는 봉준호의 디스토피아

2019년 10월 30일 뉴욕 타임스 기사 번역

2019년 봉준호 감독의 '기생충' 영화가 전 세계적 관심을 받고, 특히 미국 사회를 크게 찢으며 들어왔던 일을 기념하는 마음으로, 당시 봉 감독의 영화들을 총망라하여 다룬 뉴욕 타임스 기사를 번역했었던 걸, 자료 정리하다가 발견하고, 많이 늦은 기사지만 봉 감독의 영화를 사랑하는 누군가에겐 의미가 될지 몰라 브런치에 올려봅니다. 




IIt’s Bong Joon Ho’s Dystopia. We Just Live in It.

봉준호의 디스토피아. 우리는 바로 그 안에 살고 있다.

*Dystopia: 유토피아의 반대 개념. 공산국가나 전체주의 국가 같은 사람이 억압받는 사회를 의미. an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.


If you want to know why his biting “Parasite” is the film of the year, look at the director’s body of work, a deeply humane vision of rotting humanity. 

봉준호 감독의 신랄한 영화 “기생충”이 왜 올해의 영화인지 알고 싶다면, 썩어가고 있는 인간성에 대한 깊은 인도적 비전을 보여주는 그의 작품을 봐야 한다.

*biting: 피부에 상처를 내는, 살을 에는, 잔인한, 잔혹한
*body of work (plural bodies of work): 작품 The entirety of the creative or academic output produced by a particular individual or unit.


By A.O. Scott

Oct. 30, 2019


“It’s so metaphorical!” Kim Ki-woo exclaims early in “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho’s new film. 

김기우가 봉준호 감독의 새 영화, “기생충” 초반에, “이건 매우 상징적이야!”라고 외친다.


Ki-woo is the college-aged son of one of the two families — the impoverished Kims and the wealthy Parks — whose fates entwine with horrible and hilarious results. 

기우는 끔찍하고 기가 막힌 파국을 맞으며 운명이 뒤엉키게 되는 두 가족 - 가난한 김 씨 가족과 부유한 박 씨 가족- 중 한(김 씨) 가족에 속한 대학생 나이의 아들이다.  


He uses the phrase a few times, most notably with reference to the large, decorative “landscape rock” that is a gift from a better-off friend. 

그는 이 문장을 몇 번이나 사용하는데, 대부분 잘 사는 친구가 준 커다란 장식용 “수석”을 언급할 때이다.


In the interpretation of “Parasite” that emphasizes the movie’s fairy-tale aspects, the stone brings good fortune to Ki-woo, his sister and their parents, even as, like so many magical objects, it also curses them. (Spoilers follow, for “Parasite” and other Bong movies.)

영화의 옛날이야기 같은 면을 부각하며 등장하는 수석은 “기생충”에서 기우와, 여동생, 그들의 부모들에게 행운을 의미하지만, 또한 많은 마법적 물체가 그러하듯, 이것은 또한 그들에게 저주가 된다.(아래부터는 “기생충”과 봉 감독의 다른 영화에 대해서 스포일러가 있을 수 있음)


Before long, Ki-woo stops talking about metaphors. 

영화가 시작되고 오래지 않아, 기우는 수석이 상징적이다라는 말을 더 이상 하지 않게 된다.


Maybe because things start getting real. 

아마도 현실적 상황들에 부딪치기 시작했기 때문일 것이다.

*dubious: 모호한, 의심스러운, 수상쩍은 thought not to be completely true or not able to be trusted:


He takes a job tutoring the Parks’ teenage daughter, Da-hye, and pretty soon his whole family is employed, under dubious premises and fake identities, in the Park household. 

그는 그는 박가네 청소년 딸인 다혜를 가르치는 과외교사가 되고, 잇따라 그의 전 가족이 모호한 전제 아래, 정체를 속이고, 박 씨의 집에 고용된다. 


His sister, pretending to be a highly trained art therapist, starts working with Da-hye’s younger brother, Da-song. 

그의 여동생은 (좋은 학교에서) 고도로 훈련된 미술 치료사 인척 하며 다혜의 남동생 다송을 맡는다.


The Kim patriarch, Ki-taek, replaces the chauffeur who drives Mr. Park to and from his fancy tech job. 

김 씨 일가의 가장인 기택은 박사장을 그의 멋진  회사와 집을 오가며 운전해 주는 운전사로 (기존 운전사 대신) 채용된다. 


Kim Chung-sook, the mother of the clan (a former Olympic-level hammer-thrower), takes over as housekeeper.

김 씨 가족 일당의 엄마인 김충숙 (전 올림픽 수준 투포환 던지기 선수)은 가사도우미 자리를 차지한다.


Or maybe — and it might amount to the same thing — the Kims’ reality has turned into an unsettling allegory of modern life, and Ki-woo doesn’t see metaphors in the way that a fish doesn’t notice water. 

아니면 아마도 김 씨 일가의 현실은 현대인의 불안정한 삶과 기본적으로 같은 것일지 모른다다만 기우는 물고기가 물을 느끼지 못하듯상징물들을 보지 못하는 것일 .

*allegory :우화, 풍유, a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
*amount to the same thing. 기본적으로 같은 것이다. 같은 운명이다. To be essentially the same. 


What started out as a clever scam has turned into a fable.

기발한 사기처럼 시작된 일이 한 편의 (교훈이 담긴) 우화로 변했다.


In South Korea, where “Parasite” is already a blockbuster (having taken in more than $70 million at the box office), it has contributed to that country’s continuing debate about economic inequality

한국에선 벌써 “기생충”이 박스오피스에서 7천만 달러 이상을 기록한 블록버스터로, 한국사회가 경제적 불평등에 대한 논쟁을 이어가게 했다.


In the United States, where similar arguments are swirling, it has begun to turn Bong from an auteur with a passionate cult following into a top-tier international filmmaker. 

비슷한 논쟁이 벌어지고 있는 미국에서도 봉준호는 소수 마니아가 열광하던 감독에서 세계적인 일류 감독으로 도약했다. 

*An auteur (/oʊˈtɜːr/; French: [otœʁ], lit. 'author') 영화감독 is an artist, usually a film director, who applies a highly centralized and subjective control to many aspects of a collaborative creative work; in other words, a person equivalent to an author of a novel or a play.
* top tier 분야에서 최고: the most important people in a group, companies in an industry, etc.:


Fifty years old, with seven features to his name — most of them available on North American streaming platforms — he combines showmanship with social awareness in a way that re-energizes the faded but nonetheless durable democratic promise of movies.

 나이 50에 그는, 그의 이름으로 된 7편의 영화 - 거의 다 북미 스트리밍 사이트에서 볼 수 있다 - 로 봉 감독은 지금은 많이 희미해졌지만 영화에서 여전히 명맥을 유지하고 있는 ‘평등한 사회를 향한 약속’에 다시 불을 지피는 방식으로 사회적 의식과 오락성을 결합한다”


The cramped, leaky “semi-basement” apartment the Kims call home is a metaphor of sorts, and so is the spacious, modern, architecturally significant mansion where they work. 

김 씨 일가가 집이라 부르는 좁아터지고 물이 새는 “반지하” 아파트는 (하류) 상징이며, 또한 넓고 현대적이며 건축학적으로도 중요한 무게를 가지는 그들의 직장인 저택 또한 (상류) 상징이다.  


The Park home in particular comes with built-in symbols, including a deep subbasement where inconvenient secrets can be stashed away, like dead bodies or hidden meanings in an Edgar Allan Poe story. 

박 씨 일가의 집은 특히 상징적인 내부구조 영역들을 가지고 있는데, 그중 하나가 지하 깊숙이 지어진 방공호 - 에드거 앨랜 포의 이야기에서 처럼 시체나 숨겨야 하는 무엇 같은 불편한 비밀들을 숨겨두기에 적합한 -이다. 

*stash away. (비밀 따위를) 숨겨두다 To secrete, hoard, or store something away so as to avoid discovery by others or to preserve or amass for future use.


And “Parasite,” which won the top prize in Cannes in May and has recently become the rare subtitled release to be mentioned as an Oscar contender beyond the foreign film category, plays out like a parable of contemporary social relations. 

“기생충”은 지난 5월 칸 영화제에서 황금종려상을 받았고, 최근엔 외국영화라는 한계를  뛰어넘어  오스카상 경쟁작으로 거론될 만큼, 자막을 단 영화로서는 흔치 않은 입지를 다지며, 요즘 시대의 사회관계를 다룬 우화로 대중들에게 다가서고 있다.

*contender: 경쟁자 a person or group competing with others to achieve something.


It’s part horror film, part satire and part tragedy, conveying a sharp lesson about class struggle in South Korea and just about everywhere else.

이것은 호러물이기도 하면서, 사회풍자물이기도 하고, 비극이기도 한, 남한을 비롯한 대부분 모든 사회가 안고 있는 계급 간 갈등에 관한 날카로운 교훈을 전하는 영화다.


But the houses in the film — like every office, alley, field, railroad car and precinct house in Bong’s expanding cinematic universe — are also actual physical places. 

하지만 영화에 나오는 집들은 - 봉 감독의 영화 세계에 나오는 사무실, 골목, 들판, 열차, 경찰서와 마찬가지로 - 실존하는 물리적 장소이다.

*precinct house: 교구 주택 (제한된 목적을 가지고 관리되는 지역) a division of territory, as of a country, state, or county, marked off for administrative, electoral, or other purposes. 


And their inhabitants are anything but symbols or ciphers. 

그 장소의 거주자들 또한 상징과 암호적인 존재들에 그치지 않는다.  


Bong likes to choreograph wildly improbable chases and fights, but he doesn’t cheat at physics. 

봉 감독은 엽기적인 추격과 싸움 씬을 연출하는 걸 좋아하지만, 물리적 법칙을 벗어나는 속임수는 쓰지 않는다.  


A reason for the frequent comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg is the ruthless precision of his technique. 

자주 알프레드 히치콕 감독 및 스티븐 스필버그 감독과 비교되는 이유가 바로 그의 기술의 무자비한 정확성 때문이다. 


But for all his love of whimsy and absurdity, he doesn’t play games with human psychology. The actions and reactions in his movies are often surprising, but they are never nonsensical. 

하지만 그가 아무리 변덕과 불합리를 즐긴다 해도, 그는 사람 심리 가지고 게임을  하지 않는다. 그의 영화 안에서 액션과 리액션은  예상치 못한 반전의 연속이지만, 결코 이해가 안 될 정도는 아니다. 

*nonsensical: 말도 안 되는, 이해할 수 없는 having no meaning; making no sense.
*whimsy: 변덕, fancy, caprice


His characters have gravity, density, grace and a decent share of stupidity.

거의 영화 속 등장인물들은 무게와 밀도와 너그러운 마음과 함께 적당한 양의 멍청함을 가지고 있다.


To call Bong a realist, though, would be crazy. 

그렇다 할지라도, 봉 감독을 현실주의자라고 부르는 것은 얼토당토않다.


The movie of his that first caught the attention of genre geeks on a global scale was his third feature, “The Host” (released here in 2007), about a giant, carnivorous mutant fish spreading terror along the Han River in Seoul.


그의 영화 중 세계적으로 장르 덕후들의 주목을 받았던 첫 영화는 그의 세 번째 작품,  괴물 (2007년 미국 개봉)로, 서울의 한강을 따라 공포감을 확산시키는 거대한 육식성의 변종 물고기에 관한 영화이다.


 In 2014 came “Snowpiercer” (based on a French graphic novel), which confirmed Bong’s status as an international action auteur. 

 2014년에 개봉한 “설국열차”(프랑스의 만화를 원작으로 함)는 국제적인 액션 감독으로서 봉 감독의 입지를 공고히 했다. 


A gaggle of movie stars from Hollywood and beyond (including Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton and Song Kang Ho, the solid South Korean Everyman who has appeared in four of Bong’s movies and who plays the Kim patriarch in “Parasite”) were packed into a high-speed train zooming around an apocalyptically frozen earth. 

할리우드를 비롯해 각지에서 온 영화배우들(크리스 에반스, 틸타 스윈튼, 그리고 봉 감독의 영화 네 편에 출연했고 “기생충”에서 김 씨 일가의 가장, 기택 역을 맡은, 평범한 한국사람을 제대로 연기하는 송강호 포함)이 종말이 온 것처럼 얼어붙은 지구를 내달리는 고속 열차를 빽빽이 채우고 있었다

*gaggle: 거위 떼, 각종 사람들로 구성된 집단, 시끄러운 사람 집단, 1. a flock of geese. 2. a disorderly or noisy group of people


The passengers were sorted into haves and have-nots, rebels and sellouts, and their struggles were both surprising and grimly familiar.

 승객은 부자들과 가난한 자들, 반역자와 배신자로 분류되었고 그들이 겪는 어려움들은 놀랍기도 했지만 슬프도록 익숙하기도 했다

*grimly: 우울한, 매우 심각한  in a very serious, gloomy, or depressing manner.


That was followed by “Okja” (2017), an antic updating of the basic “Charlotte’s Web” material (a young farm girl fights to save the life of her beloved piglet) for an age of genetic engineering, mass media and multinational capitalism. 

유전공학, 대중매체, 다국적 자본주의 시대에 맞게  “샬롯의 거미줄” 소재(한 농장 소녀가 사랑하는 아기돼지의 생명을 살리기 위해 싸운다)를 기괴하게 각색한 “옥자”(2017년)가 그 뒤를 이었다.

*antic: 기괴한 grotesque or bizarre.


Swinton returned, playing twin moguls, but the real stars were Ahn Seo Hyun, as the young girl, and the digitally rendered shoat whose soul was at stake in the hectic battles among scientists, executives, animal-rights activists and other motley human specimens.

 틸다 스윈튼이 쌍둥이 거물을 연기하며 등장했지만, 진짜 스타는 (돼지의 생명을 살리려 분투하는) 어린 소녀로 분한 안서현과, 과학자, 경영자, 동물 인권 운동가 및 온갖 인간 군상들 간의 정신없는 다툼 속에서 생명이 위태로웠던 컴퓨터 그래픽으로 만들어진 아기 돼지였다.

*moguls: 거물급 인사, (특히 미디어 인더스트리의) an important or powerful person, especially in the motion picture or media industry
*shoat: 갓 태어난 아기 돼지 a young pig, especially one which is newly weaned.
*motley: 뒤범벅의, 얼룩덜룩한 incongruously varied in appearance or character; disparate.


In obvious ways, “Parasite” is more realistic than those films. 

확실히, “기생충”은 그의 다른 영화들에 비해 더 실제 일어날 법한 이야기다.


It returns Bong to the workaday Korean settings of his first two features, the grotesque comedy “Barking Dogs Never Bite” and the detective drama “Memories of Murder,” and also of “Mother,” his masterpiece (released here in 2010) about a woman whose mentally challenged adult son is accused of killing a schoolgirl. 

이 영화에서 봉준호 감독은 자신의 첫 두 작품인, 괴기스러운 코미디 영화 “플란다스의 개”와 수사 영화 “살인의 추억”, 그리고 여학생을 살해한 혐의를 받고 있는 정신지체아 아들을 둔 한 여성에 대한 그의 수작 “마더 (2010년 개봉)”의 한국인의 일상을 그린 설정으로 돌아온다.

*workaday: 평범한, 일상적인 ordinary.


“Parasite” is more noir than science fiction, farcical until it turns melodramatic.

 “기생충”은 공상과학소설보다는 더 누아르적이고 멜로드라마로 변할 때까지는 희극적이다.

*farcical: 희극적인, 익살맞은 relating to or resembling farce, especially because of absurd or ridiculous aspects.
*farce: 희극 a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. 


But to sort Bong’s work by genre or style is to miss both its originality and consistency. 

하지만 그의 작품을 장르나 스타일로 분류하는 것은 그의 작품의 독창성과 일관성 모두를 놓치는 일이다.


His movies are bold and bright, infused with rich colors and emphatic performances. 

그의 영화들은 대담하고 밝으며 풍부한 색채와 타의 추종을 불허하는 연기 퍼포먼스로 가득 차 있다. 

*infused with 가득 차 있다. filled with 
*emphatic: 강조된, 탁월한, 두드러진 showing or giving emphasis; expressing something forcibly and clearly. outstanding


They are funny, suspenseful and punctuated by kinetic sequences that can make even jaded multiplex-potatoes sit up and gasp. 

그의 영화들은 재미있고 긴장감이 넘치며, 심지어 (기존의 비슷비슷한) 영화에 물린 영화광들조차도 허리를 꼿꼿이 세우고 앉아 숨을 멈출 (긴장할) 정도로 역동적인 장면들이 쉼 없이 등장한다.

*punctuated by: 자주 방해받는, 종종 당하는 to be frequently interrupted by something
* jaded:  물린, 질려버린, 열정 없는 tired, bored, or lacking enthusiasm, typically after having had too much of something.


There are at least a half-dozen such moments in “Parasite,” perhaps the most thrilling of which involves three people hiding under a living-room coffee table while another camps out in a tent in the backyard.

“기생충”에는 그런 (긴장감 넘치는) 장면이 적어도 여섯 번은 등장하는데, 아마도 가장 스릴 넘쳤던 장면은 한 인물 (박사장의 아들 다송이)가 마당 텐트에서 야영을 하는 동안 다른 세 명 (기택과 두 자녀)의 인물들이 거실 탁자 밑에 숨어있던 장면일 것이다.


At the same time, his movies are dark and subtle, burrowing deep into sticky ethical problems and hot zones of social dysfunction. 

동시에, 그의 영화들은 어둡고 은근하며, 다소 불편한 윤리적 문제와 사회의 역기능이 위태롭게 도사리는 영역을 깊이 파고든다. 

*hot zones: 위험하다고 여겨지는 영역 refers to an area that is considered to be dangerous.
*social dysfunction: 제 기능을 못하는 영역, 사회학적으로 사회 제도를 파괴하는 사회적 행동, 조직의 역기능, 사회집단의 비정상적이고, 사태를 악화시키는 역할과 기능  any malfunctioning part or element: the dysfunctions of the country's economy. Sociology. a consequence of a social practice or behavior pattern that undermines the stability of a social system.


You could say that he uses blockbuster means to advance art-house ends. 

 봉 감독이 블록버스터 성공을 통해 예술영화산업을 성장시킨다고 주장할 수 있다.


You could also say the opposite. 

또한 그 반대라고 주장할 수도 있다.


His real achievement, though, is to scramble such facile distinctions, and a host of others as well.

누가 뭐라 말하건, 그의 진정한 업적은  그와 같은 피상적인 구분을 포함한 여러 것들에 있다.


His stories are often tragic, but the mood tends to be more exuberant than somber, an emotional effect that can be hard to describe. 

봉 감독의 영화 내용은 비극적일 때가 많지만, 그 분위기는 침울하기보다는 생기가 넘치는데, 이는 묘사하기 힘든 감정적 효과이다. 

*exuberant: 풍부한, 생기발랄한 filled with or characterized by a lively energy and excitement.
*somber: 침울한, 어두운, 어두운 색조의: dark or dull in color or tone; gloomy.



The full awfulness of human beings and their circumstances is on vivid display: venality, vanity, deception and outright cruelty. 

인간과 인간을 둘러싼 환경의 온갖 끔찍함, 즉 부패, 허영, 속임수와 노골적인 잔인함이 스크린에 생생하게 나타난다. 

*venality: 돈에 좌우됨, 무절조, 매수되기 쉬움, 부패 the state or quality of being venal (= willing to behave dishonestly in exchange for money)
*outright: 노골적인 open and direct; not concealed.


But the aim isn’t mockery or glib sensationalism, or the routine fusion of the laughable and the grotesque that has been a staple of Hollywood cool since the mid-1990s. 

하지만 그 목적은 조롱이나 경박한 선정주의, 또는 1990년대 중반 이후 할리우드의 주 소재가 되어온 터무니없고 그로테스크한 것의 식상한 혼재가 아니다.


The most shocking thing about Bong’s films might be their sincerity, the warm humanism that flickers through the chronicles of spite, sloth and self-delusion.

봉준호 감독 영화에 대해 가장 놀랄만한 것은 그 영화들의 진지함, 다시 말해 악의, 나태함과 자기 망상의 연대기를 뚫고 나와 깜박이는 따스한 휴머니즘이다.

*spite: 악의 a desire to hurt, annoy, or offend someone.


The flickers are sometimes faint. 

그 깜박임은 때론 희미하다.


In Bong’s debut feature, “Barking Dogs Never Bite” (2000), the humanism is all but buried in a gruesome, urban-legend-inflected conceit. 

봉준호 감독의 데뷔작인 “플란다스의 개”(2000년)에서는 기괴한 도시 괴담적 굴절된 자만심에 휴머니즘은 완전히 묻혀있다.

*inflected: 굴절된, 굽은, 어형 변화된 to turn from a direct line or course : CURVE
*conceit: 자만심 excessive pride in oneself.


A beleaguered graduate student, desperate to become a professor — an advancement that depends on his ability to come up with a large bribe for a senior figure in his field — is tormented by the barking of a neighbor’s dog. 

 필사적으로 교수가 되고 싶은, 말하자면 자기 분야의 선배에게 거액의 뇌물을 줄 만한 능력이 되느냐에 달린 그 출세를 원하는 한 사면초가 상태의 대학원생이 이웃집의 개 짖는 소리에 괴로워한다.

*beleaguered: 문제나 어려움이 많은, 사면초가 상태의 1. having a lot of problems or difficulties: 2. surrounded by an army: 


Since he lives in a vast, impersonal apartment block (the first of Bong’s metaphorical architectural spaces), he can’t identify the offending creature. 

  그는 인간미 없는 거대한 아파트 단지(봉준호 감독의 은유적인 건축 공간의 첫 번째인)에 살고 있기 때문에, 신경을 거슬리게 하는 그 개를 찾아낼 수가 없다.

*impersonal: 인간미 없는 without human warmth;


The wrong dog ends up dying, more than once, and being eaten by a janitor with a taste for stewed canine flesh. 

엉뚱한 개들이 죽어나가고, 그것도 여러 번, 결국 보신탕을 좋아하는 청소관리인이 먹는다. 

*taste for something: 음식, 음료, 경험에 대한 선호 a desire for a particular food, drink, or experience.


Meanwhile the student’s marriage starts to crumble.

그러는 사이, 그 학생의 결혼이 파투 나기 시작한다


A measure of redemption — or at least a twinkle of mischief, innocence and decency — arrives via a subplot concerning a young woman in the building, and her friend, who works in a convenience store. 

 구원의 형태, -혹은 적어도 장난, 결백과 친절함은 - 건물 안에 사는 한 젊은 여성과 편의점에서 일하는 그녀의 친구에 관한 복선을 통해 나타난다. 


They represent archetypal Bong characters: socially marginal, loyal to each other, but not necessarily heroic or noble by virtue of their poverty. 

 그들은 전형적인 봉준호 감독의 등장인물들이다: 그들은 사회적으로 주변인이자 서로에게 의리를 지키지만 자신들의 가난 때문에 결코 영웅적이거나 고귀하지 않다. 


Bong’s sense of class solidarity, which threads through every one of his movies, doesn’t involve romanticizing the people on the losing end of an increasingly ruthless economic competition.

봉준호 감독의 모든 영화 속을 관통하는 계급적 연대감은 점점 무자비해지는 경제적 경쟁에서 패배한 측의 사람들을 근사하게 만들지는 않는다. 


The Kims in “Parasite” aren’t necessarily nicer, more loving or more honest than the bourgeois Parks. 

“기생충”에 나오는 김 씨 가족은 부르주아인 박 씨 일가보다 꼭 더 좋은 사람이거나 더 친절하거나 더 정직하지도 않다.


The small-town police officers in “Memories of Murder” are hardly pillars of virtue. 

  “살인의 추억”에 나오는 작은 마을의 경찰들은 선행에 앞장서려는 의지가 거의 없다.


The snack vendor played by Song in “The Host,” who enlists his father and his siblings in a valiant crusade to save his daughter from the monster, is a bit of an oaf. 

영화 “괴물”에서 송강호가 연기한 역할, 괴수로부터 딸을 구하기 위해 용맹한 전쟁에 자신의 아버지와 형제들을 끌어들이는 매점 주인은 좀 덜떨어진 인물이다. 

*valiant: 용맹한 possessing or showing courage or determination.
*oaf: 멍청한, 덜떨어진 a stupid, uncultured, or clumsy person.


The mother in “Mother,” who sells herbs and practices acupuncture without a license, pushes maternal devotion to the point of homicide.

“마더”에서 약재를 팔고 무면허로 침을 놓는 엄마는 모성적 헌신을 살인의 경지로까지 밀어붙인다. 


To sentimentalize or idealize any of these people would not only be a form of condescension. 

이 사람들 중 어느 한 사람이라도 멋있게 만들거나 이상화하는 것은 단지 가식적 미화 (우월화)에 그치는 것이 아니다. 

*condescension: 생색내는 태도, 가식적 겸손 an attitude of patronizing superiority; disdain.

It would strip their stories of dramatic and moral interest, making them less disturbing, and also a lot less fun. 

그것은 그들의 이야기에서 극적이고 도덕적인 관전 포인트들을 벗겨내 버리고, 이야기들을 덜 불편한 것, 훨씬 덜 재미난 것으로 만들 것이다. 


The pleasure and the discomfort can’t be separated. 

재미와 불편함은 분리될 수 없다.


We are watching players compete in a rigged game with potentially mortal stakes and unreliable referees. 

 우리는 선수들이 목숨을 잃을 가능성이 잠재된, 신뢰할 수 없는 심판들과 함께 하는 조작된 게임에서 서로 싸우는 것을 지켜보고 있는 것이다. 


Institutions — schools, companies, governments — are comically and also lethally useless. 

학교, 기업, 정부 등 기관들은 우스꽝스럽고 치명적으로 쓸모없다.


There is no legitimate authority, only raw power. 

합법적인 정당한 권위는 없고, 오직 정제되지 않은 권력만 있을 뿐이다.


Family connections are the only bonds that count, but families are a mess. 

가족 관계는 유일하게 중요한 관계지만, 가족은 엉망진창이다.


The only answer is a kind of wily resourcefulness, an on-the-fly problem-solving knack that can deliver at best small, local victories. 

유일한 해답은 기껏해야 작은 부분적 승리를 가져다줄 수 있는 임시방편적인 약삭빠른 순발력뿐이다. 

*resourcefulness: 눈치 빠름, 변통이 능함, 꾀바름. 임기응변의 재능. the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties.


That those can be satisfying is a tribute to Bong’s own wily resourcefulness and also to his radical compassion.

그런 것들이 만족스러울 수 있다는 것은 봉준호 감독 자신의 약삭빠른 임기응변력과 그의 급진적인 연민에 대한 찬사다.


What makes “Parasite” the movie of the year — what might make Bong the filmmaker of the century — is the way it succeeds in being at once fantastical and true to life, intensely metaphorical and devastatingly concrete.

 “기생충”를 올해의 영화로 만드는 것, 그리고 봉준호 감독을 금세기 최고의 영화제작자로 만들 수도 있는 것은 그 영화가 환상적이면서 삶을 실제적으로 그리는데 충실하고, 강렬하도록 상징적이지만,  (보는 사람이) 엄청나다고 느낄 정도로 구체화하는 데 성공하였기 때문이다. 

*devastatingly: 엄청나게 1. in a way that causes a lot of damage or destruction: 2.to an extremely impressive degree.


There doesn’t seem to be much distance, in other words, between the dire futures projected in “Snowpiercer” and “Okja” — nightmares of technology and greed run amok — and the class-specific domestic spaces of “Parasite,” “Mother” and “Memories of Murder.” 

 “설국열차”와 “옥자”에 투영된 즉 과학 기술과 탐욕이라는 악몽이 미친 듯이 날뛰는 재앙적 미래와 “기생충”, “마더”, “살인의 추억”의 계층 따라 달라지는 한국사회의 공간들 사이에는 그다지 큰 거리(차이)가 있어 보이지 않는다. 

*dire: 재앙의, 큰일 난 extremely serious or urgent.
*amok: 미쳐 날뛰다, behave uncontrollably and disruptively.


A much-remarked-on feature of human existence at the moment is how dystopian it feels, as some of the most extreme and alarming fantasies of fiction reappear as newsfeed banalities. 

오늘날 인간 존재에 대한 많이 언급되는 면은, 가장 극단적이고 놀랄만한 허구적 환상들이 때때로 뉴스의 진부함으로 다시 (현실에) 출현하는 것을 보며, 인간이라는 존재가 얼마나 억압받으며 살아가고 있는가에 대한 것이다.


Fires and hurricanes feel less like symbols than signals, evidence of a disaster that’s already here rather than omens of impending catastrophe. Monsters walk among us. Corruption is normal. 

 화재와 허리케인은 상징이라기보다는 신호처럼 느껴진다. 즉 재앙이 임박했다는 징조라기보다 이미 들이닥친 재난의 증거다. 괴물들은 우리 가운데 있고. 부정부패는 당연한 것이다.


Trust, outside a narrow circle of friends or kin, is unthinkable.  

좁은 범위의 가까운 친구나 가족/친지를 제외하고 신뢰라는 것은 생각조차 할 수 없다. 


Whether we know it or not, it’s Bong’s world we’re living in. Literally.

우리가 알고 있든 모르고 있든 간에, 봉준호 감독이 그리는 세계는 바로 지금 현재 우리가 살고 있는 이곳이다. 문자 그대로 진짜 그렇다.


대문 사진 & 기사 출처 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/movies/bong-joon-ho-parasite.html?searchResultPosition=1


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