The Use of Alienation in Misaeg

The Use of Alienation in Misaeg

             German plays have largely influenced artists who are in other fields of arts. Bertolt Brecht, especially, made a theory about the alienation effect. Alienation effect has recently been used to criticize social problems in arts. The origin of alienation effect is defamiliarization from formalism in Russia. Bertolt Brecht was influenced by Russian formalists and tried to make the similar effect. In the early 1990s, communists, including formalists and Bertolt Brecht, wanted to change the thinking of people toward the use of play. They tried to use shock and think, no explanation, about reality to the audience. The play, therefore, would be fresh, funny and sometimes grotesque. Play writers did not directly explain to the audience the meaning of the plot. Through disturbing empathy, unfamiliar characters and play components, the audience does not think of the play as fiction, but as a situation in our everyday life. Then, they automatically recognize social problems themselves. The Korean TV drama, Misaeg, also uses alienation effect to criticize social problems. Misaeg breaks viewers hope that the greatest hero works very hard, finds love, has good career, wins bad competition and survives in reality.

             Korean television viewers love a kind of drama which is unrealistic. The concepts of main characters in the romantic drama are rich man and finding a fiancée for his life. Misaeg also includes this concept of Korea dramas. Jang Gue Rae, the main character, was a professional player of Go. He is the overseas marketing intern of the greatest company from an acquaintance of his father despite having no career and can nicely solve the problem of his sales team. The writer of Misaeg, however, said, “After the Misaeg script was sent to the major broadcasting system, it was rejected by its executives because it is not a romantic drama.” Executives from major broadcasting systems expected that viewers only preferred love stories. The reason is that 40 to 50-year-old women strongly influence viewer ratings in Korea. Misaeg was only expected to receive a 2% view rate, but it became an incredible hit. It showed strongly that the viewers appreciated the Asian salesman’s social problems. Misaeg is unrealistic but it demonstrates the realistic intention of writer from this drama to viewers.

             The main character of Misaeg, Jang Gue Rae, is a weak intern of One International, but gives hope to viewers from his business activity and learning process in his sales team. He has a strong disposition and is persistent in new situations. He finds the source of trouble in the company, or from a bad job of 3^rd sales team he sometimes suggests good ideas to his seniors. However, he is not a good overseas salesman. He is not a normal salesman who was hired through open recruitment. He was a sports player of Go and does not have any real qualifications. The human resource manager ought to change his department from sales to inspection. Viewers also think Jang Gue Rae’s appropriate work as the inspector because they feel the unfamiliarity between Jang and the sales team. They consequently have no choice to be concerned about his uncertain positive future as an intern and contract worker. Drama viewers could be empathetic to him, however one of factors disturbs it. From a practical standpoint, Jang must be criticized since he is a poor salesman. Then viewers can be shocked in that they think that he is not a drama special hero and he is not perfect and we are also not perfect. The writer demonstrates to viewers that it is real and true in our everyday life.

             The 3^rd sales team is unreal. That is hardly possible in our everyday life. Mr. Choi, executive of One International, read the interns’ personal records and put Jang Gue Rae onto 3^rd sales team. He does not honestly support Jang and only uses him as the protector of his politics and poor decisions at work. The 3^rd sales team does not know when it will be disintegrated, but the members of 3^rd sales team have to behave humanely. Cool-headedly speaking they do not know how to survive at work. Mr. Oh do not have politic skills in One International, therefore he makes that the 3^rd sales team is slowly broken. They are just pure in the center of Mr. Oh who has the humanism in contrast with the executive Mr. Choi. Viewers hope that they will do a good job and survive at work. But the writer tries to disturb the viewer’s empathy through comparing teammates or their leaders and other departments. Misaeg insists to viewers that 3^rd sales team cannot survive against other rivals even though they are a good team and good-hearted. After a failed business contract, the 3^rd sales team is dissolute and almost all have to leave the company with Mr. Choi, an executive and a man of ambition. Mr. Oh and Jang Gue Rae works again in E-Sang Networks. E-Sang, is Korean, means idealism and strange. The meaning of dissolution of the 3^rd sales team is that the idealism just is nothing in our everyday life and viewer’s unreal empathy is hit by the realistic breakup.

             Jang Gue Rae and Mr. Oh try to talk to viewer who lives in our everyday life. It is also the alienation effect. Mr. Jang and Mr. Oh often are alone, and then they speak in the monologue. Their monologue is so long messages about our business life. In this time viewer are shocking sometimes, since Jang Gue Rae said Charles Baudelaire’s poet that “You have to be always drunken”. He uses “You” during his monologue. Mr. Oh also tries to send the message to viewer in his monologue scene. He looks at the camera, and then speaks to use “You”. Their all messages in monologues are about our everyday life. In this time, viewer are thinking about their everyday life and shares seriously about Misaeg with their friends or family. It is not natural because viewer is in reality and characters are in the TV drama. Viewer can be shocking and not concentrate the story, as their thinking are moving from the empathy to rationality.

             The mode of production in our everyday life hides, so we do not recognize it. If we recognize “Fatigue Society” (Die Müdigkeitsgesellschaft), we can criticize and reflect on our life. The drama also hides writer’s eye which looks at society. The writers, however, sometimes have his intention include the purpose of something that we don’t know the true in our everyday life. Most importantly, writers take, think and produce something or someone from the outside their body. After the era of realism, more arts express a variety of characteristic dimensions, but cannot avoid reality. The alienation effect is not a very creative play theory, but after Bertolt Brecht established it, modern plays deliberately used it to begin unfamiliar concepts. It just is a tool for making the drama or criticizing. Misaeg has unfamiliar concepts which are the unromantic drama, one distinguished person, the 3^rd sales team and serious attitudes. The writer and television producer, however, did not directly insist their thinking about our everyday life. They only give to shock to viewers with the alienation effect.