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Western European Middle Ages and “magic” space in South Korean television series: “Memories of the Alhambra” and others
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2021-9-223-239
Abstract
The use of the “image of the Middle Ages” in popular works of art and its impact on the perception of the past by a wide audience has traditionally been defined as “medievalism”. The study of “medievalism” has become a special area in the humanities. However, since the Middle Ages is a concept associated with the periodization of the history of Western Europe, the concept of “medievalism” often includes products created in the conditional West and fictional worlds constructed from elements perceived as “Western”. More importantly, such products are usually aimed at a “Western” audience – that is, at viewers who perceive the European Middle Ages as part of their own culture (even if in fact the product is intended for a global audience). The article attempts to analyze the image of the Middle Ages in popular TV series in South Korea: their main viewer is an internal viewer, for whom the history of the Middle Ages is something extremely distant both from the history of his own country and from him/her personally. An analysis of several TV series that use “medieval” images shows that the medieval heritage of the West is perceived as a very attractive background for a part of the plot, but the “historical” in these narrations reveals the ability to easily transform into the “magical”.
About the Author
A. V. TarasovaRussian Federation
Aleksandra V. Tarasova, Cand. of Sci. (History)
bld. 6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, Russia, 125047
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Supplementary files
For citation: Tarasova A.V. Western European Middle Ages and “magic” space in South Korean television series: “Memories of the Alhambra” and others. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2021;1(9(2)):223-239. https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2021-9-223-239
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