A Study on Reexamination of The Story of Mari Based on Narrative Characteristics

Through The Story of Mari (2002), this paper intends to discuss the narrative characteristics in terms of rediscovering masterpieces that failed to hit the animation. With the domestic animation market centered on works from the United States and Japan, I would like to re-examine the aspect that this text was not loved by audiences in Korea and was evaluated as a lack of narrative even though it was recognized worldwide. This paper studies narrative characteristics centering on the narrative of time and space, focusing on the animation The Story of Mari as a research method to materialize this, the following two methods are applied in combination. First, based on Gerard Genette’s concept of time, which is the basis of narrative structure in movies and novels, the relational categories of order, duration, and frequency are discussed. Second, based on Seymour Chatman’s theory, it is analyzed through elements such as size, outline and texture, density, location, and color, which are spatial parameters that convey narrative. Third, through Lacan’s theory of ‘the imaginary, the symbolic, and the real’, the growth narrative of Namwoo is analyzed to show that this theory can appear as a method of narrative imagery. Through convergent reading of time and space, the sequential characteristics between story-time and discourse-time and Namwoo’s time are analyzed. The order of story-time and discourse-time creates plot time in a retrospective way. This is simply a narrative device to compose another plot by time modulation that is not made of an antecedent arrangement of past-present events. The narrative characteristics of duration and frequency and the fantastic space of memories are discussed. The fantasy world where Namwoo meets Mari is repeated overlapping, and the fantasy world continues to unfold in Namwoo’s gaze. A fantastic story with Marie, a surreal being, and the arrangement of space and time show their relationship well. In particular, the scene of re-entry into the world of fantasy shows the process of Namwoo’s inner division and at the same time, he finds the direction of his life. Finally, unlike previous studies, the significance of this paper is to analyze the narrative characteristics of the animation The Story of Mari based on time and spatial characteristics and to examine its meaning.