『R.U.R.』과 [메트로폴리스]에 드러난 로봇 표상의 기원

초록

『R.U.R.』, published in the 1920s, and the 1927 film [Metropolis] were works that introduced the concept of robots to modern Koreans. Capek's 『R.U.R.』 was introduced by Lee Kwang-soo with only the synopsis under the title 「People on the Road」, and then translated by Park Young-hee under the title 『People on the Road』. Some content was deleted during the translation process, and it was translated into a narrative of a socialist revolution that achieves a robot rebellion with the help of female revolutionary Helena. Robots were exploited workers and were recognized as creatures that could raise the flag of revolution toward their creators, providing an opportunity for them to be recognized as symbols of fear. The first ‘robot’ movie, [Metropolis], visualizes images of a humanoid, which has a very similar appearance to a human, and an android, which is completely indistinguishable from a human. At a time when the concept of robots was just being born and established, the image of the robot was concreted and presented to the public, and this appearance of the robot was later repeatedly reproduced in movies and animations, becoming an archetypal image. The robot image in these two works has become a key symbol of science and technology, and a symbol that evokes imagination about a future where expectation and confusion overlap. The two works introduced in colonial Joseon opened the horizon for modern people to have the opportunity to imagine the future society at a macro level.

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