"Now my eyes have seen you": A comparative study of Secret Sunshine and the Book of Job

This essay engages in a comparative study of Lee Chang-Dong's Secret Sunshine (2007) in light of the biblical book of Job, focusing on issues of grief, recovery, and theodicy. Drawing from perspectives in philosophical, mystical, and pastoral theology, three allegorical interpretations of the f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: NG, Teng-kuan
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2011
Subjects:
Job
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/65
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/cis_research/article/1064/viewcontent/Now_My_Eyes_Have_Seen_You.pdf
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Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
Description
Summary:This essay engages in a comparative study of Lee Chang-Dong's Secret Sunshine (2007) in light of the biblical book of Job, focusing on issues of grief, recovery, and theodicy. Drawing from perspectives in philosophical, mystical, and pastoral theology, three allegorical interpretations of the film's title are suggested. The eponymous “secret sunshine” adumbrates, first, the female protagonist Shin-Ae's hidden journey toward her true self, a self in which the theological virtues of faith and love are mystically internalized. Second, it intimates the quiet, unobtrusive presence of an emphatic Immanuel in the figure of Jong-Chan, the film's male protagonist. Finally, through a meditative exegesis of the film's closing sequences, it will be argued that “secret sunshine” points toward the transcendent beauty and comfort that may be found in the quotidian and commonplace.