Four Seasons of a Woman, Memories of an Era: The Life Story and Anthropological Imagination of the TV Drama Boksak Sokassuda

This study analyzes the process through which the life narrative of a woman, as depicted in the drama Thank You for Your Hard Work (Poksak Sokassuda), shapes and transmits the memories and emotions of an era. The work portrays the life of a woman named Aesoon from Jeju Island, structured around the cyclical flow of the four seasons, visually illustrating how personal, private memories are intricately connected to historical and social contexts. In particular, the narrative emphasizes the role of place in containing individual emotions and memories, expanding them into collective sentiment, thereby addressing the affective spatiality and the ethics of emotion. This research explores how the rhythm of the seasons expresses the emotional states of the woman’s life in an affective manner and how it contributes to the formation of a communal emotional structure. It also examines how oral tradition and theatrical re-enactment transform personal memory into a public narrative. Through this process, the study reflects on the ethical issues involved in the transmission of emotions from a cultural anthropological perspective. Ultimately, the study argues that life narratives are not merely representations of personal experiences, but function as key mechanisms for acquiring social significance and shaping cultural identity as collective memory.