Decolonial tricks and false disruptors: The anamorphic image of colonial desire in The Handmaiden

초록

This essay examines Park Chan-wook's The Handmaiden as a decolonial intervention within the visual and epistemic structures of colonial desire. By transposing Fingersmith to Japanese-occupied Korea, Park refocuses the narrative toward subversive agency and critical reflection. Through imposture, deception, and anamorphic imagery, the film destabilizes the colonial gaze and exposes the mimetic violence of imperial modernity. Lady Hideko's erotic performances literalize colonial epistemic violence while simultaneously enacting counter-voyeuristic resistance. Rather than estheticizing trauma, The Handmaiden transforms colonial desire into a space of distortion and negotiation, using stylistic excess to generate decolonial openings in subjectivity, spectatorship, and historical consciousness.

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