• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.541-551
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• 2016

In order to attain 'reality', technology, style and narrative have developed throughout the history of cinema. The projection of digital image necessitated a new perspective beyond the conventional relationship between film and reality. In the SF film, DISTRICT 9, strong realism elements are evident despite its genre. Advanced technologies enabled the digital images to vividly reproduce the realm of imagination. The encounter of the realistic approaches embedded in the style and narrative with the digital images emphasizes the social context of the cinematic background, as well as extending the potentialities of verisimilitude and perceptual realism. The amount of freedom in editing process derived from this film's documentary-like style opened a possibility for the effective delivery of the vast information-furthermore contributing to the realism of the film by encompassing the diversity that exists in the reality.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.42
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• pp.505-524
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• 2016

This study examines the ways District 9, a film released in 2009, reworks the sci-fi genre to explore the human encounter with "other" alien populations. Like Avatar, released in the same year, District 9 addresses the tropes of conflict over land and human-alien hybridity and introduces non-humans and aliens, not as invaders, but as objects of human oppression and cruelty. Unlike many other science fiction films where the encounter between humans and non-humans occurs in an unidentifiable future time and location, District 9 crosses genre barriers to engage with urban realism, producing a social critique of contemporary urban population problems. The arrival of aliens in District 9 occurs as part of the recorded human past and the film's action is carried out in the present time in the specifically identified city of Johannesburg. A distinctly anti-Hollywood film that locates the action at the street level, District 9 plays out human anxieties about contact with others by referencing the divisions and conflicts historically attached to South Africa's sprawling metropolis and its current problems of urban poverty and illegal immigrants. Focusing on how this particular urban setting frames the film, the study investigates the ways Blomkamp's sci-fi film about extra-terrestrials presents a curious postcolonial mix of aliens and immigrants surviving in abject conditions in an urban slum and forces a realistic examination of the contemporary social problems faced by South Africa's largest city and by extension other major global cities. The paper also examines the film's representation of the human-alien hybrid and its potential as a force to resist human exploitation of the other. It also claims that though the setting is highly local, District 9 speaks to a wider global audience by making obvious the exploitative practices of profit-seeking multinationals. A sci-fi film that is keen on making a social commentary on urban population conflicts, District 9 resonates with the wider sense of insecurity and fear of others that form the horizon of the uncertain and potentially violent contemporary human world.

• The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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• no.9
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• pp.7-31
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• 2010

In this paper, I examine the development of the second stage of Chicano muralism and compare it with the first stage of the Chicano Mural Movement that was born out of the Civil Rights Movement. I then discuss the different aspects of the first stage in relation to the birth of institutionalized public art and question how Chicano murals influenced public art and, conversely, how mainstream public art transformed some of the attitudes and practices of Chicano muralism. Chicano murals initially functioned as a political mouthpiece for Chicano's human rights and as a tool to recover the Chicano people's cultural pride and legacy. However, the murals gradually developed into public art projects supported by the city or federal governments, who regarded them as an economic way to effectively communicate with the community. In this process of institutionalization, muralists became increasingly concerned with aesthetic quality and began to work more systematically. For example, amateur artists or community participants who produced the earlier murals were transformed into mural experts. Chicano essentialism and the politically volatile themes used previously were phased out and the new murals began to incorporate diverse subjects and people, for example, native culture, Blacks, and women. This phenomenon reflected the changing emphasis on multicultural understanding. This kind of institutionalization did not always draw positive results. Inadequate funds were the primary concern over the actual subject and creation of the mural work. Artists reduced the strong political metaphors and aestheticized the mural forms. However, their work was productive as well: thorough research on wall conditions and painting techniques was conducted and new processes and designs were developed. This paper examines the murals created for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Judy Baca's works, and the Balmy Alley Mural Environment project in San Francisco's Mission District. Works by Las Mujeres Muralistas in Mission District, in particular, show case colorful patterns and the Latin American indigenous culture, exploring new interpretations of old icons and design. They challenged the stereotypical depictions of females and presented alternative visual languages that revised the male-centered mural aesthetics and elaborated on the aesthetics of Rasquachismo.