• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.50
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• pp.1-29
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• 2018

In the contemporary American cinematic landscape, there is a distinctive tendency to depict the disturbing ways in which characters with brain damages perceive, remember, and think about the world. Despite its attempts to examine the socio-political implications of these characters' subjectivities, the previous scholarship on this trend of film was limited in being either too pessimistically deterministic or too euphorically optimistic. Critically reading neuroscientific discourses on the brain-damaged subject from the perspective of Giorgio Agamben's critique of biopolitics, this paper explores how the contemporary American cinema of the impaired brain attempts to mediate the neurologically inexplicable affects of those subjects who are in the neurological state of exception and to express their experiences of a becoming-nonhuman. By closely reading Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan and Alejandro $Gonz{\acute{a}}lez$ $I{\tilde{n}}{\acute{a}}rritu^{\prime}s$ Birdman in this regard, I show how the two films, by employing different sets of cinematic free indirect techniques, express the neurologically impaired subject's affective experience of a becoming-nonhuman animal in different ways, and thereby to a more or less extent act as 'profaned' neuro-biopolitical apparatuses.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.47
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• pp.53-76
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• 2017

This paper is a study on the tasks to be carried out by Tsushima clan who invited the envoy -the 38th Munwihaeng- from Korea in 1747, and the process and results. This envoy sent out for the purpose of congratulating Tokugawa, Yoshimune's retirement and Tsushima lord's return home, and also negotiate about Korean Diplomatic Envoys to Japan coming in the future. In late 1745, Yoshimune retired, and Ieshige inherited the position of Shogun. Then in 1746 the Edo Shogunate ordered the Tsushima clan to invite the Korean Diplomatic Envoy to Edo between April and May two years after. To the Korean Diplomatic Envoy's invitation, many stages were necessary. In additon, Korea insisted on following the precedent in exchange with Japan. This time, throne of this new Shogun occurred due to retirement of the former Shogun. In the last 100 years, the history that the former Shogun died and the new Shogun reigned continued. For that reason, Korea had no record of sending letters and gifts to the old Shogun who retired. Because there was no precedent, Korea was unable to smoothly respond to Japan's request. This paper considers the negotiation process with Korea and the Tsushima clan, makes a prestige of the shogunate, in order to be recognized from the shogunate.

• Review of Culture and Economy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.105-128
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• 2017

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of distributors on the movie exhibition by distributor types. For the analysis, the concept 'screen elasticity of box office' is adopted. Using the weekly screening data of 94 hit movies released in Korea in 2014 and 2015, the panel analysis estimates the 'screen elasticity of box office' with the Hausman-Taylor estimator. The results show that the screen elasticity of box office is smaller for vertically integrated distributors(CJ E&M and Lotte Entertainment) and Hollywood distributors than the local distributors(Showbox and NEW) that do not own integrated cinemas. This means that exhibitors allocate a larger number of screens to vertically integrated distributors and Hollywood distributors. As the two distributor groups had higher market share during the period, the results imply that the screen elasticity is related to the market performance of distributors. Smaller screen elasticity of the vertically integrated distributors might be related not to the ownership to theaters but to higher market share of the distributors.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.41
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• pp.299-320
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• 2015

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland expands scope of Children's Literature genre by introducing the discourse of pleasure as opposed to that of didactic discipline. Carroll's narrative is important, not only for children's literature, but also as a forerunner of post/modernism of James Joyce with its language play and linguistic invention. Its treatment of Alice's body change follows the motif of body transformation in myth and literature. Comparing "stasis" of Susan Sontag's character Alice (James) in her play Alice in Bed and "movement" of Carroll's Alice, this study explores the issues of woman's alienation and the dichotomy of mobility/immobility in reality and in their literary representations. Focusing on a female child's double alienation as woman and child, I argue Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a counter-narrative of alternative bildungsroman. Alice gains her subjectivity through her adventure by power of language and story-telling. Through representation of the dream/adventure of two desiring sisters, Carroll's narrative exhibits subversion of social order and emergence of new order of "chaosmos" out of chaos. As a method of study, this study traces genealogy of "curiosity" in myth and literature as a motivating force that triggers adventure and argues "creative curiosity" is a dynamic energy propelling Alice's adventure.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.46
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• pp.1-20
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• 2017

This study tries to examine the emotion of the elite characters in Son Jangsoon's early novel, The Koreans. In this novel, most characters are found to have an envy feeling, except for two female characters, Heeyeon and Sue Han. Although the writer does not consciously explore the envy feeling here, she excellently represents the harmful effects of the envy feeling. In this novel, the envy feeling is related to the desire for success and its frustration. In 1960's, people had high expectation of improvement in their individual lives. The elite groups were more likely to have a successful life with good education. But in this novel, these elite people suffer from frustration of their desire and experience of the envy feeling. The impressive point in this novel is that not only females but also males are shown to have the envy feeling. Envious people have the tendency to compare themselves with people around them, to feel shame in an inferior position and to aspire for superiority. In these envious characters, the feeling of envy reveals their lack, their inferiority and it never provides them with the way to escape from their suffering situation. The writer suggests that the envy feeling can be overcome by pursuing other valuable things and focussing not on other people's desire but on their own desire.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.41
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• pp.321-349
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• 2015

This paper is to make a comparative study between George Sand and Na Hye-sok through their lives and works. The research found that George Sand and Na Hye-sok had similar views about the institution and social system of their age. Both women were aware of importance and necessity of education and the arts but showed a clear distinction between their beliefs in education and the arts. George Sand found that education was an indispensable part of women's lives but found that educationforwomentotheageofSandwasuseless. For this reason she continued to assert a substantial reform concerning women's education. In addition, she argued that everyone should have been given the same opportunities regardless of gender or class. Na Hye-sok, meanwhile, looked at women's education in a more realistic perspective, that is to say to make money. The two women showed remarkable differences in the view of art. This is evident from the presence of a responsibility and a sense of purpose as an artist. George Sand was imbued with a sense of purpose and clarified her own belief at the beginning of her activities as a writer. She wanted to inform the suffering of the weak through her writing and to contribute to build a Utopia where everyone could be happy to live beyond the boundaries of gender. However, Na Hye-sok did not reveal her own clear sense of purpose to her art activities. Art is not just a job - it's a vocation. Na Hye-sok was enthusiastic but didn't have a sense of purpose. She should have had a vocation and a sense of purpose. Na Hye-sok was lacking of responsibilities and obligations as a pioneer of Western painting. If there were a distinct vocation and a sense of purpose to Na Hye-sok as an artist, she would have left a trail as valuable as that of George Sand.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.49
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• pp.181-199
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• 2017

One of the most lasting and influential projects for radical reform of Korean universities is a discourse on networking national and public universities. The discourse, proposed with a level equalization of universities as its ideological basis has raised various discussions and suggestions in the past 20 years. It was proposed as a fundamental solution to the 'disastrous' hierarchical structure of universities and 'hellish' entrance exam competition. This paper aims at reexamining the efficacy of its ideological proposition and its practicability at the present time in reference to such foreign cases, which have worked as model cases for this discourse: the reformation of the University of Paris and the California master plan for higher education in the 1960s. The two different contexts, however, should be considered in applying the cases to Korean university reform. 1) The foreign cases of united universities were formed 'naturally' in the expanding phases of higher education while the Korean project pursued 'artificially' in the midst of reconstructing process. 2) The foreign cases had an overall influence on education in general as most of the universities in those countries were public or national, while the effect of Korean project will be very limited as most of the university students attend private universities. Besides those differences, the new situations surrounding universities such as globalized competitiveness and technological innovation is making the idea of standardization of universities obsolete. Korean university reform should not be centered on the integration of universities but on their characterization and enhance the specific strengths of each group of universities.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.47
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• pp.291-312
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• 2017

This paper examines how 'house' is meaningful in Chi Li's novel. Chi Li focuses on the house as a symbol of status, and the house as a place of gender performance. First, as a sign that symbolizes an individual's identity, 'house' is divided into intellectual and petit bourgeois, and constitutes binarism into civilization/non-civilization, knowledge/non-knowledge, spirit/anti-spirit and superior/inferior. In recognizing the irrationality and unfairness behind house symbolizing intellectual and petit bourgeois, Chi Li shatters the boundaries of the binaralized house as a sign of identity. Second, it dismantles the house as a place where gender is (re)produced. This is accomplished through two aspects. One is to re-define a private area house as a public area in which economic activity occurs. The house, as a public area in which economic activity occurs, becomes a place where women are reborn as economic entities. Passive, dependent femininity is reconstructed as independent and subjective. The other dismantles the definition of the house which is identified with masculinity. The house identified with masculinity is a place that symbolizes the socio-economic capacity of men. According to the socio-economic ability of males, the house is a place symbolizing the realization of masculinity, and it becomes a place to fix the gender order while reproducing masculinity. It may become a place to experience the weakening or defamation of masculinity. At that moment, the house becomes a place where the gender order of masculinity and femininity is overturned. Through this, Chi Li reconstructed, and in a sense revolutionized the definition of the house as a place where traditional gender is (re) produced by dismantling the definition of fixed femininity or masculinity.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.51
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• pp.193-212
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• 2018

This paper attempts to explore how Ang Lee depicts Asian and Western women in his films. We focus on two parts of his consciousness First, Ang Lee does not consider himself a feminist, he understands the world in terms of women who play societal roles. Second, Ang Lee's films reflect his identity in a juxtaposition model, in which he is a member of mainstream American society and also holds an onlooker's viewpoint at the same time. He depicts women, who are often marginalized or considered the minority, and their feminist ideals, as means that break down the authority of the father and the man, the traditional ideology, and the male dominant nationalism. Chinese women in movies divide apart traditional Chinese patriarchal ideology and male-dominated anti-Japanese sentiments. Also, the Western women in his films reveal the non-stereotypical appearance of Western society in the 1970s and 1980s, with daily tension, anxiety, abdominal pain and anger, silence and anxiety about homosexual husbands, and excessive obsession. The director's portrayal of women not only separates the male-centered and Western-centered discourse, but also reveals a self-division of internalized masculine patriarchal Asian thought consciousness.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.43
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• pp.7-50
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• 2016

In the capitalized Joseon Dynasty under the Japanese colonial rule, most Gisaengs (female entertainers) were waiting for men who would save them from financial distress, but others chose to seize the opportunity imposed by the modern times and capitalization to transform their lives. Socialist Jung Chil-sung was one of those who utilized such opportunity to transform themselves through political awakening. The political awakening of Chung Chil-sung was the result of two factors-the historical occasion of the March $1^{st}$ movement and her personal labor experience as Gisaeng. The March $1^{st}$ movement was not only a colossal political incident externally manifested in nationalism and but also an occasion which educed the microscopic anger of a woman named Chung Chil-sung. In the early capitalist society, women with jobs were forced to play not only vocational tasks but also to subject themselves to emotional roles of being obedient and generous. In other words, those early career women suffered feelings such as anger, shame and humiliation, when they were defenselessly exposed to gender hierarchy and gender power in the public sphere. As shown in the case of Chung Chil-sung, these emotions led to a certain political awakening. The political awakening through the labor experience and emotional problems was the fact that helped Chung Chil-sung have a concrete and realistic understanding about the issue of women's economic dependence unlike other female socialists. But, although socialism was relatively the most appropriate language to explain Chung Chil-sung's experience, what she experienced contained several elements that cannot be explained by the elite socialist language. Therefore, her life paradoxically proved the need of lower-class women's lives to be divided and registered as a new emotion and to be politically visualized.