• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.26
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• pp.79-108
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• 2012

This thesis is on the purpose of seeking for the possibility of a mechanism in interpreting, analyzing and criticizing cartoons which are applied to the concept of "the gaze" based on "the otherness of vision", which states a pluralistic visual world. It proves that cartoons are in line with other art works that are the subject to "lack and desire"; the gaze, greets reality and acts as an important criterion of analyzing and criticizing the trend in contemporary art, in which the cartoon expresses the gaze in harmony within its work of art. In this thesis, the artist, Kang Doh-ha structuralized ambiguous and difficult forms of art as he has cumulated experimental minds by working in an indie cartoon plane for a long period of time. Among his works of art, he identified the "invisible world" through his piece "Kubrik". Therefore, he represented: a metaphor and a metonymy, an ambiguously situational expression, an intentional and emotional error, the structure of individuality and integration, and finally tension beyond its meaning through use of 'the gaze' that is both the cause and the subject of a desire in the visible world which Lacan academized when he interpreted and analyzed "Kubrik". The concept of the gaze can be used in a variety of ways to display one another's presence in relation each character, revealing a spot of lack by staring back at readers or audiences and furthermore, to analyze and criticize the hidden side of the art piece by critics. The most important details are the artist's gaze, which is seen in the eyes of the analysis and also his or her criticism of the cartoon, which functions as a metaphoric screen in which the subject himself or herself betrays the law of desires thus enabling the violent and cruel reality to be masked and indulged in plays. This will serve as an element that will lead into an art as well as control the degradation to just a piece of enjoyment with the cartoon remaining only within the visual world.