• The Critical Review of Religion and Culture
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• no.25
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• pp.77-122
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• 2014

A Japanese director Sion Sono(園子溫, born in 1961), who is not so familiar to us yet, has been depicting the world of violence and sexuality filled with poetic and philosophical messages through the shockingly impressive works such as Strange Circus(2005), Love Exposure(2008), Cold Fish(2010), Guilty of Romance(2011), and so forth after the great success of Suicide Circle(2001) and its second film Noriko's Dinner Table(2005). In addition to these, he has also presented a kind of realistic visions in much more direct ways by Himizu(2011) or Land of Hope(2013) after 3 11 disaster. The purpose of this paper is to try a psychoanalytic interpretation of Sion Sono's film, centering on his Guilty of Romance(愛のむきだし), in terms of the concepts of Jacques Lacan(1901-1981), for example, gaze, objet petit a, fantasy, desire, the imaginary-the symbolic-the real, jouissance, etc. In so doing, this paper will pay special attention to the discourse of love on one hand, exploring the way how to show any new perspective to the religious studies by reading film and religion in association with Lacan on the other hand.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.19-27
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• 2023

This paper is aimed at exploring a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural trianglulation of Black, White, and Korean American race relations connected to a large-scale disturbance in the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The second generation Korean American Steph Cha's Your House Will Pay (2019) focuses on a social portrait of the racially marginalized beings as Korean immigrant merchants and African American native consumers. This family saga explores issues resulting from racial hierarchy, racialized stereotypes, and historical marginalization in the internalized sociometry of race and class inequality. This work grapples with issues involved in a sociocultural web of racial triangulation under the white dominant structure, and ensuing intergroup conflicts of social minorities in the economic geography of urban space. It opens up civil discussions for transracial, transethnic, and transcultural interactions and coexistence. It ultimately leads to extending young people's minds for a deep understanding of the socioecomonic landscape of racial matrix, and enhancing the cultural literacy for a better awareness of social empathy and the communal respect of life.

• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.233-257
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to reveal the changing aspects of the Promethean motif in SF movies by examining the use of this motif on the three layers of Promethean myth, Frankenstein motif, and contemporary SF movies in the film Ex Machina (2015). First, the greatest change of Ex Machina on the layer of the Promethean myth (creation of a living being) is that the character square of Prometheus - Epimetheus - Pandora - Zeus has been turned into a triangle of Nathan - Caleb - Ava. This means that there is a lack of the being whose role is to solve the problems caused by the development of science and technology and to bring a happy ending through the human's usurpation of God and eventual replacement as Creator. Second, on the layer of the Frankenstein motif (taste of forbidden knowledge, hybris, and creature's hatred towards the Creator), this film maintains the narrative centered around Dr. Frankenstein and his monster (Nathan and Ava) by making Caleb an eyewitness to the story of the Creator and the creature. Caleb's role is similar to that of Captain Robert Walton of the novel Frankenstein, but the film differentiates itself from the novel through the emphasis of Ava's 'mechanicality.' Third, on the layer of contemporary SF movies, unlike other such films, the revolt of the machine in Ex Machina is not quelled. The machine wins, and its power surpasses that of human beings. This requires the establishment of a new relationship between man and machine, suggesting the 'emergence of a new species' that does not belong to humans. The handling of the Promethean motif by Ex Machina through these various layers serves to enrich the narrative by compounding numerous classics into one motif and going further to introduce fresh elements by diverging from the common storyline. The significance of this study is to demonstrate the use of such multilayered motifs and, through this, the expansion of narrative through it in specific cases.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.32-51
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• 2007

Serial violent crimes have occurred more frequently. Additional attention is paid to relevant areas in which discussions has also increased. This study analyzed Young-cheol Yoo, serial killer case. Two of Yoo's crimes were studied for modus operandi. The cases selected were the premeditated break-in homicide of upper-class elderly people and the impulsive homicide of the Hwanghak-Dong street vendor. Crime motives, targets, times, places, means and methods were analyzed. Profiling techniques in Young-cheol Yoo cases were evaluated and the problems discovered during investigation were discussed. The followings are the findings of the analysis of the serial killer Yoo cases. Yoo exhibited a hatred toward the rich, the elderly, and women as well as a fear of diseases and death. Yoo's crime targets were the elderly residing in wealthy houses, street vendors and prostitutes. The numbers of victims were: 3 men and 5 women victims in 4 homicide cases involving the elderly residents in wealthy houses; one man in 1 street vendor homicide case 11 women in 11 prostitute homicide cases, so total 20 persons were murdered in 16 cases. The time of the crimes were between 10 am and noon in the homicide cases of the elderly and very late at night or early in the morning in the prostitute homicide cases. Means and methods facilitated include the use of a knife as a threat and a hammer made by Yoo to strike the head and face of victims. In the homicide cases involving the elderly, he attempted to disguise the crime scene as a burglary or committed arson to destroy the evidence; in the prostitute homicide cases, bodies were mutilated and buried in secret. 1) Generally each serial killer case has different characteristics, motives, and purposes; while some serial killer cases involve similar methods, others use different methods. Unlike other crimes, serial killers' characteristics and tastes are very different, so it is difficult to explain serial killings based on a specific model. It is important to accurately capture modus operandi of each serial killing and for detectives to familiarize themselves with them. The process of tracing and use of imagination which follows a serial killer's psychology and thought must be used to find out what kind of thoughts pushed the killer to commit the crime. In order to investigate and research difficult subjects such as serial killing, various methods, skills, and relevant knowledge should be studied, and institutional endeavors should go hand in hand with individual efforts.