• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.35
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• pp.359-392
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• 2020

In this paper, we examined the development of Chinese Taoist architecture, its cultural implications, and comprehensively summarized the core principles of the Taoist ecological ideas that are reflected in Taoist architecture. This is a groundwork for exploring an ideological model for sustainable ecological architecture in modern cities. Taoist architecture has a long history that has led to changes, developments, and a gradual maturation. Zhi (治), Lu (廬), and Jing (靖), were the first architectural forms of the early Taoist body. These formed the basis for the future development of Taoist Courts (宮觀). The state-sponsored government-run Taoist Courts established from the time of the North and South Dynasties to the time of Tang Dynasty led to a constant standardization of the rites, and these Courts gradually became more and more formalized. Since the establishment of Quanzhenjiao (全眞敎) in the early 12th century, a movement that emphasized putiy training, architecture for the ascetic practice emerged in remote natural spaces suitable for strict ascetic practices. Meanwhile, in Taoist architecture, the type and structure of buildings were strengthened in order to worship various gods. The various Taoist Courts established through this historical process embody the elements, institutions, and ecological ideas of Taoist culture. Taoist architecture basically pursued the idealism of Paradise in a Deep Cave (洞天福地) and adopted a feng-shui theory of using natural terrain artfully in selecting a place and building a layout. This was reflected through their ecology. Meanwhile, Taoist architecture does not destroy the balance of nature by emphasizing the utilization of local natural resources whenever possible while selecting building materials according to the principles of yinyang and the five movements (陰陽五行). In addition, Taoism aims to select simple places for practising asceticism and ancestral rituals whenever possible because of the need to maintain a simple mind, suppress desire, and return to a state of purity. This attitude is an indication of a kind of simple ecological ideas and value of frugality easily found in Taoism. The ecological ideas of Taoism provide abundant resources for considering solutions to the ecological crisis that arises in the creation of residential environments. Through the ecological ideas of Taoism, we can find a direction to understand the relationship between human beings and nature while creating new, sustainable residential environments.

• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.9-41
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• 2020

Park Jong-won's debut film "Guro Arirang," based on a short story of the same title by Lee Moon-yeol, is the first commercial film to deal with labor struggles from a worker's point of view in the wake of the 1987 democratic movement, and a pioneering work in terms of representing female workers the Korean cinema has traditionally turned away from. In this film Park Jong-won tried to win the sympathy of the middle class for labor movement in spite of the red scare which still stood firm in the Korean society at that time. To convey its progressive message in a form acceptable to the middle class public, the film portrays labor issues in the light of universal humanity and ethics, not in terms of class hostility or struggle. Park Jong-won calls this point of view "common sense of normal people" and emphasizes its universality and objectivity. This study critically examines the cinematic strategies to deal with labor issues in a form acceptable to the public in a conventional and commercial film and the ideological implications of the "common sense of normal people" reflected in such strategies. The first chapter of the study reveals that the film destroys the irony of the original story and reduces the complex constellation of the characters to the conflict between pure good and evil, creating a melodramatic composition in which the good falls victim to evil. The tragedies suffered by the workers in the film are of course intended to arouse the audience's strong sympathy and solidarity with them. The second chapter shows that the film's various scenes and episodes converge on the them of compassion and grief, and are mostly based on cultural and real experiences and events that caused great public sensations at that time. Especially in the last decisive scene of the movie, the memory of the June 1987 uprising is strongly recalled. So "Guro Arirang" can be seen as a patchwork of proven cases of compassion and grief. The third chapter examines the implications of the scene where the workers turn back demands for wages and put the issues of human treatment and trust to the forefront at the crucial moment of their struggle. It appeals to universal moral values and sentiments that everyone has to acknowledge and removes the political dimension from the workers' campaign. While the film tends to become a pure story of humanity marginalizing irreconcilable conflicts of class interest, the workers fall to the position of passive victims who can be deeply sympathetic on the one hand, and on the other, are idealized as leaders with noble attitude keeping themselves aloof from the hard reality. As a result, the movie loses its realistic ground and weakens its narrative probability. The scenes reminiscent of the 1987 uprising which evoke the solidarity between working and middle class fail to integrate harmoniously into the whole story of the film and remain only as fragmentary parts of the patchwork of compassion and grief.

• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.122-168
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• 2017

I tried to understand a folk tale "The half-boy" in terms of analytical psychology. In the story, a lady without children prayed to the Buddha. The white old man came and gave three fishes, but the cat ate half of it. So, she ate two and a half. She gave birth to two perfect sons. The third son had one arm, one leg, and one eye. They grew well. Brothers went to take the civil service examinations, and the half-boy followed. But two brothers did not like the half-boy coming along. So, brothers tied the half-boy to the rocks and trees, and he picked them up with force and gave them down to the yard of the house. And the half-boy followed his brothers again, and brothers tied him with kudzu and put him in front of the tiger. The half-boy won the tiger by betting with cutting kudzu. The half-boy stripped off the tiger's skin. The host coveted the tiger skin and they played with janggi. The half-boy won the game and was permitted to take host's daughter. The half-boy went with a string, a drum, a flea, and a bedbug. He teased host's people with these. The half-boy brought a virgin and lived well. "The Half-Boy" folktale is an old story spread throughout the country. There are similar stories in India and Africa. Unilateral figures are universally distributed archetypal images. In numerous cultures gods and spirits are being portrayed as unilateral figures. In the creation mythology, half-figure beings have immortality. In Indonesian and African folk tales, the half-born boy goes to heaven and merges with its half and becomes perfect. Some of one-sided spirits are harmful to humans but some of one-sided birds, chickens, and spirits are helpful to people. Sometimes half being is a cultural hero who steals grain from heaven or gets some advice how to use bamboo. There are stories that half body becomes a whole body afterwards. But in this folktale and most of the similar folktales, half-figure does not change and maintains half-figure to the end. And as a half-figure he does various great things and marries a virgin. The half-boy symbolizes a psychic experience born in the unconscious. The unconscious contents may seem strange and weird at first and the collective consciousness does not want to accept them. But the unconscious exerts greater power and brings vitality and creativity to consciousness. This folk tale seems to have compensated for the stubborn collective consciousness of our society, which was a Confucian class society. It also allows people to change their attitude toward disabled people and recognize strengths and creativity of the handicapped.