• English & American cultural studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.273-295
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• 2009

As Oedipa Mass, the heroine of Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, is apparently associated with Oedipus, the hero in Sophocles' tragedy, this paper aims to show some of their similarities in quest theme and plot development as well as in the use of dramatic irony. Oedipus the King opens with a priest's pleas to relieve the Theban people from a plague and the king's promise to rid its cause by avenging the murder of the former king, as told by the oracle. Lot 49 begins as a Los Angeles law firm informs Oedipa that she is named as the executrix in her former lover Inverarity's will to sort out the mogul's estate. Ironically, however, Oedipus' investigation reveals himself to be the very cause of the national disaster, the murderer for whom he searched. Likewise, Oedipa starts her inquiry dedicating herself to make sense out of what Inverarity had left behind, only to find that the legacy was America. Sophocles and Pynchon both employ dramatic irony to provide a controlling principle for plot development in their works. In Oedipus the King, Sophocles creates mounting tension as well as distance between the reader's knowledge and the protagonist's ignorance, compressing the play's action into the moment that Oedipus discovers his real identity. For dramatic irony, however, Pynchon tends to work through authorial comments and utilize allegorical meanings of the characters' names, directing his novel at illuminating Oedipa's discovery of Inverarity's legacy as well as the meaning of Tristero, an underground postal service system. Unlike Oedipus the King that proceeds on a single line of action, Lot 49 develops in esoteric, multi-layered allusions and intricately-interrelated double strains involving Oedipa's roles as executrix and quester. At the end of Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus stabs his eyes and decides to live in exile, realizing that, blinded, he begot his children through his mother; Oedipa comes to a painful realization that she allowed her former lover to create death-orienting America without her diversity and moral system in old times. As Oedipa now discovers herself through her search for Tristero, her tragic spirit lies in her determination to confront her binary choices between two Americas: transcendence or entropy, the Tristero possibility or Inverarity's America. Ultimately, Oedipa tries to find who will be the bidder for the Tristero forged stamps designated as lot 49, awaiting the auctioneer's cry and the "crying" of a new-born America.

• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.46-81
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• 2014

The 'Woencheongang-Bonpuri' is one of the shamanistic myths in Cheju Island. That is a history of ancestor God of the 'Woencheongang'. This myth contains a shaman's initiation. And we can find important archetypal images in it. There are a child, old wise woman, book, water, tree, snake, Yakwangju which is a gem that emits light in the dark, dragon, hierogamy, goddess, time, etc. I've tried to interpret these images through the method of amplification from the perspective of analytical psychology. A heroine of this shamanistic myth is 'Ohnuri' that means 'today'. When she came out from the earth, she was a 'abandoned child' which is a 'hero-motif' in the fairytale and also a theme of individuation process in the analytical psychology. In the mean time, she grew up with helps of the nature, crane, and 'Yakwangju'. One day, she was found in the field by the people. They gave her a name of 'Ohnuri' and one day, an old wise woman told her how to go to her parents. On her way to the 'Woencheongang' where her parents regulate four seasons, she had met many characters which were in stuck. They told willingly Ohnuri a way to go to the 'Woencheongang'. Instead, they wanted to get solutions of their difficult problems. Finally, she met her parents in the 'Woencheongang' with joy and they taught her how to solve problems. Therefore, all characters in this myth could go on their own individuation process fortunately with help of the Whoencheongang's wisdom. In the meanwhile, Ohnuri got Lotus and Yakwangju and then she transformed to the goddess of the highest of the heavenly gods. Then she had helped people who get in trouble. In this way, the 'Woencheon-Bonpuri' was psychologically interpreted from aspect of analytical psychology.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.38
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• pp.1-28
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• 2015

The work appeared a featured female character in the Disney animation film begins with 'Snow White' released in 1937. After then, the 11 female characters appeared included 'Tangled' in 2010. Female characters reveal their identity due to obedient, family-oriented and marriage with prince and then gradually develop to heroine who leads to man, and is independent, pioneering, and sometimes saves the nation. Nevertheless, the ending of the Disney animation was still not escape the institutional, traditional discourse. Female characters are followed to meet the featured actor kissing and marriage, or was to show the virtues of sacrifice for the actor. However, Elsa in 'Frozen' is the character with an independent identity compared with the patriarchy, male chauvinism and heterosexual dichotomous discourse given so far in Disney. In this study, it is to explain the change of gender identity in the character of Elsa through Queer theory that deconstructs the distinction between sex and gender, and is constituted by the actions typed and performed the gender concept, and is dismantling the dichotomy itself such as male/female, heterosexual/homosexual. The performative of Queer make the boundaries between lesbian-gay, sexuality and heterosexual ambiguous. It can be said that the performative has political nature resisted to the dominant discourse through these parodiable strategy. The performative showed of Elsa is in the boundaries between the sisterhood and the heterosexual. When analyzed in a heterosexual perspective Elsa's identity is to be understood as simply just love the intimacy of a sister and a sister. On the other hand, if you focused on the relationship between women and the relationship between Elsa and Anna is recognized as the point of view of homosexuality. Because if you look at the concept of lesbian continuum, the homosexual love in the female characters of Disney seems like a bond between women, easier than heterosexual love can be hidden sexual desires. Elsa has developed into a performative identity through the expression of performative and the inhibitory of queer identity. And then the her sorcery that was initially contraindicated and the presence of a fear became to the 'lesbian phallus'. The sorcery that can be seen the signifying phallus against to the privileges of heterosexual patriarchy is recognized in the world of Arendal. Elsa is a new women featuring Disney characters. as this character is analysised by Queer theory, this study seeks to expand the area of the various character analysis methods.