• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.49
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• pp.633-649
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to conceptualize the changing aspects of human freedom of observation and viewing as the visual media evolves from film to 3D stereoscopic film and VR. The purpose of this study is to conceptualize the aspect of freedom and viewing aspect from the viewpoint of genealogy. In addition, I will identify the media aesthetic characteristics of VR and identify the identity and ontology of VR. Media has evolved around the most artificial sense of human being. There is a third visual space called screen at the center of all the reproduction devices centering on visual media such as painting, film, television, and computer. In particular, movies, television, and video screens, which are media that reproduce moving images, pursue perfect fantasy and visual satisfaction while controlling the movement of the audience. A mobilized virtual gaze was secured on the assumption of the floating nature of the so-called viewers. The audience sees a cinematic illusion with a view while seated in a fixed seat in a floating posture. They accept passive, passive, and passively without a doubt the fantasy world beyond the screen. But with the advent of digital paradigm, the evolution of visual media creates a big change in the tradition of reproduction media. 3D stereoscopic film predicted the extinction of the fourth wall, the fourth wall. The audience is no longer sitting in a fixed seat and only staring at the front. The Z-axis appearance of the 3D stereoscopic image reorganizes the space of the story. The viewer's gaze also extends from 'front' to 'top, bottom, left, right' and even 'front and back'. It also transforms the passive audience into an active, interactive, and experiential subject by placing viewers between images. Going one step further, the visual media, which entered the VR era, give freedom to the body of the captive audience. VR secures the possibility of movement of visitors and simultaneously coexists with virtual space and physical space. Therefore, the audience of the VR contents acquires an integrated identity on the premise of participation and movement. It is not a so-called representation but a perfection of the aesthetic system by reconstructing the space of fantasy while inheriting the simulation tradition of the screen.