• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.14-28
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• 2013

This study aims to identify the elements of black culture and use it to analyze the formative characteristics of casual fashion items as well as the symbolic meanings presented in the graphic designs of the items. First of all, in order to distinguish the identity of black culture, this study made a division into racial, social, and artistic aspects based on cultural specificities of Stuart Hall, a culture theorist. This was for a theoretical review and based on this review, a theoretical framework was developed to analyze the characteristics of American casual fashion design of black people. The case study selected 1719 fashion images of 137 male brands and 33 female brands from websites of companies manufacturing casual wear of black people in America. The following is a summary of the study results. The conceptual characteristics based on specificities of black culture can be categorized into ten attributes: playfulness in order to digest human grief and emotion positively, satire of the mainstream society, spontaneity through emotional expression from the heart, abstractness of various emotions elating suffering, humor trying to express negative aspects as the meaning of light and innocent laughter, dependence with passive attitudes toward discrimination and master-slave relationships in history, resistance against discrimination and disadvantages, African orientation and primitiveness pursuing natural conditions, aggressiveness against violence and unfair treatment, and confidence and defiance against social deprivation and corruption. Based on the results of an analysis through formative classification system founded on racial, social, and artistic aspects of black people, specificities of black culture are of formative characteristics of their casual fashion design. These elements are presented on graphic t-shirts through strong colors, loose silhouette, and details with many pockets. These characteristics were reflected in symbolic meanings presented in the graphic.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.187-198
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• 2020

With the cultural background of whiteness I did examine the universal meaning of absolute good, the special of psychosis, and the fantastic of femininity and memory/record. As an example I analyzed the symbolic meaning of white used in Korean films. Unconditional goodness, white as a generality: White color in all the films of good-evil confrontation falls into this category. The most obvious and the simplest configuration are the black-white dichotomy. In Nameless Gangster: Rules of Time(2011), The Merciless(2016), Asura: The City of Madness(2016) and The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos(2019), white is the absolute good but it is not limited to a fair key figure. Paradoxically, black is not given only to the side of absolute evil. White is used to be a flexible visual device that reflects the socio-political situation without changing the meaning of the general good. Psychosis and pills, white as a peculiarity: The visual function that emphasizes sado-masochism in the absolute good and the universal symbol of white extends to psychotic specificities such as hysteria. In all the films creating horror, white symbolizes the mentally disabled and the pill for healing. Femininity and haunted white: White of absolute good is expressed by the socio-cultural tendency of femininity and the black-white contrast of vision is applied to the gender difference. In general the women's sexuality is emphasized in color red, but white is arranged in the background. In TaeGukGi: Brotherhood Of War(2004), 71: Into The Fire(2010), My Way(2011), The Front Line(2011), Roaring Currents(2014), Northern Limit Line(2015), The Battle: Roar to Victory(2019) and Battle of Jangsari(2019), white given to female figures sticks to the traditional femininity such as motherhood, sacrifice and weakness. The concept of specters is applied to desires, memories/records, history, fantasy, virtual/reality and social media images. The film history capturing to list memories and moments brings up the specters of socio-political genealogy. Most of films aiming for socio-political change are its examples and white constituting Mise-en-scene records to remember a historical event in Peppermint Candy(2000), The Attorney(2013) and A Taxi Driver(2017).