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Guillermo del Toro’s 2017 film, The Shape of Water, tells an unconventional love story between a mute woman and an amphibious creature from the Amazon. Many critics illuminate the individuals of sexual, racial and social minority involved in the rescue plan of this creature, and highlight their affective solidarity. In addition to these analyses, this study contributes an ecological interpretation of the film by focusing on the identity of the non-human being itself. The violent acts of detention and torture that were imposed upon this creature, including its capture in the Amazon and shipment to the U.S., can be read as an allegory to “ecocide,” which is executed in the name of development and progress, and is embedded with the idea that humans and nature should be separated. While putting contemporary conceptions of anthropocentrism into question, del Toro shapes an alternative image of this ecologic idea through a romance drama. The intimate love between a human and non-human creature signifies the possibility for unlimited interaction, communication and negotiation between different species, and symbolizes the Amazonian worldview, which emphasizes co-existence. As a result, The Shape of Water suggests the need to create a new kind of relationship between humans and humans, humans and non-humans, and humans and nature.

This essay starts by addressing the need for a theoretical transition of feminism based on social constructionism. Judith Butler’s Foucaudian discursive constructionism discloses the dangers of evaporating nature, material, and body into discourse by deconstructing the sex/gender distinction, and repositioning sex as the effects of gender. In order to correct this problem, I argue, we need to propose a new theoretical paradigm called, “material turn,” in which discourse and material are not opposed, and the agency and activity of material are acknowledged without sacrificing the insights of discursive constructionism. This paper finds the existence of this possibility in Luce Irigaray’s conception of sexual difference, and Elizabeth Grosz’s innovative combination of Irigaray’s theory with Charles Darwin’s conception of sexual selection. These two arguments can serve as powerful theoretical supports for the transition to a posthuman feminism that goes beyond humanism tied to social constructionism. In the so-called Anthropocene era, where the human is seen to be the cause of the extinction of all lives on the Earth, feminism needs to reformulate itself in order to contribute to the survival and sustainability of the Earth through the establishment of equal relationships among all life species as well as within human groups.

We examine the natural history of life which Dawkins has constructed based on the concept of the gene. We argue that Dawkins has committed various fallacies and errors in the making of this history. These errors occurred when he regarded the gene as the bearer of the identity which replicates itself, and when he grafted it to the idea of evolution, which documents the history of difference. Like all other languages, the language of life consists of a finite alphabet. As we obtain an infinite number of written texts out of a finite alphabet, the various structures and functions of the phenomena of life can be recorded by this alphabet of life. The monopoly of the gene over life has been disseminated and stratified through the whole text of the phenomena of life. The clear and distinct encounter of the notion of the gene with what it refers to is deferred again. These are the dual functions of difference and deferral which différance produces in the text of life. Rather than bestowing the monopoly of life to the gene, it would be more reasonable to acknowledge the division of labor among DNA, RNA, proteins, cells, organs, and other levels of organisms, and therefor distribute life more equally among these various levels. Out of this approach, we obtain a new picture that life is not a lineal and serial processor with a single-track origin that only stems from genes, but is rather a non-lineal parallel-distributed processor. The phenomena of life can be interpreted as the work of this processing. In terms of complicated networks, the processors of life are interconnected, communicated, scattered, merged, and evolved in conjunction with and in opposition to one another. Both the genes and we, ourselves, stem from this processing that comes about due to the weaving and unravelling of these texts and networks of life.

This paper analyzes the shadows and the sounds in the tales of Aesanbulyeong, based on the reality that Samgukyusa consists of a story of normal individuals who lead their lives in pursuit of an inner native desire for the world. The tales are analyzed in this manner: First, tales are categorized into two groups, according to whether they contain audial image or not. Secondly, for specific analysis, Aesanbulyeong was distinguished into different territories, including the stories of tales themselves, inter-tales, and out of the tales. Under Schopenhauer’s concept of the Representative and the Original (translated from Nachbild in Germany), the shadow of Buddha, presented as a visual image, can be interpreted as the sound of the fish and dragons which became stones. Unlike the representation of the Buddha, which comes in the form of shadow, the sound from the stones from Goki is situated as the Original. The valley presented as the background of the sound is an open place, which makes Aesanbulyeong in Goki different, as the background in the other tales mainly takes the form of caves. The sound, as a shadow of Buddha, is also discovered in Kwanbulsammakyung, but it differs from the tale in Goki in that Buddha expresses the sermons with the use of spoken language. In conclusion, the shadow of Buddha is presented as sound, which causes Aesanbulyeong from Goki to be read as the Original from the Schopenhauer’s view.

In this paper, the syntactic properties of the so-called Quesuismo construction in Spanish (cf. RAE-ASALE (2009)) are thoroughly described and analyzed. The Quesuismo construction shows a non-integrated type of possessive relative <que + su>, also characterized as a resumptive restrictive relative clause (cf. Suñer (1998)). This type is not recommended within prescriptive grammar as the standard use of the Spanish possessive relative is the integrated type cuyo. But in current colloquial Spanish, there remains a wide-spread tendency to use the type <que + su>. Based on the Head Raising Analysis of Kayne (1994) and De Vries (2006), we will try to show the reasons why the raising of the POSSESSOR and the realization of the prenominal possessive SU are required in the Spanish restrictive possessive relative clause with the non-integrated type of <que + su>.

This study examines the dual relationship between reality and fantasy, which can arise by analyzing play-within-a-play and objects in Jean Genet(1910~1986)’ 『The Maids』. I tried to clarify the theatricality I did in terms of recognition and understanding of the absurdity of reality. Chosen as a research methodology, Play-within-a-Play is a basic concept of theatrical aesthetics and is one of the main methodologies of modern French theater analysis theory. In addition, this study selected the search for objects in contemporary theater as another research methodology. Focusing on Genet's 『The Maids』, the study was conducted on absurdity, a dual reality through the intersection of reality and fantasy through play and object, and value conversion. Genet is creating a formula for observing himself more deeply and reflecting on life by assimilating not only various gazes but also the gazes of the audience into the play, the reality seen through role play like play-within-a-play. Genet tried to reflect reality and fantasy in each and every object as much as the pains in his life. In addition, he confronts an absurd reality but tries to overcome human’s limitation by expressing the absurdity of rejecting and rebelling against reality in his works with the aesthetics and artistry of the play.

This article targets Chinese Mulan’s narratives, modern animations, movies, and novels, in order to examine the ideas of loyalty and justice, the conception of conflicts of love, changes in the portrayals of Mulan’s image, and the images and roles of surrounding characters. The narrative of Mulan reflects the concepts of loyalty and justice, which were combined with the concept of affection during modern times, resulting in all three of these concepts forming a delicate conflict. In the animated movie, “Mulan 2,” and the film “Huamulan,” the tensions between loyalty and love, and between loyalty and justice, all cause conflicts in the characters’ lives, but loyalty remains the priority. Mulan has a diverse range of images, beginning with the image of a filial daughter in modern and contemporary works. In short, as the female hero of loyalty and self-sacrifice, she is a woman who manifests the conflict between affection and loyalty, and presents various images of herself as she expresses her heroism, and transforms her ego. In modern times, the surrounding figures were much more abundant than those of the “Mulanshi.” Among them, figures with prominent images were classified as fantastic assistants, realistic assistants, and surface assistants. The fantastic assistants are Mushu and Shishi. Mushu supports Mulan as a baby dragon, and portrays a chatty and ridiculous image. Shishi is a stonemason who seeks perfection and majesty and supports Mulan while she is undergoing hell. The truly valuable helpers are Sangwu monk and Xiaohu, Sangwu monk teaches hands-on martial arts to Mulan, and Xiaohu rebukes Mulan to wake her up from her grief. Surface adversaries are represented by Dushoudaxian and Mengpo. Dushoudaxian is a white fox monster, and Dushoudaxian uses magic in order to harass Mulan. Mengpo transforms into an old lady, a fox, a crane, and other figures, in order to prevent Mulan from rescuing Li Xiang from hell. However, Mengpo differs from Dushoudaxian in that she cleanly accepts and blesses Mulan after she fails her mission.

The purpose of this study is to promote the development of French linguistic and cultural competence through the use of neologisms. This is because neologisms which reflect a new and diverse social culture formed at a specific time (Rets, 2014) are considered an effective means to cultivate linguistic and cultural competence, as they are based on an understanding of the recent linguistic and cultural phenomena of the target language. To this end, this study specifically investigates and lists the new words that appeared in four representative French daily newspapers, namely, ‘Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, 20 Minutes,’ over the course of around a year, from October 2019 to September 2020. This is because the new words appearing in the “daily newspapers,” which are related to the daily life of a social community and deal with content rich in the current affairs of the every day, hold rich elements of language and culture that are used and observed on a daily basis within the target language country. For this, first, the concept and type of new words were established in order to recognize new words. Next, in order to select the new words that should be first taught and learned, among all of the new words surveyed in the four daily newspapers, three criteria for selecting new words, 'frequency, implication, new words that have not yet been listed in the dictionary', were prepared, and we selected new words that met these three criteria. Finally, the selected new words are listed in order by highest frequency, according to their appearance in daily newspapers and in the new word list, basic information such as the new word, the type and meaning of the new word, and the source of the new word (newspaper, date), as well as a part of the original article using the new word or examples of usage which were presented for educational use and the enhancement of the new word list’s usefulness.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the differences in requesting speech form usage between Chinese Korean learners and Korean native speakers by performing a thorough comparison of Korean native speakers, Chinese native speakers, and Chinese Korean learners. This study uses social distance and relative power as variables to identify the patterns in requesting speech form, and collects and analyzes the data through a discourse completion test. Statistics show that social distance and relative power affect the strategies implemented within requesting speech form. In particular, when the social distance of the speaker and the listener is small, the situation does not necessarily result in the power of the listener to be lower, and the politeness of the speaker is lower. In reality, the speaker shows lower politeness to the person whose power is the same as the speaker’s, rather than the person whose power is higher or lower than that of the speaker. Compared with Korean native speakers, Chinese people who are learning Korean rarely use addressing terms such as “jeo, jeogiyo,” and have low awareness when using the mitigating device of request “-eulkka”. However, they use expressions of apology well in their requests, and sometimes they also use expressions of appreciation, which indicates an example of language transfer.

This paper studies the oral contes of Black Africa and their modern transformations through an analysis of Araignée et Bosse by Marius Ano N’Guessan and Le Bœuf de l’Araignée by Bernard Dadié. It is believed that Araignée et Bosse was published by translating the oral stories in French, as they were. Le Bœuf de l’Araignée is a modernized adaptation of the same story, titled as N’Guessan’s Araignée et Bosse and published in French, and is in this respect, regarded as a creation based on an oral story. Focusing on the process of these works’ creation, this study analyzes their adapted elements, such as their background, descriptions of the characters’ psychology, the ways of life (communal life and individualism), and the values of life (social solidarity and individual desires), and looks at how they differ from the original by comparing Le Bœuf de l’Araignée with Araignée et Bosse.

The Korean War was a civil war between South Korea and North Korea, and an intense international war created during the global establishment of the Cold War order after World War II. Several countries and nations involved in the political arena built a new sphere of power, leaving behind a complex series of historical events, meanings, and past values. The surface layer of this relationship was embodied in the name of the ideological confrontation between the free camps and communist camps. The reason why the Korean Peninsula was divided into friendly and enemy forces came about as a result of ideology. When the essential and sufficient conditions to ensure the inevitability of the war are the existence of the ‘enemy’, the enemy’s identity during the Korean War was extracted from the abstraction area called, ‘ideology.’ In terms of the dispositif which Agamben refers to, the “dispositif of war” which triggered the Korean War consisted of a framework of international dynamics and anti-communist ideology. In the context of this dispositif, there is no inevitable causality between an idea and an action. When ideas dominate practice, the incomprehensibility of specific situations and the absurdity of violence will arise. As this ideology waged war, it was inevitable that numerous civilians would be harmed in the process. The narratives of civilian victims, which have still not been properly discussed in official historical outlets for many years, have left traces of evidence in the form of literary works, testimonies, and handwritten artifacts. Critically examining the scope of this situation, this paper compares and analyzes the ‘Landing’ by Tanaka Gomimasa (“Sigma”, 1957) and Haksong’s “Railroad” (“Transportation”, 1955-1956). In the “landing” of Tanaka Gomimasa, civilians who were not willing to participate in the war, were coerced by powerful figures and forced to board a ship bound for Korea in order to participate in forced farming. These events are related to Japanese civilians' participation in the war, which was implicitly present during the Korean War. In Gwak Hak-song's “Railroad,” the protagonist shows that both the South and the North show a governance structure that attempts to subjugate people to an ideology without respect and protection for the individual's individuality. Both works expose the mechanism by which civilians are caught in war by the ‘dispositif’ of government. Furthermore, it is common to see that civilians are not frustrated by such a ‘dispositif’ and come out of it, that is, show a way of being as a non-governable person. The characters of “Landing” voluntarily decide to disembark, and the protagonist of “Railroad” does not obey the decisions of the rulers when it comes to real issues, and does not stop judging his own values until the end. Through the representations of civilians in these works, we are confronted with the possibility of expanding the field of a problem consciousness that is necessary to secure a transnational perspective, confirming the reality of the Cold War regime and the national violence that caused the Korean War.

This paper aims to analyze and identify the morphological and syntactic features of the two-syllable structure ‘X+ran(然)’(unipartite words of parts-of-speech) and its generation and derivation within modern Chinese. The results of this paper are as follows. First, there are adjectives, distinctives, adverbs, conjunctions, verbs, and nouns in modern Chinese ‘X+ran(然).’ Contrary to existing arguments, it was found that ‘ran(然)’ of ‘X+ran(然)’ not only functions as a suffix in adjectives and adverbs, but also functions as a suffix for verbs, distinctives, and conjunctions. Second, ‘X+ran(然)’ does not function solely with the morphological features of structuralism, but rather generates and derives syntactic structures flexibly after generating the synthetic compound words through the generation and projection of the Root Phrase. In conclusion, ‘X+ran(然)’ consists of covert synthetic compounds of distributed morphology which has morphological and syntactic features, and is connected to syntactic layers in order to express its identity.

In general, love is often regarded as one of the many private emotions and experiences that an individual can have during their lifetime. However, on the contrary, it is a collective and public mentality that leads to the social institutions of marriage and family, as well as the formation of society itself. The structure of these feelings, which emerged around the 18th century, holds a psychological component that has made a decisive contribution to the construction of individual identity and the conception of social belonging in Modern society. Throughout Modern cultural history, however, love has continued to be portrayed as a very private and intimate experience, with the idea of “Romantic Love,” still quite common even in this present moment. Accordingly, love is an exchange of sincerity between heterosexual couples, institutionalized through marriage and completed by childbirth. The so-called, “Myth of Romantic Love,” is an effective dispositif introduced by modern civil society in order to build a mechanism for reproduction, and its influence is gradually being lost in the Post-Modern era of the 21st century. By analyzing the conventional notion of Romantic Love, this article examines how marriage, family, and childbirth were related to the launch and continuation of Modern civil society, and looks at the future prospects of this social convention.

By applying the critical discourse analysis (CDA) method, this paper examines selected media texts that are relevant to the currently ongoing kimchi dispute between Korea and China, which was first triggered by China’s recent acquisition of kimchi ISO certification. The research questions are as follows : 1) A description of the textual practice of the two main Global Times articles (Nov. 28 and Dec. 9, 2020), 2) an interpretation of the discourse practice of the intertextuality of kimchi- related tweets by the US Ambassador to Korea and the Chinese Ambassador to UN, as well as an English article from the Global Times, comments that the Central Law Commission of China published on the same day, Jan. 13, 2021, and 3) an explanation of the social practices and conditions which China used to ignite the Kimchi dispute. The research findings indicate that China actively created the Korea- China cultural war frame. This cultural war frame makes use of various players through citations within texts, which employ psychological warfare by declaring that kimchi is a Chinese food, thereby using distortion and fabrication in order to deprive Korea of its status as the home country of kimchi. The key point of the psychological warfare, which insults and taunts Korea, is to spread the belief that, ‘Kimchi is a Chinese food,’ and when Korean people openly oppose this, China makes the accusation that, ‘Korean people have become paranoid.’ These attacks are an attempt to prove that China is culturally and mentally superior and aims to increase China's ‘cultural confidence,’ which is constructed and presented by President Xi Jinping. Therefore, Koreans are framed as, ‘people with a lack of cultural confidence.’ The kimchi cultural war sparked by the articles of The Global Times expanded into a diplomatic war, including the participation of U.S. and Chinese ambassadors. As the U.S. ambassador to Korea encouraged Korea with tweets that promoted Korea's authentic, traditional culture of kimchi-making on a global platform, the U.N. ambassador to China implicitly cut down the status of Korea as the original country of kimchi, through tweets which stated that it is not too difficult for individuals to make kimchi themselves. The Chinese version of the Global Times encouraged Chinese people to feel anti-Korean sentiment, emphasized China's excellence, and pointed out the problematic issue of purchasing Korean Wave products, all for the purpose of uniting Chinese people. On the other hand, the English version emphasized that the kimchi dispute continues to remain unnecessary, and that individuals need to be open-minded by covertly citing the origin of Chinese civilization through different ambiguous expressions. The English version of the article finds an exit strategy for the kimchi war by reframing the ‘cultural conflict’ frame into a ‘cultural exchange,’ in line with the recent direction of cultural exchange between S. Korea and China which was suggested by President Xi Jinping. Through the spread of the ideology which considers kimchi a Chinese food, China attempts to climb onto the shoulders of Korea’s identity as a worldwide cultural powerhouse, crack Korea's unique cultural identity, and appropriate excellent Korean culture as its own. It is part of a national cultural strategy project which promotes and propagates China's long-standing cultural identity around the world. Economically, it aims to strengthen China's position as a cultural power by increasing kimchi exports to countries participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. China's hidden intentions revealed in the recent kimchi dispute point towards its desire to expand its cultural power around the world, and an opportunity for China to become a powerful country.