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A Study on Visual Media and the Historical Construction of Gaze -drawing on the Theories of S. Kracauer, B. Balázs and W. Benjamin-

  • PHILOSOPHY·THOUGHT·CULTURE
  • 2021, (35), pp.168~200
  • DOI : 10.33639/ptc.2021..35.008
  • Publisher : Research Institute for East-West Thought
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : December 27, 2020
  • Accepted : January 29, 2021
  • Published : January 31, 2021

Sun Kyu Ha 1

1홍익대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Just as human beings are essentially historical beings, human gazes have different possibilities and roles depending on historical, technical and sociocultural conditions. In this sense of problem, this article analyzes how the relation between visual media and historical construction of gaze is discussed in the theories of the classical media theorists of the early 20th century, S. Kracauer, B. Balázs and W. Benjamin. The ideological and philosophical fundaments of the three thinkers and the way they explain the sociocultural and aesthetic functions of photography and film show some considerable differences. Nevertheless, in common, they argue that it is necessary to elaborate on the fact that popular visual media is not just a means of communication of images, and on the fact that it revolutionizes the way of existence and function of human gaze. The major arguments they have elucidated still give important theoretical implications for contemporary aesthetic reflections on gaze and visual media.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.