In Pursuit of Green : The Root and Development of America's Front Lawn

( Joo¸ Jeongsuk ) 동국대학교 영어권문화연구소 2015 영어권문화연구 Vol.8 No.1

This paper aims to examine how the front lawn―a piece of land in front of or around a single detached house and kept covered with grass―has developed in the U.S. and how residential landscape has changed as a result. In particular, seeing this as a cultural phenomenon, it examines the major socio-cultural developments that led to the embrace of the lawn and its characteristics. It also focuses on the desire for the perfect lawn and its evolving concept as the leading factor that has driven American lawn culture to the current extreme. The paper examines the major developments of the front lawn in three periods. First, it traces the origin of the front lawn by looking at the rise of the ideal of suburban living and the aesthetic desire for the lawn after the mid-19^th century. It then examines the major factors, including golf, that led to the popularization of the front lawn ideal in the first half of the 20^th century, how the characteristics of America's lawn culture favored the ideal of the perfect lawn, and how emerging consumer culture fostered such an ideal during this period. Following this, the paper looks at the democratization of the front lawn after World War II. It especially examines how the prewar ideal of the perfect lawn led to an obsessive concern with the green look that made postwar American lawn culture increasingly absurd and problematic in years that followed and looks at the lawn-care industry's stake in its continuation. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief note on the ecological critiques of the front lawn and the suggestion for its future sustainability.

The Reign of Franchise Filmmaking in Hollywood

Joo, Jeongsuk(주정숙) 계명대학교 국제학연구소 2021 국제학논총 Vol.33 No.-

본 논문은 2000년대 후반 이후 할리우드 영화제작의 가장 주요한 흐름 중 하나이자 전세계 사람들이 극장에서 무엇을 보는지에 영향을 미치는 중요한 문제로써 메이저 스튜디오들이 텐트폴과 프랜차이즈와 같은 고예산 시리즈 영화 제작에 더욱 집중해온 현상을 고찰한다. 먼저 2000년대 후반 DVD 수익의 하락과 경기 침체로 인하여 한편으론 비용의 절감과 수익 향상이 더욱 강조되고 다른 한편으로는 해외시장이 더욱 중요하게 부각하였음을 살펴본다. 이러한 상황에서 텐트폴 프랜차이즈 영화가 가장 높은 수익을 낳는 안전한 선택으로 여겨졌고 이에 스튜디오들은 다른 영화들을 배제한 채 이러한 영화들의 제작에만 집중해왔음을 고찰한다. 또한 스튜디오의 프랜차이즈 전략과 프랜차이즈 중심의 영화제작이 2000년대 후반 이후 할리우드 영화산업을 어떠한 영향을 미쳤는지를 보여주는 대표적인 사례로 디즈니를 고찰한다. 텐트폴 프랜차이즈가 지배하는 할리우드 영화 제작과 이것이 가져온 변화의 고찰을 통해 본 논문은 할리우드 상업영화의 범위와 및 극장에서 선택이 더욱 제한되고 있고 할리우드 영화 제작의 현재와 2000년대 후반 이후 할리우드 영화산업을 움직여 온 주요 흐름을 밝히고 있다. This paper examines the heightened efforts by Hollywood major studios to produce tentpole and franchise films both as one of the most significant trends in Hollywood film production especially since the late 2000s and as an important matter that affects what people around the world see on the big screen. It explores how faltering DVD revenue and the recession in the late 2000s made the studios extremely cost-conscious and profit-hungry, while also elevating the importance of international markets. In this context, the studios further focused on the production of tentpole franchises as the most profitable and safest choice, which led to the intensification in their production of these. The paper also looks at Disney as the foremost instance of the studios’ franchise strategy and how such a change has been shaping the Hollywood film industry since the late 2000s. By examining the altered production landscape dominated by expensive franchises and the changes this has brought, the paper hopes to reveal the limited nature of even the commercial films that come out of Hollywood and the choices at the box office, as well as the current state of Hollywood filmmaking and the forces that have been driving the Hollywood film industry in recent years.

From Holy Day to Holiday

Jeongsuk Joo(주정숙) 한국아메리카학회 2011 美國學論集 Vol.43 No.1

본 논문은 20세기 전반 미국 문화의 상업화와 소비문화의 전개의 일례로써 어머니의 날(Mother’s Day)과 아버지의 날(Father’s Day)이 발전되어 온 과정의 고찰한다. 이를 통해서 미국 내 상업세력이 기념일에 어떠한 영향을 미치고 어떻게 재편해 왔는지를 살펴보고 이러한 과정에서 나타난 의도하지 않은 결과들을 고찰하고자 한다. 특히 본 논문은 기념일 상업화의 대표적인 예로써 어머니의 날을 고찰하며 이러한 기념일의 상업화에 관한 대중적 회의나 의구심과 같은 역설적인 결과를 보여주는 예로써 아버지의 날을 고찰한다. 미국에서 어머니의 날은 Anna Jarvis가 고인이 된 자신의 어머니를 기념하기 위해 마련했던 1907년 행사에서 시작되어 이후 전 세계로 확대되었고 1914년 공휴일로 지정되었다. 그러나 곧 기념일의 상업적 가치에 주목하고 있던 세력, 특히 화훼산업과 화훼업계 잡지들의 주도로 어머니의 날이 상업화되기 시작했다. 이러한 상업화에 대항하여 Jarvis는 격렬한 반대운동을 펼쳤지만 그럼에도 불구하고 어머니의 날은 이후 상업세력이 주도하는 기념일의 전형이 되어 비슷한 유의 기념일이 난립하는 결과를 가져왔다. 아버지의 날은 이러한 아류 기념일 중의 하나라는 점과 아버지의 날을 최초로 제안한 Sonora Smart Dodd가 상업화에 반대하지 않았다는 면에서 1910년 시작부터 상업세력에 크게 영향을 받았다. 이러한 영향으로 아버지의 날은 상업세력의 매출을 늘리기 위한 기획 정도로 인식되어 진지하게 받아들여지지 않았고 이는 아버지의 날이 1972년이 되어서야 비로소 공휴일로 제정되는 이유 중의 하나가 된다. 즉, 아버지의 날은 20세기 전반에 진행된 기념일 상업화와 더불어 이러한 상업화의 한계를 보여준다.

Postwar Consumer Culture and the Rise of Market Segmentation in the U.S.

Joo, Jeongsuk(주정숙) 한국외국어대학교 영미연구소 2015 영미연구 Vol.35 No.-

This paper examines the shift to market segmentation in the U.S. between the late 1950s and the 1970s. It looks at market segmentation as an important development in consumer culture that helped sustain consumption and respond to changes in society. The shift to market segmentation began in the late 1950s amid the concerns over the saturation of the mass market. As a major change to mass consumption, market segmentation signaled the market’s embrace of difference and diversity in line with larger changes in American society, giving recognition to groups that had long been discriminated and thereby offering greater choices. At the same time, such changes only strengthened consumer culture, as marketers came to take advantage of social turmoil and divisiveness through market segmentation, incorporating developments that could have threatened a consumer culture under mass consumption. Lifestyle segmentation, as it developed in the 1970s, also indicated continued power of consumer culture. Marketers seized lifestyle segmentation to constantly divide up Americans. In particular, faced with the ever growing pressure to find new profitable segments beyond the existing ones, they came to highlight the divisive developments they could utilize in segmenting people. As this helped reinforce ongoing divisions and fragmentation, consumer culture did not simply respond to larger changes in society, but came to shape American society.

Career Self-Help Advice and Labor Market Changes in the U.S.

Jeongsuk Joo 한국외국어대학교 영미연구소 2018 영미연구 Vol.43 No.-

This paper examines career self-help literature in the U.S. with regard to white-collar job market changes. In the past few decades, American white-collar workers have experienced huge changes in the labor market such as frequent layoffs and unstable employment, which often means they need to engage in job-hunting at any time. In this context, career self-help advice has come to influence the unemployed and the employed alike, offering job-hunting strategies and shaping popular expectations about work and career. Given this influence, this paper looks at career self-help advice by focusing on one of the main features that characterizes the genre, the emphasis on the pursuit of one’s dream job, and what this reveals about the changes in the white-collar labor market. This is accomplished by looking at What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard Bolles, which, as the all-time bestselling career self-help literature, is representative of career self-help advice. In particular, the book has been annually updated since 1975 and is likely to register the upheavals in the job market. Accordingly, this paper examines the changes in its central career advice over the years, especially the growing emphasis on following one’s dream job, and makes sense of such changes in light of white-collar job market conditions. In doing so, the paper shows that career self-help advice reflects as well as serves the precarious employment condition of American white-collar workers today.

The Impact of the Automobile and Its Culture in the U.S.

Jeongsuk Joo 한국외국어대학교 국제지역연구센터 2007 International Area Studies Review Vol.10 No.1

This paper examines how the automobile, as an important part of American culture, transformed American culture and society. Especially focusing on the 1950s, it highlights how the automobile and the automobile industry heralded and constituted the expanding grip of consumer culture in the U.S. during this period. It focuses on three major developments within the automobile industry in the 1950s that contributed to the postwar fixation of consumer culture in American society, mass production, the marketing strategy of planned obsolescence and the increase in the purchasing power of the working class that enabled mass consumption. It shows how these developments and the increasing emphasis on consumption were already present, yet failed to fully take off, during the 1920s. Then, the paper examines how automobiles helped spawn cultural and spatial transformations in America by looking at the advent of drive-in culture and mass suburbanization during the 1950s.

Subsidizing Automobility: Financing Highway in the U.S.

Jeongsuk Joo 한국아메리카학회 2013 美國學論集 Vol.45 No.2

This paper aims to examine the role of gas taxes in highway building and finance as one of the major factors that has contributed to the dominance of the automobile in America. In particular, it looks at how gasoline taxes came to be linked to highway building at the state and federal levels and how this practice affected the use and adoption of the automobile. Modern highway building in America started with the Good Roads movement in the late 19th century, which led to state and federal governments' aids to highway building in 1891 and in 1916 respectively. At first, highway building was financed out of general tax revenue, but, starting from 1919, states imposed gasoline taxes to use for road building. As states diverted gas tax revenues for non-highway purposes amid the Great Depression, automotive interest groups successfully lobbied for legally linking them to highway building. Federal gas taxes imposed from 1932 were also earmarked for highway building with the creation of the Highway Trust Fund in 1956. Earmarking gas taxes for highway building not only represented an instance of privilege granted to automobility in America, but led to more highway building both at the state and federal levels. Meanwhile, motorists' contribution to highway expenses through gas taxes never meant an end to the government subsidy to road building. The combined effect of these government actions was the widespread use of and dependence on the automobile in America.

America's Highway Consensus: Its Rise and Fall

Joo Jeongsuk 한국외국어대학교 영미연구소 2013 영미연구 Vol.28 No.-

This paper aims to examine the ways in which America has accommodated automobiles by building roads, especially highways. Automobiles require roads as the most basic infrastructure. Given this, I aim to examine what could be termed as America's highway consensus, uncritical and at times almost blind support for highway building, as a crucial factor that enabled the mass adoption of automobiles in the U.S. In particular, the federal government spent enormous resources and money to build roads and highways as public goods. I thus intend to examine the role and actions of the federal government in building roads and highways as one of the core elements that shaped and enacted highway consensus and led to widespread automobility in the U.S. I first present a brief overview of the early agitations for road building before the federal involvement as well as the changes in culture and outlook that paved the way for the automobile's claim for roads. It is followed by the historical examination of some of the major federal supports for highway building as well as their characteristics. I then examine how they eventually coalesced into the establishment of the Interstate and Defense Highway Act in 1956, the most expensive and extensive highway bill ever. Finally, I also examine how highway building came under attack and how highway consensus began unraveling during the 1960s and after.

Resisting Hollywood? The Transformation of the Korean Film Industry and Its Limits

주정숙 ( Joo Jeongsuk ) 조선대학교 인문학연구소 2017 인문학연구 Vol.0 No.53

본 논문은 1980년대 중반 한국 영화시장 개방 이후 한국영화산업과 할리우드의 대립에 비추어 1990년대 말부터 2000년대 중반까지 한국영화산업의 성공과 이의 문제점을 고찰하고자 한다. 한국영화산업은 1980년대 중반 국내 영화시장의 개방, 이후 할리우드 영화의 국내시장 잠식, 스크린쿼터 등을 둘러싸고 오랫동안 할리우드와 대립하고 저항하였다. 그러나 이에도 불구하고 1990년대 말 이후 한국영화산업의 부흥은 할리우드 영화와 산업 모델을 따름으로써 성취되었다. 이 결과, 한국영화산업의 강세 속에 할리우드 영화의 한국 시장 지배는 상대적으로 쇠퇴하였지만, 한국영화산업의 변화한 방식은 할리우드의 강력한 영향력을 잘 드러낸다. 이는 할리우드 지배에 대해 한국영화산업의 성공이 갖는 근본적인 한계를 잘 보여주며 동시에 한국영화산업에 문화다양성 및 스크린쿼터와 관련하여 쉽지않은 문제를 제기하였다. 그러나 본 연구는 한국영화산업의 사례를 할리우드의 지배나 이에 대한 도전이라는 이분법으로 규정하기 보다는 세계화의 문맥 속에서 갈수록 복잡해지는 한국영화산업과 할리우드의 관계와 한국영화산업의 재편을 주목 할 것을 제안한다. This paper examines the problematic nature of the Korean film industry`s success from the late 1990s to the mid 2000s in light of its long opposition to Hollywood. It looks at how the Korean film industry, despite its ongoing conflicts with Hollywood and resistance to it, largely achieved its success by emulating Hollywood films and its industrial practices. As a result, even while Hollywood domination of the Korean market declined amid Korean films` success, the way the Korean film industry transformed revealed profound Hollywood influence. This indicated the fundamental limits of its challenge to Hollywood, while also creating some vexing dilemmas for the Korean film industry, especially the question of cultural diversity and the screen quota. Yet, being wary of uncritically celebrating or dismissing the Korean film industry`s success as a case of challenge or submission to Hollywood power, it suggests recognizing the complexities of the developments within the Korean film industry as well as its shifting relationship with Hollywood in the context of globalization.

1980년대 후반 한국 소비시장의 발달

주정숙 ( Jeongsuk Joo ) 성신여자대학교 인문과학연구소 2016 人文科學硏究 Vol.34 No.-

본 논문은 1980년대 후반 한국 소비시장의 발달을 고찰한다. 특히 논문은 당시 세계 경제 개방의 압력 속에서 소비문화의 확산과 이에 대해 한국인들의 대응을 고찰한다. 먼저 논문은 1960-1970년대 한국의 수출주도형 산업화를 가능하게 했던 국제경제 질서와 산업화 시기 국내 소비시장은 억제되었음을 살펴본다. 그러나 이러한 국제경제 질서는 1970년대 후반부터 변화하기 시작하였다. 특히, 1980년대 미국의 국제 무역적자 증가와 1980년대 중반 이후한국의 전례 없는 대미 무역흑자로 인해 한국에 대한 미국의 시장개방 압력이 점차 거세어졌으며 해외 수출 또한 점차 난관에 봉착하여 내수시장이 필요하였다. 이러한 국제경제 질서의 변화는 산업화를 위해 억제되었던 국내 소비시장이 1980년대 후반 빠르게 성장하게 된 원인 중의 하나가 되었다. 논문은 산업화 시기 근검절약의 강조, 국내 시장 개방에 대한 미국의 거센 압박과 무역마찰로 인하여 수입품과 소비의 확산이 긴장과 반발을 수반하였음을 고찰한다. 특히 수입품을 겨냥한 과소비추방운동의 고찰을 통해 당시 소비를 둘러싼 긴장과 갈등을 살펴보고 이러한 반발에도 불구하고 궁극적으로는 소비의 확대를 멈출 수 없었음을 보여준다.