경계의 횡단과 이상향의 변주 - <도화원기>와 <아바타(2009)>에 나타난 공간의 상징성과 생태적 함의 - = Crossing Boundaries and Variations of Utopia - Symbolic Significance of Space and Ecological Implications in Tao Yuanming(陶淵明)’s <Peach Blossom Spring(桃花源記)> and <Avatar(2009)> -

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study conducts a comparative analysis of the symbolic significance of space and ecological implications in Tao Yuanming's (陶淵明) Peach Blossom Spring (桃花源記) and James Cameron's Avatar (2009), two pieces of media spanning a chronological gap of 1,600 years. Both works are similar in their construction of utopias as alternative spaces projecting a desire to escape reality, driven by the socio-historical deficits of their respective eras-the turmoil of the Wei-Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties and the environmental destruction of the 21st century.
As a point of departure, this paper focuses on the roles of the protagonists-the fisherman and Jake Sully-as social underdogs with physical or socioeconomic constraints (lower-class status and paraplegia, respectively). They are isolated figures whose intimate connections with others have been severed. Their extreme social and personal deprivations operate as existential driving forces leading them to yearn for an unknown utopia. Through the archetypal motifs of the “ship” (船) and “narrow gateway” (the cave and Link Unit, respectively), they undergo a process of ontological rebirth.
The results indicate that, while both utopias share the archetype of a peaceful community based on the abundance of nature, they differ in the distance of the relationship established with nature. While Peach Blossom Spring aims for a “managed and cultivated agricultural utopia” based on the Lao-Zhuang's (老子) philosophy of a “Small State with Few People” (小國寡民), Avatar presents an “organic ecosystem” where all living things are connected through a neural network, viewed through the lenses of Gaia theory and deep ecology.
Ultimately, the sustainability of these utopias depends on the protagonists' complete self-transformation. Whereas the fisherman fails to fully abandon his worldly ego and the social system, eventually “betraying” and losing the paradise, Jake Sully's “transference”-in which he discards his identity as a human being to commit himself to Pandora-transforms the utopia into a sustainable reality. This study is academically significant in that it combines classical utopian discourse with modern ecological imagination to propose a new community model and existential attitude for a contemporary society characterized by a deepening climate crisis and human alienation.