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Critical Analysis of Transmedia Storytelling of Webtoons in Korean Cinema

Sun, May 27, 12:30 to 13:45, Hilton Prague, Floor: LL, Congress Hall II - Exhibit Hall/Posters

Abstract

Korea has developed a new type of transmedia storytelling as webtoons (web comics) have gained popularity. In Korea, the rapid growth of webtoons has created one of the most unique youth cultures, and the local entertainment industries have depended on webtoons as new sources for their own cultural forms. As several movies, such as Secretly, Greatly (2013), Misaeng (2013), 26 Years (2012), and Inside Men (2015), which were transformed from webtoons, became huge successes, many film directors and television producers intend to continuously develop webtoon-based films and television dramas. By employing media convergence supported by transmedia storytelling as a major theoretical framework, this article historicizes the evolution of Korean films according to the surrounding digital media ecology, driving the change and continuity of the manhwa industry, now focusing on webtoons, over the past 15 years. Also partially developing a textual analysis, it investigates not only the recent emergence of webtoons as the source of transmedia storytelling for Korean cinema, but also the reasons why webtoons reflecting contemporary socio-political milieu become popular resources for local films. It then maps out whether films utilizing transmedia storytelling take a major role as the primary local cultural product in the global cultural market in the 2010s.

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