미디어에 재현된 전화교환원의 노동 경험과 젠더화

Abstract

There has been growing interest in hidden subjects in the development of science and technology and it has been reflected not only in academic research but also in popular culture. This study focuses on the Netflix drama series <Cable Girls>, which features telephone operators who played an important role in the early days of telecommunication, and analyzed the labor experience of the telephone operator. In the late 1920s, the setting of the series, telephone operators were one of the few jobs women could have, and were an object of envy. However, the telephone exchange system at the time was still at infancy and was supplemented by women's emotional labor. In addition, low wages and strict labor regulations were applied. The labor had been gendered, standardized and often invisible. <Cable Girls> depicts the friendship and solidarity of women who want to live their lives independently through their jobs as telephone operators in this working environment. Despite the limitations of being a romance melodrama, <Cable Girls> has a special significance in that it describes the multi-layered aspect of telephone operator, re-examining the hidden labor of telephone operators.