Digital convergence of Korea’s webtoons: transmedia storytelling

Abstract

The webtoon has been one of the major cultural forms representing Korean youth culture due to its convergence of digital technologies, such as the Internet and smartphones, and popular culture – manhwa (comic strips in Korean). While Korea is not the only country to enjoy webcomics, it is the first country in creating a new form of manhwa format by utilizing major characteristics of digital technologies. By employing media convergence supported by transmedia storytelling as a major theoretical framework, this study analyzes the crucial elements characterizing the emergence of the webtoon market. It examines the ways in which webtoons have managed to become one of the Korea’s signature forms of youth culture. Second, it investigates whether webtoons act as one of the major sources for transmedia storytelling. Finally, it maps out whether webtoons utilizing transmedia storytelling take a major role as the primary cultural product of the Korean wave in the global cultural market in the 2010s. This study historicizes the evolution of Korean webtoons according to the surrounding new media ecology, driving the change, and continuity of the manhwa industry over the past 15 years.