Korean Webtoons Research Articles

웹툰 공식번역에 대한 팬번역의 함의

Korea’s webtoons are gaining worldwide popularity particularly as major webtoon platforms have recently launched overseas service, offering translation into different languages. However, there has been fan translation of webtoons even before the official translation was introduced, and continues in spite of official translation service. Against this background, this paper explores webtoon fan translation in comparison with official translation in order to examine the reasons behind continued fan translation and its implications. Online fan community discussions are observed to explore what fans think of official and fan translation, followed by a comparison of cultural items in official and fan translation of two Korean webtoons. Webtoon fan translation can be seen as a way of pop cosmopolitanism enabling fans to learn the source text culture and language, thus moving beyond their local context.

한국 웹툰 중국어 번역의 시청각적 수용성에 관하여 - ‘신과 함께’사례 분석 -

모바일 기술의 발달로 웹툰은 이미 출판만화를 대 체하였다. 웹툰이 출판 만화보다 연재 주기가 짧고 점차 다양한 연령층이 웹툰을 보고 있으며 화면도 스 마트폰에 적합한 세로 스크롤 방식이라 편리하다. 스 마트 폰의 보편화로 웹툰의 독자가 앞으로 더욱 증가 하리라는 예측이다. 일러스트레이션의 형태로 구성된 웹툰에서 시각적 청각적 표현을 담당하는 의성어와 의태어의 역할은 매우 중요하다. 웹툰이 다른 장르에 비해 시각화 된 스토리가 전개되기에 의성어와 의태 어의 비중이 높고 이해와 수용이 용이하다. 문자 만 이 아닌 이미지가 함께 표현되기에 재미도 있다. 최 근 한국 웹툰이 외국어로 번역되면서 해외 독자들의 한국어 및 한국 문화에 대한 관심도 늘어나고 있다. 만약 해외 독자가 한국 웹툰을 보고 이해한다면 문화 공감의 매개로 이보다 더 좋은 건 없을 것이다. 새로 운 한류 콘텐츠로 부상하고 있는 한국 웹툰의 번역은 그만큼 중요하다고 하겠다. 이에 필자는 한국 웹툰의 중국 독자 수용성에 관해 살피고자‘신과 함께’라는 웹툰을 분석 대상으로 삼았다. 분석 결과 한국어에 비해 상대적으로 의성어와 의태어가 발달하지 않은 중국어는 의성어에서 음역으로, 의태어는 주로 의미 역으로의 번역 양상이 나타났다. 향후 웹툰 번역가는 번역 능력과 문화 이해도와 더불어 웹툰 작업에 대한 능력도 필요하고 문자를 시각화 하는 레터링 작업이 나 웹툰 콘텐츠에 직접 번역결과물을 삽입하고 수정 도 할 수 있어야 할 것이다.

웹툰에 나타난 불유쾌한 로맨스와 여대생 표상 연구

웹툰에 나타난 불유쾌한 로맨스와 여대생 표상 연구

한국 설화 기반 웹툰에 나타난 이물교구 모티프의 포스트휴먼적 가치 연구

한국 웹툰은 한국 설화의 원형과 모티프를 디지털 시대의 패러다임과 수용자의 요구에 부합하도록 변용해 재현해왔다. 그 중에서도 특히 ‘이물교구(異物交媾)모티프’가 웹툰의 다양한 장르의 작품에서 나타나는 점이 특이할 만하다. ‘이물교구 모티프’란 인간과 비인간이 관계를 맺는 것을 지칭한다. 표면적으로는 인간과 비인간의 결합을 나타내며 이면적으로는 다양한 존재의 혼종적 관계를 내포한다. 본 연구에서는 네이버에 연재된 웹툰 중, 이물교구 모티프가 적극적으로 활용된 7편의 웹툰을 블라디미르 프로프(Propp, Vladimir)의 이론을 중심으로 그 변용 양상 및 의미를 분석했다. 세부적으로는 웹툰에서 재현된 이물의 이미지와 타자성을 롤랑 바르트(Barthes, Roland)의 이미지론을 적용해 분석했다.BR 한국의 이물교구 설화는 교구의 주체에 따라 신적 존재와 동물의 결합, 신적존재와 인간의 결합, 인간과 동물의 결합인 세 가지로 유형으로 분류된다. 이러한 이물교구 모티프는 현대의 웹툰에서 수사적, 논리적, 역사적 변형을 통해 수용됐다. 리처드 커니(Richard Kearney)에 따르면 타자성은 타자와 에이리언으로 구분된다. 타자는 차별성을 인정받되 환대할 가치가 있는 이질성을 의미한다. 반면 에이리언은 무의식의 두려움이 투영된 존재로, 불법적이며 환영받지 못하는 안타고니스트로 표상된다. 서구의 설화 및 콘텐츠에서의 이물은 인간과 비인간을 구분하는 이분법적 관념에 따라 에이리언의 외형으로 재현되는 경우가 대다수이다. 반면 한국 웹툰에서 이물은 배척해야 할 타자가 아닌 ‘또 다른 자아’로서 인정받으면서 인간과의 결합 가능성을 드러낸다. 이처럼 한국 웹툰의 이물교구 모티프는 한국 설화 특유의 일원론적 세계관을 계승하면서, 나아가 서구 중심의 주체와 타자에 대한 이항대립을 극복할 수 있는 대안적 가치관을 제시한다. 이는 나아가 포스트 휴먼시대의 인간과 비인간의 관계에 대한 담론에 대안적 가치를 제시할 수 있으리라 기대된다.

Strategies of Korean Webtoon Platforms

Strategies of Korean Webtoon Platforms

Webtoons to promote critical thinking in neo-liberal South Korea: A thematic analysis of Awl social justice themes

Abstract This article explores the use of South Korean webtoons, Songkot (meaning Awl), for informal adult learning through visual narratives and audience comments in the social, historic and academic context. Drawing on Newman’s critical thinking and Giroux’s critical public pedagogy, the study explicates how the Awl creates a discursive space for an unpublicized theme, unionization, through its narrative structures and audience discussion. The findings imply that Awl’s major themes – critical thinking, empathy and social action – create informal adult learning opportunities for the public by increasing their conscious awareness of institutionalized oppressions. Awl also has the potential to promote critical thinking about commonly unvoiced issues of social justice in neo-liberal South Korea.

Webtoon as a New Korean Wave in the Process of Glocalization

With the development of Web 2.0, the online publication of Korean cartoons has increased substantially. The webtoon is a new genre of publishing Korean comics (manhwa) online, and is considered a unique case in the global cartoon market. The increase of Internet users and digital cultural consumption has established conditions for fostering the platform for webtoons and their production. In addition, the popularity of Korean dramas and K-pop has cultivated the spread of webtoons in the countries receiving dramas and K-pop. This study discusses the characteristics of Korean webtoons and their development using the concept of “glocal culture.” The glocalization of Korean cultural contents is the combined result of local socio-cultural characteristics of Korea, the hybridization of global and local features, and the transnational consumption of the Korean cultural contents. Such glocalizing dynamics can be seen in the process of the consumption and creation of new forms of pop culture in the countries receiving Korean Wave products. The paper argues that webtoons should also be understood as an exemplary glocalization of Korean culture, representing the social and cultural characteristics of Korea, while also having an impact on foreign comics industries in the age of digitalization. In addition, the glocalization process of Korean webtoons promotes cultural communications establishing a global webtoon fandom.

From underground to the palm of your hand: The spatiality and cultural practice of South Korean webtoons

Abstract ‘Webtoons’ – online comics – have now been a staple of popular culture in Korea for over a decade. Both profitable and accessible, they have long since overtaken print manhwa in popularity and market size, and the cultural role that they occupy is continuing to grow. Yet in viewing webtoons as a new media form, I feel that we are in danger of eliding the important shifts occurring between manhwa and webtoons, both in terms of the content (layout, serialization format, social relevance) and the sociocultural, physical/digital space that they occupy. In my article, while I will be remarking on changes that occur content-wise, I plan to more specifically focus on media space: the physical space in which print manhwa was read, the relation of space to the sociocultural standing that manhwa occupied, and the changes that occurred with the elimination of that physical space. I plan to argue that the dramatic shift in reading space – from manhwa rental stores (which was the primary space where print manhwa was read) to electronic devices (mobile devices in particular) – is not important merely because the digital facilitates access to the comic material, but because this change of space leads to a change in sociocultural connotations attached to the genre. The mediating space that links the consumer/reader to the material is a key factor that has influenced not only how comics are read, but how comics are viewed as a kind of visual media in cultural hierarchy.

Study on Korean Webtoon Research- Focusing on the Hunanities and Social Area

Study on Korean Webtoon Research- Focusing on the Hunanities and Social Area

한국웹툰의 수출입 시장분석을 통한 발전방안 연구

한국웹툰의 수출입 시장분석을 통한 발전방안 연구

A Study on Unofficial Chinese Translation of The Korean Webtoons

A Study on Unofficial Chinese Translation of The Korean Webtoons

Digital convergence of Korea’s webtoons: transmedia storytelling

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.

웹툰 통계 분석을 통한 한국 웹툰의 특징

This study that had been conducted two months by a research team of Pusan National University at the request of Korea Manwha Contents Agency in Dec. 2013 is about the statistical analysis on `Korean Webtoon DB and its Flow Report` which resulted from the complete survey of Korean webtoons which had been published with payment in official media from early 2000 to 2013. Webtoon which means the cartoons published on web has become a typical type of Korean cartoons and has developed into a main industry since 2000s when traditional published cartoons had declined and social environments had changed. Today, it represents cultural contents in Korea. This study collected the webtoons officially published in media with payment, among Korean webtoons having been published from the early 2000s to Jan. Based on the collected data, it analyzed the general characteristics of webtoons, including cartoonists, the number of cartoons, distribution chart of each media, genre, and publication cycle. According to the data analysis and statistics, a great deal of Korean webtoons are still published in main portal websites, but their platform is being diversified and a webtoon`s publication cycle tends to be shortened. In terms of genre, traditional popular genres, such as drama, comic, fantasy, and action, are still popular, and the genres of history, sports, and food are on the rise along with a social trend. Regarding webtoon application, such events as relay webtoon and brand webtoon, and a new type of webtoon featuring PPL commercialism appear. Such phenomena can realize the common profits of cartoonists, media, and ordering bodies, and are various trials to test the possibility of webtoons. In addition, what needs to pay attention on in the expansion of webtoons is increasing webtoons for adults. The study subjects are the webtoons published with payment, excluding free webtoons. However, this study failed to collect the webtoons published on the online websites already closed, and the lost information on cartoonists and their lost webtoons, and it is necessary to conduct a complete survey on all webtoons including free ones. Despite the limitations, this study is meaningful in the points that it categorized and analyzed Korean webtoons accoridng to official media, webtoons, cartoonists, and genres and that it provided a fundamental material to understand the current conditions of webtoons. It is expected that this study will be able to contribute to activating more research on webtoons and producing more supplementary data which will be used for the Korean cartoon industry and academia.

디지털 화면에 구현된 한국의 웹툰과 프랑스 만화의 차이점

In recent years, the reader of comics get a chance to contact as well as korean comics, and foreign comics has increased to visibly. There was a relatively important progress also on international scale for mutual exchanges, but a variety of ways for the exposure of foreign comics can`t help the reader to read easily the foreign comics. Socio-cultural differences also affects the choice of material, but it affects the format more fundamental. Format differences appear most, can be seen in the difference in narrative approach and medium (the book or the digital screen). This Article deals with two different comics, French and Korean comics. French comic is understood as other forms of literature, but the Korean is considered as a multi-media medium. This difference begins with cultural differences dealing with comics. It is also because the nature of the comics called hinge between the multi-media culture and culture of the books. This study will focus on the differences between the French comics which defend the value of the book and Korean Webtoons which suggest a new way in the digital environment. Through their differences, we can recognize the power of comics and can also predict its development in different medium.