Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T05:41:52.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Platformization of Culture: Webtoon Platforms and Media Ecology in Korea and Beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2021

Heekyoung Cho
Heekyoung Cho*
Affiliation:
Heekyoung Cho ([email protected]) is Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington.
Get access

Abstract

This article examines the webtoon (wept'un)—a term coined in Korea to refer to webcomics—which is arguably the most pervasive and powerful form of digital serial production in twenty-first-century Korea. Webtoons have developed by utilizing various potentials that the digital platform offers, such as open solicitation, (partial) free web/mobile distribution, profit from advertisement and page viewing, and transmedia production. As a new cultural medium, the webtoon is thus inseparable from its platform and organically tied to its distinctive platform ecology, which is different from the ecosystems that other (global) mega-platforms create. Engaging with the insights from recent studies of platforms and utilizing empirical media analysis, I argue that Korean webtoon platforms demonstrate the continuing and intensifying dependency of art on platforms—a process that I call “the platformization of culture”—and that this specific type of platformization is reinforced by what I call “the artist incubating system.” The case of webtoon platforms reveals a number of telling aspects of media ecosystems for art production in the digital age—aspects that are spreading and expanding to various fields of art.

Keywords

digital ageEast Asiaintensification of the commodification of cultureKoreamedia ecologyneoliberalismplatformizationwebcomicsweb fictionwebtoon
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 80 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 73 - 93
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Boudreau, Kevin J., and Hagiu, Andrei. 2009. “Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators.” In Platforms, Markets and Innovation, edited by Gawer, Annabelle, 163–191. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Cho, Heekyoung. 2016. “The Webtoon: A New Form for Graphic Narrative.” The Comics Journal, July 18. http://www.tcj.com/the-webtoon-a-new-form-for-graphic-narrative/ (accessed July 12, 2019).Google Scholar
Cho, Sŏk. 2013. Maŭm ŭi sori [The sound of mind]. Episode 747, July 13. https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=20853&no=751&weekday=tue (accessed July 8, 2019).Google Scholar
Ch'oe, Sŏnhye. 2011. “Han'guk munhwa k'ont’ench’ŭ sanŏp chŏngch'aek tamnon yŏn'gu” [A study on the discourse of cultural contents industry policy]. Master's thesis, Chungang University.Google Scholar
Ch'oe, Yŏnghwa. 2013. “Lee Myung-bak chŏngbu ŭi kiŏp kukka pŭrojekt’ŭ-rosŏ hanryu chŏngch'aek” [The Korean Wave policy as a corporate-state project under Lee's regime]. Pip'an sahoe hakhoe 97:252–58.Google Scholar
Choi, JungBong. 2015. “Hallyu versus Hallyu-hwa: Cultural Phenomenon versus Institutional Campaign.” In Hallyu 2.0, edited by Lee, Sangjoon and Nornes, Abé Markus, 31–52. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Tarleton. 2010. “The Politics of ‘Platform.’” New Media & Society 12 (3): 347–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ch'angwan, Han. 2016. “Wept'un p’ŭllaetp'om ŭi pijŭnisŭ model (BM) kwa sŭp'in op’ŭ (Spin off) chŏllyak ŭi saengt'aegye chinhwa yŏn'gu” [The evolution of an ecology of webtoon platforms’ business model and spin off strategy]. Manhwa Aenimeisyŏn yŏn'gu 45:127–46.Google Scholar
Han'guk k'ont’ench’ŭ chinhŭngwŏn chŏngch'aek ponbu (Policy department of Korea Creative Content Agency). 2016. 2015 manhwa sanŏp paeksŏ [2015 graphic novel industry white paper]. Naju, South Korea: Han'guk k'ont’ench’ŭ chinhŭngwŏn.Google Scholar
Han'guk k'ont’ench’ŭ chinhŭngwŏn chŏngch'aek ponbu (Policy department of Korea Creative Content Agency). 2017. 2016 manhwa sanŏp paeksŏ [2016 graphic novel industry white paper]. Naju, South Korea: Han'guk k'ont’ench’ŭ chinhŭngwŏn.Google Scholar
Han'guk k'ont’ench’ŭ chinhŭngwŏn chŏngch'aek ponbu (Policy department of Korea Creative Content Agency). 2018. 2017 manhwa sanŏp paeksŏ [2017 graphic novel industry white paper]. Naju, South Korea: Han'guk k'ont’ench’ŭ chinhŭngwŏn.Google Scholar
Harvey, David. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helmond, Anne. 2015. “The Platformization of the Web: Making Web Data Platform Ready.” Social Media + Society 1 (2): 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Im, Hyŏnu. 2018. “K'ak’ao peiji maech'ul 100-bae ttuigehan suik model ŭn” [What is KakaoPage's business model that made their profits increase a hundredfold?]. Han'guk kyŏngje, December 25. https://www.hankyung.com/it/article/2018122502591 (accessed February 22, 2019).Google Scholar
Jin, Dal Yong. 2017. “Rise of Platform Imperialism in the Networked Korean Society: A Critical Analysis of the Corporate Sphere.” Asiascape: Digital Asia 4:209–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, Ŭnwŏn, and Sŭngjin, Yi. 2017. “Wept'un chakka ŭi inchŏk chawŏn kaebal modeling yŏn'gu” [A study of development models of human resources in webtoon business]. Manhwa Aenimeisyŏn yŏn'gu 46:129–50.Google Scholar
Kim, Ji-Hyeon, and Yu, Jun. 2019. “Platformizing Webtoons: The Impact on Creative and Digital Labor in South Korea.” Social Media + Society 5 (4): 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Line Webtoon. 2019a. “What is Canvas?” and “What Does It Mean to Be a Webtoon Original?” https://help2.line.me/LINE_WEBTOON/pc?lang=en (accessed February 27, 2019, and July 12, 2019).Google Scholar
Line Webtoon. 2019b. “What Is WEBTOON?” https://help2.line.me/LINE_WEBTOON/pc?lang=en (accessed on February 27, 2019).Google Scholar
Morris, Jeremy Wade. 2015. Selling Digital Music, Formatting Culture. Oakland: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, Jeremy Wade. 2018. “Platform Fandom.” In The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, edited by Click, Melissa A., 356–64. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mun, Ilyo. 2016. “Wept'un chakka, yut'ubŏ . . . Ŏrini kkum kuch'ejŏgigo tayanghaejyŏtta” [Webtoon artists and YouTubers . . . Children's ideas on their future jobs are specific and diverse]. Sonyŏn hanguk ilbo, July 14. http://kids.hankooki.com/lpage/news/201607/kd20160714150050125630.htm (accessed March 2, 2019).Google Scholar
Naver Customer Center. 2019.“Pesŭtŭ Tojŏn manhwa sŭnggyŏk kijun” [The promotion criteria for Best Challenge]. July 2. https://help.naver.com/support/contents/contents.help?serviceNo=799&categoryNo=21979 (accessed July 12, 2019).Google Scholar
Naver Manhwa. 2019. Maech'e sogaesŏ ver 2.7 [Media instruction version 2.7]. https://comic.naver.com/business/proposalGuide.nhn (accessed February 18, 2019).Google Scholar
Naver Manhwa Notice. 2017. “P'ot’en ŏp i saeropgye t'aeŏnammida” [“PotenUp” will be born anew]. August 2. https://comic.naver.com/notice/detail.nhn?noticeId=116&listCount=15&page=1&searchWord= (accessed December 12, 2018).Google Scholar
Naver Webtoon. 2014. “Webtoon 10th Anniversary.” June 1. https://campaign.naver.com/webtoon/ (accessed March 2, 2019).Google Scholar
Nieborg, David, and Poell, Thomas. 2018. “The Platformization of Cultural Production: Theorizing the Contingent Cultural Commodity.” New Media and Society 20 (11): 4275–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nieborg, David, and Poell, Thomas (with Deuze, Mark). 2019. “The Platformization of Making Media.” In Making Media: Production, Practices and Professions, edited by Deuze, Mark and Prenger, Mirjam, 85–96. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pak, Kimuk. 2017. “Wept'un chakka ka teondanŭn kŏn” [What becoming a webtoon artist means]. Nok’ŏt Nyusŭ, August 1. https://www.nocutnews.co.kr/news/4823908 (accessed December 1, 2018).Google Scholar
Pak, Tahae. 2018. “Lejin k'omiksŭ chakkadŭl ŭn wae 1-in siwi e nasŏtna” [Why did Lezhin comics artists do an individual protest?]. Hangyŏrye, January 18. http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/culture/culture_general/828330.html (accessed July 12, 2019).Google Scholar
Song, Jesook, ed. 2011. New Millennium South Korea: Neoliberal Capitalism and Transnational Movements. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Steinberg, Marc. 2019. Platform Economy: How Japan Transformed the Consumer Internet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinberg, Marc, and Li, Jinying. 2017. “Introduction: Regional Platforms.” Asiascape: Digital Asia 4:173–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dijck, José. 2013. The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dijck, José, Poell, Thomas, and de Waal, Martijn. 2018. The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Raymond. 1981. Culture. London: Fontana.Google ScholarPubMed
Yi, Kaon. 2012. “Neibŏ wept'un tamdangja” [Naver webtoon PDs]. Naver News, May 7. https://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=103&oid=312&aid=0000013724 (accessed July 9, 2019).Google Scholar
Yun, T'aeho. 2014. P'ain [A country pumpkin]. Episode 4, August 8. http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/26432 (accessed July 8, 2019).Google Scholar