Abstract

This study examined the epic of individual relationships emerged in the second half of the 1950s, as shown in the Reader Socialization Section of the pop magazine Myeongrang. The 1950s saw individual readers forming personal relationships with each other through the pop magazines. This study, targeting the period of the launching of Myeongrang in 1956 to April 19 Revolution in 1960, examined the Reader Socialization Section and relevant news articles. Myeongrang's Reader Socialization Section was presented in diverse names such as Readers' Correspondence, Myeongrang Correspondence and Myeongrang Favorite Reader Salon. The major readership covered late teens to early 20s. In particular, Reader Socialization Section featured the desire for establishing a family. This is understood to try to restore the collapsed family relationship in the wake of Korean War, as well as to secure an alternative family if such family restoration is impossible. A member family, emerging the most frequently, was Nuna ("sister"). The so frequently emerged name of sister in the Reader Socialization Section suggests the following. The atmosphere of the time of 1950s showed the ambivalent attitudes about love. Love was emphasized as individuals' voluntary desire, and as part of the national project for the reconstruction of the destroyed country. Thus, spiritual love took the helm of the times, and the Reader Socialization Section of Myeongrang objectified love through the name of sister. Thus, the socialization section, which ran the love affairs of males and females, could allow them to freely express and share their desires, and yet to maintain their secret area within the limit of governing ideology. As a safety mechanism, the calling of sister projected the readers' desires, reproduced those desires, and allowed the writing of those desires on the public publication, and of such socializing activities.