Abstract

Recently, the cinema industry faced a crisis on the rise of various media platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, IPTV, and Kakao Page. The rate of film release in the theater has become ever shorter, and the secondary consumption of film through IPTV, tablet, PC, or mobile has seen a drastic increase. In the midst of this new media-geography, the most significant change in recent years would be the rise of the ‘fantasy film’ genre. This paper explores the conditions and characteristics of fantasy films in the way in which the genre has been constituted, and delves into particular aspects that its contents contain. This is an attempt to understand the sociology of the birth of a new genre. In this process, this paper will ask two frequently raised questions in regard to this genre. The first is to ask whether we can discern fantasy from reality, and the second is to examine whether the fantasy genre implicates certain social subversion. These two questions aim to discover how fantasy forms a relationship with reality and what this means. To do so, this paper will trace the genealogy of the fantasy film genre in Korea and analyze recent big hits such as the <Along with the Gods> series as the model case of digital fantasy film. Through this exploration, this paper will be able to provide a new sociology of the fantasy film production and consumption in the 21st century Korea.