- P-ISSN0023-3900
- E-ISSN2733-9343
- A&HCI, SCOPUS, KCI
ISSN : 0023-3900
(Un)making the “Korean” Astro Boy Atom: National Manhwa, Korean Pop Art, and Cultural Hybridity
Abstract
When the Korean government announced its plan to lift the ban on the circulation of Japanese popular culture in 1998, it immediately articulated its intention to support “genuinely” domestic comic books (called manhwa in Korean) and animation in Korea. This policy move demonstrated the government’s ambivalence toward the influence of Japanese manga; at the same time that the government officially encouraged cross-breeding between Japanese and Korean popular cultures and audiences, they became overly protective of Korea’s domestic popular culture industry. This paper offers a critical examination of the notion of national culture or national aesthetics by looking at the official policy toward manhwa in Korea. In addition, Lee Dong-Gi’s and Hyun Tae-Jun’s artworks prove to be important alternatives to the notion of an authentic Korean manhwa culture. Using theories of the hybridizing process by Arjun Appadurai and Nikos Papastergiadis, I also investigate Lee Dong-Gi’s Atomaus, a hybrid of Japanese Astro Boy and Disney’s Mickey Mouse, as well as Hyun Tae-Jun’s 2007 replicas of classic Japanese animation characters. These characters and artworks show the ambiguous state between original and copy, or national and hybrid cultural products.
- keywords
- nationalism, globalization, cultural hybridity, multiculturalism, Korean pop art, Japanese manga and animation, animation studies, contemporary Korean art
Reference
Amin, Samir. 1992. Empire of Chaos. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Ansart, Olivier, et al. 1994. “Jibun o rikai saseru koto ga fuete na Nihon 自分を理解させることが不得手な日本” (Japan the Country that has had Trouble withMaking Itself Understood). Gaiko Forum 外交フォ一ラム(November).
Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. “Disjunction and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” In Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, edited by Arjun Appadurai, 27-47. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Appadurai, Arju, ed. 2001. Globalization. Durham: Duke University Press.
Azuma, Hiroki. 2009. Otaku. Translated by Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Bhabha, Homi. 1994. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge.
Ching, Leo. 2000. “Globalizing the Regional, Regionalizing the Global: Mass Culture and Asianism in the Age of Late Capital.” Public Culture 12.1 (winter): 233-257.
Han, Chang-Wan. 2004. Manhwa gyeongjehak (The Economy of Cartoons). Seoul: Communication Books.
Han, Kyung-Koo. 1998. “Ilbon munhwa gaebang-eul saenggak-handa” (Considering the Opening toward Japanese Culture). Ippeop josa yeongu (Legislative Studies) 253 (October):1-28.
Iwabuchi, Koichi. 2002. Recentering Globalization. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Iwabuchi, Koichi. 2008. “When the Korean Wave Meets Resident Koreans in Japan: Intersections of the Transnational, the Postcolonial and the Multicultural.” In East Asian Pop Culture: Analysing the Korean Wave, edited by Chua Beng Huat and Koichi Iwabuchi, 243-264. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Jung, Hyun-Min. 1996. “Ilbon daejung munhwa-ui gaebang-e gwanhan yeongu: hanguk munhwa saneop baljeon-eul jungsim-euro” (A Study of the Opening toward Japanese Popular Culture: The Case of Culture Industry in Korea). Master’s thesis, Busan National University.
Jung, Mun-Sung. 1992. “Ilbon daejung munhwa-ga hanguk cheongsonyeon munhwa-e michineun yeonghyang-e gwanhan yeongu” (A Study of the Influence of Japanese Popular Culture on Korean Youths). Hanguk cheongsonyeon yeongu (Studies on Korean Youth) 3.4: 19-35.
Jung, Mun-Sung. 1995. “Hanguk cheongsonyeon munhwa-e yuipdoen ilbon daejung munhwa-ui siltae” (The Current Status of Japanese Popular Cultural Flows into Korean Youth Culture). In Cheongsonyeon yukseong gwalleon jeongchaek gaebal mit yeongu (Policy Development and Research Concerning the Youth Development), edited by the Korea Institute for Youth Development, 291-359. Seoul: National Youth Policy Institute.
Kawakatsu, Heita 川勝平太. 1991. Nihon bunmei to kindai seiyo 日本文明と近代西洋(Japanese Civilization and the Modern West). Tokyo: NHK Shuppan.
Kim, Jong-Ho and Ryu Han-Seung. 2006. Hanguk-ui jeolmeun misulgadeul:45 myeong-gwaui inteobyu (Korea’s Young Artists: 45 Interviews). Seoul:Da Vinci.
Kim, Nak-Ho. 2005. “Manhwa aenimeisyeon” (Manhwa and Animation). In vol. 4 of Hanguk hyeondae yesulsa daegye (An Outline of the History of Korean Modern Art), edited by the Korea National Research Center for Arts, 295-340. Seoul: Sigongsa.
Kim, Suk-Hoon. 1995. “Daejung maeche munhwa saneop-ui segyehwa-e ttareun byeonhwa-ui yangsang” (Mass Media: The Changing State of the Culture Industry in the Era of Globalization). Sahoe gwahak yeongu (Social Science Studies) 13.1: 225-248.
Ko, Chung-Hwan. 2006. “Kaerikteo-reul tonghae bon dongsidae misul” (Contemporary Art through the Lens of Iconic Characters). Kim Daljin Art Research and Consulting. http://www.daljin.com/2004/_main/critique/ contents/contents.detail.php?code_critique=G01&code=C00330&nPage =4&dal=56c2a1b02302fcbcf0c20f986166f6ee.
Lee, Dong-Gi. 1995. An exhibition catalogue. Gallery On, Seoul.
Lent, John. 1999. “Comics Controversies and Codes: Reverberations in Asia.” In Pulp Demons: International Dimensions of the Postwar Anti-Comics Campaign, edited by John Lent, 179-214. Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
Lyechad, Gwenda. 1992. “America’s Cartoons Built Frame by Frame, in South Korea.” Chicago Sun Times, September 8.
Napier, Susan. 2007. From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the West. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Noh, Su-Een. 1998. “Ilbon manhwa, eotteoke ilgeul geosinga?: geudeul-ui munhwa-eseo uri-ui munhwa-ro” (Japanese Manga, How Can We Read It?: From Their Culture to Our Culture). Paper presented at the workshop on Research Methodology in History of Journalism, Sogang University, Seoul. http://moongsil.com/study/manga.htm.
Papastergiadis, Nikos. 1995. “Restless Hybrids.” Third Text 32 (autumn): 9-18.
Papastergiadis, Nikos. 2005. “Hybridity and Ambivalence: Places and Flows in Contemporary Art and Culture.” Theory, Culture and Society 22.4 (winter): 39- 64.
Park, Joon Magnan. 2008. “Our Toys, Our Selves: Robot Taekwon V and South Korean Identity.” Paper presented in conjunction with the exhibition Toy Stories: Souvenirs from Korean Childhood, The Korean Society, New York, February 7.
Schodt, Frederik. 2007. The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
Song, Do-Young. 2007. “Hanguk daejung munhwa-ui honseongjeok hyeongseong gwajeong-gwa hallyu munhwa damnon” (The Hybrid Making Process of the Korean Pop Culture and the Korean Wave Discourse). Damnon 201 (Discourse 201) 9.4: 35-74.
Yamanaka, Chie. 2007. “Manwha, Manga and Cultural Identity: Comics Readers and Nationalism in Korea.” www.ceri-sciencespo.com/themes/ manga/documents/texte_cyamanaka.pdf.
Yi, Sun-Hwa. 2007. “Hyun Tae-Jun, amheuk muljil” (Hyun Taejun, the Dark Material). Art in Culture (November): 152-173.
Yoon, Jin-Sup. 1993. “Sinsedae-ui busang, dawonhwadoen pyohyeon yeolgi”(The Emergence of a New Generation, the Heat of Diversified Expression).Wolgan misul (Monthly Art Magazine) (December): 76-78.
Yoon, Jin-Sup. 1997. Hyeondae misul-ui jaengjeom-gwa hyeonjang (Issues and Scenes of Modern Fine Arts). Seoul: Mijinsa.
- Downloaded
- Viewed
- 0KCI Citations
- 0WOS Citations