Representations of the Younger Generation’s Melancholy inEarly Korean Daily Toons

Abstract

　This paper focuses on the Korean “daily toon,” a specific genre of webtoon

（a portmanteau of the words “web” and “cartoon”）. In these toons, a character

appears as an avatar presenting the writer’s perspective. Present research considers

the melancholic representation of youth in the early years of daily toons.

Daily toons featuring authors’ experiences were often drawn quite frankly, as

one would write or sketch in a diary. Youths developed an affinity for these

toons, as their production and consumption reflected facets of young people’s

everyday life. Focusing on these points, this research aims to examine: ⑴ relationships

between the three aspects of the melancholic motif appearing in early

daily toons; ⑵ the structure of feeling of the younger generation and ⑶ personal

homepages as private spaces online（ where episodes were published serially）.

　　In the early 2000s, young people shared ambivalent emotions arising from

social changes following the 1997 financial crisis. They were tasked with maintaining

the role of standard-bearers for social change, while also experiencing

feelings of self-pity and loss. In the early daily toons, depressive feelings are

represented by three themes, namely: ⑴ thinking and self-reflection; ⑵ loss and

loneliness and ⑶ emptiness and lethargy. Such melancholic motifs can be interpreted

as symbolizing youths’ depression and sense of loss, utilizing the properties

of personal homepages as private spaces for self-expression. In real life,

young people’s collective actions toward social change occur in spaces such as

public squares, where their behavior and practices represent emotions such as

anger and resistance. In contrast, the motifs in the early daily toons can be

interpreted as representing more personal emotional processes （such as fear

and pity） among youth.