Platformizing Webtoons: The Impact on Creative and Digital Labor in South Korea

Abstract

Despite the transformative benefits of platform technology for cultural production, critical scholars have raised vigilance against the emergence of digital platforms as a new hegemonic constellation of 21st-century capitalism, and the neoliberal governance and exploitation of labor that concomitantly intensify. Taking as a case study, the platformization of the "Webtoon" industry in South Korea, this article addresses such concerns, questioning the potentially detrimental effects of platforms on creative labor and their dominance in the market. More importantly, however, it commands wider attention to how platformization has been restructuring this particular cultural industry, and reveals that this process does not simply augment exploitation. Instead, focusing our analysis on the reconfiguration of the process of Webtoon production and the opportunities it affords for the creative labor, we illuminate the complication of relationship between the involved actors, and argue for a broader scope of inquiry that makes explicit the ramifications of platformization on cultural production.

Studying Platforms and Cultural Production: Methods, Institutions, and Practices

“…Such investments have largely become the domain of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, which is quite visible in our collections that feature a number of exciting early career projects. For instance, there is the 2-year long online observation by Ji-Hyeon Kim and Jun Yu (2019) of Korean webtoon producers, along with the extensive ethnographic work with US-based crafters by Samantha Close and Cynthia Wang, featured in this collection. As part of her doctoral project, Sophie Bishop (2020) immersed herself for 3 years in YouTube’s creator culture, which allowed her to gain access to key “algorithmic experts.” And included in this collection is Tamara Kneese’s past doctoral project on the vintage economy, which builds on participant observation in record stores and clothing boutiques and 20 semi-structured interviews (Kneese and Palm).…”

“…So, too, has the need for a more robust understanding of non-US-based platforms—a challenge which a number of contributors have responded to by studying such European companies such as Soundcloud (Hesmondhalgh et al, 2019) and Spotify (Bonini & Gandini, 2019; Morris; Prey). In addition, various papers explore non-English-speaking communities engaging with platform companies, such as Spanish-speaking booktubers (Tomasena, 2019); Arriagada and Ibáñez’ explorative perspective on the interpretive processes of Chilean content creators; and Kim and Yu’s (2019) analysis of Webtoon creators in South Korea. Other articles, such as Duguay’s (2019) study of Instagram and Vine creators, benefit from the enlistment of international informants in Australia, Canada, Thailand, and the United States.…”

Los territorios comunes del cómic y la traducción: leer, interpretar, traducir, adaptar

“…3 Para hacernos una idea del mercado pujante del webcómic y de la influencia del manhwa o cómic surcoreano, basta recordar que la plataforma surcoreana Webtoon, habría recaudado a finales de 2020 unos 700 millones de euros solo en Corea del Sur (Kim y Yu, 2019). (Bloomsbury, 2014), que dedica una sección completa al cómic y la traducción.…”

Cultural intermediation and the basis of trust among webtoon and webnovel communities

“…Studies such as Kim and Yu (2019) argue that webtoon platforms, and perhaps other platforms by extension, are at pains to maintain loyalty among their creative practitioners that ironically are drawn to and also trapped by the 'tantalizing promise of economic reward' facilitated by the platform. Such content creators are singled-out for their 'attention-seeking' behavior.…”