SF 웹툰에서의 ‘비인간’ 청소년 연구--<하우스키퍼>, <나노리스트>, <캉타우>, <숲속의 담>을 중심으로-

Abstract

This paper analyzed the characteristics and roles of non-human youth characters in SF webtoons and interpreted their meanings, focusing on Naver webtoons, <HouseKeeper> <Nanolist>, <Kantau> and <Dam in the Forest>, which are stories enjoyed voluntarily by children and juvenile readers. With regard to the characteristics of the characters, special attention was paid to the appearance effectively reproduced in webtoons to analyze their identity, psychological, and functional characteristics. In particular, by paying attention to the conflict of the central event, the desires and roles of juvenile characters were analyzed in depth, and the symbols and their socio-cultural meanings were interpreted. In “HouseKeeper” and “Nanolist”, the main character AI has a female body. It confronts older human generations obsessed with immoral and pathological desires in solidarity with other AIs and new human generations to protect families (young boys and youths) whose life is threatened by them. In “Kangtau”, Kang Hyun, the main character, is a teenage boy, and he is mutated into an alien cyborg as a result of the choice of Okta, the younger generation group. After becoming an alien warrior and gaining overwhelming strength, Kang Hyun protects the Earth against the invasion of Spelta, the older generation group. In “Dam in the Forest”, Dam, the main character, is a youth with divine ability, lives an isolated life from people and forms a new family community with teenagers abandoned by adults, eliminating the enemies of the 투고일(2022년 8월 7일), 심사일(2022년 8월 25일), 게재확정일(2022년 9월 1일) 255 최배은 | SF 웹툰에서의 ‘비인간’ 청소년 연구older generation and accepting his fate to save the planet. In SF webtoons, it is ironical that non-human juveniles grow up to be heroes and value human lives and save the world by confronting unfair violence by the older generation. This symbolizes the oppression of the older generation on the younger generation in our society, reflects positive perceptions and expectations of science and technology, especially AI, and represents the hope that the younger generation will solve problems that the older generation has not solved. However, though these works aim for new things and affirm them, they have the llimit of being both anthropocentric and androcentric.