COMICS VS MANHWA – BETWEEN CULTURAL THEMES AND THE INFLUENCE OF WAR
COMICS VS MANHWA – BETWEEN CULTURAL THEMES AND THE INFLUENCE OF WAR

Summary/Abstract: Using pictures accompanied or not by text has been a wide-spread means of story-telling, which has evolved into something that we nowadays call “comics”, a genre that has emerged in or has been adopted by different cultures. In this paper we attempt to draw a short picture of the history of comics, and how they developed in time, whilst highlighting potential differences between comics drawn in the Western part of the world and in Korea and trying to understand what they actually represent in each culture. As comic books helped reinforce culturally dominant themes at certain key-points in Western history, manhwa are considered a mirror of Korean society and customs as well, having diverse themes taken from the community’s reality, that vary from episodes in the vast Korean history to topical issues from daily modern life, and are set in places varying from the metropolis to marginal villages and presenting the life of Seoulites, nobles and provincials altogether. On theme that can be encountered in both comics and manhwa is that of war, and how was shaped and influenced collective consciousness.

• Details
• Contents