Earticle

Between various genres of Korean variety shows, one of the rising star in the recent years was a survival audition program, which possesses a reality show and a competition characteristics (Park, 2011). In the history of successful Korean audition-based show—from "Superstar K," "K-Pop Star," to "Produce 101”—they have not only been immensely popular with viewers—locally and globally via an impact of Korean Wave—but have also driven many talented singers and ‘normal’ individuals to the spotlight, which as well leading the producers to create more of these shows (Dong, 2021). Throughout the years of South Korea's thriving K-Pop industry, survival audition reality shows have given rise to many idol groups that come from audience votes, while some of them could make it to the top. After “Produce 101” was suspended due to its controversial issue regarding the voting manipulation, “Boys Planet” was introduced as a counterpart of the same series, with a new twist of producing a ‘global K-Pop idol group’. It is important to discuss the continuation of survival audition programs after “Produce 101” with the introduction of “Boys Planet”, which highlights the broadcaster's efforts to engage a global audience with K-pop culture through these shows, considering the increasing globalization of the K-pop phenomenon. The key factors behind the success of an survival audition show could be identified by looking at its narrative format. Using the case of Mnet’s recent audition-based show “Boys Planet”, this study aimed to examine the narrative format and narrative structure by employing Seymour Chatman’s (1978) Narrative framework. The result of the analysis showed that competition and evaluation are the main events, while the other elements such as entertainment ,variety, and individual stories serve as functional events. In order to further understand the intention of the program’s ‘Korean vs Global’ narrative, Levi-Strauss’s theory of binary opposition (Levi-Strauss, 1955; Story, 2001) is used. In addition, this study also explored the aspect of cultural representation (Hall, 1997) in the broadcast, addressed issues aroused from cultural differences between the participants as there were also non-Korean trainees joining the program. The analysis revealed a contrast belief towards K-Pop between the local and the foreign trainees, although they all love and share the same dream of becoming a K-pop star, which too, reflecting a highly competitive and not-allowed-to-fail nature of the Korean society. This research is hope to contribute to the media industry to understand the current trend of narrative of the survival audition programs, and to gain more understanding in terms of cultural sensitivity; it is the responsibility of the producers, to the program participants, as well as to the audiences.

소셜네트워크서비스(SNS)는 일상 속에서 가장 자주 이용하는 매체 중 하나가 되었고, 사회 관계망서비스(SNS)의 등장으로 인플루언서 유형이 등장하였다. 비대면의 일상화, 기술의 발전 등으로 인해 가상 인플루언서가 실제 인플루언 서와 같은 활동 영역을 구축해 나가고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 새로운 형태의 정보원으로 활용되고 있는 가상 인플루언서의 특성과 그에 따른 커뮤니케이션 효과를 확인하고자 하였다.이 연구는 인플루언서 유형(인간 인플루언서 vs. 가상인간 인플루언서)과 인플루언서의 감정표현 유무(감정표현 유 vs. 감정표현 무)가 수용자들의 감정(긍정적 vs. 부정적), 사회적 현존감, 모방욕구에 미치는 영향을 조사하는 실험 연구이다. 이를 위해 인플 루언서 유형2종류 × 인플루언서의 감정표현 유무 2종류의 실험물을 제작하고, 인스타그램을 통해 콘텐츠를 제공하였다. 실험 참여자들은 인플루언서의 콘텐츠를 보고, 감정, 사회적 현존 감, 모방욕구에 대한 설문지를 작성하였다. 연구결과에 따르면, 인플루언서 유형과 감정표현 유무는 수용자들의 감정, 사회적 현존감, 모방욕구에 유의한 영향을 미쳤다. 감정표현이 있는 인플루언서 유형이 감정표현이 없는 인플루언서 유형보다 더 높은 수준의 긍정적 감정, 사회적 현존감, 모방욕구를 유발하였다. 인 간 인플루언서가 가상인간 인플루언서보다 더 높은 수준의 긍정적 감정, 사회적 현존감, 모방 욕구를 유발하였다. 이 연구는 인플루언서의 콘텐츠 전략을 개선하고, 수용자들의 만족도와 충성도를 높이는 데 이론적 및 실무적인 시사점을 제공한다.