Labor Dispute Resolution and Popular Culturein Shaping Viewers’ Legal Consciousness in South Korea

This article examines how labor disputes are portrayed in Korean popular culture and how viewers respond and attribute legal meaning. The specific case study is the television drama series, The Awl, based on an award-winning webtoon (online comic) that illustrates the highly controversial lay-off of 900 non-regular workers by the South Korean company E-Land in July 2007. The lay-off occurred before the adoption of the amended Labor Law that required granting regular employment status to the workers. As more legal-themed movies and television dramas appear in Korea, examining viewer responses through online discussion boards and social media gives insight into how individuals attribute meaning to how the law works in society. First, in relation to the drama script, this article asks how the workers engage with different stages of the labor dispute process. Second, this article asks how online viewers respond to these legal events and produce meaning based on their experiences in daily life. From analyzing The Awl’s legal narrative and coding viewers’ responses, this article finds that popular cultural media can effectively reflect and further shape legal consciousness regarding labor dispute resolution in South Korea.