The current research investigates Webtoon, an emerging visual narrative reading platform that has received global attention for its fast growth and adaptations to different media. The research team particularly focuses on the Webtoon romance genre and its readers to see how Webtoon’s unique sensory elements embedded in reading support romance readers’ reading engagement. With an exploratory approach, 16 avid Webtoon romance readers were interviewed. Findings show that Webtoon romance readers appreciated the immersive reading experience supported by Webtoon’s format, visual presentations, and audio effects, which helped heighten the overall atmosphere and emotions of the romance works they read. However, the unintentional use of multimedia effects or technical asynchronicity distracted their reading engagement.
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Please note, though, that:
romance fiction has been defined as narratives with two basic elements: “a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending” . However, a romance Webtoon is a serialized narrative. Also, several romance Webtoon works were completed on a sad note, conflicting with North America's traditional definition of romance genre. Future studies should investigate how the definition of the evolving genre should be revisited, considering the various formats and cultural sentiments. In addition, noting the uniqueness of its platform and genre, further analysis of the Webtoon romance elements, such as the narrative structure, social reading and reader interactions, and diverse characters, may provide a better understanding of the platform and readers’ engagement.
Here's the abstract:
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Please note, though, that: