장르별 웹툰 말풍선 형태와 감정 표현 분석 = Analysis of Speech Bubble Forms and Emotional Expressions in Webtoons by Genre

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study compares and analyzes how speech bubbles are used to express emotions in different genres of webtoons. Webtoons are a visual narrative medium that combines images and text, and speech bubbles serve as a key visual language that goes beyond simply conveying dialogue to shape emotions and atmosphere. Previous studies have accumulated various discussions centered on the morphological classification and emotional expression functions of speech bubbles, which have served as an important foundation for this study. This study selected representative works from the romance, drama, fantasy, and thriller genres, which account for a significant portion of Naver Webtoon, and analyzed key episodes from each work to compare the genre-specific characteristics of speech bubble types and emotional expression patterns. The analysis results show that the romance genre emphasizes emotional exchanges between characters and inner psychology, centered on round and radial speech bubbles, while the drama genre mainly uses round and square speech bubbles to effectively reveal the plot development and conflict structure. The fantasy genre utilizes various special-shaped speech bubbles to enhance battle scenes and immersion in the worldview, while the thriller genre combines round, square, and radial speech bubbles to dramatically express anxiety, fear, and crisis situations. These results demonstrate that speech bubbles serve as a core device that visually organizes genre-specific narrative structures and emotional expression methods beyond their role as simple mediators of dialogue. This study contributes to expanding the role of visual language in webtoon research through genre-specific speech bubble analysis. Future research should conduct in-depth studies comprehensively examining the correlations between speech bubbles and other design elements such as position, size, and font.