@article{ART002933273},
author={HyeYoung Cho},
title={Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020)},
journal={Cross-Cultural Studies},
issn={1598-0685},
year={2023},
volume={68},
pages={69-96},
doi={10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69}

TY - JOUR
AU - HyeYoung Cho
TI - Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020)
JO - Cross-Cultural Studies
PY - 2023
VL - 68
IS - null
PB - Center for Cross Culture Studies
SP - 69
EP - 96
SN - 1598-0685
AB - This paper analyzes the documentary film People in Elancia (Park Yun-jin, 2020), which deals with the game user community of the MMORPG Elancia launched by the Korean game company Nexon in 1999. This paper aims to explore how a utopia and dystopia are simulated for young people in the current Korean society through the documentary. The game space of Elancia, which is filled with bugs and where macro software is widely used because the server is maintained but not managed, is analogous to the competitive society under neoliberalism experienced by the game users in Elancia who spent their childhood under the IMF crisis in 1997. The high degree of freedom, various occupational choices of characters, and non-productive game play, which were regarded as the strengths of Elancia, no longer work through Nexon’s governance of negligence. Nevertheless, in Elancia, which was called an ‘abandoned game’, the game user community to which the director herself belongs forms a ‘utopia of failure’ that performs non-productive and non-competitive game play. This paper redefines the concept of a utopia through the community as one that is slow, fragmentary, and in process; in contrast to the traditional utopia, which is homogeneous, totalitarian, and teleological. In addition, the documentary reversely utilizes the fact that art culture is never completed in the post-Fordist era, but is always in process, and has the property of content that constantly commercializes itself, leading to management and operation of Nexon and changing reality. It shows the possibility of a new activism documentary in the 21st century.
KW - dystopia;utopia;neoliberalism;governance;People in Elancia;documentary
DO - 10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69
ER -

HyeYoung Cho. (2023). Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020). Cross-Cultural Studies, 68, 69-96.

HyeYoung Cho. 2023, "Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020)", Cross-Cultural Studies, vol.68, pp.69-96. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69

HyeYoung Cho "Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020)" Cross-Cultural Studies 68 pp.69-96 (2023) : 69.

HyeYoung Cho. Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020). 2023; 68 69-96. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69

HyeYoung Cho. "Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020)" Cross-Cultural Studies 68(2023) : 69-96.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69

HyeYoung Cho. Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020). Cross-Cultural Studies, 68, 69-96. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69

HyeYoung Cho. Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020). Cross-Cultural Studies. 2023; 68 69-96. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69

HyeYoung Cho. Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020). 2023; 68 69-96. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69

HyeYoung Cho. "Neoliberal Governance and the formation of Utopia in a Korean Independent Documentary People in Elancia (2020)" Cross-Cultural Studies 68(2023) : 69-96.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2023.68..69