KJCKorea
Journal Central

This study analyzes the animation <Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury Season 1>, which parodies Shakespeare's play <The Tempest>. <Tempest> has been recreated in various forms, and the creative transformations revealed in the work reflect the characteristics of the times and culture. The present age can be said to be an age where the distinction between humans and machines is blurred and humans and machines are hybridizing. With the development of AI technology, AI secretaries that can interact like humans have appeared, and with the development of robot technology, robots that walk like humans and overcome obstacles have appeared. <Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury>, a creative transformation of <Tempest> into a robot animation, directly reflects these characteristics of the times and confronts questions about the new identity of humans. This study analyzes the parody aspects of <Tempest> revealed in <Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury> and the composition of foreshadowing revealed in the process. The conceptual hybrid theory can be applied to the way intertextuality revealed in parody operates in literary works. The characters of <Tempest> are revealed differently in <Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury>. While the message of ‘revenge and reconciliation’ that is centrally revealed in <Tempest> is maintained, it is reconstructed as a conflict and struggle between robot companies set in space. The foreshadowing of this work, which reflects the conflict between robot companies, is revealed in an unexpected form and is formed in the audience’s perception immediately. This immediate aspect is explained using conceptual blending theory. The significance of this study lies in the fact that it reveals the aspects of parody and foreshadowing that are revealed in <Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury>. The aspects of parody that appear in the intertextuality of two heterogeneous texts, a classical play and a robot animation, are analyzed. In addition, the foreshadowing that appears spontaneously in this work, which is not generally present in the cognitive structure of humans, is explained using the conceptual blending theory.

William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Mobile Suit Gundam, animation, parody, foreshadowing