‘연예인 되기’에 관한 질적 연구 (A Qualitative Study of ‘Becoming an Entertainer’)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국언론학회
· 수록지 정보 : 한국언론학보 / 66권 / 6호 / 230 ~ 270페이지
· 저자명 : 이설희, 이동후

초록

미디어 환경이 급속히 변화하고 문화산업이 빠르게 확장하는 가운데, 연예인 되기를 희망하는 사람들이 늘어나고 있다. 이 연구는 이들이 왜 연예인이 되고 싶었는지부터 어떻게 준비하고 현장 경험을 하고 있는지를 심층 인터뷰를 통해 살펴보면서, 미디어 환경과 연예 산업이 어떻게 이들의 경험을 조건 짓고 어떠한 개별적 차이와 공통의 경험이 나타나고 있는지를 드러내고자 했다. 다시 말해, 이들의 ‘연예인 되기’ 과정을 구체적으로 접근하면서, 상호연관된 연예 산업-미디어-연예인 지망생의 개별적 경험이라는 삼각관계를 주목했다. 연구 결과, 연예인 지망생들의 경험은 연예 산업 분야의 불안정성과 비체계성을 드러낸다. 체계적이지 않은 연예 산업 현장에서 이들은 자신의 직업적 경로를 찾아가며 기업가적 정신을 가지게 된다. 그리고 이와 같은 연예인 지망생들의 기업가적 노력에는 변화하는 미디어 환경에 따라 자신의 브랜드 가치를 높이는 미디어 노동이 포함된다. 미디어는 연예인들에 대한 표상을 만들면서, 연예인이 되기 위해 자신을 관리하고 드러내야 하는 무형의 노동현장이 되고 있다. 이 연구는 대중문화산업이 양적으로 확장되고 이에 대한 기대감은 커졌지만, 실질적으로 그 분야에서 자신의 직업적 정체성을 찾고자 하는 이들의 노력과 경험 쌓기가 문화산업 및 미디어 환경과의 관계 속에서 개인이 책임지도록 구조화된 측면이 있음을 보여준다.

영어초록

As the cultural industry rapidly expands in the changing media environment, the number of people wanting to become entertainers is increasing. However, despite the growing interest in this profession, few studies have considered this aspect in depth. This study investigates why people aspire to become entertainers, how they prepare for it, what kind of field experiences they have on their career journeys, and what is needed to claim their identities as entertainers. Based on in-depth interviews, this study explores the participants’ paths to “becoming entertainers” and discusses how their experiences are embedded in changing the entertainment industry and the media environment. By examining the triangular interrelationship among industrial conventions, media practices, and the processes of becoming, this study finds instability and unsystematicity in the entertainment industry. Aspiring entertainers have tended to rely on private educational institutions and informal networks of various sizes to gain on-the-job experiences, whose undefined characteristics make their career paths fragmented and personalized. The stability of their job experiences was not guaranteed due to the nature of the project-based entertainment industry, which constantly jeopardized their identities as entertainers. Under that condition, aspiring entertainers began seeking their career paths with an entrepreneurial spirit based on hope for “someday success,” the expectation of luck and coincidence, and belief in their natural appearance and ability. Thus, aspiring entertainers have tended to willingly accept their concurrent precarious situations and consider them a problem they must solve on their own. Their entrepreneurial efforts and practices include media labor for self-branding, such as managing social media and creating profile pictures that appeal to ever-changing tastes in the entertainment field and among potential clients and fans. Media platforms have become sites where aspiring entertainers find their role models and engage in immaterial labor to promote themselves. Since they believe they must manage their images via media, they devote considerable time and effort to creating, editing, and distributing them. Their everyday lives and activities serve as possible material for obtaining such images. Entertainers’ daily practices of image production reinforce the typically expected image of an entertainer and make its stylish and fantastical imagery more prevalent in social media. The widespread distribution of entertainers’ images makes the world of entertainers seemingly accessible to anyone with good looks and talent, sparks the desire to become an entertainer, and constantly invites people into this world. This study identifies the structural aspects of the entertainment industry within which individuals must take responsibility for every aspect of their entertainment careers.

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