Cheese in the Trap

Cheese in the Trap is a webtoon that has become a global cultural trend in South Korea, especially in the pop culture industry in the world. In this sense, this Korean wave has led to a cultural circulation where consumers have become producers of specific cultural products. Specifically in Cheese in the Trap, one of the most beloved, romance Korean webcomics in Korea, is popular due to its realistic depiction of characters and in-depth exploration of human nature.

Cheese in the Trap reveals the real life of college students, the education system, and keeping up with the social standards in Korea. As Jang puts it, the South Korean government aims to promote another wave of Korean culture with its growing webtoon industry along with its K-dramas and K-pop, which already have swept across Asia since the early 2000s [1]. The image on the left illustrates how the webtoon Cheese in the Trap adapted into a famous Korean drama series. 

Additionally, the format and design of the characters in the webcomic is unique and becomes personal to the reader. It has continued to establish a new iconography of characters, symbols, and images through the form of sequential art that no other art movement has approached [2]. Lastly, Cheese in the Trap has gained so much popularity to create large fandoms between different countries and bridge together transnational cultural communities. Like other webtoons, Cheese in the Trap can also promote a mutual understanding between Korea and the recipients of Korean webtoons, especially among youth who mainly communicated through the internet and mobile network [3].

1. Jung, Wonho. Webtoon as a New Korean Wave in the Process of Glocalization. Department of Urban. Sociology at University of Seoul. Accessed February 22, 2019. https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/kk/article/view/KK2017.02908

2. Pensky, Valerie. “Comic Book Art is a Visual Language that Continues to Influence Societal Change and Heighten Creative Innovation within other Entertainment Medias” California State University, 2012.

3. Brienza, Casey. “Global Manga: Japanese Comics Without Japan?” Ashgate Books, 2015. City University London, UK