부산대학교 도서관

This study examines the sociocultural discourses how the young generation in the contemporary Korean society consumes romance through the emergence of a reality television format. In doing so, this study particularly explores a 'dating counseling program' as a form of reality television, and examines the features and characteristics of these shows, in conjunction with the ‘self-help,' 'healing,' and 'mentoring' phenomena represented in diverse media texts and social discourses. For the analysis, we discussed the change of perception and mode surrounding ‘love’ and ‘dating’ of the young generation under the era of neoliberalism through the literature review. Also, we discussed why a dating counseling program can be understood as a genre of the new reality TV program. We utilized both a textual analysis and in-depth interviews for analysis, and the object of analysis is the JTBC’s and . Through a close textual analysis, we found that a neoliberal self-governmentality is underlying this socio-cultural phenomenon in terms of these program’s motive, narrative, format and character set. We also examined the acceptance of these reality TV programs by young generation in more detail, through in-depth interviews. Interviews with six youths who are committed to, or watch the reality TV program on a regular basis were conducted to collect qualitative data. They consumed the dating counseling program for fun, practical advice, or self-help, but they realized that those programs could not actually transform their everyday lives. Especially, it is interesting to find that a dating counseling program is criticized by youths in a self-reflexive way, in the context of social and structural problems the Korean society confronts today.