OTT 드라마 <지금 우리 학교는> 속 좀비를 매개로 한 서스펜스 구축 전략 연구: 학생과 학교라는 소재를 중심으로

초록

Until the early 2000s, zombie narratives were an unfamiliar genre in Korea and were seen as a domain exclusive to Hollywood. Starting with the success of director Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan in 2016, various Korean zombie-themed productions such as Kingdom and Happiness began to emerge. All OF US ARE DEAD, released on Netflix, tells the story of students at Hyosan High School struggling to survive against zombies. While retaining the characteristics of zombie apocalypse narratives, the series also highlights the unstable and reckless emotions of teenagers, enhancing its appeal as a school drama. Accordingly, this paper examines the suspense strategies constructed through zombies in All OF US ARE DEAD, focusing on the themes of student and school. Suspense, which refers to the uncertainty generated during the progression of a story, is built in unpredictable situations involving characters or viewers. Zombies act as the greatest obstacle to survival for the characters, and at the same time serve as a key element that heightens tension for the audience. They appear unexpectedly to hinder the characters’ goals and endanger the escape and rescue narrative. The series uses teenagers as protagonists and sets the story within a school environment. The unpredictability of the students’ choices and emotional fluctuations serve to construct suspense, while their immaturity leads to the creation of a new kind of zombie—the so-called ‘half-bie.’ The school, where most of the narrative unfolds, becomes a vast maze that prevents students from escaping, mirroring the ugly aspects of society. This paper aims to explore how All OF US ARE DEAD constructs suspense through its portrayal of students and the school. By analyzing these elements, it seeks to examine the types and mechanisms of suspense that the series builds through the medium of zombies.

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