A Study on the Social Function of Sad-Ending Dramas in the Post-Truth Era: Focusing on the Drama <Artificial City>

In the post-truth era, drama overturns the universal values and affective sensibilities of modernity. On this basis, the present study employs Brian Massumi’s politics of affect to examine Artificial City and to clarify drama’s social function. Massumi, drawing from Spinoza and developed through Deleuze, defines affect as bodily responses prior to becoming emotions, emphasizing the non-verbal and non-representational. He values the process of being affected and affecting others, highlighting the importance of encounters, intensity, and the tendency and relationality of affects. This implies that politics operates within s.The results of the study indicate that in the drama , the protagonist Yoon Jae-hee is an individual affected by wealth and power. This is attributed to her impoverished childhood despite having a father who was an incorruptible judge, and the demands for sexual favors proposed by the vested powers. However, Yoon Jae-hee's desire affects are disrupted through her encounter with Kim Yi-seol, a victim of the Hyeongsandong disaster, and witnessing Kim Yi-seol's fall, which maximizes the intensity of the affect, leading to a recovery of moral and ethical affects. The emotion of empathy towards Kim Yi-seol played a crucial role in this recovery. Nonetheless, Yoon Jae-hee is unable to overcome Seo Han-sook, who is skilled in the politics of affect, resulting in a sad ending to the narrative. This study is significant in confirming that Yoon Jae-hee's desires contribute to the production and maintenance of power, and in demonstrating the potential for new affective connections at the end of the narrative.