ISEKAI TO BE FREE: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF THE ELEMENTS OF ISEKAI FICTION

Abstract

Isekai fiction is a genre that has emerged and become popular nowadays. This genre of fiction involves the protagonist traveling to another world. This article aims to analyze the elements of Isekai fiction in which the female protagonist travels into a novel and becomes the villainess of the story through a feminist lens. The two comics used for the anaylsis are The Villainess Becomes the Leading Lady (2021) and The Reasons She Lives as a Villainess (2021), published on LINE Webtoon Thailand. From the analysis of the texts, the two stories share similar setting, characters, and the development of plot. Moreover, these Isekai stories with female protagonists showcase the nature of escapist fiction through the characterization of the female leads, whom the readers can relate to their real lives, and the construction of the extravagant other worlds where patriarchy is presented similarly to the contemporary Korean society, the empowered female protagonists can counter the oppression of such society and, doing so, empower the female readers in the same way.