ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This paper analyzed YouTube comments on Korean military reality programs Steel Troops 3 (2023) and Steel Troops W (2024) using text mining techniques to explore gender representation and reception patterns in militarized entertainment content. The research collected comments from the top 100 videos by viewership, analyzing a total of 19,081 comments—9,371 from Steel Troops 3 and 9,710 from Steel Troops W—through sentiment analysis and topic modeling. Sentiment analysis revealed that while Steel Troops 3 showed 56.76% positive responses, Steel Troops W demonstrated a higher positive rate of 66.82%. However, the negative comment ratio showed a significant difference, with Steel Troops W at 15.52% compared toSteel Troops 3 at 7.14%—more than twice as high. In negative comments about Steel Troops W, “woman” (189 occurrences) and “female soldier” (135 occurrences) emerged as the top keywords, confirming that prejudices against female soldiers persist. Topic modeling revealed that female participants in Steel Troops W were evaluated based on dual standards of military capability and femininity, with discourse related to female conscription and gender equality debates comprising 37% of all discussions. Consequently, the Steel Troops series has evolved beyond simple entertainment consumption into a forum for social discourse, demonstrating that gender functions as a key variable in shaping public discourse around military-themed entertainment programs.

키워드