ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the visual-rhetorical implication of candles and flags – two of the most dominant and crucial symbols/media of the Candlelight Movement. Informed by theories of critical rhetoric and visual rhetoric, this essay demonstrates that the choices of protest media are neither innocent nor trivial, but always reflect and mediate political/rhetorical struggles of the time. In particular, this chapter highlights ideological-rhetorical tensions between two prominent media/forms of political protests (candles and flags), highlighted through the historical “snapshots” of candlelight demonstrations in South Korea, from the 2002 inception and the 2016–2017 case. In doing so, the chapter demonstrates that the protestors at the Candlelight Movement utilized various visual markers/strategies not only to question the purpose/telos of nation but also to “hail,” challenge, and justify their own discursive, cultural, and political centrality and legitimacy in/for the nation.
