City Research Online

Squid Game and the Reproduction of Korean Womanhoods

Molisso, S. ORCID: 0000-0003-0499-7672 (2022). Squid Game and the Reproduction of Korean Womanhoods CST Online.

Abstract

Squid Game (2021-) is yet another successful export from South Korea, demonstrating the transnational mobility of Korean popular culture, and further cementing its status as a soft power juggernaut. The series has widely been framed in terms of neoliberalism and precarity. However, Squid Game’s popularity has come at the expense of its mistreatment of female characters (as well as the other minority characters in the show). This paper looks at the portrayal of women in Squid Game, locating it in critical literature about gender and media in South Korea, and discussing it in relation to victim/survivor, filial piety, Wise Mother Good Wife vs. vixen, and kimchi/soybean-paste-girl.

Publication Type: Internet Publication
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Departments: School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology
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