Rethinking Orientalism: Squid Game, transnationalism and digital streaming

• In Event: Research Symposium: Session II - Senior Scholar Panel

Abstract

Traditional work on Orientalism is largely focused on the cultural constructions of the “Orient” by “the West.” When it was released in 2021, Squid Game immediately became a worldwide sensation on Netflix, a worldwide streaming service. At first glance, Squid Game may appear to thwart the discursive economy of Orientalism, as it was produced in South Korea; however, I suggest that we need to rethink Orientalism through an examination of this Netflix production. Orientalism is a much broader and more nuanced cultural practice that is not simply Western constructions of “the Orient.”

Author

• Thomas Nakayama