Anti-Capitalist Ideologies Uncovered in the Marxist Analysis of Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Netflix Original Squid Game (2021)

Authors

Yuri A. Arakaki, University of WashingtonFollow

Author Biography

Yuri Arakaki is a senior at University of Washington currently majoring in arts, media, and culture, but plans to pursue graduate school in community-based psychology, having a special interest in action and reform against class disparity alongside other social welfare issues.

Document Type

Undergraduate Research Paper

Abstract

Through a Marxist analytical lens, this research presents a critical examination of Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Netflix Original Squid Game (2021). With the objective of exposing the major liabilities of a modern capitalist model, this paper provides context and a framework of Marxist analysis, followed by a discussion of the media form itself, the illusion of freedom, and elements of dehumanization and violence. It also examines the rapacious urgency of supply and demand, perpetuated by capitalism in the television show, as well as in its parallel manifestation in reality.

University

University of Washington

Course

TCOM 444: Gender, Ethnicity, Class, And The Media

Instructor

Ellen Moore

Recommended Citation

Arakaki, Yuri A. (2023) "Anti-Capitalist Ideologies Uncovered in the Marxist Analysis of Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Netflix Original Squid Game (2021)," Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/access/vol7/iss1/4