The Meaning of the Game: A Semiotic Analysis of Squid Game

A value system is conveyed in a narration by volitions, actions and passions, spaces, times, themes, and figures, namely the elements that make texts sharable and potentially inexhaustible at the time of fruition, and indeed replicable, as demonstrated by the agglomeration of expressive forms of Hallyu, “the Korean wave,” such as the popularity of South Korean cultural products. South Korean culture is experiencing many ways of interpreting itself and many connections with alterity in the modern world, resulting in an interplay of novel forms of expression to valorize cultural heritage. Academy Award-winning films, or K-drama and K-pop, among the pillars of Hallyu, depict the perseverance of tradition while manifesting the disruptive innovation of Korea’s economic might and influence, demonstrating how media narratives construct the concept of Koreanness around the world. Each of these pillars contains unique aspects that fulfill the semiotic criteria of an ethic of persistence of the defining characteristics of a culture, whose borders are ever-confronted by alterity and whose survival is ensured by a never-ending stream of innovation. Lotman argues that translation, which disseminates information about the proprietary cultural legacy, occurs at the borders during dialogue with other cultures.