Squid Game

This book presents an analysis of how the economic Korean Miracle spread into the cultural “Korean Wave” (Hallyu). First only in Asian countries and then around the world, the rising popularity of the Korean Wave continued within the pandemic—despite or even because of policies of digital lockdowns. Partially, this has been by design as Korea for decades has had a very strong fast development drive in telecommunications and that aided the growth of its cultural wave. Partially however, this became exclusively by default how the Korean Wave had to spread increasingly in a digital manner after 2020 globally, in response to many countries’ rules regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in their attempts to enforce a decline in face-to-face content consumption.

This book presents an analysis of how the economic Korean Miracle spread into the cultural “Korean Wave” (Hallyu). First only in Asian countries and then around the world, the rising popularity of the Korean Wave continued within the pandemic—despite or even because of policies of digital lockdowns. Partially, this has been by design as Korea for decades has had a very strong fast development drive in telecommunications and that aided the growth of its cultural wave. Partially however, this became exclusively by default how the Korean Wave had to spread increasingly in a digital manner after 2020 globally, in response to many countries’ rules regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in their attempts to enforce a decline in face-to-face content consumption. In retrospect, this has meant only more digital growth and innovation for the Korean Wave in past years compared to other cultures' entertainment complexes that suffered more. Korea's earlier digital readiness combined with later lockdown conditions and pushed the Korean Wave further ahead.

Squid Game

E se Squid Game non fosse solo una popolare serie di Netflix i cui personaggi si sfidano in lotte all’ultimo sangue per la sopravvivenza? Il volume di Guillermo Andrés Duque Silva porta in primo piano ciò che si staglia sullo sfondo di questa storia: la perversa logica della competizione senza regole che governa l’economia postcapitalista della nostra società. Ripercorrendo la vicenda del protagonista, Seong Gi-hun, l’autore propone una spietata analisi del rapporto tra indebitamento e concentrazione della ricchezza nel capitalismo contemporaneo, da cui emerge la figura dell’homo debitum, soggiogato dai debiti e il cui “comportamento creditizio” è la condizione di base della sua stessa esistenza. Duque Silva si oppone con fermezza alla feroce dinamica tra debitore e creditore, che ha luogo non solo in Squid Game ma nella vita di tutti i giorni. D’altra parte il suo libro è un sincero sforzo per rispettare appieno la funzione di ogni spoiler: “rovinare la fine di una storia”, non quella di Squid Game ma del gioco postcapitalista in cui viviamo.

Squid Game