A Study On The Common Meaning Spaces Of "Squid Game" In The View Of Symbolic Interactionism

In 2021,k-drama hit worldwide audience again with an eight-episode show called"Squid Game" launched on American streaming platform Netflix on Sept.17.With that,Hallyu has reached its next level of global popularity.Based on the theory of Symbolic Interactionism,this paper looks into the constituent elements of this TV drama,analyzes its texts,major global media coverages and extensive user comments via both text analysis and content analysis to explore the common meaning spaces and to disclose its "force majeure" that creates the worldwide phenomenon.Through qualitative and quantitative analysis(e.g.LDA,TF-IDF and word2vec)of the total 9 episodes of Squid Game with focus on its figures,plots,settings and language scripts plus 4,500 user comments and 47 global mainstream media reports,this study finds that the factors that resonate the global audience with the play include the meaning space at the macro and micro levels.The macro meaning space includes social anti-capitalism sentiment,economic environment pressure and influence of cultural infiltration;the micro findings include audience memory reproduction,the extension of viewership common reality,and the narrative plot that creates experience and satisfaction to global adults.This research shows that "Squid Game" provides a reproducible common topic schema for memes engagement(topical ism)on social network,which blends Korean culture with the global digital mainstream;by presenting a set of resonant and accessible Korean cultural symbols to the global audience through online streaming media,plus worldwide butterfly effect,"Squid Game" has triggered significant curiosity,desire and identity for Korean culture.The fusion of common meaning spaces and topicalism constitutes the "force majeure" of the play's global dissemination.Besides,this paper attempts to propose a communication model for digital culture,and hence suggests that China should accelerate to leverage international streaming media to amplify digital impacts via telling stories of global audience with the symbols of Chinese culture.