Squid Game’s storytelling through social symbolics

Abstract

The objectives of this research are 1) to study the narrative analysis and social symbols of the Squid Game series. 2) to study viewers interpretative and opinion on the Squid Game in Y Generation. This study used the qualitative research approach by collecting data , content analysis and presentation of social symbols in the Squid Game. The data will be incorporated with the data from the in-depth interview of the communication arts expert 4 people and data from the focus group interview of generation Y aged 27-42 years 6 people.

The results of this research found that the narrative of the Squid Game series is the social simulation through South Korea children’s games. The series is driven through the drama of the characters rather than the complicated of the games. The elements of each scene and the characters are outstanding and unique. In addition, the series is full of symbolism to represent inequality in the social class through insertion in the form of direct and indirect through objects, situations, and behavior of the characters that appear in the series by interpretation through the process of signification and storytelling based on narration theory, including the opinions of the sample groups are quite similar in terms of interpretation and opinion after watching the series. This could mean that Squid Game series are uncomplicated series and easy to understand. There is a turning point to surprises and resulted in the viewers emotional in the series. More than that, it raises awareness of social issues ranging from family relationships to class inequality, as well as exposing capitalists from the elite. This is a successful series.