The Hallyu Project N Post45 Cultural Specificity, Hybridity, and Transnationality in Squid Game Benjamin Han 02.23.23 etflix's original series Squid Game emerged as one of the most dis- cussed TV series in 2021, generating 1.65 billion hours of viewing in 28 days after its release on September 17 while becoming the number one streaming show around the world. 1 After the global success of Squid Game, many meme videos circulated on the Internet, legitimating the transnational appeal of the South Korean (hereafter Korean) TV series. For example, Saturday Night Live did a comedy sketch featuring Rami Malek and Pete Davidson with selective scenes from the series, which generated more than thirteen million views on YouTube. What is particularly striking about this video is not its use of satire and parody but its attempt to recreate the series as a Western with cowboys and country music. Additionally, the substi- tution of Korean characters with primarily white actors prompts us to con- sider whether the series with white characters would have enjoyed the same Cultural Specificity, Hybridity, and Transnationality in Squid Game - Post45 https://post45.org/2023/02/cultural-specificity-hybridity-and-transnation... 1 of 10 11/4/23, 11:33 AM