Contemporary Asian Popular Culture Vol. 1

This first of two volumes explores how contemporary Asian popular culture reflects and critiques social issues. The authors, from different scholarly backgrounds, examine how shows like Squid Game present a scathing critique of oppressive socio-economic structures, conceptualize national heterotopias, utopias, and dystopias, and facilitate understanding of identity formation and discourses of resistance. The volume encompasses chapters discussing themes that intersect gender, race, politics, and social dynamics. It showcases ongoing developments in Asian popular culture in the wake of the global popularity of Squid Game and in anticipation of its second season release in December 2024.

Chapter 1: Introduction. -
Part I: Sociopolitical Narratives and Critique
. - Chapter 2: Diegetic Violence as Narrative Necessity in
Squid Game
. - Chapter 3: Precarity and the Gladiators of Contemporary Television. -
Part II: Discourses and Identities
. - Chapter 4: Time, love, and memories in Dystopian Hong Kong: How Wong Kar-wai s
2046
sheds light on protestors affects in anti-extradition bill protests. - Chapter 5: Connecting the Past to the Present: Independent Short Documentary,
Camellia Flowers
. - Chapter 6: Let s team up! Constructing narrative through alliances in
Squid Game
. -
Part III: Class, Labor, and Environmental Perspectives
. - Chapter 7: Anthony Shim s
Riceboy Sleeps
(2022): Metaphors of Survival in the Korean Diasporic Experience. - Chapter 8: Exploitation and Violence: Precarious Labor in
Squid Game
. - Chapter 9: Navigating Labor and Environmental Justice with Eiichiro Oda s
One Piece
. -
Part IV: History, Nation, and Ideology
. - Chapter 10: Rome as dystopia and Japan as utopia in
Thermae Romae
(2012) and Netflix anime series
Thermae Romae Novae
(2022). - Chapter 11: Victims, Villains, Spies, and Sluts: Gendered Nationalism and the Politics of Desire in Bollywood Films. - Chapter 12:
Squid Game
as Reflexive Heterotopia: From Text to Context.