International Media Studies Conference
Is Netflix Riding the Korean Wave or Vice Versa? II – Shifting Local and Global Relations
Date:
July 18 (Friday), 2025, 9:15 am – 6:00 pm
July 19 (Saturday), 2025, 9:15 am – 12:45 pm
Venue:
Humanities Centennial Hall (Widang), Yonsei University, Seoul
July 18 (Friday), 2025
09:15–09:30
Opening Remarks
Session 01: Fandom & Audience – From Reception to Cultural Discount
09:30 – 11:00
Chair: Sangjoon Lee (City University of Hong Kong
Netflix(ed) Audiences: Watching Squid Game Through Platformed Eyes (Yong Kwon, University of British Columbia)
The Creativity and Criticality of Fandoms in (Re)producing Netflix’s Squid Game on Social Media: A Translingual Perspective (Alfredo Li, University of Oxford)
Has Global OTT Reduced the Cultural Discount on Non-English Content? (Jieun Woo and Bong Gwan Jun, KAST)
Session 02: Representation – Gender, Masculinity, and BL
11:10 – 12:40
Chair: Seok-Kyeong Hong (Seoul National University)
Performing Masculinity, Conformity, Resistance, and Gender in Squid Game Season 2 (Dasae Shin, Sungshin Women’s University)
Streaming Desire: How OTT Platforms Are Reshaping the BL Drama Landscape (Su Bin Choi, Drew University)
A Study on Gender Representation in Korean Dramas with Netflix: The Reception of Korean Dramas by an International Cultural Audience from the Global South (Moisés Rubo, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul / Natalia Cândido, Rio de Janeiro State University)
Lunch Break
12:40 – 2:00
Session 03: Narrative and Adaptation
14:00 – 15:30
Chair: Joseph Jonghyun Jeon (UC Irvine)
Squid Game as Platform: Gi-Hun Will Become the Next Front Man (Dal Yong Jin, Simon Fraser University)
Squid Game, Deep Fakes, and Self-Conscious Hallyu in 2021 (John David Rhodes, University of Cambridge)
From Money Heist (2017) to Squid Game (2021): A Study on the Success of Transnational Strategies Involved in Their Successes (Alvaro Trigo, University of Salamanca / University of El Salvador)
Session 04: Locality, Glocality, and Globality
15:40 – 17:10
Chair: Seung-Hwan Shin (University of Pittsburgh)
Making of Korea as a Preferred Glocality in Netflix’s Original From Sense8 to The Recruit (Seok-Kyeong Hong, Seoul National University)
South Korean Children’s Culture to the World Through Netflix (Bonnie Tilland, Leiden University)
Riding Hallyu’s Coattails: Netflix as a ‘Necessary’ Distributor in South-South Cultural Flows (Daniela Mazur and Milena Mendonça, Universidade Federal Fluminense)
Special Conversation (optional or TBA)
17:10 – 18:00
July 19 (Saturday), 2025
Session 05: Production – From Short-Form Dramas to Netflix Originals
09:15 – 10:30
Chair: Dal Yong Jin (Simon Fraser University)
Disrupting ‘Super’ IP Dramas: Korean Short-Form Dramas in the Streaming Era (Heesun Yoon, Hanyang University of Technology)
K-drama’s Scriptwriters Inside a Profession System (Byeong Cheol Min, Ministry of Culture)
Netflix Role in Shaping Korean Wave: Content and Media Ecology (Seungki Mun, Sungkyunkwan University / Kounjik Ku, Sungkyunkwan University)
Session 06: Storytelling, Koreanness, and Talent Circulation
10:40 – 12:00
Chair: Mi-Sook Hong (Yonsei University)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Others in Arms Difference and Autistic Representation in K-Drama (Jiyoon Lee, University of Michigan)
Battle of the Streamers: A Comparative Study of K-Content Strategies in Netflix and Disney+ (Haeyeon Kim, University of Michigan / HCM)
Storytelling and Streaming: Netflix’s Influence on Talent Development in Korea (Nayoon Sim, Yonsei University)
Short Break
12:00 – 12:10
Session 07: Digital Platform, Ecosystem, and Capitalism
12:10 – 13:30
Chair: Sangjoon Lee (City University of Hong Kong)
Playing Through Capitalism: Squid Game, Acting In/on Platform Economy (Seung-Hwan Shin, University of Pittsburgh)
When Netflix Wins the Streaming War: A Dystopian Future of the K-drama Landscape (Tayoung Kim, Joongbu University)
Beyond OTT Futurism: Korean Cinema in Flux (Jiwon Ahn, Keene State College)
Session 08: Mediating Language, Human Body, and Ethnic Identity
13:40 – 15:00Chair: Mi-Sook Hong (Yonsei University)
Debating Authenticity in Subtitles: A Case Study of English Subtitles of Squid Game (Siu Ching Yuen, Chinese University of Hong Kong)
The Spectacle of Death: Disposable Bodies and Postmortem Capitalism in Squid Game (Shinhyung Lim, Yonsei University)
Seeing the Local, Touching the Global: Koreanness and Universality in Pachinko’s Visual Motifs (Yejun Chun, Yonsei University)
Contact: hallyustudies@gmail.com