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사회비판적 ‘K-콘텐츠’는 세상을 바꿀 수 있는가? : <스카이캐슬>, <기생충>, <오징어 게임> 의 분열하는 기호들
초록
이 논문은 오늘날 한국 사회의 불평등과 불공정, 부정의에 대한 비판적 시선과 담론을 제시하면서 호평을 받은 <스카이캐슬>, <기생충>, <오징어 게임>의 텍스트를 심층적으로 분석하였다. 이를 통해 사회비판적 대중문화 콘텐츠가 지닌 저항적 기호와 후기 자본주의 문화산업의 산물로서 이들이 지닌 상품 기호가 어떤 방식으로 긴장하고 갈등하는지, 혹은 공모하는지 고찰하고자 하였다. 특히, 텍스트와 연관된 광고와 상품, 이벤트, 미디어 플랫폼 등의 상호텍스트를 함께 분석해, 텍스트의 저항성과 상호텍스트의 지배적 욕망이 상호 모순과 충돌을 일으켜 ‘분열된 기호’로 귀결되고 있음을 드러내고자 하였다.
구체적으로 <스카이캐슬>의 경우, 텍스트 내에서 한국 교육 현장의 비인간적 입시경쟁과 불공정을 신랄하게 비판하지만, 상호텍스트인 광고와 PPL 상품을 통해서는 오히려 현재의 부조리한 교육제도에 순응하거나 오히려 이를 선전하는 모습을 보였다. <기생충>은 하층 계급의 가난한 일상을 극사실적으로 재현하고 공간의 위계 등을 통해 계급 격차에 대한 문제의식을 드러내고 있다. 반면, 재벌 대기업과 동행한 미국 아카데미 시상식 수상 등을 계기로 자본주의 사회의 심원한 계급 격차와 불평등을 가시화하였다. <오징어 게임> 역시 승자독식 체제의 살인적 경쟁, 신자유주의적 자유와 공정의 기만성을 우화적으로 폭로하면서도, 넷플렉스를 비롯한 다양한 미디어 플랫폼에서는 시청률 1위 순위에 대한 환호, 추천 알고리즘이 지닌 자율과 폐쇄의 양가성 등으로 지배 이데올로기를 자기재현적으로 재연하고 있다.
이처럼 사회비판적 대중문화 콘텐츠(기표)는 1차적으로는 사회의 다양한 구조적 문제를 건드리며 저항적 담론(기의)을 담고 있는 텍스트(기호)로 볼 수 있다. 그러나 이 텍스트(기호)는 의미작용의 2차적 단계에서 상호텍스트의 일부(새로운 기표)가 되고, 자본주의 문화산업의 욕망과 관성에 포섭되거나 굴복한 다른 상호텍스트들, 그리고 그 맥락 속에 담긴 지배 이데올로기(기의)와 뒤얽히면서 끝내 분열되고 만다. 이러한 사회비판적 대중문화의 분열적 속성에서 자본주의의 진화된 신화와 회수 전략을 엿볼 수 있으며, 이는 한국 사회에 투사하는 메시지의 담론적 분열로도 이어질 수 있다. 그러므로 감춰진 이데올로기의 작용을 꿰뚫어 보며 보다 주체적인 대중문화 생산과 해독을 수행하기 위해서는 더욱 창조적이고 정교한 비판적 사유와 통찰, 상상력의 모색이 필요한 때이다.
Abstract
This study carefully examined the texts of "Sky Castle," "Parasite," and "Squid Game," which garnered positive reviews while expressing critical viewpoints and discourses on inequality, unfairness, and injustice in contemporary Korean society. We looked at how tense, conflicting, or convoluted the resistance symbols of socially critical pop culture contents are as well as how they function as products of the post-capitalist cultural industry. In particular, it was hoped to demonstrate how text's resistance and the dominating need for intertext resulted in mutual contradiction and conflict, leading to "divided symbols" by examining text-related advertisements and intertexts such as products, events, and media platforms together.
Specifically, in the case of <Sky Castle>, the text harshly criticizes inhuman competition and unfairness in Korean education system, but the inter-texts such as advertisements and PPL, products show rather yielding to the current absurd educational system and ironically promoting it. <Parasite> realistically reproduced the harsh daily lives of the lower classes and expressed a sense of problem with the class gap through the hierarchy of space, but once again it dramatically visualized the profound class gap and inequality of capitalism with the award of the US Academy Awards accompanied by conglomerates, sponsored the film. <Squid Game> also allegorically reveals the murderous competition of the ‘winner-takes-all’ system and the deceitfulness of neoliberal freedom and fairness. At the same time, on the Netflix media platform, the governing ideology is reproduced in a self-reproducing manner through cheers for the top ranking and the ambivalence of autonomy and closure in recommendation algorithms.
As a result, texts that address numerous social problems and structural concerns and feature discourses of resistance could be considered to be the main form of socially critical popular cultural contents (signifier). However, at the secondary stage of signification, this text (the sign) is incorporated into the intertext as a new signifier, is entangled with other intertexts that have been subsumed or given up to the demands of the capitalist culture industry and the dominant ideology present in that context, and is ultimately divided. The analysis shows a glimpse of capitalism's evolving mythos and recuperation technique from the polarizing nature of this socially critical popular culture, which can also result in discursive differences in contemporary Korean society. Therefore, it's necessary to develop more sophisticated, creative critical thinking, insight, and imagination so that we can produce pop culture more independently and purge it of concealed ideologies.
Keywords:
Sky Castle, Parasite, Squid Game, intertextuality, semiotics키워드:
스카이캐슬, 기생충, 오징어게임, 상호텍스트성, 기호학References
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