@article{ART003280271},
author={Kim, Hyeong-Seek},
title={A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show},
journal={The Journal of Korean drama and theatre},
issn={1225-7729},
year={2025},
number={86},
pages={9-45}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kim, Hyeong-Seek
TI - A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show
JO - The Journal of Korean drama and theatre
PY - 2025
VL - null
IS - 86
PB - The Learned Society Of Korean Drama And Theatre
SP - 9
EP - 45
SN - 1225-7729
AB - Fredric Jameson once noted that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism, a remark that underscores the entrenchment of late capitalism. In the present era, capitalism is perceived as the only viable political system, functioning as an ideology that silences both critique of the existing order and the search for alternatives. The Netflix drama The 8 Show can be read as an allegory of this late-capitalist governmentality. In the series, governmentality under late capitalism infiltrates the subject’s inner life by naturalizing and concealing its structural logic. First, the “topological” positional differences assigned to the participants on stage correspond to class hierarchies. Although this configuration produces severe inequality and discrimination, it is taken for granted as a natural and rightful order. Human-made and arbitrary rules are thus accepted as laws of nature, reifying unequal structures as immutable facts. Furthermore, throughout the game, no intervention that takes a human form ever appears. Only the impersonal and transcendent gaze of an omnipresent camera observes the participants. Having internalized this invisible gaze, they come to accept their situation and voluntarily perform a “show.” Such omnipresent disciplinary power obscures the object of resistance, dismantles solidarity, and ultimately ensures the perpetuation of the existing regime. The significance of The 8 Show lies not in offering consolation or a vision of resistance, but in compelling subjects to confront late-capitalist reality as it is.
KW - Capitalist Realism;Governmentality;Inequality;Internalization;Late Capitalism;Power;Inequality;The 8 Show
DO -
UR -
ER -
Kim, Hyeong-Seek. (2025). A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show. The Journal of Korean drama and theatre, 86, 9-45.
Kim, Hyeong-Seek. 2025, "A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show", The Journal of Korean drama and theatre, no.86, pp.9-45.
Kim, Hyeong-Seek "A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show" The Journal of Korean drama and theatre 86 pp.9-45 (2025) : 9.
Kim, Hyeong-Seek. A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show. 2025; 86 : 9-45.
Kim, Hyeong-Seek. "A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show" The Journal of Korean drama and theatre no.86(2025) : 9-45.
Kim, Hyeong-Seek. A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show. The Journal of Korean drama and theatre, 86, 9-45.
Kim, Hyeong-Seek. A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show. The Journal of Korean drama and theatre. 2025; 86 9-45.
Kim, Hyeong-Seek. A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show. 2025; 86 : 9-45.
Kim, Hyeong-Seek. "A Study on Late Capitalist Governmentality in the Netflix Drama The 8 Show" The Journal of Korean drama and theatre no.86(2025) : 9-45.
