Consuming Ali Abdul: conditional acceptance in the context of Korean multiculturalism

Abstract

This article examines the representation of Ali Abdul, the Pakistani character in the global Netflix hit Squid Game. While Ali has been celebrated for increasing South Asian representation in Korean media, we contextualize his portrayal through the lens of Korean multiculturalism. In doing so, we consider how the representation of Ali reflects the conditional acceptance of migrant men established by state-led Korean multicultural policies and politics. Through a close reading of the conditions that humanize Ali as both worthy of sympathy and unequal to his Korean counterparts, we argue that Ali’s acceptance hinges upon his relation to Korean protagonists in ways that further a vision of ethnocentric nation-building through the racialization of dark-skinned masculinity.