에셔(M. C. Escher)의 미학을 통해 본 <오징어게임>의 서사 구조 분석

This study aims to reinterpret the visual composition and narrative strategies of the Netflix series Squid Game by employing the pictorial aesthetics of Dutch printmaker Maurits Cornelis Escher as an analytical tool. The three primary characteristics of Escher's artworks—“impossible structures,” “infinite repetition and cycles,” and “black-and-white contrast”—are deeply reflected in the spatial design, color composition, character arrangement, and overall narrative structure of Squid Game. This paper analyzes how the show's visual components function not merely as decorative elements but as devices of sensory control and ethical implication. In particular, it argues that Escher’s spatial aesthetics contribute to conveying themes critical of capitalism—such as structural oppression, illusions of freedom, and cyclical systems—through the viewer’s sensory experience. Furthermore, by linking Escher’s visual principles to the show's repetitive structure, game rules, stairway spaces, and contestant configurations, this study reveals how Squid Game’s audiovisual strategies disrupt the viewer’s perceptual framework and produce an effect of “sensory geometry” that suspends ethical judgment. Through this analysis, the study evaluates Squid Game as a significant experiment in the political aesthetics and sensory narrative of contemporary audiovisual culture and proposes a new critical interpretation of the structural violence and compo- sitional principles inherent in visual media.