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Inside “Squid Game” Faced with heavy debt and financial desperation, 456 people play a series of deadly children’s games in South Korea to win a cash prize of $38 million in the hit dystopian television show on Netflix.
Koo Yong-hyun never had to face masked murder guards or rivals to slit his throat like the characters in the show. But the 35-year-old office worker who watched the “Squid Game” to the extreme in a single night in Seoul said he empathizes with the characters and their struggle to survive in the country’s highly unequal society.
Mr. Koo, who lived off self-employment and state unemployment checks after losing his fixed job, said it was “almost impossible to live comfortably on a regular employee’s salary.” in a city with illegal housing prices. Like many teenagers in South Korea and elsewhere, Mr. Koo sees growing competition to grab a slice of a shrinking pie, just like the contestants on the “Squid Game.”
These similarities helped turn the nine-episode drama into an unexpected international sensation. “Squid Game” is currently the most-watched series on Netflix in the United States and is on track to become one of the most-watched streaming services in its history. “Very likely to be our biggest show ever” Ted SarandosNetflix’s co-director said during a recent business conference.
Culturally, the show has sparked online adoption of its diverse visuals, particularly the black masks adorned with simple squares and triangles worn by anonymous guards, and a global interest in Korean children’s games that underpin deadly competitions. Recipes for Dalgona, a sweet Korean dessert at the center of a particularly tense showdown, went viral.
like “Hunger Games” books and movies, the Korean-language show keeps its viewers captivated by its violent tone, sarcastic plot, and — spoiler alert! – fans’ desire to kill their favorite characters. But it also touched a sense familiar to people around the world. United StatesProsperity has become increasingly difficult to achieve in Western Europe and the so-called rich countries. wealth inequality is widening and home prices exceed unaffordable levels.
“The stories and issues of the characters are highly personalized but also reflect the issues and realities of Korean society,” series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said in an email. He wrote the script as a movie in 2008, when many of these trends became apparent, but reworked it to reflect new concerns, including the impact of the coronavirus. (Minyoung Kim, Netflix’s head of content for the Asia-Pacific region, said the company is in talks with Mr. Hwang for a second season.)
The “Squid Game” is South Korea’s latest cultural export to win over a global audience by taking advantage of the country’s deep feelings of inequality and missing opportunities. “Parasite,” the 2019 movie that won the Oscar for best picture, paired A desperate family of swindlers with unaware members of a wealthy Seoul household. “Burning,” a 2018 arthouse hit, created tension by pitting a young delivery man against a well-to-do competitor to get a woman’s attention.
South Korea exploded in the post-war period, making it one of the richest countries in Asia, leading some economists to call its rise the “Miracle on the Han River”. But as the economy matured, wealth inequality got worse.
“South Koreans used to have a collective spirit of community,” says Yun Suk-jin, a drama critic and professor of modern literature at Chungnam National University. But the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s undermined the country’s positive growth story and “caused everyone to fight for themselves”.
The country currently ranks 11th among members, using the Gini coefficient, a measure of wealth inequality. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the research group for the richest countries in the world. (The United States is in 6th place.)
As South Korean families struggle to keep up, household debt has soared, prompting some economists to warn that debt could hamper the economy. Home prices have soared to the point that housing affordability has become a major political issue. Prices in Seoul soared 50 percent During the tenure of the country’s president, Moon Jae-in, and sparked a political scandal.
“The Squid Game” reveals the irony between the two characters. social pressure to succeed Shin Yeeun, who graduated from college in January 2020, was in South Korea just before the pandemic hit and talked about the difficulty of doing so. Now 27, she said she spent more than a year looking for a full-time job.
“It’s really hard to find a full-time job for people in their 20s these days,” he said.
South Korea also suffered a sharp drop in birthsThis is partly due to the feeling among young people that children are too expensive.
“In South Korea, all parents want to send their children to the best schools,” said Ms. Shin. “You have to live in the best neighborhoods to do that.” This requires saving enough money to buy a house, such an unrealistic goal that “I didn’t even bother to calculate how long it would take,” said Ms. Shin.
“The Squid Game” revolves around Seong Gi-hun, a gambling addict in his 40s who cannot afford a suitable birthday present for his daughter or pay for his aging mother’s medical expenses. One day you are offered the chance to participate in the Squid Game, a special event for the rich to enjoy. To claim the $38 million prize, contestants must go through six rounds of traditional Korean children’s games. Failure means death.
The 456 contestants directly voice the country’s many concerns. One is a graduate of Seoul National University, the top university in the country, and is wanted for misusing clients’ funds. Another is a North Korean defector who must take care of his brother and help his mother escape from the North. Another character is an immigrant worker whose boss refuses to pay his salary.
The characters resonated with South Korean youth who did not see a chance for advancement in society. locally known “dirt spoon” generation, most of them are obsessed with ways to get rich fast like cryptocurrencies and lottery. South Korea has biggest markets For virtual currency in the world.
Like the prize money at the show, cryptocurrencies “give people a chance to change their lives in a second,” said office worker Mr. Koo. Mr. Koo, whose previous employer was unemployed during the pandemic, said the difficulty of making money is one reason South Koreans are so obsessed with making quick money.
“I wonder how many people would attend if the Squid Game was held in real life,” he said.
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