Streaming giant Netflix has released another hit with ‘Squid Game’, taking up viewers’ hearts by storm. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk tactfully depicts the working class Koreans drowning in debt in a world run by the top 1%. Although Hunger Games-esque this show plays with the humane and inhumane elements of the world and illustrates the deep rooted struggles of the ordinary people. It’s thoroughly intriguing yet disturbing, with stomach churning gore filling the episodes. Despite the constant jolting violence it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats making it extremely binge-worthy, as the 22.8 billion viewers would agree.
The following synopsis contains spoilers, on that account read at your own risk. The show follows people swamped with debt selling their lives to an ominous man in a suit who has promised them money if they participate in playing traditional children’s games. Unsuspecting Gi Hun, the main character, accepts the offer but soon realises it’s not just old games but a matter of life or death- lose the game and you die. It’s a whole scheme set up by elitist rich men who torture the 400 participants for their entertainment, one of whom lies among the players in plain sight; when revealed, this traitor provides just one of several plot twists and “woah” factors. As the games progress, a slew of more gruesome challenges ensue eliminating players in every turn.
The pastel toned environment is a stark contrast to the immense emotional and physical pain the characters go through which art director Chae Kyung Sun has brilliantly showcased.To ensure the set felt real, the giant sized games were built intricately for the actors to actually use. She has immaculately done the clever easter eggs and art design, the devil’s in the details after all. For the participants of Squid Game, Chae Kyung Sun shared that each of the characters were seen as people who had been abandoned, each carrying physical and metaphorical baggage. Director Hwang stated that he intentionally made the games easy to understand so “Viewers can focus more on the complexities of the characters and be fully immersed in the story when the rules of the games are simple”. Contrary to popular belief it turns out the Korean aspect of the show is what made it this popular. International viewers got a glimpse of everyday Korean life, culture and struggles, moreover they seem to have been appreciative of it.
Hwang shares that he first developed the story for “Squid Game” 14 years ago in 2008. He said “The plot of Squid Game was harshly criticized by people then for twisting the nostalgia of Korean childhood games into vehicles of survival-death scenarios,” adding that the theme now is being praised as “realistic.” “A great advantage is that ‘Squid Game’ was released simultaneously for all audiences around the world. That’s why it was possible to get such an unimaginable response in a single week. It was a great decision to work with Netflix,” Hwang remarked.
Other than the culture, the audience seems to have fallen in love with the cast. While the two male leads, Lee Jung-jae, 48, and Park Hae-soo, 39, only started their Instagram accounts over the weekend, they have already amassed 1.7 million and 960,000 followers respectively. The breakout star of the Netflix series, model-actress Jung Ho-yeon, 27, has been gaining close to a million followers daily since the show was released and is currently the top South Korean actress on Instagram with 15m followers. Squid Game is set to become Netflix’s most watched show, surpassing Bridgerton while also being a foreign show and rightfully so.
“Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films” said Bong Joon-ho, director of the sensational Parasite. The hype surrounding the increasing number of international films raises the question: How many more undiscovered gems might have blown up if English speaking viewers had given them a chance?