The (Unavoidable) Universal Appeal of “Squid Game” Is By Design

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https://amplify.nabshow.com/articles/the-terrible-universal-appeal-of-squid-game-is-by-design/

Squid Game is first and foremost highly entertaining, provided you’re not too squeamish. But the cognoscenti have latched onto it an allegory about capitalism, a satire on class war and a morality tale about a person’s worth in the mould of Oscar winning Korean hit Parasite.

With good reason too, since creator Hwang Dong-hyuk says that’s by design.

“I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life,” he told Variety. 

The South Korean TV phenomenon tells the tale of financially broke people who risk their lives in a mysterious survival game that has a cash prize of $40 million.

It has a clearly hit a chord with international audiences since it has Netflix’s top show in more than 90 countries, with about 95% of viewers outside South Korea, Netflix told The Journal.

As universal as its themes may be – and he wrote the show with an international audience in mind - the origins of Squid Game’s politics are peculiarly Korean.

“South Korean society is also very competitive and stressful,” Hwang explained. “We have 50 million people in a small place. And, cut off from the continent of Asia by North Korea, we have developed an island mentality. Some of that stress is carried over in the way that we are always preparing for the next crisis. In some ways it is a motivator. It helps us ask what more should be done. But such competition also has side-effects.”

Talking to an Indian entertainment site Hwang added “[Korea] is the only single country remaining divided in the world. The people of the same origin are divided because of the military tension and there are a lot of people staying in a small sized land.”

Not quite true if you live in Cyprus, but we’ll give him a pass.

He added: “We have a very hyper-connectivity with a high-speed internet so a lot of influences are being given and received among all the population living in this country.”

It’s an idea he conceived a decade ago and was apparently rejected by several studios not keen on such a seemingly bloodthirsty concept.

Eventually picked up by Netflix in 2019, it caught the zeitgeist because it’s a product of changing circumstance.

 “The world has changed into a place where such peculiar, violent survival stories are actually welcomed," he told Korea Times. "People commented on how the series is relevant to real life. Sadly, the world has changed in that direction. The series' games that participants go crazy over align with people's desires to hit the jackpot with things like cryptocurrency, real estate and stocks. So many people have been able to empathize with the story."

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the global economy, it exacerbated the disparity between the rich and the poor, Hwang told the WSJ. Even vaccine rollouts vary greatly based on whether a country is wealthy or not, he said. “The world has changed. All of these points made the story very realistic for people compared to a decade ago.”

Netflix should take some credit not least for picking up a show others had rejected. You could argue it’s a case of one mega hit in return for throwing money at the Korean market. It has spent $700 million for Korean films and television shows from 2015 to 2020, the WSJ reports and has a $500m year pot earmarked for 2021.

Netflix needs original content as more and more of its back catalogue are hived off by the studios back to Peacock, Disney+, HBO Max or wherever. Whichever algorithm or commissioner read the runes on Squid Games deserves plaudits since Netflix has highly prized IP on their hands (even if Hwang is shy about committing to a Squid 2 or a feature spin-off just yet).

The Playstation-style game logos that introduce each episode, are repeated on guards vizors and represent the final Squid Game itself have become merch and a meme.

The streamer also had a strong hand in guiding the show toward reaching a mass audience.  With a potential language barrier, Netflix emphasized visuals, reports WSJ, outfitting competitors in green tracksuits (with guards in lurid pink) and building colorful sets resembling children’s playgrounds. Some of the rules for the traditional Korean games were simplified or altered.

It’s also been subtitled in 31 languages and dubbed in 13.

The director says that the games depicted in the series are easy to understand – not just for Koreans but the global audiences.

“(They) can understand the rules instantly and from a certain point afterwards they can not only understand the rules of the games but more the people and their emotions. That I would say sets ‘Squid Game’ apart from other survival games.”

None of this is remotely subtle. 

 “Hwang wants to tell us that we’re habituated to an absurd struggle from the moment we’re born—that we can’t imagine the end of capitalism because it shapes the way we think—so he shows us traumatized adults playing marbles at gunpoint,” writes Brian Phillips.

He points out that, unlike Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, Hwang’s characters are fully drawn and full of humanity. The violence is never made to look glamourous. Unlike Saw, it never becomes torture porn.

“Everything here, even the murder, is labor. For all but a few gold-masked VIPs, drudgery is inescapable; you’re a drone, even if you work in the cartoon villains’ megafortress.”