Have you seen the hit Korean drama Squid Game? Even if you haven't seen it, I think it's a big name for a long time.
Some people say that it is another Korean masterpiece that reflects the lament of the gap between the rich and the poor under capitalism after "Parasite", if you have not finished the 9 episodes of the drama, let Xiaomei use 5 minutes to explain this popular phenomenon for you
What exactly is Squid Games about? Why is it so hot? And those frequently appear on major social media ● ▲ graphics, orange-yellow giant dolls and lime candy what exactly represent? Still confused by these popular topics and symbols?
This "Network Hot What" article, just to help you quickly "make up" for it, catch up with the boom of this "Squid Game"!
As for friends who have already cooked the whole series in one go, please continue to slide down to verify that you really understand "Squid Game"?
Q1: What is Squid Games?
"Squid Games" is a Korean original drama that launched on Netflix in mid-September this year. The series is only 9 short episodes.
The plot is mainly about a group of people at the bottom of society who are saddled with huge debts, and in order to get rid of the financial crisis, they participate in a cruel survival game. It not only collects the elements of the popular survival drama in recent years, but also is full of bloody and brutal bridge sections.
In this survival game, 456 contestants have the opportunity to receive a huge prize of 45.6 billion won. This is equivalent to each contestant worth 100 million won. However, the cruel thing is that if the contestants do not successfully pass the game level, they will lose their lives and be directly executed.
The impoverished gambler male protagonist Cheng Qixun was also selected to join the survival game. The male protagonist finally won all the prizes in the prize pool with his wit, the help of those around him, his kindness to people and his good luck.
But the rest of the contestants, one by one, have revealed the ugly side of human nature in one human test after another, and even lost their lives.
Q2: Why is it called Squid Games?
"Squid Game" is not just the title of the play, but also a traditional Korean childhood game. This game will draw squares, triangles and circles on the ground as boundaries. Because these figures are arranged together, they look like squid from a distance, so they are called squid games
The concept of squid games is similar to the hopscotch/jumping grid games we played as children. It's just that there are differences in gameplay.
The game is divided into defensive and offensive sides. The attacking party must start from the circle behind, and simply step on the top of the triangle to win. As for the defender, he needs to do his best to block the attacking party's advance. As long as the two sides can push each other out of bounds, it is also a victory.
And this game is the final level of this series.
The simplest childhood game revealed
The most complex side of adult society
Except for the squid game, which is the last level, the other five game sessions in the survival game are also run through traditional Korean childhood games. Like the familiar one-two-three wooden man, tug-of-war, marble game, and relatively unfamiliar candy and stepping stones to cross the bridge.
It's just that when childhood games will determine life and death, it will turn into a cruel fight between adults.
The whole "Squid Game" can be said to be a simplest child's game to expose the most complex side of adult society.
Q3: How popular is Squid Games?
Launched less than a month ago, "Squid Game" successfully triggered a global topic and a high degree of discussion, which can be said to be the first Korean drama to achieve a truly global phenomenon.
How popular this show is, let's use a few simple data to count the scenery and achievements of "Squid Game":
One day after its launch, "Squid Games" reached the top in South Korea and became the Netflix ratings champion
Five days after its launch, "Squid Games" topped the ratings charts in the United States, becoming the first Korean drama to reach the top of the Netflix list in the United States
According to data from Netflix's ranking statistics site Flex Patrol on September 30,
Squid Games has topped the ratings in 81 countries, except India.
In China, not only on Weibo hot search, in the film and television works Douban network, "Squid Game" has also landed on the top of the real-time film and television works popularity list. So far, the rating has reached 7.6 points (scored by more than 300,000 people)
As of now, "Squid Game" has a freshness index of 91% and a popcorn index of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, a well-known foreign film and television rating website.
Q4: What "peripheral products" have been derived from Squid Games?
"Squid Games" has a powerful "squid effect" around the world. Not only the popularity of the main actors has soared, the phone numbers revealed in the play have been exploded, and the costumes and props of the characters in the play have also been popular.
On social media, there are also many related network memes. In particular, there are 3 things that can be said to be everywhere. Now let's take a look at these 3 things, what exactly do they represent in the play?
A）●▲■
graphics
Even if you haven't seen Squid Games at all, you must have seen the graphic! Yes, nowadays, merchants can say that this ●▲■ graphics can be used to the fullest, and use creativity to tie up with "Squid Game". But what exactly does the card with these 3 graphics represent?
In fact, this is a business card with a super high appearance rate in "Squid Game". Simply put, when the contestant is invited to participate in the survival game, he will get this business card with the picture of ●▲■, which is equivalent to the invitation.
The three graphics also run through the whole play, and there are traces of ●▲■ all the time. For example, the last game level mentioned above, "Squid Game", is composed of these graphics. These graphics are also featured in the characters' drink bottles, the Last Supper, and even on masks and clothes.
These 3 figures also represent 3 classes
●: Represents the lowest rank, specialized in the work of labor
▲: Represents the soldier, that is, the instrument of killing
■: On behalf of the administrator, only they can speak, through monitoring to supervise everyone's every move
B) Lime sugar
The second item that goes from the middle of the show to the Internet and real life is Dalgona Candy. The browned lime is actually a traditional Korean snack.
In the play, the candy is actually the second level in the game: the contestant will receive a piece of candy and a needle printed with a graphic provided by the organizer. The contestant needs to cut out the graphics in ten minutes to pass the level.
Different patterns mean different game difficulties. For example, in the play, the male protagonist chose the "umbrella" with the most complex graphics, and almost got eliminated. Fortunately, in the end, the male protagonist used his saliva to lick the candy, and he managed to catch the last minute and cut out the shape of the umbrella.
The "Poke Lime Challenge" has taken the world by storm
After the popularity of this play, many network memes also took this plot as a laughing point, printing very complex patterns on the lime candy, and teasing that if you encounter a more complex pattern than the umbrella graphic, it is probably useless to use licking.
(Qingming upper river map to understand the following)
Not only that, but the "Poke Sugar Challenge" is even more popular around the world. People who have watched the play can't help but challenge themselves. Homemade candy props are sold online. Videos demonstrating the production of lime candy have also been widely circulated online.
C) Giant doll
After Annabelle, another doll that is equally frightening appears in The Squid Game.
This giant doll with double ponytail bangs and an orange strappy skirt doesn't look scary either. But as long as you have seen the drama of friends, I am afraid that it will only be compared with horror.
Because this giant doll appears in the 123 Wooden Man game levels in the show. It has a positioning system in its eyes, so as soon as the giant doll looks back and detects that someone is moving, it will shoot and kill the contestants remotely. In Squid Games, more than half of the contestants lost their lives because they were detected by this giant doll.
Giant dolls appear at The Sherwood Mall?
Despite the horror, the giant doll has also become the representative of this drama. Even many shopping malls in Xuelong have put this giant doll "P map" into their malls for publicity. Many fans of the drama almost thought that they could really meet this giant doll in the mall.
Q5: What other imitations have been set off in Squid Games?
The popular "Squid Game" has also successfully exported a large amount of Korean culture, not only the korean traditional games that appear in large parts of the play such as the Poke Sugar Challenge, the rolling marbles are very popular, and the food and props that appear in the drama such as spicy fried rice cakes, shochu, etc. have become the best representatives of Korean culture.
Spanish League football league team Madrid Sporting Club also caught up with this trend, playing a self-made version of the "squid game", Bo Jun smiled.
British Hollywood actor and screenwriter Simon Peggy also posted photos of herself wearing the green tracksuit from Squid Games on social media. People in various countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, uploaded imitation videos to social media to attract the attention of netizens.
Q6: Why is Squid Game so popular?
The popularity of "Squid Games" has become an indisputable fact. So why is this drama so popular? Hot spot Xiaomei sorted out 2 major reasons.
1. Novel theme
Survival game genre episodes have not been uncommon in recent years. However, the reason why "Squid Game" can break through the siege and the special theme definitely has a lot to do with it. The survival game that gambles on life is the simplest children's game. It seems that the presentation of contradictions and conflicts gives the people a completely different stimulus.
2. Reflect the gap between the rich and the poor The cruelty of real life
The main axis of "Squid Games" revolves around a group of people at the bottom of the social ladder who are plagued by debt. Faced with the enormous pressures of money and life, they are willing to gamble their lives in exchange for the only chance to get a high prize. And this also makes "Squid Game" another Korean masterpiece that reflects the lament of the gap between the rich and the poor under capitalism after "Parasitic High".
The poor gamble their lives to win prize money
The rich see life as a plaything
Especially when the plot comes to an end, it is revealed that the contestants gamble their lives in order to win the prize money, but there is a group of rich people behind the scenes, who treat everything in front of them as a normal game, regard human life as a plaything, and express the disparity between the rich and the poor to the fullest.
At the same time, this drama has also spawned many issues in Korean society, such as strikes, investment fraud, political situations and so on. And these are not only south Korean issues, director Hwang Dong Hyuk said in an interview that South Korea is not the only country that has experienced fierce competition, and this is why fans of the drama in any country will have personal feelings and vent their emotions.
3. Use 6 game levels to uncover the ugliness of human nature.
Although the biggest core of this drama is still the most enthusiastic human analysis of Korean film and television dramas. But compared with other film and television dramas, "Squid Game" is more daring to explore the deepest part of people's hearts. With 6 game levels to tell you, in the face of life and death, in the face of relatives, friends, brothers, girlfriends, how many people can really sacrifice themselves?
After reading this article, do you have a better understanding of the hot topic of "Squid Game"? Don't forget to share it with your relatives and friends and "literacy" for everyone!
(Some of the graphics and text originate from the Internet, invaded and deleted)
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