Set up clichés, the plot is high and low, who "fried" the Korean drama "Squid Game"?

Source: Global Times

[Global Times special correspondent Jin Huizhen Luo Xiaoting] Since mid-September, the Netflix Korean drama "Squid Game", which has been broadcast in 83 countries and regions around the world, has won the ratings championship in 76 countries and regions, and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said on the 27th, ""Squid Game" is expected to become the most popular Netflix drama in the past years." However, the evaluation of the drama in South Korea is mixed, and many viewers complain that "the most important thing about Korean dramas is sensationalism and humanistic feelings, and "Squid Game" can guess the end at a glance."

Squid Games

"Squid Games" tells the story of a group of frustrated people who suddenly receive a mysterious invitation to participate in a survival game, and the winner receives a reward of 45.6 billion won. The content of the game is a seemingly simple project such as "one-two-three wooden man" and "tug-of-war", but the cost of losing the game is to lose your life.

"The sensational routine that Korean audiences are familiar with has touched overseas audiences," the Korea Daily commented on the 25th, although "Squid Game" was well received at home and abroad, but there was no shortage of criticism in South Korea. Different from the cruelty and cold-bloodedness of other survival game programs, "Squid Game" is full of human brilliance, touching and warmth throughout, which is precisely the key to foreign audiences' high evaluation of "Squid Game", and it is also the groove point that is "disliked" by Korean audiences.

In the eyes of some viewers, "Squid Games" is just a hybrid version of Gambling Apocalypse + Battle Royale + "Hunger Games". But the popular theme of large-scale + "survival game" does not seem to explain why the show can explode in the world, Netflix has always been open on scale, "Squid Game" is not the first battle royale film and television work, plus there are many games based on this concept before, so why is the show on fire?

From a genre point of view, "Squid Game" belongs to the crime thriller genre that has been successful in recent years, after Netflix co-produced "Alice in the Land of the Dead" co-produced with Japan, and "Kingdom" and "Others are Hell" cooperated with South Korea. In addition, the success of the show is also due to Netflix's global strategy: joining hands with the best commercial genre creators in various countries, identifying the genres that the country is best at, and creating cool dramas with film teams at any cost.

Finally, the timing is that the new crown epidemic has made life depressed, and people need "more exciting content", which has also helped the popularity of the series continue to rise. Therefore, although the setting is old-fashioned, the plot is high and low, and the male protagonist is also an obvious disadvantage, it does not affect the audience to "fry" "Squid Game".