Why did Squid Games become a global hit?

This thriller suspense drama created by Netflix swept through the major lists in just a few weeks after its launch on September 17, not only topped the global streaming TV series list, but also the popularity of public opinion continued to rise, the surrounding derivative products sold well, and related topics continued to ferment. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said that the show has become the highest-rated non-English original drama on the platform, and is even expected to win the highest-rated laurel in Netflix's history.

The story of Squid Games is not new and bizarre. A group of indebted, desperate marginalized people are lured into a bloodthirsty game. The game prize is preset at 100 million won per person, and 456 participants need to pass six levels such as one, two or three wooden people and squid games. Victories advance to the next round of the game, but failures are directly shot and the prize money automatically flows into the winner's prize pool. The winner will receive a huge prize of 45.6 billion won (about 245 million yuan).

The theme of the battle royale survival game has been interpreted by many word-of-mouth works before, including "The Hunger Games", "Battle Royale", "Alice in the Land of the Dead" and so on. Why can Squid Games break down cultural barriers and become a global hit?

Well-made nature is the most basic, and the production team led by "Melting Pot" director Huang Dong hyuk is obviously well versed in this. The ups and downs of the plot, the relaxed narrative rhythm, and the perfect interpretation of the powerful actors all ensure the audience's rich and stimulating visual enjoyment.

What is unique is that the rules of the game of life and death duel in the play are very simple. Whether it's digging for lime candy, tug-of-war or betting on marbles and squid rings, it's all ancient children's games that don't burn your brain at all. It evokes nostalgia in the audience and moves quickly into the plot without losing focus, keeping everyone's attention on the characters themselves rather than the game.

The character setting is another highlight. Unlike the previous battle royale works with teenagers as the protagonists, the characters in "Squid Games" are mainly middle-aged and young people who are marginal in society. Although they are the same social bottom, their "color" is different. Frustrated men who have suffered from layoffs, social elites who have failed to invest miserably, foreign laborers who have been squeezed by black-hearted bosses, North Korean defectors who have been deceived by intermediaries... All kinds of people were forced by fate to the last corner. This undoubtedly maximizes the audience of Squid Games. Especially at present, social competition is becoming more and more fierce, civilian debt is on the rise, and the sudden outbreak of new crown pneumonia has brought various uncertainties, and the survival pressure of the general public is increasing. At this time, pulling them into the scene of the play, facing the pain and struggle of the people at the bottom, can stimulate the sympathy, fear and resonance of the audience.

Then return to the eternal and universal topic of money and morality. Every episode of Squid Games is a constant torture of human nature.

Life and money, which is more important? We see that this bloody game was once suspended, fear triumphed over greed, and participants quit the game by voting. However, the cruelty of real life is no less than the game itself, and after several trade-offs, most of the participants eventually return to the arena of life and death. This is a cruel truth – for people in desperate situations, life and money are simply intertwined and inseparable.

Similarly, emotion and reason, good and evil, the boundaries are not clear. In Squid Games, sometimes you need to show kindness to those around you and find allies to get through the crisis together. But sometimes allies can suddenly become your enemies, and you can only survive if you kill each other. When the rules of civilization are broken, the game exposes the evil of selfishness and greed in human nature, and also makes people see the compassion and kindness that is adhered to. A review of the Süddeutsche Zeitung said that every choice here is empathetic to the audience, "You keep asking yourself, if I were them, what would I do?" ”

The most ironic thing is that near the end of the game, everyone finds that this survival game of the same class fighting each other is just a tool for the rich to seek gambling excitement, similar to a horse race. The organizers also told the participants in a resounding manner, "Everyone who participates in the game is equal, because we want to give those who are unfairly treated and discriminated against in the outside world the last chance to win fair competition." ”

The viewer is very contradictory. At the end, the male protagonist says fiercely to the other end of the phone, "We are not horses, we are humans!" It seems to give people hope of resistance; but in the context of the widening disparity between the rich and the poor and the widespread social injustice, this sentence is full of doubt and powerlessness.

Perhaps this is the original intention of director Huang Donghe. In an interview, he said: "What I want to write is a fable about contemporary capitalist society. ”

Lin Wei

Source: China Youth Daily