▍ Salt Finance
Author | Paul Tam
On-call editing | A knife
"Squid Game" is a hit, which has aroused a lot of discussion, roughly in three directions.
First, the business prospects of Netflix, as an Internet entertainment giant that has only risen in recent years, how far can it go by relying on this popular network drama model? The second is the gap in the level of cultural workers in various countries, why do Korean TV drama producers frequently produce high-quality products, and some other countries are not popular, what is the deep reason? The third is that the film reflects the existential crisis of ordinary people, is there no solution? Especially in the era of global credit expansion and high household debt.
Each of the above three questions can write a book. But some people may feel that the "pattern" of this film is too small. It tells the story of a group of men and women who are not satisfied with their lives and work, in order to participate in a battle royale game organized by an underground criminal network for a huge bonus, and finally only one person can survive and get the full prize money.
How "huge" is the "huge" bonus? 45.6 billion won, converted into renminbi, is only about 246 million. This money, in the most cattle cities in East Asia, is estimated to be able to buy a house. For East Asian societies accustomed to long-term credit inflation and asset prices, it is indeed "small". You see, only more than 200 million, I go to the last city, I can circle 2 billion, can I commit hundreds of people to die?
The film is not much to say, very "negative energy", we say something positive, optimistic.
I noticed the male protagonist, Lee Jung-jae, who was born in 1973 and is 48 years old. The competition for Male Artists in South Korea is very fierce, but he is still so popular when he is nearly half a hundred years old. In "The Squid Game", he fell in love with the heroine played by the new generation of Korean model Zheng Haojuan (only a hazy emotional bud), and the sense of violation was not too strong. The latter was born in 1994, and the two are 21 years apart.
Stills from the TV series Squid Game
Lee Jung-jae is not alone, including Jang Dong-kin, Hwang Jeong-min, Ha Jeong-woo, Choi Min-sik, etc., these Korean male artists are all 40 or 50 years old, and Choi Min-sik is 60 years old, but they seem to have been very popular. Outside of South Korea, the entertainment industry in many countries and regions also has this trend of uncles.
In China, tough guys such as Wu Jing, Zhang Hanyu and Zhen Zidan have also suddenly become popular in recent years. Wu Jing was born in 1974, 47 years old, and Zhang Hanyu was born in 1963, the same year as Zhen Zidan, both 58 years old. Andy Lau, the first of Hong Kong's "Four Heavenly Kings", has also continued to have good works launched in recent years, and he was born in 1961 at the age of 60. Looking at India, Bollywood's "three great khans" Amir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan are also eternal, all of them were born in 1965, all of them are 56 years old.
Why is there such a phenomenon of uncles in the show business circle? I think there are two reasons. First, it is undeniable that men have a longer "professional lifespan" in show business than women, which is not fair to some excellent female literary and artistic workers. But there is no way, it is indeed an objective fact. The long "professional life" of male artists also makes it possible for middle-aged celebrities to become popular.
Stills from the movie "Chosin Lake", actor Wu Jing
Another reason is more important. The rise of middle-aged male movie stars is either born with talent, red in their twenties, and has always been red, such as Jet Li; or through personal efforts, constantly fighting monsters and upgrading, from the second and third lines to the first line. More people are the latter.
For example, Wu Jing, who used to be a second- and third-line martial arts movie star, has filmed many TV series, and only found a suitable market for himself in middle age, creating heroes and becoming a superstar figure. Before "The Gathering" (released in 2007), Zhang Hanyu was also unknown, you don't know who he is, and now he is the representative of the "intelligent tough guy".
In his early years, Zhen Zidan has been living in the shadow of Jet Li, and later, the Chinese kung fu film is Zhao Wenzhuohong, who is 7 years younger than him. Finally, it was his turn and his Ip Man.
Stills from the movie "Ip Man", actor Zhen Zidan
Therefore, whether Chinese or foreign, the experience of these middle-aged uncles themselves is the process of a person striving to go upstream and exert the value of personal struggle: from an ordinary uncle to a super uncle. The audience's love for them, in addition to the work itself, is a kind of self-based reflection, that is, they can see the ideal state of themselves.
In times of uncertainty, everything is being reconstructed, and the greatest advantage of mature men is to give people a sense of security and certainty, which is exactly what the times need.
So, go for it, ordinary uncle!