Social inequality, poverty and debt. Why the success of ‘Squid Game’ reminds us of the times we’re living in
Who would have thought that a dystopian tale of 465 debt-ridden contestants willing to stake their lives for 456 billion won (about $38.6 million), playing a deadly version of the children’s game, as it did? Since then squid gamePremiering on September 17, the nine-episode Korean series directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk has been the most watched and talked about show worldwide – with 111 billion views since its release, making it Netflix’s biggest ever. The series was done.
real life irony
- Penny Hirwani, a Jaipur-based culture writer at The Independent, explains that such shows help people deal with trauma and think about what is happening in the world. “The Squid game belongs to the battle royale realm, like the Hunger Games, The Running Man and the Liar Game. The deadly game tropes, story, class differences, and deaths, however, make it a fascinating watch. They saw the humans in the series as mere toys. Seen as – something that humans usually do with other living beings on this planet for their own benefit. It’s almost ironic.”
“The beauty is spectacular and unlike anything on TV right now,” says film critic Raja Sen. squid game Attracts us with drama on a very universal level and makes us care about the characters, then it captivates the audience like a reality show: with rule-changes, advance levels and elimination threats. “Viewers living through a pandemic can more easily relate to characters whose existence is threatened. We’ve all lost friends and family over the past year, and this, along with various levels of anxiety and uncertainty, makes us feel trapped like the characters on the show. So, cheering for the hero feels satisfactorily cathartic,” he adds.
rise of thriller
in between Slow-burning romance and fun comedy, K-dramas are tackling topics that highlight the ills of their society. And lately there has been a growing interest in this type of horror-thriller. like squid gamesuperhit 2019 zombie series, Empire – directed by Kim Seong-hun, and set in the 16th century – is an ironic prediction of the future. While it follows the story of a kingdom infested with a mysterious plague that turns people into zombies, one of the show’s stars, Bey Dunna, believes that the period drama (all set for season 3) is also the present day. There is a story time we live.
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is on similar lines hell is other people, a 2019 psychological thriller that critiques how expectations and power structures make life hell for the helpless; 2020 horror-fantasy Home Sweet Home, where humans turn into demons on the basis of their long hidden desires; and last year’s critically acclaimed extra-curricular, which tells the dark story of a student who takes a life of crime to pay his college fees.
echoing now
interesting, Director Dong-hyuk admits that squid game It was rejected by the studio 10 years ago, when he first wrote the pilot (inspired by his own debt-ridden state). “At the time, it seemed unfamiliar, too violent, complicated and not commercially viable,” he said during promotion for the show. Today, however, it is the very symptom, “a reflection of the times in which we live”, that is finding its fans.
Filmmaker Vijayta Kumar, who watched the show twice, says that it includes “not just deaths, but what capitalism and greed are doing for you”. “The horrors of poverty, being burdened with debt you have to wash your body off, and not being able to fit into a class-conscious society are, to me, the real scary part,” she says. .
squid game South Korea is grappling with rising household debt, income inequality and a lack of employment. It has also found resonance across the world as many people are facing severe financial crisis in the last few decades. And now the pandemic has seen many people lose their jobs, businesses and sources of income. For people struggling with mental stress and anxiety, its excessive representation on the screen has triggered various reactions.
talking numbers
- The number of social mentions of the squid game increased to 331% in the second week since its launch, with anger, sadness and happiness being the three most used emojis by netizens to express themselves.
- credit: session social listening
Dr Kamna Chhibber, Head of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences at Fortis Healthcare interacts with several clients on the show basis. “People identify with parts that they feel reflect the reality of the world they occupy, which are easier for them to understand,” she says. “However, it is also important to recognize that there are people who do not identify with the media they consume and are not attracted to the same. There is a need to present aggression and violence on all platforms in such a way that This prevents over-detection, and de-sensitization that can result from its continued exposure.”
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