Squid Game phenomenon

Some would say that the Squid games is the legitimate child of The Hunger Games and Parasite. This gore/dystopian thriller is taking the streaming service by storm, it’s a worldwide phenomenon ready for your consumption. The Squid games is on its way to become the most watch streaming sensation ever.

Some of you must be familiar with the plot, the series picks contestant against each other in a gore-filled battle for survival and riches. (There’s content for everyone). This macabre content is the latest export from South Korea. Since its premiere around a month ago, this show filled with dazzling visual and a gore-filled brutality became the number 1 show in 90 countries and counting.

What caught my attention is the fact that contestant in huge amount of debt end up risking their lives in child-like games for a monetary price. The show popularity created an immediate impact on the population, Halloween Squid Games costumes blossomed on online retailers. Sales for green sweatpants and white slippers similar to the uniform contestant wear spike in sales.

Another sign of this cultural phenomenon is the fact that only in USA, the language learning app called Duolingo faced a 40% increase in new users trying to learn Korean. And as you might expect, a myriad of Squid Games challenges on TikTok. With people recreating challenges of classical Korean children games. I saw on YouTube that Jimmy Fallon recreated the cookie game when he interviewed the cast of the show.

All this fame and recognition never comes for free. There’s some backslash in South Korea, the show portraits the blatant inequality of the country. Lack of proper housing and the ever ending quest of perfection in South Koreans, the content is hitting them right in their faces. Even though in my opinion, it’s not only a South Korean trait, is a worldwide phenomenon.

On the show there’s a character that represent undocumented immigrants looking for a way to rise above uncertainty to end up being economically exploited by an unforgiving society. Other is an elder dealing with lack of opportunities and segregation from the productive force, pushed to face bitter poverty on daily basis.

Plain greed takes center stage with another character that wants to go to the best University to take advantage of his high education and savagely take by assault every opportunity available to be on top. As you can see, inside the show you will find many archetypes that you could find in your daily life, is not difficult to feel empathy for many of them, it’s a true reflection of today’s society.

Another interesting fact, contestant 067 played by the actress HoYeon Hun, has grown from having 400.000 followers on Instagram to an outstanding 19.000.000 and becoming brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton in the blink of an eye.

There’s no doubt that the content resonates with the viewers, for some, is an escape from this money-driven/greed-fueled society of ours.

There’s even a debate among viewers about if to watch the content in original language is the right way. The show creator even twitted “You don’t have to watch the show dubbed.” For me is not a problem, I prefer to watch movies and shows in their original language, subtitles were the norm in my country of origin, That’s why I found it strange to watch movies dubbed in Italian in Italian cinemas. (It took me a while to get used to Jack Black, Leonardo di Caprio, or Katherine Heilg speaking in Italian).

As you can see, the squid game is even changing how the public usually consume this kind of content.

I always find interesting to watch content from all over the world. I try to be open to new cultures and different takes on how to create compelling stories. Maybe this bust in curiosity will push people to dare and go out of their comfort zone (entertaining wise).