SQUID GAME
IT ARRIVED IN September, with little fanfare. Four weeks later, Squid Game was a global phenomenon: beamed into 142 million households, it was the first South Korean show to top Netflix’s streaming charts in more than 90 countries.
The show’s premise is as captivating as it is crazy. A group of debt-ridden individuals are invited to play a bunch of children’s games like ‘Red Light, Green Light’. Win, and you’re guaranteed a cash prize of millions. Lose, and you’re ‘eliminated’, which in Squid Game-world means instantly killed.
What’s made creator Hwang Dong-hyuk’s show so popular? Firstly, many of the characters’ predicaments are relatable: viewers saw parallels with the financial crash of 2008, and with societal inequalities that were made starker by the pandemic. Also, it cleverly combines our obsessions with high-stakes films like The Hunger Games and Battle Royale with our love of escapist gameshows: we never feel too removed from the decisions characters are forced to make.