The South Korean Netflix series “Squid Game” is sailing up to become the most streamed in the world, and is a strong candidate to beat “Bridgerton” to become the most watched Netflix series ever.
According to Flix Patrol, a website that maps the statistics of the largest streaming services in the world, is “Squid Game” is number one in a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, South Korea and Norway.
Also on social media, it seems that people are not getting enough of the South Korean series. On TikTok, the hashtag #SquidGame has been viewed more than 22.8 billion times.
The question is why this series has become so hugely popular.
HUGE POPULAR: The South Korean Netlix series Squid Game is set to become the most watched Netlfix series ever. Photo: Netflix
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– Attracted by irony
“Squid Game” is about a group of people who say yes to joining a game to win a big cash prize. Everyone has a lot of debt. The participants will compete in children’s games and along the way will be eliminated one by one.
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk explains that the children’s games make the series extra attractive.
“People are attracted to the irony of hopeless adults risking their lives to win a children’s play,” series director Hwang Dong-hyuk said in an interview with the BBC.
– The games are so simple that viewers can focus on the characters.
The childish but fatal toys are also not unknown to the Norwegian audience. The play “red and green light” is among other things included.
RED AND GREEN: The children’s play red and green light is also in the series. But in Squid Game, there is a robot that decides when to go and stop. Photo: Netflix.
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– Like you and me
Experts say BBC that some of the series’ success may come from the viewers recognizing themselves in the characters. Even though they all have money problems, they come from different parts of society.
The main character, for example, is an unemployed man with a gambling problem who struggles to gain the respect of his family. Through the game, he meets a young North Korean defector with a tragic background, and a Pakistani worker who is abused by his employer.
Kim Pyeong-gang, cultural processor at Sangmyung University in South Korea, tells the BBC that the series appeals especially to young people.
FIGHTING: The main character, Lee Jung-jae, is an unemployed man with a gambling problem who struggles to gain the respect of his family. Photo: Netflix.
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– Young people in South Korea are the ones who most often suffer from feeling left out. They are also the ones who sympathize with the characters in the series, he says to the BBC.
Like its East Asian neighbors, South Korean society is under intense pressure and hypercompetition.
– Despite hard work, it is simply not possible for everyone to get a place at top universities or hijack good jobs, writes BBC journalist William Lee.
– Netflix confuses
No season two
There are currently no plans for a season two of the series. Director Hwang says he will make more films before possibly starting planning for a new season.
– I get quite tired of the thought. But if I had to, I would not do it alone. Then I should have had a bigger team, says Hwang to the BBC.
According to NBC Hwang has spent about a decade writing and filming the series, which was originally intended as a movie.
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