»Squid Game« is the most successful Netflix series: Hype about hell

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Already an integral part of the pop universe: The masked from »Squid Game«

Photo:

Netflix

A series from South Korea takes the world by storm.

Last night, Netflix announced on its social media channels: "Squid Game" is the group's most watched series at all.

It was number one in the charts in 90 countries, and 111 million households tuned into the series - according to Netflix logic, two minutes are enough to count content as seen.

Ironically, »Squid Game«.

A series that tells of the struggle between rich and poor, of class conflicts and social injustice in nine episodes, some of which are extremely bloody.

From

.

A term that became hugely popular in South Korean Facebook and Twitter posts around 2015.

is its English translation.

is the name of the kingdom that ruled the Korean peninsula for over five centuries.

represents everything that goes wrong in South Korea.

For the high unemployment among the young population, for the growing gap in society.

The subject is not unknown in the broad field of South Korean cultural products.

In his film "Parasite", the director Bong Jon-ho showed the struggle between rich and poor using the example of two families and won the Oscar category "Best Film" for a non-American production for the first time in history.

In the series »Squid Game« by his compatriot Hwang Dong-hyuk, the poor now only fight to entertain the elites.

The screenwriter and director came up with the idea for »Squid Game« in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008. At that time, he said recently in an interview, the idea was rejected by production companies as too daring.

So right now, it's not just K-Pop that is conquering the world, but also works about

.

The success story of »Squid Game« began with the premiere on September 17th, the hype could not have been foreseen back then. But it quickly spilled over to the US and Europe, accompanied by a stream of memes and challenges. Traditional Korean cookies were suddenly being discussed in the New York Times. A South Korean Internet provider sued because the series was crippling the network, and Jeff Bezos congratulated him on the impressive and inspiring success.

The story varies the topos of the game of life and death known from many horror films. Seong Gi-hun, a chauffeur and heavily indebted, is one of the candidates invited by an opaque power to an island off the South Korean coast. He and his 455 competitors are in the same, hopeless situation: no money and not the slightest hope for a better future.

Now they find themselves back in this remote place, in a hall with beds stacked on top of one another, guarded by figures in red frocks and strange masks and a leader who proclaims the equality of all. There are six games in seven days, the losers are disqualified. A euphemism, because disqualification is synonymous with the death of the respective candidate. For each dead participant, 100 won are put into an oversized piggy bank that hangs from the ceiling so that everyone can see it. At the end of the games, the winner is entitled to the equivalent of 33 million euros.

How did this evil fantasy of violence suddenly become so popular? The question of the reasons for the success of »Squid Game« is omnipresent. The much-cited criticism of capitalism is understandable across cultural boundaries, but neither particularly subtle nor all too new. The problem of growing social inequality can be communicated globally, but does not guarantee a streaming hit. And stylistically, »Squid Game« is often narrow, the dialogues a bit too stilted, the protagonists one-dimensional.

Yet it is fairly easy to overlook these weaknesses when the games begin. Then, in the best moments, »Squid Game« seems like a feverish dream that wants to send the viewer back to the dark parallel universe of a previously unknown childhood with all its might. Pink-colored staircases, Escher-like and highlighted with the Danube Waltz by Richard Strauss, through which the participants have to squeeze their way. Huge playgrounds with clouds painted to the ceiling and a giant doll that responds to the slightest movement with volleys of guns. This is sometimes reminiscent of the pictures taken by the photographer Andreas Gursky, when the mass of players and their guards are repeatedly miniaturized and merged with the large, colorful childhood backdrop.

The »Squid Game« aesthetic has a strong, global recognition value. You can well imagine how people around the world will be wandering around at parties in red overalls and black masks on Halloween this year. It's a small, dark universe with cleverly placed gaming references that may soon find a sequel. Will the childhood hell be exchanged for a more adult version for a second season?

When the protagonists flee the place of horror for a moment after they decided in a majority vote as a result of the first game to end the competition prematurely, an old man stated succinctly: "Life out here is even more hellish".

The episode is entitled »Hell«, although it does not contain any of the cruel games, only the everyday life of the protagonists is shown.

It ends with the return of the participants to the childhood nightmare of the games.

The choice is yours, but outside there is only

.

This dark part of South Korea, which is also told in »Squid Game« and is still omnipresent in society.

It's exciting to watch, but more interesting than the series is its global hype.

Never before has a modern hell been sold so successfully.