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Scene from the Netflix series »Squid Game«: social criticism and violence
Photo: YOUNGKYU PARK / Netflix / dpa
With the Netflix series »Squid Game« parents should consider the age rating from 16 years, advise experts.
In the past few weeks, media reports had indicated that parents were also letting significantly younger children watch the sometimes brutal series.
Children in elementary schools and kindergartens are said to have reenacted the series, including on a playground in Augsburg and in a daycare center in Pinneberg near Hamburg.
The streaming series was approved by the Voluntary Self-Control of the Film Industry (FSK) from the age of 16.
The many scenes of violence represented a very high level of psychological stress for children because they were not yet able to process what they saw, said the psychotherapist Katajun Lindenberg from the Goethe University in Frankfurt to the dpa news agency.
The head of the department for child and adolescent psychotherapy said there is a risk that children will become more willing to use violence if they are given such an example of violence.
Children could not yet grasp the social criticism of »Squid Game«.
Parents should not allow their children to watch the series
"From an aesthetic point of view and with a lot of inner distance, the series can be understood as innovative and perhaps even arousing," said media educator Maya Götz from the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television at Bayerischer Rundfunk.
But this requires a high degree of demarcation and media knowledge, which children in particular do not have.
Kita and school administrators have already made parents aware of the dangers of the series in many places.
Lindenberg and Götz also emphasize that parents should not allow their children to watch the series.
There is a good reason for approval from 16 years of age.
“A lot of experts have thought about this.
This is not an arbitrary classification, ”emphasized Lindenberg.
Parents should make it clear to their offspring that "being strong" also means not watching the series or not watching any further, said Götz.
Without voluntarily doing without it, it is often difficult to prevent older children from seeing the series or parts of it in digital space.
For example, there is no youth protection function for FSK-16 approvals on Netflix, explained Götz.
In addition, "Squid Game" is already widespread: The games from the series are also replayed in video games such as "Minecraft" and there are numerous so-called memes on TikTok or Instagram, i.e. videos and images in which the series is taken up.
Children could also watch the series with friends or siblings.
It is important to talk about what you have seen, if necessary, in order to help with processing, said Götz. "Squid Game" can be a traumatic experience, especially for children up to ten years of age, and lead to nightmares. In the case of older children between 10 and 15 years of age, it can be assumed that many people speak cool about the series - "even if the pictures are then inscribed more deeply than they probably admit," said Götz. Parents should also pay attention to them and offer the conversation.
The South Korean series »Squid Game« is the most successful Netflix production to date with the highest number of viewers.
The story of almost 500 people who got into debt is told in nine episodes.
They compete against each other in children's games in order to win prize money in the millions.
The macabre competition does not allow a second chance: Those who do not make it to the next round will be killed.
kfr / dpa
