[Epoch Times October 20, 2021](Epoch Times reporters Wen Ni, Li Juanzai, Jin Yan Hong Kong report) The Korean drama “Squid Game” filmed solely by the American streaming media platform Netflix has become a global hit. The most popular drama in the history of the platform, the number of views exceeded 132 million in just 23 days after its launch, ranking first in more than 90 countries in the world. Korean Records Director Choi Gong is saying that South Korea has hopes to boycott Chinese capital.
“Squid Game” is about 456 people who are desperate due to lack of loan sharks and are forced to participate in bloody and violent killing games by the dark forces, because the winner can get a huge bonus. Only 23 days after the show started airing on September 17, its hits reached 132 million, accounting for more than half of Netflix’s users.
Netflix said on October 12 that “Bridgerton” had set a record of 82 million household viewings within 28 days of its premiere, but “Squid Game” surpassed this figure in a short period of time. The drama ranks first on Netflix’s top 10 lists in 94 countries around the world, and is the first Korean drama on the platform to rank first in the United States. As of October 12, the number of hits exceeded 111 million.
Netflix will therefore get a windfall. It is estimated that “Squid Game” will create nearly US$900 million in value for Netflix, while the production cost of the show is only US$21.4 million. This is just the data for the first season of “Squid Game”.
Netflix Asia Pacific (except India) content vice president Minyoung Kim (Minyoung Kim) said that since investing in South Korean TV series and movies in 2015, “Squid Game” has surpassed their “craziest dream” and gave Netflix more confidence.
About 95% of the viewers of “Squid Game” are from outside Korea. Netflix said that the series has been translated into 31 languages and dubbed in 13 languages.
Netflix started its Korean business in 2016 and has so far introduced more than 80 Korean movies and TV series. The number of Americans watching Korean dramas has doubled in the past two years. From 2015 to 2020, Netflix will invest approximately US$700 million in the Korean market, and plans to invest another US$500 million this year.
Korean documentary director Deckard Choi said in an interview with The Epoch Times that for South Korea, the success of “Squid Game” is a very lucky thing. In this way, South Korea has new strengths that can counter the Chinese Communists. The success of “Squid Game” made him see the hope of boycotting Chinese capital.
“I think this “Squid Game” has proved that the future of South Korea is relatively clear.” Cui Gong told the Epoch Times reporter, “In fact, the Korean cultural market is completely dominated by Chinese capital, even if it is only dependent on Chinese capital. “
Speaking of the success of “Squid Game”, Cui Gong believes that “Squid Game” provides an opportunity to adapt to a demand, because the audience is tired of the dog-blood drama broadcast by Korean public television, and the audience’s appreciation level is improving. Korean dramas need to change, and “Squid Game” takes an international route. For the public, this is a very good opportunity. “Squid Game” provides an opportunity for such changes.
Regarding the reasons for the popularity of “Squid Game” around the world, Cui Gong believes that, on the one hand, “Squid Game” tells a very realistic story, and people who are too rich and too poor find life boring; on the other hand, this film Although the play is presented in a very international form, the content is very Korean and has Korean cultural genes. This is the main reason why the play is popular overseas.
The capitalist system has “good” freedom
“Squid Game” screenwriter and director Hwang Dong-hyuk (Hwang Dong-hyuk) said that he wanted to write a fable about modern capitalist society, describing a kind of extreme competition in life, but he wanted to present it with real characters in life. And the game depicted should be simple and easy to understand, so that the audience can focus on the character.
However, Huang Dong-hyuk’s “Squid Game” script was shelved for about 10 years. The Korean film and television company thought the storyline was absurd and had no commercial value, so it refused to film it.
Huang Donghe believes that the two factors for the success of “Squid Game” overseas are “simple” and “character that easily resonates.” European and American audiences have felt the gap between the rich and the poor and the explicit humanity of capitalism under the extreme sensory performance of the show, while Asian audiences have seen the characters around them in reality.
After “Squid Game” became a global sensation, North Korea accused the show of exposing the “cruel reality” of South Korean capitalist society “the weak and the strong.” In response, South Korean columnist Hwang Sun Woo told The Epoch Times: “In my opinion, capitalism itself is not necessarily good, but under the capitalist system, there is freedom for good.”
Huang Shanyu said that culture will bring a lot of unconscious influences. If there is a wrong worldview in a TV series, the director will actually present it on the basis of this worldview. Therefore, people should not accept it statically, but should accept it in a filtered way.
He took “Game of Squid” as an example and said, “There are many worldviews in this play, and among them there is a logic to criticize capitalism. If you accept this position, you will think that capitalism is bad. So I will stand. Evaluate these in the middle ground and tell people the right things.”
Editor in charge: Shao Yi
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