Would you risk your life playing children’s games for money? What if you are told that you have no choice but to play it anyways? Are you ready to gamble your present for an uncertain future?
This is the main plot of the newly released K-drama 'Squid Game'. With only 9 episodes, this series is about 456 people, who have all struggled financially in life. All of them get invited to play a mysterious survival competition. Competing in a series of traditional games but with deadly twists, they put their lives at risk to compete for a ₩45.6 billion (US$38.5 million) prize, for which there will be only one winner. The games being played are all children’s games, things that most Korean children played in their youth. But you die brutally if you lose.
Even though the drama has a large crew of cast, it mainly focuses on certain characters, which include Gi-Hoon, Sang-Woo, Sae-Byeok, Ali, and Il-Nam. The series starts by introducing us to the character Seong Gi-Hoon (Lee Jung-Jae). Gi-Hoon is a 47-year-old man who is addicted to gambling and survives on his mother’s income. His life is far from outstanding when he loses his job and is considered a failure. Due to his habits and laid-back attitude, he also faces financial debt and fails to get custody of his 10-year-old daughter, Ga-Yeong.
At a subway station, a devastated Gi-Hoon meets an unusual well-dressed salesman who invites him to a survival game, 'Squid Game', that will earn him enough money to solve all his problems. He decides to play the game when he finds out that Ga-Yeong is moving to the US with her mother and step-father, as it’s his last hope to gain financial credibility and get his daughter’s custody.
When he enters the deadly game, he finds his lifelong friend Sang-Woo (Park Hae-Soo) there. Unlike him, Sang-Woo went to a prestigious university despite his poor upbringing. He even lands a great job. Unbeknownst to Gi-hun and Sang-woo’s mother, Sang-woo has stolen money from his clients and is wanted by the police. He enters Squid Game in an attempt to make back the money so that he can save his mother’s business and house, both of which he risked to back his illegal activities. To win this game, together they join hands with Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-Yeon), a North Korean defector who wants to lead a stable life with her mother and younger brother; Abdul Ali (Anupam Tripathi), a Pakistani man who joins the game in order to get the money to support his family; and lastly Oh Il-Nam (Oh Young-soo), the oldest contestant in Squid Game, and someone Gi-hun feels some responsibility for as the game progresses.
All of this in the six-round game is enforced by a mysterious, shadow organization wearing PlayStation button masks and serving one larger leader running the entire game. Every coordinator of the Squid Game wore masks to ensure fair games and confidentiality. While the management was dressed in red sweatsuits, the Leader was seen in all-black attire and flaunted a black prismatic designed mask.
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who is known for his work on films such as 2017’s The Fortress and 2013’s Miss Granny, revealed that he first came up with the idea for 'Squid Game' over a decade ago while reading a comic book about a group of people who were unwittingly made to play an extreme game. However, the idea of a game-winner who strikes it rich was unwelcomed. Unlike in 2009, many people were fascinated by the script now and that’s why he decided to expand the original scenario to shoot a Netflix series. Hwang Dong-Hyuk said, “I wanted to create a sense of connection between the nostalgic games we played in our childhood and the sense of never-ending competition that modern adults feel.”
He added. “There’s an irony in our most beautiful and innocent memories being changed into the most horrifying reality.” The director hoped fans are able to find relief from the pressures they face and be free from the competition in their daily lives by watching the series. But he also urged viewers to dig deeper beneath the surface and think about the reasons why we struggle so hard to live and survive in our competitive world.
The story is inspired by a popular Korean children’s game from the 1970s and 1980s known as the squid game. It is named as such because players are to draw different geometric shapes on the ground, which, as a whole, look like a squid. Children are divided into two groups, the offence, and defence. Once the game starts, the defence can run around on two feet within the boundary. But the offense, outside the court, is only allowed to hop on one foot until the attacker crosses the waist of the squid and passes the defence. After that, they are allowed to run on both feet. For the final battle, all the attackers gather at the entrance to the squid. They need to tap the small closed-off spaces on the squid’s head with their foot to win. But if the defence manages to push them outside the squid’s boundaries, then the offence will lose the game.
The very essence of a game is to have fun. But in a competitive world, everything is about winning or losing. And fun is the only missing element. For most people, childhood was their only phase when they actually enjoyed a game without worrying about its consequences. As grown-ups, we’ll do anything to regain that feeling. Anything.
Netflix’s South Korean series, 'Squid Game', traces the limits of human madness and their immoral pursuit of entertainment. Asked why director Hwang chose 'Squid Game' for the title of his upcoming series, he said that it is the most physical game and his personal favorite among many childhood games. “I thought the game was a perfect metaphor for our highly competitive society. So ‘Squid Game’ was a perfect name for this series,” Hwang added. This game was the most physical and violent Korean children’s game. Thus, they chose it as their final survival game.
Through all episodes, this Netflix original chock full of vivid thrills and dramatic bloodletting, the sensational and surprising survival action-drama Squid Game shows just how far a group of people will go to dig themselves out of a hole. One of the reasons viewers might feel they know what will happen is because death games are hardy a screen novelty. Global viewers will be familiar with The Hunger Games, while fans of Japanese entertainment will recognize a host of similar properties, including Netflix’s own Alice in Borderland, As the Gods Will, and the classic Battle Royale.
This drama was so good that Koreans decided to make the show ‘come to life’ as Netflix Korea dressed up Itaewon Station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and turned it into a Squid Game-inspired playground. If you're in Korea, you can catch the installation until September 26, Sunday, from 12 pm to 9 pm. For most of us who cannot drop by to check it out in person, Netflix gave us a detailed video look into the real-life Squid Game "playground” which can be found in YouTube.
But, overall, this is still a savagely entertaining slam dunk from Netflix Korea, which is likely to be embraced around the world as its predecessors were. 'Squid Game' is ingeniously written and flawlessly brought to our screens by some of the most phenomenal actors in the Korean entertainment industry.
* Rumaiysa M Rahman is a 10th grader at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka