Internationally, the series has attracted a huge audience, not only in the West, but also in China. Most recently, the country has produced major international successes, above all with the boy band BTS.
Since the end of the 1990s, the government in Seoul has been specifically promoting cultural exports as an economic growth industry. It’s no coincidence that this year’s most successful show comes from South Korea, of all places. In an interview, director Hwang Dong Hyuk said he wanted to portray the “survival game as a metaphor, a parable for modern capitalist society.” Growing inequality, discrimination against social minorities and extreme pressure to perform: almost all major social problems are addressed in “Squid Game.” “One reason why Netflix’s record-breaking hit drama resonated with so many people is that it is also a social commentary on real-life incidents in Korea,” writes the daily Korea Herald. In its home country, “Squid Game” struck a chord primarily because of its overt social criticism.
So how is it that a show about a violent rat race where people are murdered every few minutes now trumps Netflix’s cheerful period romance? But soon it turns out that the losers won’t make it out alive. If you aren’t one of the 111 million to have watched: The show centres on around 500 people from a wide variety of backgrounds – all of them apparently in debt and all competing against each other in what appear to be harmless children’s games to win millions in prize money. The previous record holder was the British drama “Bridgerton”, which was streamed by 82 million viewers in the 28 days after its launch in December 2020. The brutal show, about several hundred people competing in a gameshow-like fight to the death for a pile of cash, managed to break this record in just 27 days since its premiere on September 17. “‘Squid Game’ has officially reached 111 million fans - making it our biggest series launch ever,” the streaming platform said on Twitter on Wednesday. Netflix's "Squid Game" has now won over more fans than "Bridgerton" since launching. How is it that a show about a violent rat race where people are murdered every few minutes now trumps Netflix's cheerful period romance? Youngkyu Park/Netflix/dpaĪfter weeks of hype, headlines and memes, the South Korean show “Squid Game” is now officially the most successful show Netflix has ever launched.