“Squid Game” was a massive global phenomenon in 2021: The Korean-language survival drama is Netflix’s most-watched series ever, reaching more than 140 million households and notching 1.2 billion viewing hours in its first month on the streamer.
The violent satire of capitalistic greed and economic inequality is built around a survival game show run by wealthy elites, pitting desperate contestants against each other in a lethal fight for a jackpot worth 38 million.
Each episodic contest is wrapped around a kid’s game or other forms of nostalgia: red light, green light; Dalgona, a popular Korean street snack from the ’80s; tug-of-war; and marbles.The show definitely struck a nerve during the pandemic, resulting in a slew of “Squid Game” Halloween costumes and cosplay pieces; a “Saturday Night Live” musical parody starring Rami Malek and Pete Davidson; and YouTuber MrBeast’s “456,000 Squid Game In Real Life!” video.
Meanwhile, director Hwang Dong-hyuk and
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