Squid Game, exploring themes of division and inequality, is considered to be one of the most significant works in solidifying South Korea's status as a global cultural powerhouse.
Netflix’s most popular South Korean show ever, Squid Game, premiered its highly-anticipated second season in Seoul, even as the city battled real-life political chaos. The show’s return comes just days after South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol triggered a national crisis by briefly declaring martial law. He later withdrew the declaration under pressure from determined lawmakers, who battled heavily armed soldiers in parliament to vote it down, AFP said.
Squid Game Season 2 introduces several new young characters, including a “crypto expert” who has amassed significant debt and a transgender person who cannot afford gender confirmation surgery.
The main protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, played by megastar Lee Jung-jae, returns and joins the game again.
Squid Game, an ultra-violent tale exploring themes of division and inequality, is considered to be one of the most significant works in solidifying South Korea’s status as a global cultural powerhouse, alongside the Oscar-winning film Parasite and K-pop megastars BTS. The original show, released in 2021, was a high point for the ‘Hallyu’ or the Korean wave which saw the inexorable rise of South Korean content.
However, “embattled President Yoon has put all this at risk,” said a statement issued by 3,000 people from the country’s film industry. Hallyu has “fallen into the abyss thanks to Yoon’s decision to declare martial law,” the group, which includes luminaries like Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, said. During the six hours of martial law, it was announced that “all media and publications shall be subject to the control of the Martial Law Command”.
The show’s first season was loosely inspired by South Korea’s real-life tragedy of a 2009 crackdown on a Ssangyong Motor strike, which resulted in around 30 people taking their own lives or dying of stress-related causes. The first season still holds the record as the streaming giant’s most popular series of all time, boasting more than 330 million views.
