00:00The rules of the kids' game are simple.
00:30I would say it is very realistic.
00:32So there are certainly people who conform to this picture that is portrayed in the show.
00:37And when they are asked, would you actually gamble your life away to do something like Squid Game?
00:43Some of them say, yes, absolutely, because in fact, the real life does not offer much hope.
00:50The director seems to have decided to feature these characters that really represent
00:56the marginalized in Korean society, like a North Korean defector, like a migrant worker,
01:03or even an old person. Elderly poverty being a major problem in Korea too,
01:09with almost 50% of the seniors living in poverty in Korea.
01:13All of you in this video are people who are at the brink of death due to unbearable debts.
01:20Korea is a heavily debt-ridden society, and people worry about payments, interest rates are rising.
01:27But at the same time, to maintain a certain standard of life, one has no choice but to borrow money.
01:32And according to different studies, we hear that about 400,000 Koreans are beholden to such,
01:38let's say, illegal lenders. And the kind of people that you see in Squid Game,
01:44these are exactly the kind of people who would be borrowing from these
01:48unofficial lending institutions, and would really have a hard time paying the money back.
01:56Let's not forget this show is on Netflix. It would never have been on a Korean cable TV
02:03or on a Korean public broadcaster for the very simple reason it's too violent.
02:09Korea does have a very low rate of violent crime. There is a fantasy space,
02:15like this show, where the violence is allowed to take place.
02:24The sense of competition is real. You grow up ranking yourself in relation to others around you.
02:32It starts in school. I grew up comparing what I got on my test next to what my friends got on
02:39their tests. And then their mothers called my mother to say, oh, my son did better than yours.
02:47And when you grow up in that culture, you don't really question it. But when I look back in
02:53hindsight, I think, what was that? In fact, the show has not been received so universally in
02:59Korea as it has been overseas. There's been quite a controversy, especially when it comes to the
03:05way that the show seems to depict women as weak members of society who are not wanted by others,
03:15or the way it portrays the poor, the way it portrays foreigners. Some Koreans say I cannot
03:22believe that the world is watching our misery as entertainment. So that kind of more nuanced
03:28reflection is starting to emerge now. But at the same time, I think a lot of people are just happy
03:33that Korea has really made a name for itself through this show.
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