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Squid Game

Shit loads of films and series are massively popular whilst not being masterpieces of cinematography. I have not seen a single review, whether randoms on the internet or professional critics, suggesting in any way this was one of the greatest (or even great, period) series they’ve seen.

But it’s certainly massively captivating and memorable, and given that it had next to fuck all prior promotion or advertising campaign and was actually dropped on Netflix without any fanfare, its rise to the most successful debut in Netflix’s history is certainly neither a fluke nor manufactured.

I understand how some of those coming late to the party might be somewhat underwhelmed given the ludicrous degree of public exposure. But describing it as anything less that pretty good (let alone as bad or terrible) is unfathomable AFAIAC.
 
Yeah right. The more I think about it, it’s really nothing more than a variation on The Running Man. But instead of political prisoners fighting for their freedom in a dystopian gameshow with a dope Harold Faltemeyer soundtrack, it’s just bunch of losers from Seoul playing for cash. And all that just to benefit some weirdos wearing stupid masks for 9 tedious episodes. Load of bollocks.
 
skyscraper101 said:
Yeah right. The more I think about it, it’s really nothing more than a variation on The Running Man. But instead of political prisoners fighting for their freedom in a dystopian gameshow with a dope Harold Faltemeyer soundtrack, it’s just bunch of losers from Seoul playing for cash. And all that just to benefit some weirdos wearing stupid masks for 9 tedious episodes. Load of bollocks.
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Come on. The character development, moral dilemmas and socioeconomic commentary makes this series about a thousand times better than The Running Man, or The Hunger Games, or any other ‘deadly game’ product out there. And the games themselves were infinitely more elaborate, Machiavellian and thought-provoking than anything else I can think of.
 
T & P said:
Come on. The character development, moral dilemmas and socioeconomic commentary makes this series about a thousand times better than The Running Man, or The Hunger Games, or any other ‘deadly game’ product out there. And the games themselves were infinitely more elaborate, Machiavellian and thought-provoking than anything else I can think of.
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The first Hunger Games film was great. same thing how you got to love the characters and go through the trauma with them.
Running Man is good in it's own way. And Battle Royale.
They all have the same essential good point that it if there really was a show where people killed each other we would all watch it
 
Do i really have to watch this thing or will it blow over soon so i might get away with just pretending i know what that was all about.
 
Yeah it's good, I mean it's an interesting enough watch. But I wouldn't say it was outstanding or that much above any number of things you can watch on Netflix.

I don't think that's where the hype is from, as I alluded to on the Netflix thread, pretty sure it's the is because of the simple, repeatable and recognisable images - the logo shapes, masks, outfits etc. And the familiar premise. Nothing wrong with that, it for sure works in our meme rich environment. It's fun to pass it on when you understand the reference.

But I think if you watch it thinking the hype is purely about the story, writing, cinematography etc you will probably be disappointed.
 
Finished watching this last night. Huge parts were not watched because I covered my eyes during a large part of all the games.
 
skyscraper101 said:
Yeah right. The more I think about it, it’s really nothing more than a variation on The Running Man. But instead of political prisoners fighting for their freedom in a dystopian gameshow with a dope Harold Faltemeyer soundtrack, it’s just bunch of losers from Seoul playing for cash. And all that just to benefit some weirdos wearing stupid masks for 9 tedious episodes. Load of bollocks.
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i don't know Running Man but thought SG was crap.
 
T & P said:
Come on. The character development, moral dilemmas and socioeconomic commentary makes this series about a thousand times better than The Running Man, or The Hunger Games, or any other ‘deadly game’ product out there. And the games themselves were infinitely more elaborate, Machiavellian and thought-provoking than anything else I can think of.
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Furthermore, Squid Game takes place in South Korea, not some fictional dystopia. SK is the country where becoming a pop star involves olympic levels of training and participating, as a child, in a multi year reality TV series. The Capitalist realism of SK is in a some ways even more advanced than it is in the west.
 
Epona said:
Noooo - it ended fine, why does everything have to be endlessly stretched out for optimum moneymaking potential? Oh right, that would be capitalism :(
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That's a complaint I'll never understand. It's a tv series, they usually continue if they are successful and if their creators are willing. If you don't like the idea of a 2nd season, simply don't watch it but what if it actually turns out to be good ? Its Netflix most successful series ever, of course they were going to renew it.
 
Reno said:
That's a complaint I'll never understand. It's a tv series, they usually continue if they are successful and if their creators are willing. If you don't like the idea of a 2md season, simply don't watch it but what if it actually turns out to be good ? Its Netflix most successful series ever, of course they were going to renew it.
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TV series haven't existed for that long - in fact even when I was born 50 years ago pretty much the only series here were Corrie, Crossroads, and Doctor Who.

This isn't the only way that entertainment can be.

Just like there are more forms of music than a 3 minute track that can be played on the radio and sold as singles.

These concepts are all modern things, and the concept of the endlessly renewing or sadly cancelled without warning series is a very modern one - it isn't some fundamental underpinning of our universe.
 
Epona said:
TV series haven't existed for that long - in fact even when I was born 50 years ago pretty much the only series here were Corrie, Crossroads, and Doctor Who.

This isn't the only way that entertainment can be.

Just like there are more forms of music than a 3 minute track that can be played on the radio and sold as singles.

These concepts are all modern things, and the concept of the endlessly renewing or sadly cancelled without warning series is a very modern one - it isn't some fundamental underpinning of our universe.
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I'm not looking to TV series for some fundamental underpinning of the universe, I'm looking for entertainment.

TV became a mass medium in the 50s and long running TV series have been around since then. It's not true that you only had 3 long running tv shows in the UK when you were growing up. I grew up in Germany in the 60s and 70s where we got a steady supply of long running American and British tv series. Among the latter were Upstairs Downstairs, The Onedin Line, The Avengers, The Saint and Maigret and there are lots more which didn't make it to Germany like Z-Cars, which ran for 13 seasons. The list of long running US TV series is endless and in the UK you got many of those too.

Before tv, movie serials had been around since the 1910s and they too got renewed if they were popular, Flash Gordon being a famous example. Serialised novels have been with us since Tolstoy, Dickens and Jules Verne and modern TV dramas have a very novelistic approach. Serialisation has been around since cave paintings and hieroglyphs and it is one way of telling stories. If you don't like it then there are plenty of non-serialised alternatives.
 
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Reno said:
I'm not looking to TV series for some fundamental underpinning of the universe, I'm looking for entertainment.

TV became a mass medium in the 50s and long running TV series have been around since then. It's not true that you only had 3 long running tv shows in the UK when you were growing up. I grew up in Germany in the 60s and 70s where we got a steady supply of long running American and British tv series. Among the latter were Upstairs Downstairs, The Onedin Line, The Avengers, The Saint and Maigret and there are lots more which didn't make it to Germany like Z-Cars, which ran for 13 seasons. The list of long running US TV series is endless and in the UK you got many of those too.

Before tv, movie serials had been around since the 1910s and they too got renewed if they were popular, Flash Gordon being a famous example. Serialised novels have been with us since Tolstoy, Dickens and Jules Verne and modern TV dramas have a very novelistic approach. Serialisation has been around since cave paintings and hieroglyphs and it is one way of telling stories. If you don't like it then there are plenty of non-serialised alternatives.
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Most of those have ended though. In general, I prefer a shorter run of a few series, a single series, or a mini series - which are all far more common and usual in the past than the concept of series supposedly trying to have a narrative, but running without a definite end until it is cancelled, which is a more modern phenomenon.

I think narrative often suffers if there is no pre-determined end in sight.

Just because something can go on forever, does not mean it should.
 
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Epona said:
Most of those have ended though. In general, I prefer a shorter run of a few series, a single series, or a mini series - which are all far more common and usual in the past than the concept of series supposedly trying to have a narrative, but running without a definite end until it is cancelled, which is a more more modern phenomenon.

I think narrative often suffers if there is no pre-determined end in sight.

Just because something can go on forever, does not mean it should.
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What do you mean, most of those have ended ? Of course they have, they started in the 60s and 70s. And none of them had an ending planned when they started. Squid Game will end too ! I'm not one for absolutist statements before the fact. There are lots of tv series which had a successful long run and then there others which haven't, but I'm always willing to give something a chance.

The Leftovers is a recent example of a tv series where the first season told a self-contained story because it as an adaptation of an acclaimed novel. Then another season was announced and some people were wringing their hands over the fact that the series would continue beyond the plot of the novel. Then it ran for two more seasons and those were even more acclaimed than season 1. It even pulled of a satisfying ending.
 
Reno said:
What do you mean, most of those have ended ? Of course they have, they started in the 60s and 70s. And none of them had an ending planned when they started. Squid Game will end too ! I'm not one for absolutist statements before the fact. There are lots of tv series which had a successful long run and then there others which haven't, but I'm always willing to give something a chance.

The Leftovers is a recent example of a tv series where the first season told a self-contained story because it as an adaptation of an acclaimed novel. Then another season was announced and some people were wringing their hands over the fact that the series would continue beyond the plot of the novel. Then it ran for two more seasons and those were even more acclaimed than season 1. It even pulled of a satisfying ending.
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Alright mate, you are the TV and Film "Guru" so god forbid that what I want to see in a series might differ from your take on it.

I just want stuff to have a beginning a middle and an end.

Just occasionally that would be bloody refreshing. I like that when it does happen.

Probably not an arty enough take on things for the film intelligentsia though :D
 
I'm mostly just fucked off by hundreds of "originally planned for 6 seasons" type series that ended unsatisfactorily after 1 or 2 seasons. Or in some cases, half a season.

I'd prefer stuff to be planned to wrap up with a satisfying conclusion sooner rather than later.
 
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Or god the stuff that drags on season after season with ever more ridiculous plots and no end in sight with the viewers passing out from boredom if they manage to follow it for that long.

Yes, I am looking at you, Pretty Little Liars - I would have liked you a whole lot more if there had been a reveal and a conclusion and over and done with at the end of season one.

Don't even get me started on series that were cancelled with no conclusion to the plot.
 
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I didn’t know at all they were making a ‘real’ Squid Game reality show- did anyone else? Only found out about it when I saw the news the other week about several contestants requiring medical attention due to the cold conditions

Netflix denies any Squid Game reality show contestants have suffered ‘serious injury’ | Squid Game | The Guardian

Streaming giant says three people were treated for mild conditions while filming competition based on hit South Korean drama, after contestant claims ‘it was like a war zone’
amp.theguardian.com amp.theguardian.com

456 participants, and the highest ever prize money for a TV programme competition, nearly four million quid :eek:

Outraged about the fact that failed contestants won’t be killed. Wokery gone mad, I tell you :mad:
 
A mini teaser trailer has been released to announce the release date of S2. I am cautiously optimistic by what is shown, as it seems to suggest at least some of it will involve another Games, rather than being all a revenge mission hunt by the winner of the first one

 
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