Squid Game: Capitalizing from Anti-Capitalism
Image by Variety Magazine
If you’re like me, you probably woke up one morning greeted by a Twitter feed obsessed with “Squid Game.” Now, the Korean Netflix show has become a household name. However, a recent leaked report from Netflix shows truly how popular the show has become, and how much money Netflix has made in the process.
Squid Game follows Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-Jae) – a man in an exuberant debt who is about to lose his daughter to his ex-wife and her new husband as they plan on moving to America. In addition, Seong’s mother falls ill and needs a medical procedure as soon as possible. Desperate to save his mother, pay off his debts, and build a relationship with his daughter, Seong calls a mysterious phone number and joins a competition that includes a series of six children’s games with a massive monetary prize. He's joined by a cast of loveable and hateable characters, like Abdul Ali, an immigrant from Pakistan who is kind to everyone and Jang Deok-su, a ruthless, tattoo-ed man with nothing to lose. The show takes a sharp turn when the players’ gain a new understanding of their signed contracts upon agreeing to play the game – ‘elimination’ from the games is coded language for manslaughter.
The show has rocked the world in a way that very few TV shows can. Every social media platform is full of memes inspired by the show and every major news outlet has published think pieces speculating why the show is so popular and what it reflects about the current global social climate. The show’s plot is a fascinating phenomenon: witnessing the poor fight for their lives while the obnoxiously rich watch from a safe distance. The Hunger Games thrived on the exact same premise only 10 years before. But the show’s success has been concretely defined by a recent leak from a Netflix employee to Bloomberg magazine. Netflix paid $21.4 million for the nine-episode series and is estimated to make $891 million in what Netflix calls “impact value.” Impact value is a metric the company uses to measure a title’s economic contribution to Netflix based on subscriber viewing. The report also stated that since the show’s release on September 17th, 132 million Netflix households streamed at least two minutes of the show, with 89% of them watching at least 75 minutes. 66% of them finished the entire series within the first 23 days of its release. In sum, Netflix subscribers streamed more than 1.4 billion hours of “Squid Game” in 23 days.
Squid Game’s themes are summed up in one line from the Front Man: “Every player gets to play a fair game under the same conditions.” Although a semi-admirable sentiment, it overlooks the game staff’s hand in manipulating the different games and situations to bring out the worst instincts in people already in a tough spot. For example, the staff doesn’t provide enough food for players with the intention of provoking fights. They even go out of their way to divide friendships and bonds amongst the players in a game that requires a partner. During the episode, it is later revealed the loser will not leave the arena. In effect, the staff ensure players do not rebel and start an uprising.
The rich VIPS, the men that come to watch and bet on the players, sit in a luxurious box and watch the games unfold, poking fun at the players’ decisions and use the life-or-death game show as a way to escape the monotony of their all too comfortable lives. When the VIPS see players doing too well in games, they request the Front Man make things more complicated and then look down upon the players who revert to violence in order to win and stay alive. Ultimately, the rich decide the conditions of the game and then mock the strategies the players utilize to win.
For a show about the growing global wealth gap, it is ironic that Netflix will make almost $900 million in profit. Only under capitalism can a corporation make an inconceivable amount of money by appealing to the masses’ frustration about wealth inequality. This isn’t to say that the show isn’t good; I highly recommend it. But, it is interesting to see how the success of the show –beyond its prevalence on social media–impacts Netflix’s total profit. Although the employee that leaked the report was fired, maybe we’ll get another leak in the future showing if the value of the show is growing and if we’ll even get a season two.
If you haven’t seen the show, go check it out! But keep in mind how a show about the danger of capitalism has generated millions of dollars in profit.
By Marla Hiller
La Croix obsessed, coffee addicted, podcast fanatic.