SQUID GAME: The Second Coming of TV or Hollow Binging Material?
NETFLIXHaving watched Squid Game not on any individual request but a seismic shift in the social parameters of the online forum demanding for it to be seen, it is somewhat of a surprise that creator Hwang Dong-hyuk's Squid Game is leading an enormous amount of success on Netflix's platform.
This year alone, the streaming service is slowly but surely realising narrative documentary is the way forward. Not necessarily in the industry but in what Netflix perceives to be its strength in producing. This week they have announced Tiger King 2 and have had rather decent success with the UNTOLD series. However, audiences are seemingly stacking up to binge Squid Game, a series that Netflix did not even bother to promote to a significant degree on its own platform, so why then is Squid Game leading an enormous success?
One part is ultimately possibly answered in that very paragraph above: saturation. If a streaming model is populating its service with a demand of one type of material, the viewer ultimately becomes disenfranchised due to the material at hand or rejects that genre and seeks out pastures new. This is obviously a multifaceted reasoning and not necessarily down to the fact that the casual viewer might not want to listen or watch the eight hundredth docu-series on Ted Bundy while eating their tea, but Squid Game does not exactly play nice in blood, sweat, and tears, so back to the question at hand.
What if Squid Game is truly the second coming of TV? What if it puts Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Fleabag, Boardwalk Empire, Making a Murderer, Tiger King, The Walking Dead – actually, scratch that last one – or any other 'great television’ for the last decade into its shadow. Well, again, that would be a subjective analysis depending on the viewer, but one thing that puts those shows ahead of so many lifeless entities is two things: the writing and a new evolution in TV.
Does Squid Game do either merits mentioned above? That answer to that is no. Granted, Squid Game is fun, but it does little – even in moments of brilliance through narrative – to form a new breach of telling a story on television. With what starts strong sadly depletes itself into derivative convention before long. The same can be said for the writing, which is compelling at hand but, much like the show overall, leaves very little thought after the series final credits roll down the screen, just before Netflix advertises another bottomless pit of nothingness over it.
So again, back to square one in this investigation. There are two further thoughts, one light and one a little dark. Starting with the dark – and possibly what might answer the above paragraph on the saturation of murder investigation docu-series – is that the last year and a half have been abysmal. Families, livelihoods, jobs – the whole entire world, for that matter – has been has been affected and turned upside down by COVID-19. The only retreat, although the UK government would tell the country otherwise, has been the arts, and one permanent escapism is the medium is television and film. An artistic strand accessible in the living room, the toilet, and the bathtub is now thanks to IKEA, and even in any possible audience's pocket.
The streaming services are everywhere, but it is Netflix that still holds the crown. As mentioned, their manifesto and market is slowly but surely dominating the murder-investigation genre. And yes, with every ten Ted Bundy or Peter Sutcliffe documentaries, there is the lighthearted Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, but that does not suffice for long with the darkness and depressive state of things. Ultimately that notion of anger and brutality slowly but surely stops becoming a voice on the news and through what the viewer seeks out. Consciously or subconsciously, that feeling of indulging the surroundings that suffocate becomes a reality in the personal space. This, of course, is not scientific nor a factual analysis and not one sentiment that will be held for the whole entire population that pays a bill for Netflix, but art imitates life, and the influence of outside power is quite the magnetism. With that said, it could be perceived that Squid Game is that magnetism to ultimately feel relief in the fact that the world on screen is worse than the world outside their window. It is the magnetism of possible relief for those viewers who perhaps find solace in the violence on screen?
The lighter take, and one this is arguably a cop-out here, is that Squid Game was released in the right place at the right time. The same can be said for the likes of Tiger King, which inhabited so many homes and screens due to the lockdowns during the pandemic. The same is not really relatable here, as access is undeniably more open for a vast amount of the population worldwide. Perhaps it is as easy as audiences, who have been unable to be physically transported in the world due to rules and regulations of COVID-19, are more subconsciously susceptible to foreign language material. The latter of which is answered in the power of Parasite breaking down boundaries with audiences and subtitles.
What really would answer this question is if the fury and ferociousness of audiences will be similarly attentive to the eventual Squid Game season two. It is that in which the answers lie: if the pandemic is still raging, will Squid Game be as successful? Time will only tell on this matter, but with the release of Mike Flanagan's Midnight Mass dropping to a roaring success, it seems that Squid Games colossal viewership might be already on the decline, but until next year, the jury is out.
