Anyone watch Squid game?

[ZenRaiden]

I think Money Heist and Squid game are the bestest< what say you?

 

[BurnedOut]

I won't rank them as the best but I did like them. Squid games in my opinion feels like Saw with less of the selfishness and not to mentioned 'Condemned'. On the other hand, it did get me hooked.

 

[onesteptwostep]

I didn't watch it and I'm Korean. Haha..

I generally am against the high emotional stakes Korean dramas tend to employ. I enjoy more subtle tones of humanity, moreso if they're against a background of history, of things that actually happened in real life.

A lot of the brutality that's within Korean film is an echo of the brutality that the Japanese colonialists brought with them.. it's somewhat been etched into the Korean psyche. Koreans don't reflect upon this of course. I just find it ironic that it's a facet of Korean sentimentality.

I think themes of guilt, forgiveness, and perseverance much more dramatically compelling then any grievances in a system.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Squid Game was terrible. Sexual objectification of women, selfish loser characters, dumb materialistic goals, dumb graphic violence, stupid predictable plot, bad music, boring set design. Stopped watching after 3 episodes.

I guess the show might have appeared novel to someone who has never read any battle royale stories. It's a whole literary genre and there's nothing new in squid game.

It has everything that's wrong with modern media. Modern film and TV likes to show the loser's POV and tries to justify villains and moral ambiguity by giving lame excuses and justifications that are supposed to make the loser characters relatable to the audience.
The show was made to appeal to the lowest human instincts and has no redeeming features IMO. The entire story is just a setup for frequent transactional sex, violence and fake drama.

Now the author is trying to be clever and uses the tried and true defense of "it's not misogyny because it's satire of the real world". If this wasn't objectification then he wouldn't undress the women and would tone down on the graphic scenes. However as showing naked women and murder is the main entertaining and tension building element of the series it's quite obvious that any satire and token dignity are a sleazy afterthought.

A lot of the brutality that's within Korean film is an echo of the brutality that the Japanese colonialists brought with them.. it's somewhat been etched into the Korean psyche. Koreans don't reflect upon this of course. I just find it ironic that it's a facet of Korean sentimentality.

I don't think the portrayal of brutality is unique to Korean culture. It's widespread in the west. Though maybe the reasons for its representation in your culture are different.

 

[onesteptwostep]

It does good on what its genre is: that it's a drama. It uses dramatic scenery and dramatic situations, with dramatic acting and dramatic themes.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Yeah, it's a distilled 100% hyperrealistic drama. Tension layered upon tension without rhyme or reason.

That's increasingly common in generic art, removing all of the supporting elements of the story and generating more of the emotional drug that gets people hooked, in this case it's tension.

Expanse is another good example of focusing exclusively on tension. Everyone changes character and decisions and does the most risky thing possible if it means generating more tension, every dramatic scene goes down to the wire and is saved last second. There's tension in every episode even if the interaction between the characters calls for a slower pace or reflection. Plot is manipulated and changed to, again, generate more negative emotions and tension. In the end the show ends up saying nothing besides bombarding with fake tension and the characters leave a bland impression of being hostage to the overdramatic plot.

It feels like the authors of these shows don't write stories anymore. They just imagine a dramatic scene and then add characters who are going to feature in it. Episodes are only related by the reuse of characters and overarching drama that's supposed to allow for as many tense moments as can be fit in a season.

 

[ZenRaiden]

I prefer watching megamind.

 

[sushi]

I didn't watch it and I'm Korean. Haha..

I generally am against the high emotional stakes Korean dramas tend to employ. I enjoy more subtle tones of humanity, moreso if they're against a background of history, of things that actually happened in real life.

A lot of the brutality that's within Korean film is an echo of the brutality that the Japanese colonialists brought with them.. it's somewhat been etched into the Korean psyche. Koreans don't reflect upon this of course. I just find it ironic that it's a facet of Korean sentimentality.

I think themes of guilt, forgiveness, and perseverance much more dramatically compelling then any grievances in a system.

i have watched vincenzo

ironic that japanese real people dramas have no brutality and violence compared to chinese korean, and are just there to make you spill tears for their silly plots and actions that only their culture understands.

 

[EstelleRamos]

What kind of game is it? I haven't experienced it yet

 

[Rook]

haven't watched it yet but heard a lot of people praise it. watching Better Call Saul atm, and man..... haven't reacted so emotionally to a piece of art in a while.

 

[ohshtt]

What kind of game is it? I haven't experienced it yet

tv show about adults playing (fatal) children's games

 

[ohshtt]

i watched the first 3 episodes. stopped watching after; it was boring. i do like gory shows & dystopian-genre-type films and books but this didn't hit the spot for me. felt inauthentic for some reason.

 

[birdsnestfern]

You've convinced me to get a netflix account and try it out. Just starting squid game because I need something new to watch. So far I like it, only on episode 2 now. Whoa!

 

[dr froyd]

i know everyone watches it so i assume it's total garbage?

 

[EndogenousRebel]

It has excellent structure. Even months, later I can still generally remember what happens. Most of the functions of the story work to secure that structure instead of say something substantive about human experience like it seems to want you to think it's about. Though it does generally have more depth than most American stories I consume.

I agree with the notion that a lot of media today stands on high emotional valence for everything.

Uncut Gems starring Sandler is the distillation of every emotional device a story can throw at you in the book to emotionally manipulate you into caring about what is going to happen next. I felt abused after watching that movie.

 

[ZenRaiden]

Well I did not watch squid game just in case.
I think I watched few movies before and they get a little repetitive after while.
I remember the Cube being one of those psycho survival dramas.
I assume squid game is mostly shockvalue type thing with added stress.

 

[birdsnestfern]

*

 

[Daddy]

It was okay. Sometimes the spirit of fairness seemed a lie when the players weren't allowed to use intelligence and/or experience to their advantage (like with the glass). Then it just seemed more like Saw and really just a game for sadists to enjoy watching. Sort of reminded me of the Hunter Exam from Hunter X Hunter, except a lot more sadistic and not nearly as cool, since everyone else has to die in order for one person to win...hopefully season 2 will address the flaws and it will add more to the story.

 

[Minuend]

I've watched several death games series and squid game is by far a good one. But if it's your first it will get you hooked and there's tons more that have better story. Enjoy

 

[sushi]

I didn't watch it and I'm Korean. Haha..

I generally am against the high emotional stakes Korean dramas tend to employ. I enjoy more subtle tones of humanity, moreso if they're against a background of history, of things that actually happened in real life.

A lot of the brutality that's within Korean film is an echo of the brutality that the Japanese colonialists brought with them.. it's somewhat been etched into the Korean psyche. Koreans don't reflect upon this of course. I just find it ironic that it's a facet of Korean sentimentality.

I think themes of guilt, forgiveness, and perseverance much more dramatically compelling then any grievances in a system.

compared to Quentin Tarantino films, i think the violence in korean dramas are tolerable

 

[Puffy]

I think it's a good example of what it is.

Being honest it's rare I can point to a TV series or film these days as being something I'd consider a profound work of art that changes my perspective on humanity or whatever. I haven't had that experience with media, at least very often, in the last 10 years.

It's entertainment. If I watch it it's as I'm unwinding before I go to bed, and there's nothing wrong with that.

From that perspective, I'd say Squid Game was good tv. It was entertaining and suspenseful. There was enough mystery and intrigue about the antagonists. And it had me wanting to watch the next episode. That's all it needs to be, that's why it's popular.

 

[LOGICZOMBIE]

 

[Jennywocky]

I thought Squid Game was far better than it had a right to be, I was expecting... well, nothing.

Another similarly themed one on Netflix is Alice in Borderland (based off the manga). The scoring reminded me of Michael Giacchino (his work on Lost) a bit, it really ups the emotional reverb of the best scenes. Not all of it was really profound, but there were some pretty great moments. I pretty much committed to watching all of it after the ending of S1E3, which just sealed this show as one that would take risks. I think my favorite sequence was the King of Clubs conflict -- it developed characters, was mentally engrossing, and hit a number of emotional beats -- although there's a few others that are mentally stimulating to track, like the King of Diamonds.

 

[Hadoblado]

Hey Jenny! <3

I really liked the first 80% of squid game, but felt it fell apart near the end. My expectations were low too - but deathgame genre is crack cocaine when done well.

 

[LOGICZOMBIE]

Alice in Borderland

i'll take a look

 

[Puffy]

Battle Royale will always be the goat of the deathgame genre.

 

[LOGICZOMBIE]

Battle Royale will always be the goat of the deathgame genre.

100%

 

[LOGICZOMBIE]

I pretty much committed to watching all of it after the ending of S1E3

that should have been the final episode

try this


and this