The secret of Squid Game’s success

Squid Game is a South Korean television series, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk and distributed by Netflix since September 17, 2021. It has been a huge success, both in terms of ratings and critics, and has become the most watched TV series in over 90 countries.

Controversy

In addition to its extremely violent content, the series has sparked controversy because of the way it was translated from Korean into English and then into the other languages. Some insiders have criticized Netflix’s choice to implement a pre-edited machine translation with subsequent post-editing.

This procedure, which is very common in other fields, consists in having the subtitles translated by computer and then reviewed by a professional translator. Some trade associations and many freelance translators have pointed out that this practice is not appropriate for audiovisual products, because it limits the subtitler’s creativity and is often used as an excuse to pay professionals less. Although based on legitimate positions, these considerations clash with the simple laws that govern the consumer film and television products industry.

I mention the controversies for the sake of completeness, but here I am much more interested in dwelling on the reasons behind the success of Squid Game, in particular the script of the series. Anyone who writes for a living will be able to get useful insights from it to improve their writing.

How we analyzed Squid Game

First of all, Squid Game is an original screenplay, that is, it is not derived from a previous work, be it a book or another film or series. Despite this, the work has many points in common with some literary bestsellers of the past. In this article I will use as a reference a text by writer and university professor James W. Hall, entitled Hit Lit, which has as its subtitle "Cracking the Code of the 20th Century’s Greatest Bestsellers."

In Hit Lit, Professor Hall identifies 12 elements that recur in most of the best-selling books in the United States in the twentieth century. Although focused on American works, the analysis is easily suitable to other countries, because the books considered have been translated into dozens of foreign languages and have collectively sold millions of copies worldwide.

Hall analyzes 12 books:

• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
• Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
• The Godfather by Mario Puzo
• The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
• The Shark in the Dark by Peter Benchley
• The Dead Zone by Stephen King
• The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
• The Partner by John Grisham
• The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

All of these books have had movie versions as successful or more successful than the book.

Is there anything that these books and, consequently, these movies have in common? According to Professor Hall, there is indeeed: they are 12 common features, which to a greater or lesser extent recur in all books. They can be summarised as follows:

1. Entertainment capacity
2. Dealing with a controversial topic
3. Wide-ranging scenario
4. The Myth of Eden
5. Abundance of facts and information
6. Secret societies
7. Country people vs city people
8. Criticism of religion
9. The American dream (or nightmare)
10. The hero or heroine as a rebel or nonconformist
11. Dysfunctional families
12. A decisive sexual encounter

Rather than summarise Professor Hall’s arguments here (for those who want to delve deeper, I highly recommend reading the book or one of the summaries found online), I’ll just say that these 12 characteristics are almost all found in Squid Game as well. It almost seems like Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote the series while keeping Hall’s book on his desk.

✅ Entertainment capacity

The first characteristic is the work’s capacity for entertainment, a high level of emotional intensity that results from visceral and surprising actions, which is also expressed in moments of suspense, threatening dangers and a countdown that marks the time of the protagonist’s actions.

Squid Game is a gripping series, especially in the second half, when the atmosphere becomes increasingly ominous and disturbing, with a relentless pace that knows no rest. It’s one of those binge watching series: once started, it captures the viewer and it is hard to stop watching. As Hall says: "unputdownable," (referring to a book).

✅ Dealing with a controversial topic

"A surefire way to rile up folks is to raise the controversy du jour. Whether it was a conscious strategy or not, the authors on our list raised one or more highly contentious topics of their day."

Squid Game is no exception. In fact, the plot of the series stems from the debt situation of the main character, Seong Gi-hun. The author rides on a topical conflict in South Korean society, the economic crisis, which has only exacerbated existing class differences. As Hall says, bestsellers often "explore some hot-bottom social issue of their day that is rooted in a long-term national dispute." In Squid Game the long-term dispute is the existence of the chaebols, the industrial conglomerates protected by the banking system and the government, who rule the roost of the country. They are not mentioned explicitly, but their presence echoes at various points in the series.

Overall, these are local issues, but they have counterparts in many Western countries. As will also be seen later, part of the success of Squid Game lies in the following aspect: show universal themes in local form, easily understood by the general public.

✅ Wide-ranging scenario

Hall summarizes this characteristic thus: "Colossal characters doing magnificent things on a sweeping stage." In all of the novels analysed, as well as in Squid Game, the narrative centres on one person, but the stakes are higher than the individual. Characters are representative of a broad slice of society, and the story of one individual serves to highlight the fate of an entire community.

In Squid Game, Seong Gi-hun’s paradoxical, borderline-credible story is but one example of the life condition of so many fellow countrymen, equally stranded and on the edge of the precipice.

According to Hall, the most successful novels of the twentieth century continue to set the stage for the topics of the first novels of two centuries ago: social rise, racial issues, gender and class conflicts, and the struggles and triumphs of the poor (and sometimes the rich). The protagonists, instead of being in a fight against themselves, fight against forces larger than themselves. Just like what happens to Seong Gi-hun.

✅ The Myth of Eden

Images of nature, more or less wild, with idyllic connotations often recur in the novels analyzed by Hall. Often these landscapes have an aura of innocence that is violated at some point in the story.

The island where the kinky games of Squid Game take place also embodies this element perfectly. Seemingly a natural paradise, the island hides extreme dangers for the game participants.

The element of the "myth of Eden" sometimes manifests as the myth of the "golden land," of America as paradise. This is also noted in Squid Game: the protagonist’s daughter in fact seems destined for a new life in the very land of opportunity...

✅ Plenty of facts and information

Many bestsellers intersperse pages of action with notions and facts, in a mix that is popular with the general public. They teach as well as entertain. This aspect is generally more relevant in novels than in film adaptations, where long descriptions would break the rhythm of the narrative.

However, Squid Game also has, though in a more limited amount, some educational intent. It shows a sequence of games of which it explains the functioning down to the smallest detail.

The setting of the series, "exotic" to most viewers, also helps to pique the interest of international audiences. The culture staged, the South Korean one, is distant from what is routinely shown in mainstream TV series, and because of that it arouses additional curiosity.

✅ Secret societies

All of the novels analysed by Hall explain the workings of at least one secret society or an organization assimilated to it: the Mafia, Opus Dei, law firms that work for the underworld, shark fishermen, exorcists, etc.

This element is also very evident in Squid Game. The whole series revolves around a game designed by a masked elite, which has all the characteristics of a secret society: is located in an agreed upon and guarded hidden location, protects the identity of its members, exhibits a military-like hierarchy, has rules shared by members, and is unknown to outsiders.

✅ Country people vs. city people

As Professor Hall remarks,

"In most bestsellers, ther’s a central character who sets off on a journey that takes her from rural America into turbulent urban landscapes, where her agrarian values either help her succeed or doom her to failure. Almost as often, the heroes of bestsellers make an exodus in the opposite direction, from the pressures of the cities to the bucolic countryside."

In Squid Game this clash between rural values and urban mentality is represented directly by the protagonist, but appears in more nuanced ways in other characters as well. In fact, Seong Gi-hun is a victim of the pressures of chaotic city life, which is countered by his mother’s traditional values.

This clash between the frenetic urban rhythms and the rural mentality is also observed in player number 001, apparently a harmless old man anchored to the habits of the past.

✅ Criticism of religion

All of the books analyzed in Hit Lit contain references to religion. Bestsellers often criticise some aspects of orthodoxy and the dangers of bigotry. It’s a topic that continues to resonate with the public, even in this age of extreme secularisation.

In Squid Game this criticism is embodied primarily in the character of the fervent Catholic, player number 244, whose faith is often ridiculed by the other players.

About 29% of South Korea’s population identifies as Christian (¾ Protestant and ¼ Catholic), while about 23% are Buddhist.

As Abby Reader writes in the article "How The Bloody Netflix Sensation 'Squid Game' Critiques Korean Christianity",

"Although 29% is not a high percentage, the power and zeal that Christians - especially Protestants - have in South Korea overshadow that of other religious affiliations, according to The Diplomat. South Korea sends out more Protestant missionaries than any other country besides the United States. Seoul holds more evangelical megachurches than almost every city in the United States, except for Houston and Dallas. Some megachurches in Seoul have more than 100,000 worshippers every Sunday."

In light of these facts, the critique of religion in Squid Game takes on even more relevance.

✅ The American dream (or nightmare)

The millions of readers of the twelve bestsellers mentioned above seem to particularly appreciate not only the stories of social redemption, those in which a humble protagonist becomes rich and powerful, but also those in which the opposite happens, the descent into the abyss of a rich person.

Both stories are featured in Squid Game: on one hand, the rise of the protagonist, who thanks to the game will be able to solve most of his problems, and on the other, the fall (especially moral) of player number 218, Cho Sang-woo. In fact, Cho Sang-woo himself is shown at the beginning as a model for Seong Gi-hu to imitate: successful businessman, university educated, is in the United States on business, but as the series develops circumstances will confront him with crucial dilemmas in which his more ruthless side will emerge.

Another character who embodies this aspect is Kang Sae-byeok, player number 067, a North Korean refugee who hopes to have her mother emigrate to South Korea. Here, too, we are faced with an initial situation of diversity (familial, cultural, and economic) that leads the character into a position of weakness that forces her to participate in the game.

The last example is the character of the Pakistani immigrant, who embodies the disillusionment of the "Korean" dream. He is described as a positive, cooperative person, who tries hard to integrate, but whose efforts will not be rewarded, because this very attempt to cooperate turns out to be naive and puts him at the mercy of those who are more cunning than him.

✅ The hero or heroine as a rebel or nonconformist

The heroes of the twelve bestsellers examined, as well as that of Squid Game, are all rebels, nonconformists, mavericks, people on the fringes in one way or another, characters who go against the grain and are often individualistic.

Seong Gi-hun undoubtedly belongs to this category and, his female counterpart, Kang Sae-byeok, the North Korean refugee, also belongs to it.

Since the days of Huckleberry Finn, the general public has liked tales about free spirits who defy imposed order and established authority, and try to break conventions.

✅ Dysfunctional families

The families portrayed in the twelve best-selling books are all, to a greater or lesser extent, dysfunctional or split. Families with latent or explicit tensions, separated, struggling with illness or stressful situations, there’s something for everyone.

Also in Squid Game the protagonist is grappling with a separation and trying hard to maintain a relationship with his daughter. Lack of financial resources and an attempt to restore emotional and family stability are the forces that drive him to participate in the game, and motivate him to survive. Not to mention the conflictual relationship with the mother, also a source of imbalance and motivation at the same time.

✅ A decisive sexual encounter

Professor Hall notes that in all of the titles reviewed, "one key sexual encounter plays a decisive role in the outcome of the plot and in the transformation of the protagonist."

In Squid Game, of the twelve elements, the sexual component is the least relevant to the plot. In episode 4, a sex scene serves to solidify a strategic alliance between two of the secondary characters and will also have consequences for the protagonist. In episode 7, an act consummated in the middle is the trigger for a crucial manhunt for the plot.

Conclusion

To sum up, as we’ve seen, Squid Game follows the bestseller canon almost perfectly and, not surprisingly, has enjoyed tremendous public success. It is difficult to know the extent to which author Hwang Dong-hyuk consciously included the twelve elements, and for our purposes it is irrelevant.

The public continues to respond today to stimuli that have worked for decades. Those who write texts with the intention of reaching the general public should keep this in mind and consider including these elements in their writings.