They say the only thing as bad as failure in show business is success. The industry is rife with cautionary tales and monkey’s paw wishes that fill hungry creatives’ hands with gobs of money – but at what cost? When Netflix’s Squid Game became a sleeper hit, show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk perhaps unknowingly flipped the big red power switch on an IP merchandising machine that makes C-Suite ice-chewers who call all art “content” start to salivate. Having a singular creative vision for a massive property is extremely stressful and a gargantuan amount of work, which can breed a sense of resentment inside the creator.
As the show has wrapped production on its second and third seasons (written and filmed back to back), Dong-hyuk spoke with Variety about his eagerness for some time away from Squid Game:

“I’m so exhausted. I’m so tired. In a way, I have to say, I’m so sick of ‘Squid Game.’ I’m so sick of my life making something, promoting something. So I’m not thinking about my next project right now. I’m just thinking about going to some remote island and having my own free time without any phone calls from Netflix. Not the ‘Squid Game’ island.”

If one manages to create an international sensation, it’s not often considered that a small economy comes with it. Promotional tie-ins, merchandise, rides, experiences, and games – all attached to someone’s job – are set in motion and everyone is incentivized to keep that machine moving by making more of the show. In fact, Hwang originally planned to only do a single season of Squid Game:

“I had no intention of doing a second season, because the overall process of writing, producing and directing the series was so challenging. I didn’t think to do another one.”

The Irony Of Squid Game’s Success

As a not-so-subtle cultural critique of the capitalist systems that force a downwardly mobile class of people into a deadly competition, the commodification of the show is more than a little bleak. As revenue streams dry up in various industries to satisfy stockholders, the dizzying creation of more products that tie into the Squid Game brand begins to feel uncanny. And now with the creation of the Squid Game: The Experience – a series of games, promotions, and popups intended to immerse fans in the pressure and intensity of the show – there is something disquieting about the industry’s instinctive financialization of this dystopia.

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In a country where millions of people are one medical emergency away from ruin and middle-class jobs are harder to secure, dipping into the kids’ college funds to experience the desperation and precarity of Squid Game feels a little on the nose. In the memeified words of Captain Barbosa – you best start believin’ in dehumanizing capitalist competitions…you’re in one.
As of November, the show has generated 2.8 billion hours viewed, so the audience for the deadly competitions show is alive and well. Squid Game Season 2 debuts this year on December 26th on Netflix.