“456人活一个！独享456亿韩元”，《鱿鱼游戏》卷土重来，你敢参与吗？

《鱿鱼游戏》为何引发共鸣：挣扎于一个极度不平等的社会

Behind the Global Appeal of ‘Squid Game,’ a Country’s Economic Unease
JIN YU YOUNG
2021年10月12日

SEOUL — In “Squid Game,” the hit dystopian television show on Netflix, 456 people facing severe debt and financial despair play a series of deadly children’s games to win a $38 million cash prize in South Korea.

首尔——在网飞(Netflix)热播的反乌托邦剧《鱿鱼游戏》(Squid Game)中，456位陷入严重债务和财务困境的人为了获得456亿韩元（约2.5亿人民币）的现金奖励，在韩国参与了一系列致命的儿童游戏。

Koo Yong-hyun, a 35-year-old office worker in Seoul, has never had to face down masked homicidal guards or competitors out to slit his throat, like the characters in the show do. But Mr. Koo, who binge-watched “Squid Game” in a single night, said he empathized with the characters and their struggle to survive in the country’s deeply unequal society.

35岁的邱容贤（Koo Yong-hyun，音）是首尔的一位上班族，他从来没有像剧中角色那样，面对杀气腾腾的看守者或是想要割断自己喉咙的竞争者。但用了一个晚上就全部看完《鱿鱼游戏》的邱容贤表示，他对剧中角色在极不平等的韩国社会里的生存挣扎感同身受。

Mr. Koo, who got by on freelance gigs and government unemployment checks after he lost his steady job, said it is “almost impossible to live comfortably with a regular employee’s salary” in a city with runaway housing prices. Like many young people in South Korea and elsewhere, Mr. Koo sees a growing competition to grab a slice of a shrinking pie, just like the contestants in “Squid Game.”

在失去稳定的工作后，邱容贤靠自由职业和政府失业补贴勉强过活，他说，在这座房价飞涨的城市，“以普通职员的收入几乎不可能过上舒适的生活”。与韩国和其他国家的许多年轻人一样，邱容贤看到的是蛋糕越来越小，人们的竞争越来越激烈，就像《鱿鱼游戏》的参与者一样。

Those similarities have helped turn the nine-episode drama into an unlikely international sensation. “Squid Game” is now the top-ranked show in the United States on Netflix and is on its way to becoming one of the most-watched shows in the streaming service’s history. “There’s a very good chance it will be our biggest show ever,” Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive at Netflix, said during a recent business conference.

正是这样的相似之处，让这部九集系列剧出乎意料地引发了全球轰动效应。《鱿鱼游戏》成为了网飞在美国收视最高的剧集，并有望成为该平台有史以来收视最高的剧集之一。“这很有可能会成为我们受众规模最大的剧集，”网飞的联合执行总裁特德·萨兰德斯(Ted Sarandos)在最近的一次商务会议上表示。

Culturally, the show has sparked an online embrace of its distinct visuals, especially the black masks decorated with simple squares and triangles worn by the anonymous guards, and a global curiosity for the Korean children’s games that underpin the deadly competitions. Recipes for dalgona, the sugary Korean treat at the center of one especially tense showdown, have gone viral.

在文化层面上，这部剧独特的视觉效果在网上引发热议，特别是无名的看守们所戴的黑色面具，只以简单的正方形和三角形为装饰。同时它也激发了全世界对于韩国儿童游戏的好奇，剧中的死亡竞赛正是脱胎于此。椪糖制作食谱火爆全网，这种韩国甜食是剧中一场特别紧张的比拼的主线。

Like the “Hunger Games” books and movies, “Squid Game” holds its audience with its violent tone, cynical plot and — spoiler alert! — a willingness to kill off fan-favorite characters. But it has also tapped a sense familiar to people in the United States, Western Europe and other places, that prosperity in nominally rich countries has become increasingly difficult to achieve, as wealth disparities widen and home prices rise past affordable levels.

就像《饥饿游戏》(Hunger Games)系列丛书和电影一样，《鱿鱼游戏》的引人入胜在于其暴力基调、嘲讽的情节和（剧透警告！）对杀死最受粉丝喜爱的角色的热衷。但它也触及到了美国、西欧等各地人们习以为常的认知，即随着贫富差距扩大，房价上涨到无法承受的水平，名义上的富裕国家已经越来越难以实现富裕的生活。

“The stories and the problems of the characters are extremely personalized but also reflect the problems and realities of Korean society,” Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show’s creator, said in an email. He wrote the script as a film in 2008, when many of these trends had become evident, but overhauled it to reflect new worries, including the impact of the coronavirus. (Minyoung Kim, the head of content for the Asia-Pacific region at Netflix, said the company was in talks with Mr. Hwang about producing a second season.)

“这些故事和角色遇到的困难都是极度个人化的，但还是反映了韩国社会的问题和现实，”该剧创作者黄东赫(Hwang Dong-hyuk)在电子邮件中写道。2008年，他创作出该剧的电影剧本，当时许多趋势已经很明显，但后来他对剧本进行了修改，表达了更多新的担忧，包括新冠病毒的影响。（网飞亚太区的内容总监金敏英[Minyoung Kim，音]表示，该公司正在与黄东赫商谈第二季的制作事宜。）

“Squid Game” is only the latest South Korean cultural export to win a global audience by tapping into the country’s deep feelings of inequality and ebbing opportunities. “Parasite,” the 2019 film that won best picture at the Oscars, paired a desperate family of grifters with the oblivious members of a rich Seoul household. “Burning,” a 2018 art-house hit, built tension by pitting a young deliveryman against a well-to-do rival for a woman’s attention.

《鱿鱼游戏》只是最新一个赢得全球口碑的韩国文化输出案例，这些作品无不在展示韩国社会对不平等和机会减少的深刻体会。2019年的《寄生虫》(Parasite)拿下了奥斯卡最佳影片奖，该片将走投无路的骗子家庭与冷漠无知的首尔富裕家庭的故事交织在一起。2018年的热门文艺片《燃烧》(Burning)则通过年轻送货员与富有的对手争夺女人欢心制造了戏剧张力。

South Korea boomed in the postwar era, making it one of the richest countries in Asia and leading some economists to call its rise the “miracle on the Han River.” But wealth disparity has worsened as the economy has matured.

韩国在战后繁荣发展，成为了亚洲最富裕的国家之一，一些经济学家将其崛起称为“汉江奇迹”。但随着经济的成熟，贫富差距也在加剧。

“South Koreans used to have a collective community spirit,” said Yun Suk-jin, a drama critic and professor of modern literature at Chungnam National University. But the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s undermined the nation’s positive growth story and “made everyone fight for themselves.”

“韩国人曾经有一种集体精神，”戏剧评论家、忠南大学(Chungnam National University)现代文学教授尹淑珍（Yun Suk-jin，音）说。但上世纪90年代末的亚洲金融危机导致韩国的经济增长神话破灭，“人人都各自为战。”

The country now ranks No. 11 using the Gini coefficient, one measure of income inequality, among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the research group for the world’s richest nations. (The United States is No. 6.)

在研究世界最富裕国家的经济合作与发展组织(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)的成员国中，韩国的基尼系数如今排在第11位，该指标是衡量收入不平等的标准之一。（美国排名第六。）

As South Korean families have tried to keep up, household debt has mounted, prompting some economists to warn that the debt could hold back the economy. Home prices have surged to the point where housing affordability has become a hot-button political topic. Prices in Seoul have soared by over 50 percent during the tenure of the country’s president, Moon Jae-in, and led to a political scandal.

在韩国家庭努力维持生计的同时，家庭债务也在积累，这促使一些经济学家对债务可能拖累经济发出了警告。房价飙升已经让住房支付能力成为了一个热点政治话题。文在寅总统执政期间，首尔的房价上涨超过50%，引发了一场政治风波。

“Squid Game” lays bare the irony between the social pressure to succeed in South Korea and the difficulty of doing just that, said Shin Yeeun, who graduated from college in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit. Now 27, she said she had spent over a year looking for steady work.

2020年1月，也就是在疫情前才从大学毕业的辛誉恩（Shin Yeeun，音）说，《鱿鱼游戏》通过揭示在韩国取得成功的社会压力和实现这一目标的难度，将讽刺意味展露无遗。现年27岁的辛誉恩说，她花了一年多时间来寻找稳定的工作。

“It’s really difficult for people in their 20s to find a full-time job these days,” she said.

“如今20多岁的人真的很难找到全职工作，”她说。

South Korea has also suffered a sharp drop in births, generated partly by a sense among young people that raising children is too expensive.

韩国也面临人口出生率的大幅下滑，部分原因是年轻人觉得养孩子太贵。

“In South Korea, all parents want to send their kids to the best schools,” Ms. Shin said. “To do that you have to live in the best neighborhoods.” That would require saving enough money to buy a house, a goal so unrealistic “that I’ve never even bothered calculating how long it will take me,” Ms. Shin said.

“在韩国，所有的家长都想把孩子送到最好的学校，”辛誉恩说。“要做到这一点，你必须住在最好的社区。”这意味着要攒够买房钱，这个目标太过不切实际，“我甚至都从来不去计算要攒多长时间，”她说。

“Squid Game” revolves around Seong Gi-hun, a gambling addict in his 40s who doesn’t have the means to buy his daughter a proper birthday present or pay for his aging mother’s medical expenses. One day he is offered a chance to participate in the Squid Game, a private event run for the entertainment of wealthy individuals. To claim the $38 million prize, contestants must pass through six rounds of traditional Korean children’s games. Failure means death.

《鱿鱼游戏》的故事围绕着主角成奇勋(Seong Gi-hun)展开，年过四十的他赌博成瘾，连给女儿买份像样生日礼物的钱都没有，也付不起他年迈老母的医药费。某一天他得到了参加“鱿鱼游戏”的机会，这是一种为富人提供的秘密娱乐活动。为了获得3800万美元的奖金，参赛者必须完成六轮传统的韩国儿童游戏。失败就意味着死亡。

The 456 contestants speak directly to many of the country’s anxieties. One is a graduate from Seoul National University, the nation’s top university, who is wanted for mishandling his clients’ funds. Another is a North Korean defector who needs to take care of her brother and help her mother escape from the North. Another character is an immigrant laborer whose boss refuses to pay his wages.

456位参赛者直接反映了韩国民众的焦虑之情。其中一人毕业于韩国最好的首尔大学，却因挪用客户资金被通缉。另一人则是需要照顾弟弟并帮助母亲逃离朝鲜的脱北者。还有一个角色是移民劳工，他的老板拒绝支付他的工资。

The characters have resonated with South Korean youth who don’t see a chance to advance in society. Known locally as the “dirt spoon” generation, many are obsessed with ways to get rich quickly, like with cryptocurrencies and the lottery. South Korea has one of the largest markets for virtual currency in the world.

这些角色在看不到上升机会的韩国青年中引起了共鸣。在韩国被称为“土汤匙”一代的群体中，许多人痴迷于一夜暴富的方法，比如加密货币和彩票。韩国是全世界最大的虚拟货币市场之一。

Like the prize money in the show, cryptocurrencies give “people the chance to change their lives in a second,” said Mr. Koo, the office worker. Mr. Koo, whose previous employer went out of business during the pandemic, said the difficulty of earning money is one reason South Koreans are so obsessed with making a quick buck.

就像剧中的奖金一样，加密货币“让人有机会瞬间改变自己的人生”，上班族邱容贤说道。他之前的公司在疫情期间倒闭，他说赚钱太难是韩国人如此痴迷于快速暴富的原因之一。

“I wonder how many people would participate if ‘Squid Game’ was held in real life,” he said.

“如果现实中真有‘鱿鱼游戏’，不知道多少人会参加，”他说。

自2021年上线以来，《鱿鱼游戏》迅速成为全球现象，第二季即将回归，预计会更黑暗、更震撼。作为Netflix观看量最高的剧集，它不仅获得6项艾美奖，还掀起了全球文化潮流，从标志性服装到网络负载问题，影响深远。

创作的艰辛与成功

黄东赫在制作过程中因压力过大忽视健康，最终不得不植入九颗牙齿🦷。尽管如此，剧集取得了巨大成功，成为Netflix最受欢迎的作品之一，同时也让黄东赫获得了全球认可。第一季的成功不仅证明了它的全球吸引力，还展现了剧集对资本主义及社会问题的深刻批判。

第二季的挑战

第二季即将上线，黄东赫面临更大的压力：“虽然牙齿不再受伤，但我更疲惫。”第二季与第三季是连续拍摄的，创作强度极大。剧情将继续成奇勋（李政宰饰）的故事，成奇勋将再次参与游戏，试图终结这一切。

延续经典与社会反思

黄东赫表示，《鱿鱼游戏》不仅是对残酷游戏的呈现，也是对当代社会、资本主义深刻的隐喻与批判。剧集的灵感源于他身陷债务时的经历。他认为，剧集的全球成功与观众对其社会意义的共鸣密切相关，尤其是在后疫情时代，许多人面临经济困境，更能理解剧中的生死抉择与对资本主义的深刻反思。

新角色与新规则
第二季将引入新角色，包括加密货币网红和意外发现母亲参赛的角色。此外，新增了每轮游戏后玩家投票决定是否继续游戏的规则，这不仅增加了悬念，还进一步突出了人性与社会分裂的主题。新一季还将聚焦债务危机、极端环境下的生存竞争等当代社会问题，展现人们如何在高风险、低保障的环境中挣扎求生。

黄东赫坚信，第二季的内容与第一季不相上下：“我们创造的内容完全不输第一季。”他将压力放下，期待全球观众的反响。尽管第一季已相当完整，但黄东赫表示，剧情的延续和新角色的加入将使第二季更加引人入胜。

《鱿鱼游戏》第二季将继续用新角色、新规则展现更加紧张、复杂的生存游戏，同时深刻揭示现代社会的困境与挑战。让我们拭目以待全球观众的反馈！

Making the first season of Squid Game cost its creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, nine of his teeth. If you’re among the quarter of a billion viewers who watched the ultra-violent Netflix series, you might fantasise about how this happened. Was his head locked by studio execs in a ghastly contraption, a single tooth pulled for each day the script was late? Or his mouthwash swapped for corrosive acid when he failed to tie up plot strands? The reality was more pedestrian: Hwang was so busy and stressed that he totally neglected his oral hygiene. After production wrapped in 2020, he got dental implants.

The suffering paid off. When it was released the following year, Squid Game became an instant phenomenon. To this day, it is the most-watched show in Netflix history. It was also nominated for 14 Emmy awards, the first non-English language show to be shortlisted for outstanding drama, and won six.

Its cultural impact was similarly enormous: for Halloween 2020, the hot pink overalls of the game’s guards and mint-green tracksuits of the contestants became the costumes of choice. In Korea, a broadband provider sued Netflix for damages, saying people watching the show were putting too much strain on their network.

“I never expected it to become a global phenomenon, it all felt very surreal,” says Hwang, speaking on a video call via a translator from his home in Seoul, wearing a striped T-shirt and round black-framed glasses, his hair tousled.  

Expectations for the forthcoming second season, which will debut on Boxing Day, are impossibly high. Could the even greater pressure this time around jeopardise more than just his teeth? Smiling wearily, he explains that he has become better at managing stress. “Teeth-wise, this season didn’t hurt as bad as season one,” he says, “but I am a bit more drained, I have to say. I think I’m in the middle of a burnout.”

This is not surprising. As with the first, Hwang was sole writer and director of the second season, as well as the third and final season, due next year. 

The two were shot back-to-back over the past year. Squid Game’s first season (and here come some spoilers) saw naive optimist and deadbeat dad Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) enter a competition where he competes with hundreds of others in deadly versions of children’s games to win a life-changing cash prize. By the season’s close, he has won the money but lost almost everything else, from his naive innocence to the friends he made along the way, each of whom meets a grisly end in the competition. In the season’s final moments, Gi-hun decides that, rather than flying to the US to repair his relationship with his daughter, he will stay in Korea and bring an end to the games once and for all. Unsurprisingly, in season two Gi-hun realises that in order to stop the games, he will have to compete in them again.

Sticking to the formula seems a wise choice. The first season’s games provided the show’s most memorable moments, combining the white-knuckle tension of characters’ lives hanging in the balance with emotive moments in which they are forced to make terrible choices about who will live or die. Hwang says he thought carefully about which games to include. Much of the show’s power comes from its chilling juxtaposition of brutal violence and the kinds of games children play, so he had to find activities that would invoke the innocence of youth for viewers all over the world, not just in Korea.

The idea for Squid Game came to Hwang in 2009 while he was struggling with debt and trying to make it in the Korean film industry. He would spend long hours in cafés reading mangas such as Battle Royale and Liar Game, two series about high-concept death games. The desperation of the characters seemed to echo that of his own life — the competition to succeed felt similarly fierce. “I thought if there were games that weren’t too hard to play, maybe somebody like me could participate and win a huge cash prize,” he says.