Squid Game Creator Says ‘Comics’ Are His Inspiration Behind The Mass Trending Netflix Series, Read on

Squid Game Creator revealed the idea came from his own experiences of the 2009 financial crisis in South Korea and his love for dystopian fiction.

The Netflix original South Korean web series Squid Game is officially the biggest show on the online streaming giant of all time. The satire revolves around a group of debt-riddled characters who get a chance to become rich. All they have to do is play a series of dangerous and life-threatening games, all inspired by the games they used to play as children. Now, Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator of the show, revealed his inspiration behind the show.

Speaking with The Guardian, he said that it has been something he has been trying to get made for 10 years and noted that the idea came from his own experiences of the 2009 financial crisis in South Korea and his love for dystopian fiction.

He was quoted as saying, “I was very financially straitened because my mother retired from the company she was working for. There was a film I was working on but we failed to get finance. So I couldn’t work for about a year. We had to take out loans – my mother, myself, and my grandmother,”

“I read Battle Royal and Liar Game and other survival game comics. I related to the people in them, who were desperate for money and success. That was a low point in my life. If there was a survival game like these in reality, I wondered, would I join it to make money for my family? I realised that, since I was a filmmaker, I could put my own touch to these kinds of stories so I started on the script”, he added.

When asked if now he is ‘rich’ given the popularity of the show, he pointed out that popularity doesn’t seem to equal riches right away at Netflix. He added, “I’m not that rich. But I do have enough. I have enough to put food on the table. And it’s not like Netflix is paying me a bonus. Netflix paid me according to the original contract.”

He does feel that might be one way to get the bonus though. He laughs and said, “It’s possible… that I have to do season two to become as rich as Squid Game’s winner.”

Why Is Squid Game Trending?

Squid Game is a show where the creative minds go into the depth of the dark world where capitalism, good, inequality often triumph over humanity and goodness but it does give out a social message too. The series with each passing scene develops the characters and how their greed of earning 45.6 billion (approximately $38.6 million) finishes off their compassion, humanity, and above all the childhood friendship. The unexpected twists and deaths of so many important characters just leave the viewers amazed. The storyline also shows how the hidden organisation’s staff keeps their jobs above all, even at the stake of their own loved ones’ death bed. And last but not the least, the climax – aesthetic brilliance at par.