Squid Game

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Roscoe
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
Location: NYC

Re: Squid Game

#26 Post by Roscoe » Tue Oct 19, 2021 12:54 pm

brundlefly wrote:
Mon Oct 11, 2021 2:00 pm
Unlike a lot of post-Lost, post-Hunger Games efforts, it gets what matters right: You care about the characters, even if every single one of them is annoying out of the gate.
Can't agree. I didn't care about the characters. At all. I was perfectly ready to see that jackass in the lead get blown away. And dammit he didn't at least in the one episode I'll bother with. The only one I found even remotely interesting was
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the old guy who seems to get the idea a lot more quickly than anybody else.

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brundlefly
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Squid Game

#27 Post by brundlefly » Tue Oct 19, 2021 1:34 pm

Roscoe wrote:
Tue Oct 19, 2021 12:54 pm
brundlefly wrote:
Mon Oct 11, 2021 2:00 pm
Unlike a lot of post-Lost, post-Hunger Games efforts, it gets what matters right: You care about the characters, even if every single one of them is annoying out of the gate.
Can't agree. I didn't care about the characters. At all. I was perfectly ready to see that jackass in the lead get blown away. And dammit he didn't at least in the one episode I'll bother with. The only one I found even remotely interesting was
SpoilerShow
the old guy who seems to get the idea a lot more quickly than anybody else.
Perhaps I should have said that you come to care about the characters so the second half of that statement isn't so easy to ignore. Not that I'd encourage anyone to continue with something they weren't enjoying -- especially people who find the violence off-putting -- but the second episode is where I was won over. Because the characters themselves get a chance to react to the first episode, complicating elements are introduced, etc. I understand the viewers who find themselves stuck in the gate.

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Persona
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2018 1:16 pm

Re: Squid Game

#28 Post by Persona » Tue Oct 19, 2021 9:27 pm

Wholly unoriginal and sacrifices momentum for melodrama in the back half, but I still enjoyed this. Weird how popular it has become but there is something about the design and form of the show that is very memorable and seems to have stuck in the public consciousness better than most pieces of entertainment in the current overloaded media environment.

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Murdoch
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:59 pm
Location: Upstate NY

Re: Squid Game

#29 Post by Murdoch » Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:45 am

That was my takeaway, Persona. Everything here has more or less been done before in other variations of the death game subgenre, but its a subgenre I generally enjoy and I did enjoy its bright color scheme. But while the show starts off as rather silly in its overall aesthetic, it quickly devolves into character melodrama and the strangeness that pervaded the first game disappears for the formulaic conflicts of the two main social cliques. The eventual reveal of who is running the games was uninspired and the games lost a lot of steam after the visual funhouse of the first
Last edited by Murdoch on Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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brundlefly
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Squid Game

#30 Post by brundlefly » Wed Oct 20, 2021 3:03 pm

Murdoch wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:45 am
The eventual reveal of who is running the games was uninspired
Like a lot of the show's choices, it was obvious, implemented well, and was absolutely the correct one.
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He was pitched as the most innocent and expendable of all the participants, thereby becoming (despite being an obvious drag on the proceedings) the most sympathetic. Was even the deciding vote in episode two to send everyone home! So of course he was the most guilty and necessary person in the bunch.
But he was also the person with the most intimate knowledge of the corruptibility of 456, having caught him cheating at marbles, arguably the only individual 456 had directly tried to kill. And he proves it again in their final scene together (which does drag on), getting 456 to bet on a human life rather than intervene on his own.

And of course it would boil down to someone who saw everything in childish terms of numbers and winning and losing, and whose participation in his own torture system was voluntary, rigged dalliance instead of necessity. Because capitalism.
And sure, the first game has the showiest trappings; the formula is to suck you in with mystery and spectacle while fostering character interest -- something at which Squid Game is more efficient than proficient -- to move past childish games and go from numbers to names. (Though I’m terrible with names in general, so numbers it is.)

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: Squid Game

#31 Post by hearthesilence » Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:13 pm

cdnchris wrote:
Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:22 am
Though the acting is still awful, this Guardian article gets interviews with the actors and somewhat confirms some of my suspicions around why the English speaking performances are what they are, it seeming to come down to things getting lost in translation from writing to editing to the exaggerated nature sticking out more with English-speaking audiences.
One actor claims he delivered one awkwardly written line as-is during the first take, only to "fix" it in other takes. The editors, who may not speak English, ended up using the first take.
I didn't have the English language track on, but it's been reported elsewhere that the subtitle translations are fairly pedestrian, losing quite a bit of nuance and even meaning.

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swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Squid Game

#32 Post by swo17 » Wed Nov 03, 2021 6:17 am

Alright, this has finally reached a saturation point where Facebook moms I know are warning each other about their kids in elementary school expressing an interest in it. So naturally, now I want to see it

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Squid Game

#33 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:12 am

swo17 wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 6:17 am
Alright, this has finally reached a saturation point where Facebook moms I know are warning each other about their kids in elementary school expressing an interest in it. So naturally, now I want to see it
I’m surprised it took that long- not only has my FB newsfeed been flooded with warning posts from colleagues and parents I know for weeks, but friends of mine who are in admin positions in the Boston schools have been talking nonstop about the rise of bullying behavior revolved around this show’s terminology and glorification of certain villainous characters… I still have no interest in watching the show, but many of them are watching simply to be able to therapeutically intervene in a creative manner, or at least appropriately with the same info

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Squid Game

#34 Post by knives » Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:28 pm

Ha, no one I know is talking about it yet. I think I win this round of most out of touch millennial.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Squid Game

#35 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:37 pm

That may be, but if you were still in the Boston school systems, you would be forcibly woke

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Squid Game

#36 Post by knives » Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:40 pm

(I was in Malden)

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Squid Game

#37 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:58 pm

Shoulda said Boston-area, not sure I'd retract the claim tho

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Squid Game

#38 Post by knives » Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:25 pm

For sure not. I’m actually psyched about moving back a little closer next year, one of many benefits of marriage, so I could feasibly do weekend trips. Totally on a better topic, but I just love New England. No one else like them in the states.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Squid Game

#39 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:28 pm

*except apparently a more glaring problem with youth actualizing squid games

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Dr Amicus
Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:20 am
Location: Guernsey

Re: Squid Game

#40 Post by Dr Amicus » Fri Nov 05, 2021 2:00 pm

Much to my daughter’s amusement, her school (she’s 10) have banned Red Light Green Light. So they play Grandma’s Footsteps instead. But yes, there’s been a lot of stories in the papers over here about schools warning parents about the series (we watched it with our 13 year old but didn’t let our daughter watch it).

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Squid Game

#41 Post by colinr0380 » Mon Nov 08, 2021 1:40 pm

The last time that I remember this much controversy and warnings from authorities to parents over what their kids might be watching is back when that innocuous-at-first visual novel game Doki Doki Literature Club was making the rounds.

Anyway, I'm rather annoyed that the Squid Game appears to have stolen the idea I had all the way back when I had to do the Beep Test at school, which I always thought could be turned into a macabre game incentivising people to not fail at the test for fear of someone waiting with a shotgun at either end, watching for any failure!

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swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Squid Game

#42 Post by swo17 » Mon Nov 08, 2021 5:26 pm

OK, I caved and watched this. Some thoughts:

1. This is nowhere near as gory as Titane. I suppose I can see being a parent who is concerned about the excessive level of gunplay though--it's rather desensitizing. Obviously the most offensive things connected to this show are the real-world systems being satired, but good luck getting people more worked up about that than any of the on-screen content.
2. Perhaps it was because of low expectations, but I actually didn't mind the English-language performances. (Maybe the masks helped.) I especially feel bad reading that linked Guardian article about one of the actors with clinical depression who's taken the criticism hard. It's not like anything else in this show is a model of measured acting. It is what it is. It's hilarious though to think of a Facebook mom with a notepad making it to "VIPs" and trying to decide whether it's appropriate to show to her fourth grader.
3. Biggest disappointments are the convenient outs of certain predicaments, though there are just as many cruel exits so maybe this kind of balances out.
4. Surely the element that has most caused this to catch on is the conception of the games. And that's the show's greatest strength. Half of them are so visually audacious that you almost want to chance death and play them yourself, while some of the others raise moderately interesting moral dilemmas that, while not necessarily profound, serve better than anything else in the show to develop the characters.

On the whole I recommend the show, especially if you are a grade schooler trying to impress your classmates

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brundlefly
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Squid Game

#43 Post by brundlefly » Mon Nov 08, 2021 11:31 pm

swo17 wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 5:26 pm
This is nowhere near as gory as Titane.
Certainly not a comparison I'd think to make! Hate to think Titane would get Zeitgeisty enough to warrant wide concern among parents after it hits Hulu. Doesn't have the kiddie bait of candy colors and playground games. Does have a cool car that chicks dig. But the violence in Squid Game, though prevalent, is far more mundane. And perhaps should be more disturbing for that?
swo17 wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 5:26 pm
On the whole I recommend the show, especially if you are a grade schooler trying to impress your classmates
Compliment accepted!

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swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Squid Game

#44 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:03 am

brundlefly wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 11:31 pm
swo17 wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 5:26 pm
This is nowhere near as gory as Titane.
Certainly not a comparison I'd think to make!
The people I'd read who were decrying the show's violence had me expecting something far more extreme, up to and including bodily mutilation

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Squid Game

#45 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:14 am

So is this more or less dangerous than when all those silly people were trying to do the Bird Box challenge? If nothing else, Netflix seems to be good at turning their shows into games!

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Squid Game

#46 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:27 am

My interpretation is that the outrage has stemmed from a) the feeling of powerlessness amongst coddling-generation adults against the mass consumption of a program about the Haves vs the Have Nots without giving the benefit of the doubt for children being able to discern the difference between fantasy and reality, and b) spotlighting the few kids who are calling other kids names based on groups/characters in the show and thus assuming that as evidence that they're going to, like, murder them or something. Which amusingly presents a Hobbesian narrative conflicting with the 'my child can do no wrong' coddling mentality

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jindianajonz
Jindiana Jonz Abrams
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:11 pm

Re: Squid Game

#47 Post by jindianajonz » Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:04 pm

brundlefly wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 11:31 pm
swo17 wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 5:26 pm
This is nowhere near as gory as Titane.
Certainly not a comparison I'd think to make! Hate to think Titane would get Zeitgeisty enough to warrant wide concern among parents after it hits Hulu. Doesn't have the kiddie bait of candy colors and playground games. Does have a cool car that chicks dig.
The biggest draw Titane has on younger audiences is that
SpoilerShow
it is actually a stealth Transformers origin story

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aox
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:02 pm
Location: nYc

Re: Squid Game

#48 Post by aox » Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:47 am

brundlefly wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 11:31 pm
swo17 wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 5:26 pm
This is nowhere near as gory as Titane.
Certainly not a comparison I'd think to make! Hate to think Titane would get Zeitgeisty enough to warrant wide concern among parents after it hits Hulu. Doesn't have the kiddie bait of candy colors and playground games. Does have a cool car that chicks dig. But the violence in Squid Game, though prevalent, is far more mundane. And perhaps should be more disturbing for that?
I found the violence to be somewhat cartoonish, and much more akin to Tarantino. Specifically, Kill Bill.

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