The nine-part series was a huge success for its harsh commentary on the class disparities prevalent not only in South Korea but around the world, inspired by the director's own life.
Squid Game became a massive hit and went on to become Netflix's biggest launch of all time. Within the first month of its release, it managed to get 111 million views across the world, beating Bridgerton which got 82 million views. The stars of the film skyrocketed to fame and the show became a cultural phenomenon. The nine-part series was a huge success for its harsh commentary on the class disparities prevalent not only in South Korea but around the world. The theme of the show was inspired by the director, Hwang Dong-hyuk's, own economic struggle in life.
Hwang created, wrote, and directed Squid Game. It was a laborious process and took him more than a decade to bring his vision to life. Hwang has expressed his gratitude to Netflix for allowing him to finally bring his story to the screen. With its phenomenal success, it is not at all a stretch to have assumed that the show would have brought riches and fortune in the director's life. After all, the show has generated almost $900 million of “impact value” for Netflix. It cost Netflix only $21.4 million to produce in comparison.
But in a recent interview with The Guardian, Hwang revealed how that could not be further from the truth. “I’m not that rich,” he stated. “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.” The very zen-like response aside, it does seem a bit unfair that Hwang's original contract does not seem to have performance-related bonuses despite the hardships he went through before and during the making of the series. “It was physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. I kept having new ideas and revising the episodes as we were filming so the amount of work multiplied," he explained. He even lost six teeth because of the stress.
He explained how the show he made was very simple, “We are fighting for our lives in very unequal circumstances.” It is a critique of the state of capitalism. "I do believe that the overall global economic order is unequal and that around 90% of the people believe that it’s unfair," he said. During the pandemic, poorer countries can’t get their people vaccinated. They’re contracting viruses on the streets and even dying. So I did try to convey a message about modern capitalism." He did aim for his show to do well in the US and have it rank at the number one spot for at least a day. "But it ended up being much more successful, the most-watched show on Netflix ever. It’s very surprising. It shows that the global audience is resonating with the message I wanted to reflect,” Hwang noted.
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