'Squid Game' sets off a new game, trying to figure out why it took off on Netflix
CNN
"Squid Game" has set off its own Hollywood-centric game -- trying to explain how (or really, guess why) a South Korean drama that arrived with virtually no fanfare has become what Netflix is billing as possibly its "biggest show ever."
After bingeing through the nine episodes, the answers likely can't be traced to any one factor, but rather a multi-legged array of them. They include the thrill of audiences discovering a concept on their own, without needing pointy-headed critics to direct them; the "Black Mirror"-style dystopia of familiar children's games turning deadly; and a greater appetite in the US for internationally produced content, already evident in the South Korean film "Parasite's" Oscar breakthrough in 2020 and the popularity of other Netflix shows from overseas, such as "Lupin."
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