Squid Game and its influence worldwide 

Squid Game is currently the number 1 trending show on Netflix Australia. Viewers all around the world watched the Korean drama, and its success speaks for itself. And yet, it took its creator Hwang Dong-hyuk ten years to convince others of his idea. He even had to sell his laptop in order to make ends meet, but never gave up on the story. 

The concept of the Squid Game can sound like just another survival show, but its details make the difference. Hwang Dong-hyuk uses children's games to illustrate common, real life issues in our society. Seeing the clear difference between an innocent game and the things players will do to win is quite impactful. The series touches upon family, culture, grief, friendship and social injustice. The different layers of the story and characters opens a dialogue and allows us to relate and understand even from a different culture.

The popularity of the show created trends on social media like TikTok. Watchers from all around the world are sharing their own understanding of what they watched. Dalgona candies, for instance, are common in South Korea and often made by the older generation. For a lot of people, this was their first time hearing about it. Even if the context of the candy in the show was not cheerful, many around the world still loved the reference and added it to their everyday norm and vocabulary.

The show does not try to demonise, but instead highlight. We really enjoyed seeing a South-Asian actor, Anupam Tripathi, playing a character of its own, with his life, fears, happiness and personality. This kind of representation is important and we hope to see more in the future for communities and cultures to understand one another.

Squid Game was truly an experience of its own in every aspect. It is a difficult task to perfectly mix entertainment and meaning but Hwang Dong-hyuk did it perfectly. He is the living proof of what being proud of one's culture and not giving up can achieve worldwide.

Blank Round is a bridge between cultures, at the intersection between craft and heritage.

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