lord_varvara

Absolutely! Concept rules and, frankly, that's the only thing that attracts me to dramas and movies. I'm not into following actors much because no matter how much I like someone if concept is s*** no way I'm gonna watch. And high-concept makjang instead of the typical one would be amazing! You should pitch it to Netflix!

hear hear!

Absolutely. You make great points that would make for a great standalone thread, not just part of conversation about atypical drama achieving bigger international success than typical ones. The Black Money Love is a great example. Romance that feels realistic is more likely to click with audiences outside of the country of origin which is what Netflix is aiming for. I hope that Squid Game encourages Netflix and other streaming platforms to make more dramas like this and less fishkissing aegyo crap like Love Alarm.

well said!

Another thing that is really weird is banning their stars from dating. BTS in particular are banned from dating wholesale. I mean, what kind of message is that? Dating is normal. Why can't stars be normal. This sends a message that something that's normal isn't normal. Yes, that's "living in aegyo" and infantilization of grown-up men and women (bowlcuts and pig-tails). Just so weird.

I was being sarcastic but that flew over a number of heads. However, the puritan chasteness of Korean TV, whereas their movies are anything but, is laughable and I'm glad that Squid Game became the biggest K drama on Netflix without being the typical drama that K dramas are famous for (bad romance, fish kissing, overlong season, bad acting).

I bring up Sex Education because Otis: Secret Counseling is Sex Education under a different name (that omits sex from the title). Squid Game bumped Sex Education Season 3 from the top spot in USA.

go cry because a romance didn't shatter records. that's all that is isn't it? MDL and Soompi seething that none of "playful chemsitry" "heart fluttering moments" drivel achieved what Squid Game did. This is a site where trash like True Beauty was initially rated higher because of "visuals" in a boring af drama that should have been a movie not a freakin 16 episode yawnathon.

but that's comparing apples and oranges. Squid Game is commercial. It has action, thrills, stunning production values. D.P. is more like a serious drama with some levity and action but less commercial. It was never meant to be a breakout hit like Squid Game.

Alice is Japanese so its viewership, which was big at the time of release, was measured against J dramas.

I know what mandatory service is but since they called Sex Education Otis' Something Something, I call their mandatory service military fetish. Fair don't you think? :)

Considering they are worried about low birth rate, they don't see it as a positive. After all, given their military fetish, they need soldiers. But even with normal or high birth rate, renaming Sex Education "Otis' Secret Counseling Center" is beyond ridiculous.

it is mainstream. :)

I loved both dramas but I'm especially happy that SG has destroyed drivel and Vincenzo (the most overrated drama ever - I like it a lot but bait and switch with Italy is unforgivable and FL is one of the most annoying ever).

basically, anything that is over the top is called porn. So porn alone is over the top sex. But torture porn = over the top torture. Wealth porn = over the top wealth (you can see that in dramas about very rich people and royals - The Crown, Crazy Rich Asians, Mine, any reality show about really wealthy like some of Real Housewives shows). Wealth porn has a subcategory royalty porn (for example, royal rituals). Michael Bay movies are often called military porn because of his excessive use of real military props (fighter jets, tanks, military extras, etc). There's also misery porn which is typical for dramas where everyone is always unhappy and just wallows in misery 24-7 and more often than not lives in poor conditions.

Those are not really subgenres but more cynical names for excessiveness. But torture porn is adopted as a subgenre ha ha.

oh there is subgenre for everything. Horror has a large number of them - slasher, monster, supernatural, torture porn, found footage, etc. Deathy game is subgenre of action genre which has the biggest number I think. Though it could be subgenre of horror too like The Escape Room and Saw franchise which are also deathly game based.

Alice has more complicated rules. Squid Game is much simpler and has eye-catching design that made for effective previews plus really effective use of famous classical music.

it's the deathly game subgenre. Death Race, Rollerball, The Running Man (Arnie Schwartzeneger movie, not K variety show), Battle Royale, Hunger Games, Alice in Borderland, Squid Game all fall in that category.

LMAO! Do Koreans really call Sex Education "Otis' Secret Counseling Center"? And then they wonder why their birth rate is the worst in the world. Renaming shows with "sex" in the title, banning sex from TV (only stiff fish kissing and hand-holding allowed), banning porn...yeah, that won't stimulate the nation's sex and reproductive drive.

I'm happy that Squid Game shattered record for K drama on Netflix. Given that Sweet Home was the previous record-holder, non-romance original Netflix K dramas are clear favorites. Destroyed crap like Love Alarm.

but games to the death only have 1 winner, always. it's no mystery. it's what the genre is.

YAY!!!! Haven't checked the update, was at #2 earlier.

YAY!!!! Haven't checked the update, was at #2 earlier.