'Squid Game' becomes Netflix's biggest-ever launch hit

Squid Games - rip off of many Original Japanese films

BTS - Singer/Songwriters/Rappers/Dancers but they don't play the real music, the instruments.

Parasite - Great but there are better Korean films.

and just like that I refuse to ever watch it

^ Haters gonna hate

You don't have to "hate" the film to notice, but as BackpackingNepal says, it's a rip off of many original Japanese films. It gets 0 points for originality.

How does the people who run the fictional Squid Games get the money that they pay to the ultimate winner? Is it a PPV TV show or what?

Some Japanese say the show, Squid game, is a rip-off of many Original Japanese films, which are also copies of others and so on. The big difference is that those death-game films focus on games, but Squid Games explores human nature. It bluntly exposes every dirty side of contemporary Korean society to the world.

A Japanese critic summarized it well as follows: https://realsound.jp/movie/2021/10/post-878490_2.html

目指すものは、あくまで社会の歪んだ姿を明らかにすることであり、そこで生きる人間の存在を描くことだ。

Under the current regime, Japan never can produce global megahit films like Squid Game. Korean filmmakers do not hesitate to expose any ugly aspect of Korean society, but the Japanese can not. For example, no Japanese politician welcomed the 2018  Palme d'Or-awarded film during Cannes, Shoplifters (万引き家族) by Hirokazu Kore-eda, because they do not like showing the darker side of their society. They fear facing the truth.

Under the current regime, Japan never can produce global megahit films like Squid Game. Korean filmmakers do not hesitate to expose any ugly aspect of Korean society, but the Japanese can not. For example, no Japanese politician welcomed the 2018 Palme d'Or-awarded film during Cannes, Shoplifters (万引き家族) by Hirokazu Kore-eda, because they do not like showing the darker side of their society. They fear facing the truth.

May I suggest leaving out the politics? Also, this is not the place to air your "grudges" towards the Japanese.

Some Japanese say the show, Squid game, is a rip-off of many Original Japanese films, which are also copies of others and so on. The big difference is that those death-game films focus on games, but Squid Games explores human nature.

That's not a difference, that's generally the core meaning behind all these movies. Battle Royale and Alice in Borderland, both Japanese and ahead of Squid Games, explored human nature.

rip off of many Original Japanese films

Most absurd thing I've ever heard. Even that boy group claimed that BTS copied them. If Korea is better at something, it's a rip off. If Japan is good at something, it's the original. Too much sour grapes. Maybe Japan should stick with geishas. Then you'd be guaranteed no rip off by any other countries.

Under the current regime, Japan never can produce global megahit films like Squid Game. Korean filmmakers do not hesitate to expose any ugly aspect of Korean society, but the Japanese can not. For example, no Japanese politician welcomed the 2018 Palme d'Or-awarded film during Cannes, Shoplifters (万引き家族) by Hirokazu Kore-eda, because they do not like showing the darker side of their society. They fear facing the truth.

Not quite. Kore-eda was invited by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to "celebrate" his win but declined, saying "that turning down the invitation is "the right thing." In the posting dated June 7 (2018), he also revealed that he had turned down similar requests from local authorities. "Reflecting on the past where the film industry became united with 'national interest' and 'national policy,' I tend to think that keeping a clear distance from government authority is the right thing to do."

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180608/p2a/00m/0et/019000c

Shinzo Abe famously wasn't too impressed with the film's social criticism or Kore-eda's refusal to hobnob with the bureaucrats at MEXT.

Hwang Dong-hyuk, the director of Squid Game, has discussed being inspired by Kaiji, a 1990s Japanese comic and tv anime. Kaiji has a similar story in that a loser struggling in the financial meltdown of the late 90s gambles for his life. This Kaiji has also been made into 3 movies in Japan and one in China, bizarrely co-starring Michael Douglas. It's clearly a well-known story all across Asia. Squid Game is a variant, just as Jason Bourne is a modernisation of James Bond. I don't remember anyone throwing their toys out of the pram complaining that Bourne was a rip-off of Bond.

Under the current regime, Japan never can produce global megahit films like Squid Game. Korean filmmakers do not hesitate to expose any ugly aspect of Korean society, but the Japanese can not. For example, no Japanese politician welcomed the 2018 Palme d'Or-awarded film during Cannes, Shoplifters (万引き家族) by Hirokazu Kore-eda

You say that Japan can never produce a global hit that exposes the ugly side of society in one sentence, and then cite a global Japanese hit that exposes he ugly side of society in the next sentence. Which is it?

I will concede that Japan seems to suck at marketing internationally these days, but that's another issue.

I didn't expect to enjoy Squid Game. It was good, but the Americans playing the VIPs were hideously bad actors with laughably stilted dialogue. I hope they hire proper Western actors if they use them in Season 2.

Japan is like China in regarding cinema as a national propaganda tool. S. Korea was once the same under the military regimes before 1988. This is the same for freedom of the press.

Governmental interventions always curb the creativity of movie makers. Now the Korean government supports developing the infrastructure of the art and entertainment industry, but never intervenes in the contents. An exception was the black list of artists compiled by the former, mindless president Park who was later impeached.

It is not surprising that Hirokazu Kore-eda went to Korea where he was welcomed.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2021/07/689_295078.html

The governmental "Cool Japan" strategy will eventually undermine the image of the country. Being honest is always a virtue in movie-making.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was immersive and entertaining. Then again, I'm not bound by some of the high artitstic standards that oher people here impose on the things that they watch. I couldn't care less if it was vaguely similar to some obscure film from decades ago. The current popularity of Korean media does seem to irritate Japanese people immensely.

It was good, but the Americans playing the VIPs were hideously bad actors with laughably stilted dialogue.

I thought the same, it was the weakest point of the series.

Careful with possible “*SPOILERS!” **please. - MANY are still* watching the ‘current” season. - Thanks. -

*- @commanteer 3:27pm: “**I hope they hire proper Western actors if they use them in Season 2…” *

It was good, but the Americans playing the VIPs were hideously bad actors with laughably stilted dialogue.

It has been the same for the Asians appearing in Hollywood movies.

It's not the fault of Korea if they are better in marketing themselves compared to Edo-jidai Japan when it comes to pop culture.

By marketing, you mean spamming unrelated trends and comments on Twitter with fanvids and looping music videos on YouTube while you sleep to increase views?