The Cube and Saw franchises also fit the genre, as do movies like Exam, Circle, and The Platform. The main appeal of these sorts of movies is that they allow you to experience harrowing, horrifying situations from the comfort of your own home.
You can’t help but put yourself in the main characters’ shoes (so long as they’re even remotely relatable) and wonder how you’d handle the situations they find themselves in. There’s also almost always a constant subtext that criticizes modern society for its competitiveness, ruthlessness, and worship of money at the expense of warmth and basic kindness.
Media that features survival games creates a brutal environment where you can face your real or theoretical fears and come face to face with your values, strengths, and weaknesses.
A couple of constant questions lingering at the back of your mind are, “How far would I go to survive?” and “How do I really win these games?”
More often than not, the obvious way to win these games isn't how you actually survive. Your wits, insight, and ability to make good allies are always being tested.
You can learn about yourself once you’re honest. Some people might realize that they’d try to rebel against the rules and organizers. Others come to the uncomfortable realization that there’s nothing they wouldn’t do to get back home safely to their loved ones or… that they would give up because they couldn’t handle the horror. There will also always be people who will look for ways to ‘break’ the games and outwit the organizers, trying to come up with the most optimal (social and logical) strategies.
The survival game genre is great, but the biggest drawback is that there isn’t too much content in this niche. The hope is that with the popularity of Squid Game, other creators will be inspired to push the boundaries of the genre and create their own spins on it with unique games and twists.
No matter what genre of film or show you’re creating, you’ve got to make the characters relatable and the worldbuilding solid. To put it simply, if the audience can’t connect with at least one character in the midst of the action, they’ll tune out. Give them a reason to root for the hero or villain.
Meanwhile, the world itself has to be consistent and logical. Sure, it can be fantastical, magical, mind-bogglingly dystopian with bizarre tech and what have you, but the (un)seen rules that govern it have to be solid. You cannot and should not change the rules that govern your world to suit the narrative that you want to push through.
The characters have to behave and think ‘realistically,’ as you’ve set out in the story before. They should stumble and strive. It would be boring if the hero got their way all the time, without any challenges.
What’s your relationship with the shopping/unique/squid-games-season-2-games/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Squid Game show, dear Pandas? Do you love it and can’t get enough? Do you hate it and think it falls short of the mark? What did you think of the second season and the cliffhanger? What are your expectations for the third and final season?
Let us know in the comments! Meanwhile, we’ve shared our recommendations for media that’s similar to Squid Game; feel free to share your own fave finds, too.
