《鱿鱼游戏》:外媒怎样报道这部剧?(下)

While the genre of the show is hardly new, its striking visuals, relatable characters and disturbing study of human nature have spoken to audiences all around the world.

虽然该剧的题材并不新鲜，但其视觉效果惹人注目，人物形象引人共鸣，人性研究令人不安，打动了世界各地的观众。

The games are simple enough - they are childhood games that the players grew up playing. And that surprising juxtaposition of innocent child’s play with violent deaths has caused viewers to sit up. “People are attracted by the irony that hopeless grownups risk their lives to win a kids’ game,” Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk said in an interview.

“The games are simple and easy, so viewers can give more focus on each character rather than complex game rules.” 

There’s also the element of nostalgia. For example, the Dalgona honeycomb challenge featured in episode three is one that most Koreans remember playing when they were kids. In the challenge, players must carefully cut out a shape from a paper-thin sheet of honeycomb candy using a needle. If you get a very intricate shape and the candy cracks, you lose.

One Korean user tweeted: “Squid Game makes me want to eat Dalgona [candy] again. It’s been 20 something years... Are they still around? I don’t think I can find one.”

这些游戏很简单，玩家们从小就玩。然而，将单纯的儿童游戏和暴力死亡放在一起，这让观众惊讶不已，坐立不安。《鱿鱼游戏》的导演黄东赫在接受采访时说：“绝望的成年人在儿童游戏中冒死求胜，此般讽刺吸引了观众。”

剧中还有怀旧的元素。比如第三集中的椪糖挑战，是大多数韩国人记忆中小时候玩过的游戏。比赛中，玩家必须用针从像纸一样薄的椪糖上小心翼翼地抠出一个形状。如果你拿到一个非常复杂的形状，之后椪糖破裂，那你就输了。

一位韩国用户在推特上说，“《鱿鱼游戏》让我又想吃椪糖了。已经20多年了……还有吗？我想我找不到了。”

Experts also attribute the show’s success to its characters, many of whom are marginalised members of society. Though they are all linked by huge money troubles, they come from all walks of life.

The lead, for example, is an unemployed man with a gambling problem who struggles to gain respect from his family. Through the game, he meets a young North Korean defector with a tragic background, and a Pakistani labourer who is mistreated by his employers.

Kim Pyeong-gang, a global cultural content professor at Sangmyung University, told the BBC: “People, especially the younger generation, who regularly suffer from alienation and resentment in real life, seem to sympathise with the characters.”

Like its East Asian neighbours, the hyper-competitive nature of society in South Korea has left many feeling disillusioned. Despite hard work, it simply is not possible for everyone to get top university spots or good jobs.

The games in the show, however deadly, present an alternative world supposedly based on fair play. As one gaming official says in the series: “All participants in the game are equal. We are giving people who have suffered unequal treatment and discrimination in the outside world the last chance to win a fair competition.”

专家们还将该剧的成功归功于其角色，其中许多人是社会的边缘群体。虽然他们都因巨大的金钱问题联系在一起，但他们来自各行各业。

比如，主角是一个有赌瘾的失业男子，他努力争取家人的尊重。游戏中，他遇到了一个年纪轻轻、出身悲惨的朝鲜叛逃者，以及一个受雇主虐待的巴基斯坦劳工。

祥明大学（Sangmyung University）全球文化内容教授金平江（音译）告诉BBC：“人们，尤其是年轻一代，在现实生活中经常遭受疏远和愤恨，似乎很同情这些角色。”

与其东亚邻国一样，韩国社会竞争激烈，让许多人理想破灭。再怎么努力工作，也不可能每个人都进入顶尖大学或者找到好工作。

无论剧中的游戏多么致命，都呈现出另一个所谓基于公平竞争的世界。正如一位剧中的游戏官所说：“所有玩家都是平等的。我们在给那些在外界遭受不平等待遇和歧视的人，提供最后一个赢得公平竞争的机会。”

Though lighter at times, Squid Game is pretty bloody and depressing. It’s hard to parse exactly why it’s appealing, but the same can be asked of why people like grim shows and movies like Black Mirror, The Hunger Games, and Battle Royale. In an interview with Bustle in 2019, professor and psychologist Sheela Raja said that viewers who watch “misery porn” like The Handmaid’s Tale tend to fall into three categories: those who enjoy the adrenaline rush of watching dystopian stories, those who relate to the depicted trauma onscreen, or those who engage intellectually with the content.

虽然有时比较轻松，但《鱿鱼游戏》非常血腥、压抑。很难确切分析它为什么吸引人，但同样可以问，人们为什么喜欢《黑镜》、《饥饿游戏》和《大逃杀》等恐怖剧集。2019年接受《Bustle》采访时，教授兼心理学家希拉·哈贾（音译）说，观看《使女的故事》等“苦难色情”的观众往往分为三类：看反乌托邦故事血脉喷张的人，与剧中描述的创伤有共鸣的人，或者喜欢参与剧中智力游戏的人。

While Squid Games definitely scratches that adrenaline-inducing horror itch, it also explores a number of pressing themes. The game show format speaks to the inhumane realities and crushing individualism of capitalism, while the holding area riots and the impersonal nature of how the players are treated speaks to the cruelties of the prison-industrial complex.

虽然《鱿鱼游戏》绝对能以恐怖刺激肾上腺素，但它也探讨了一些紧迫的主题。游戏的形式反映了资本主义惨无人道的现实以及令人难以接受的个人主义，而关押区的暴乱以及玩家受到的非人对待反映了监狱工业的残酷。

These are weighty issues, but focusing on underdog protagonists seems to be the key to Squid Game’s success. “It helps enormously that, while Squid Game is critical, it is not overly cynical,” Kayti Burt wrote for Den of Geek. “This isn’t a story in which humanity is doomed because of its inherent greed or selfishness; it is a reality where people do desperate things because they are in desperate situations. While the game-makers do not value human life, it’s clear that the story itself does - a vital narrative distinction.”

Western media outlets have drawn comparisons between Squid Game and Parasite, the Oscar-winning 2019 Korean film that also looked at the wealth disparity and unfairness of society.

But in east Asia, viewers have pointed out how the show bears similarities with the 2014 Japanese film As The Gods Will. The movie is centred on high schoolers but it follows a comparable storyline, and some have even accused Squid Game of plagiarism. For example, As The Gods Will also features the traditional children’s game “Red Light, Green Light”. In one of the most famous scenes from Squid Game, a giant robot girl uses her laser eyes to spot players who have lost the game. They are then killed.

However, director Hwang has denied the accusations, saying that there is “no connection” between the two shows, and that parallels were drawn only because of the show’s genre. “I started planning [Squid Game] in 2008 and began writing the script in 2009... the similarities that were pointed out are purely coincidental and there is no copying from either party,” he said.

In any case, all the hype surrounding his show has led to calls for a second season. But fans may have to wait a long time for that. “I don’t have well developed plans for Squid Game 2,” he told Variety. “It is quite tiring just thinking about it.”

而在东亚，观众指出该剧与2014年日本电影《要听神明的话》有相似之处。《要听神明的话》围绕高中生展开，但其故事情节类似，甚至有人指责《鱿鱼游戏》抄袭。比如，《要听神明的话》也有传统的儿童游戏“一二三木头人”。在《鱿鱼游戏》最著名的场景之一，一个巨大的机器人女孩用其激光眼来识别输掉游戏的玩家，然后杀死他们。

然而，导演黄东赫否认了这些指控。他说，两部剧集之间“没有任何联系”，只是因为题材（相同），才产生了相似点。“我从2008年开始策划[鱿鱼游戏]，2009年开始写剧本……（观众）所指出的相似之处纯属巧合，双方都没有抄袭。”

无论如何，所有围绕这部剧的炒作都让第二季的呼声更高。但是，粉丝们可能要为此等待很久。他告诉《视相Variety》：“我对《鱿鱼游戏2》没有完善的计划，光是想想就挺累的。”

You’ll get some Hunger Games flashbacks watching Squid Game, and there’s some throwbacks to Hostel and other horror flicks when a group of masked rich VIPs come to bet on and cheer on the deaths. But Squid Game doesn’t feel like a copycat - it’s a well-done drama/horror series. Rich backstories are developed not just for the desperate contestants, but for those running the game.

看《鱿鱼游戏》时，你会想起《饥饿游戏》。当一群戴着面具的富豪贵宾为死亡打赌、欢呼时，仿佛回到《人皮客栈》等其他恐怖片。但是《鱿鱼游戏》并不像抄袭——它是一部制作精良的恐怖剧集。不仅绝望的玩家有丰富的背景故事，游戏的运行者也有。