From The Australian. This is the weekend edition of The Front. I'm Claire Harvey. In entertainment Circles, they talk about something called the Korean Wave, a moment in the nineties when Korean music and TV shows started going wild internationally, first into China, Japan, Southeast Asia and then the rest of the world makeup skincare television literature. They call it hull yu and it might be best expressed in the Netflix
hit squid Game. Today, entertainment reporter Jordi Gray on why season three of squid Game, which drops for your binging pleasure on June twenty seven hits different.
Gundam Star.
Gungham Style, released in twenty twelve, was the world's Korean pop culture initiation. It is pop perfection with biting synth hooks and a soaring pre chorus that drops into an irresistible chant open Gundam stars compared with a signature dance move. The music video was the first video ever to reach a billion views on YouTube. Gungam means South of the River.
The singer Cy, who became a global superstar thanks to Gungham Style, calls this part of town the Beverly Hills of soul, remember right, said Fred Gungman style was a bit like I'm Too Sexy, a satire of vanity, consumerism and class. And then k pop. If you haven't heard of Korean supergroups BTS, Black Pink and Twice Pink, you at least know one of their biggest stars, l Lisa Manibal from Black Pink, who played Mook in the latest season of The White Lotus.
Here are the nominees for Achievement and Directing.
In twenty twenty, Bong June Ho's Parasite, a story about inequality and class, was the first non English language film to win the Best Picture Oscar Paul Juneo. And in twenty twenty one, Netflix released squid Game, a life and death fictional game show in the style of the Roman colisseum, a blood sport where poor people compete for money. Korean skincare defund it Approach, not my Wheelhouse, Club, Not My wheel House. Jordi Gray is the entertainment reporter for the
Australian Jordy. You had to binge a few episodes to catch up on squid Game, and then you've watched some of season three in advance of everybody else. What was it like throwing yourself back into this quid game world.
Intense and Graham, I did forget how extraordinarily violent this show is, so I did watch a lot of it through my fingers, but I do think it's a very strong ending to such a massive series.
Squid Game follows a hero, Giehan, who finds himself in financial trouble and is drawn into a wild game where he tries to win a fortune. The twist is this game is life or death. In seasons one and two, we saw him fight through the death and chaos to try to unmask the sinister figures behind the game, and in season three, which drops on Netflix on June twenty seven, we leap into the future for something that the director is promising will be darker and more humorous. Is class.
Do you think the main driving force in this story? Is that really what it's about?
I think season three is an actual extension of the themes of season two, and it's focused on tribalism. Season one was really about how capitalism and desperate economic circumstances push people to impossible, deadly decisions like risking life and limb in front of a giant pigtailed.
Murderers dole.
What. But this season introduces a very interesting twist. After each round of the games, the players get to vote on whether to end the game early. If the game ends prematurely, they split the prize money evenly, which is kind of a classic game show dilemma, but in the hands of like Squid Games director becomes a really intense and uncomfortable social experiment.
One of the things about dystopian television, I think is that there's a hope that the White Night will come, it will all be solved, you know, you get some clarity at the end. Do you feel like Squid Game is going there or is it just going to be quite dystopian right through to the end, do you think?
I think recently there's kind of been an interest in the sort of eat the rich television and it has that anger, but it doesn't really offer any answers. And if I'm being like totally honest, I don't think that's why people like the show. I don't think they're interested in it because it's a scathing critique of wealth. Just
like people I'm not interested in the White Lotus. They want to just see rich people teary each other apart, I think squid game is just captivating because of the style and spectacle of it, the candy colored corridors and the pink jumpsuits and the insane.
Violence coming up. How Korean taxpayers funded this global culture takeover. Part of Korea's kind of revolution is that this is a very connected society. A huge population living on half a tiny island helps. They're very close together, They're all plugged in. What's different about the vision of Korean culture that's been exported to the world. I'm thinking particularly about k pop? Why is it so captivating?
Technology is the source of South Korea. Back in twenty ten, it rolled up broadband to nearly every household, years ahead of most countries. And it wasn't just about like zippy and fast downloads. It was part of a much bigger picture, which was a national strategy to modernize the economy and push Korean culture onto the world stage.
And was that a government funded If it was.
Yes, I like to think of it as like a state back charm offensive. The South Korean government clocked early that these like glossy and gorgeous capeop idols were worth billions, not just in like streaming revenue, but in soft power like people are obsessed with their fashion and it's been a massive boost for tourism. People want to go to
career and see how their favorite capup idols live. And I think since the nineteen nineties, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has treated k pop the way that other nations treat like steel or aircraft as national infrastructure. So it invests in training programs, music video production overseas, showcases global marketing campaigns, and funnels money into the industry because it knows that these stars sell more than songs, They sell the country itself.
Wow, that is actually quite dystopian and fabulous. Yeah, and so are films like Parasite informed by that? I mean, is the kind of art house cinema for all of a better word that's coming out of Korea as well a rejection of that? Or are they also funding the depressing art house cinema blockbusters the weird oscars? Well.
The Korean film industry is supported by government funding through bodies like the Korean Film Council that helps directors take chances, and they have mentored directors like Long Jun Ho and Park Chen Wook who did Old Boy, or teurs that mix irony and social critique without worrying about global palatability, which I think has actually benefited the Korean government because most Hollywood movies don't have anything to say.
Well, we're in the Marvel era, aren't we That's the backdrop to these kinds of films. So are they stepping into a sort of ideas void that Hollywood's created?
I think so. Yes. Hollywood is terrified, at risk and obsessed with pre sold franchises.
It has spent the.
Past two decades, like post Iron Man, doubling down on superheroes, Disney Life, Action remakes, sequels, or YadA YadA, YadA yadda, because they know that original ideas do not guarantee global return and intellectual property like Star Wars and Marvel and Harry Potter is bankable in every territory, like you don't have to explain Spider Man to Shanghai or Paris. But the Korean public is famously film literate pre pandemic, they were buying more cinematickets per capita than anywhere else in
the world. So while Hollywood played it, say, I sort of flogging nostalgia career back to regionality and as winning.
Jordie Gray is the entertainment reporter with The Australian. You can read her story in today's review section, imprint or online at the Australian dot com do a you slash review. This episode of the Front was hosted by me Claire Harvey and produced by Jasper League. Thanks for joining us on the Front this week. Our team also includes Kristin amyot Leatt, Samaglue, Tiffany Dimak, Josh Burton and Stephanie Coombs.