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Union workers in South Korea donned Squid Game costumes during a rally this week after the show's themes hit a little close to home.
While Tiger King was Netflix's surprise hit of 2020, something very different has become its biggest show of 2021. In fact, Squid Game might well be Netflix's biggest show ever. The streaming service revealed the South Korean thriller was watched by 111 million households in its first month, making it the biggest launch for a Netflix show ever.
Squid Game made it to number one in the Netflix charts in 90 different countries. One of those countries was South Korea, where the show was made. However, for some who watched Squid Game in its home country, its themes were all too relatable. Union workers attempted to convey that by dressing as Squid Game's guards during protests in Seoul this week.
According to The Straits Times, 27,000 gathered in the Korean capital on Wednesday demanding the government improve workers' rights and increase the country's minimum wage. As you can see in the tweet above, a number of the union workers protesting dressed like Squid Game guards. Apparently, some of them feel as if they are under the same pressure as those in the show, barely earning enough to make a living.
If you are one of the literally more than 100 million people yet to watch Squid Game, the series focuses on a group of people invited to play children's games to win money. The twist is that should they fail, they get killed right there on the spot. While the protestors above aren't being held at gunpoint, some of them feel as if they are in a similar position to those on the show before they are recruited to play the games.
Some who have seen the protestors have highlighted that they are dressed as the guards from the shows rather than like the contestants. In defense of the union workers, green tracksuits with random numbers on them aren't quite as striking. Squid Game has also gained popularity so quickly that the guards' masks are already instantly recognizable on a global level.