- Joined
- Dec 6, 2010
- Messages
- 33,534
- Reaction score
- 5,886
The most fucked up part about this series is that there are multiple real-life counterparts to every character's back story in Korea today. The Game itself may be fictional, but the class struggle and hopelessness are very real.
I still remember reading about the brutal beatdown by Korean riot police when employees of Ssamgyong Motors went on strike against the mass laid-off back in 2009, or when a bunch of Korean hospitals were busted for Malpractice when the well-known surgeons accepted the money from their patients and then outsouced their work to lesser-known surgeons, or when nurses and office employees sometimes did surgery when all the doctors are busy.
People who are taken advantaged of because they are illegal immigrants from Third World countries like Ali or North Korean defectors like Sae-byeok are too numerous to count, just like corporate swindlers like Sang-woo are dime a dozen.
Lastly, Korea's household personal debts is now at an outstanding $1.8 Trillion, higher than the country's national output itself. Countless of people are drowning in debt, and willing to do just about anything.
When us viewers from the West watch this series, we recognize this Korean social commentary on an academic level, but for viewers in Korea, it's going to hit home, because they all know a Gi-hun, Sang-woo, Sae-byeok, or Ali in real life.
I still remember reading about the brutal beatdown by Korean riot police when employees of Ssamgyong Motors went on strike against the mass laid-off back in 2009, or when a bunch of Korean hospitals were busted for Malpractice when the well-known surgeons accepted the money from their patients and then outsouced their work to lesser-known surgeons, or when nurses and office employees sometimes did surgery when all the doctors are busy.
People who are taken advantaged of because they are illegal immigrants from Third World countries like Ali or North Korean defectors like Sae-byeok are too numerous to count, just like corporate swindlers like Sang-woo are dime a dozen.
Lastly, Korea's household personal debts is now at an outstanding $1.8 Trillion, higher than the country's national output itself. Countless of people are drowning in debt, and willing to do just about anything.
When us viewers from the West watch this series, we recognize this Korean social commentary on an academic level, but for viewers in Korea, it's going to hit home, because they all know a Gi-hun, Sang-woo, Sae-byeok, or Ali in real life.
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