Fans celebrate ‘Squid Game' finale with Seoul parade
'So while it's sentimental to see it end,' he said, 'there's also a sense of relief'. Fans gathered near Seoul's Gyeongbokgung Palace, led by marchers dressed in the bright pink uniforms worn by the show's mysterious masked agents. They were followed by others carrying oversize toys from one of the games featured in the series, along with the show's flag.
Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'.
South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae waves during a fan event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'.
Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'.
A statue of Young-hee, the iconic doll character of Squid Game, is seen on a street during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3' in Seoul.
South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun speaks during a fan event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3' at Seoul Plaza in Seoul.
Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event.
Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'.
Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'.
Fans attend a fan event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'.
Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event.
Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event.
Park Sang-gyu, a fan who stayed up all night watching the final season, said the dystopian drama was 'ultimately a story about people'. 'As you watch, you realize it's not just about the games - it reflects many aspects of real life.'
The walls of the Seoul Metropolitan Library were lit up with key scenes, including Young-hee - the giant motion-sensing animatronic doll featured in one of its brutal games. Lee Byung-hun, who played the masked Front Man overseeing the competition, said the show had become 'something of a cultural phenomenon'. 'One that has drawn one of the boldest lines in the history of Korean content,' he said.
The first two seasons of the series are among Netflix's most-watched shows, and in 2022, Hwang and the show's leading actor, Lee Jung-jae, became the first Asian men to win Emmy Awards. The final season follows its hero Gi-hun, played by Lee, as he returns to the ultra-violent games to dismantle them from within after surviving the first round.
Along with filmmaker Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning 2019 thriller 'Parasite' and K-pop sensation BTS, 'Squid Game' is considered one of the most powerful examples of South Korea's rise as a global cultural force. — AFP
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Kuwait Times
4 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Fans celebrate ‘Squid Game' finale with Seoul parade
Thousands of fans gathered in Seoul on Saturday to celebrate the final 'Squid Game' season, ending a global Netflix hit that is seen as a symbol of South Korea's cultural clout. The third and final season was released Friday, concluding the series that sees desperate people compete in deadly versions of traditional children's games for a massive cash prize. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk said he had 'poured everything' into the series, which launched nearly four years ago. 'So while it's sentimental to see it end,' he said, 'there's also a sense of relief'. Fans gathered near Seoul's Gyeongbokgung Palace, led by marchers dressed in the bright pink uniforms worn by the show's mysterious masked agents. They were followed by others carrying oversize toys from one of the games featured in the series, along with the show's flag. Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'. South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae waves during a fan event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'. Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'. A statue of Young-hee, the iconic doll character of Squid Game, is seen on a street during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3' in Seoul. South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun speaks during a fan event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3' at Seoul Plaza in Seoul. Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event. Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'. Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'. Fans attend a fan event for Netflix's South Korean TV series 'Squid Game Season 3'. Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event. Pink Guards of Squid Game perform during a parade event. Park Sang-gyu, a fan who stayed up all night watching the final season, said the dystopian drama was 'ultimately a story about people'. 'As you watch, you realize it's not just about the games - it reflects many aspects of real life.' The walls of the Seoul Metropolitan Library were lit up with key scenes, including Young-hee - the giant motion-sensing animatronic doll featured in one of its brutal games. Lee Byung-hun, who played the masked Front Man overseeing the competition, said the show had become 'something of a cultural phenomenon'. 'One that has drawn one of the boldest lines in the history of Korean content,' he said. The first two seasons of the series are among Netflix's most-watched shows, and in 2022, Hwang and the show's leading actor, Lee Jung-jae, became the first Asian men to win Emmy Awards. The final season follows its hero Gi-hun, played by Lee, as he returns to the ultra-violent games to dismantle them from within after surviving the first round. Along with filmmaker Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning 2019 thriller 'Parasite' and K-pop sensation BTS, 'Squid Game' is considered one of the most powerful examples of South Korea's rise as a global cultural force. — AFP
Kuwait Times
28-06-2025
- Kuwait Times
Netflix TV drama ‘Secrets We Keep' exposes the dangers of domestic migrant work
Secrets We Keep (Reservatet), a Danish suspense series on Netflix created by Ingeborg Topsøe, delves into the disappearance of a Filipina au pair from an elite suburb of Copenhagen — and delivers a sharp social commentary on racial and class entitlements. Moving fluidly between English, Danish and Tagalog, the six-part drama is a nuanced indictment of the lack of moral accountability among the rich. On display are the prejudices and complicity of white women in enabling a culture of toxic masculinity that treats Filipina migrant women as sexualized and disposable commodities. The story starts with a tearful Ruby Tan — a Filipina au pair who works for the affluent Rasmus (Lars Ranthe) and Katarina (Danica Curcic) — asking for some help with her employers from her neighbour, Cecilie (played by Marie Bach Hansen). Cecilie is a successful non-profit manager and mother of two married to a high-profile lawyer. She employs Angel (Excel Busano), a Filipina au pair. Cecilie tells Ruby she cannot get involved. The next day, Ruby vanishes without a trace. The series is propelled by Cecilie's guilt in refusing to help Ruby. She is shocked at her neighbours' apparent lack of concern for Ruby's disappearance. Cecilie begins to sleuth for clues regarding Ruby's disappearance and she eventually decides to assist Aicha, a racialized policewoman assigned to find the missing au pair. Cecilie discovers a pregnancy kit by a trash bin where she had last seen Ruby. And she soon suspects Ruby's employer, Rasmus, of raping her. While the series lacks true suspense due to its predictable story arc peppered with clues about Ruby's disappearance, it is amply compensated by a sharp critique on the moral decay of modern society, systemic racism and the complicity of women in upholding white masculine privilege. Warped racist view of the world Secrets We Keep lays bare the warped world view of rich, white privilege, racism and the sexual fetishism of Asian women. At a dinner party one night, Rasmus and Katarina do not seem concerned about their missing au pair. Katarina labels Filipina au pairs as whores working in brothels. When discussing Ruby, Katarina says, 'she probably ran off to do porn.' In one uncomfortable scene, Rasmus taunts Cecilia's husband, Mike (Simon Sears), about his sexual preferences. Mike responds by saying: 'I don't have 'yellow fever.'' Cecilia sits silently beside Mike. Katarina also calls Aicha (Sara Fanta Traore), the policewoman, 'the little brown one.' At a formal dinner, Rasmus tells Cecilia: 'We stick together. We are from the same world, and we are loyal to each other.' High rates of violence against women The reduction of Ruby into a sexual object in the show reflects the high rates of sexual violence against Filipina au pairs in Scandinavia. It led the Philippines to ban the participation of Scandinavian countries in its 'informal labour' arrangement in 1998. Though the ban was lifted in 2010, Au Pair Network, an advocacy group, reveals that the program is still riddled with abuse. The Nordic Paradox is a term used to describe how Scandinavian countries, including Denmark, rank the highest in the Gender Equality Index yet suffer from very high rates of violence against women and intimate partner violence in Europe. At a recent gender studies conference in Stockholm, Ardis Ingvars, a sociologist at the University of Iceland who worked as an au pair for a year in the United States just after she turned 18, recalls her anxiety and apprehension as she moved to Boston. She said: 'Au pairs hope to be lucky with the family turning out OK. What is difficult to take is the attitude of 'ownership' that the children and families display over the au pairs as an unquestioned entitlement.' Ingvars said asymmetrical power relations embedded within the au pair system reinforce racial and class hierarchies. This is reflected in Secrets We Keep. Midway during Aicha's investigation, as she hits roadblock after roadblock, she cries out in frustration: 'She's a fucking nobody in their world.' Feminized labour exploitation Economic globalization, neoliberal policies and an increased dependence on the remittance economy fuses with the care gap in the Global North to fuel the feminized care migration from the Global South, many of them Filipino women. Au pairs are placed with host families who provide free board and meals in return for up to 30 hours a week of housework and child care as they learn the host language and customs. The au pairs are paid 'pocket money' of Danish Kroner 5,000 per month (approx $1,000 Canadian) out of which they also pay local taxes. One scene shows one of Cecilie's work meetings. A junior staff member expresses surprise that Cecilie has an au pair, labelling it a relic of colonial era racial hierarchies. Cecilie defends herself, and says the system survives because of the failure of men to keep up their domestic bargain and thus the need for women like her 'to outsource care.' She argues the Filipina au pairs 'are dependable' and she is 'a much better mother' because of Angel. But Cecilie doesn't acknowledge her privilege — that to be with her children and have a career is predicated on the exploitative extraction of care from Global South women. The female au pairs in Denmark must be between 18-29 years of age, childless, never married and at the end of two years, return home. Almost 50 to 75 per cent of au pairs in Denmark are Filipino women Cecilie's shock at finding out that Angel has a son whom she left behind in the Philippines is part of her denial. In the end, Cecilie is unable to confront her own complicity and decides to release Angel from their au pair arrangement. 'You know nothing about my world…You are very lucky,' cries Angel in anguish as Cecilie hands her the return ticket and an extra three months' pay to demonstrate her magnanimity. Secrets We Keep reveals the brutal reality for Global South au pairs as well as upper-class white women and their entitlements. It indicates that even though these white wealthy women may see mistreatment, they maintain their silence and participate in wilful gendered violence to hold onto that privilege, while maintaining a façade of compassion towards the disposable racial migrant other. - Reuters
Kuwait Times
22-06-2025
- Kuwait Times
Last member of K-pop megaband BTS to finish military service
SUGA, a member of the K-pop megaband BTS, officially completed his mandatory military service on Saturday, marking the full return of all seven members of the global supergroup from duty. South Korea's most lucrative musical act has been on a self-described 'hiatus' since 2022 as its members undertook the mandatory service required of all South Korean men under 30 due to tensions with the nuclear-armed North. SUGA was the last to complete his service, ahead of the group's widely anticipated return to activities as a full unit. His final day concluded at 11:59:59 pm, according to the band's agency HYBE and South Korea's Military Manpower Administration. The rapper, who served as a social service agent - an alternative form of military duty - effectively completed his service on Wednesday after using up his remaining leave, according to his label. 'Above all else, I wanted to .... sincerely thank our fans who waited for me all this time,' SUGA told the group's fans - collectively known as ARMY - on the platform Weverse. 'I've missed you so much.' Before entering military service, the megaband generated more than 5.5 trillion won ($4 billion) in yearly economic impact, according to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute. Analysts expect HYBE's operating profit to jump next year, driven in part by BTS's anticipated return to large-scale touring, with some projections forecasting a 71 percent year-on-year increase. 'The importance of BTS's reunion to HYBE, K-pop and South Korea at large cannot be overstated. They are singular in their part of the Korean Wave,' Grace Kao, a sociology professor at Yale University, told AFP. 'I think their next tour will be their biggest yet.' Since their release last week, band leader RM has appeared at Art Basel in Switzerland as the new global ambassador for Samsung's Art TV, while member V was spotted attending a piano recital in Seoul alongside 'Old Boy' filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Soft power BTS has long been considered one of the best examples of South Korea's soft power reach, even making a White House visit in 2022. They have spoken candidly about mental health and anti-Asian crime and donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2019, inspiring fans to contribute the same amount. K-pop's surging popularity has also helped break down barriers for Asian artists, said Keung Yoon Bae, a Korean studies professor at Georgia Institute of Technology. 'Singers such as Eric Nam, born and raised in Atlanta, have discussed before how they had to go to Korea because they felt that attaining a music career in the US as an Asian felt impossible,' she said. 'Today, groups such as BTS and Blackpink seem to be breaking down that sense of impossibility.' Despite the widespread acclaim, SUGA was fined 15 million won ($10,933) for driving an electric scooter under the influence of alcohol last year. — AFP On Saturday, he once again apologised for the incident in a message posted on Weverse. 'I'm sorry for the disappointment and concern I caused due to what happened last year. More than anything, knowing I caused pain to my fans broke my heart,' he said. 'I'll do my best to repay the love you've given me — now more than ever.'--AFP
