If you’re in need of a Halloween costume, look no further than Squid Game, the hit Netflix series that’s seen a surge of green tracksuits and white Vans sales since its premiere last month.
The South Korean thriller, which follows a group of debt-ridden citizens competing in a Hunger Games-like competition for a big cash prize, is fast-billed to become the streamer’s most watched series to date.
The show has become so popular, in fact, that fans are buying outfits that resemble the ones worn by players on the show. According to Variety, green and white tracksuits became an instant bestseller on Amazon shortly after the series premiere. White slip-on Vans have also seen a 7,800 per cent spike in sales since the show hit Netflix, according to data provided by Sole Supplier. White slip-ons have also seen a 97 per cent rise in search volume, according to Lyst.
Earlier this week, a viral TikTok emerged claiming that a lot of the script’s subtlety and overall meaning is lost in subtitled translation.
TikTok user and Korean speaker youngmimayer posted a Twitter thread, where she said: “If you don’t understand Korean you didn’t really watch the same show. The dialogue was written so well and zero of it was preserved. I want to do a scene breakdown on TikTok to show you what they could’ve translated to.”
“I’m fluent in Korean and I had the English subtitles on and I noticed that you’re missing so much,” she says in a TikTok, before turning her attention to one of the contestants, Han Mi-nyeo, (whose name translates to beautiful girl). “Her dialogue constantly gets botched. Every little thing she says is fucked up. I think it’s because she plays a ‘low class’ character and she’s gangster and cusses a lot.”
Elsewhere, the show’s success has propelled Ho Yeon Jung, who plays lead character Sae-byeok, into stardom. Her Instagram following has bounded from 400,000 followers to over 14 million, while Louis Vuitton has enlisted her as a global ambassador, alongside fellow Koreans BTS.
