As Netflix's ‘Squid Game’ is raging all over the world, survival content dramas such as the ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘As The God Will’ are also gaining popularity both in Korea and abroad. Survival audition programs also have recently become trendy with all age groups. But why are these shows so popular? There are few reasons we can think of.

   First, people are drawn to the sensational scenes in survival productions. The tension is felt by the viewers. In addition, survival shows are real enough to gain and keep our attention. In the series the ‘Squid game’, characters who are in debt gain the sympathy of viewers through relatable characters. According to one critic, “In a reality, few people live without debt and the concept arouses high empathy among viewers,” adding “The rule of losers dying in the game is not that far from reality.” The story line is completely relatable for viewers.

▲ Squid Game, a program about survival for the social failure.(Photo from Netflix)

   Another reason people get hooked to a survival series is curiosity about whether the characters live or die. Viewers are aware that some people need to die in these kinds of shows and it offers them a feeling of tension and suspense in anticipation of who will be the next to go. These suppositions hold the attention of viewers until the end, where their questions can be answered.

   Lastly, these survival shows stimulate our sense of humanity. For example, moral characters are often included in the shows. These kinds of people consider others first and always make good choices that protect the weak despite being in a moment of crisis. The role of the moral character is to stimulate empathy for humanity and allow people to maintain focus on the content. Moral characters stimulate emotions in people and prevent them from losing concentration until the end. 

   While the popularity of these types of programs increase, segments of survival content shows are uploaded to YouTube and TikTok, raising the risk of exposing children to cruel and sensational scenes. Underaged children and teens can circumvent the viewer certification process by streaming through the accounts of their parents. This is potentially dangerous as they may opt to imitate the stimulating scenes portrayed in the media. In fact, many teenagers are watching survival content programs which are intended for audiences over 19-years-old. They complained of peer pressure as their main reason for seeking out the content, saying that they would feel left out if they did not watch the shows. As a result, some students are already replicating the excessive behavior depicted in these types of shows, such as imitating the shooting scenes with BB guns. Certification of youth viewing is thoroughly required and in fact the viewing criteria for these kinds of content should be redefined to make it more difficult to access.   These types of shows, depict the psychological conflict of the competition structure between the performers, with a focus on the human characteristics required to stay alive. Their characteristics dramatize the conflicting elements of coexistence and betrayal between characters while navigating through to the final destination of survival. While watching this type of content, which touches on the essence of being human, we need to think about human dignity and morality. Most survival content reflects the dying or dropping out of participants, so that there is only one winner. In this process, as the content progresses, the characters lose their sense of reason or morality and the instinct for survival takes over. This portrays the ugliest side of humans who can be vicious when it comes to their own survival.

▲ As The Gods Will, Japanese survival movie between a student and a doll.(Photo from Singkes Korea)

   What is the goal of survival shows? One of the purposes is a ‘consciousness of our excessively competitive society’. People believe that competition is essential in our current state of capitalism. Of course, competition between companies and consumers is good for society because we derive economic benefits from the process. As our standard of living continuous to improve, people are always looking for ways to gain more benefits and profits for themselves. As a result, it is common to see excessive competition at school, workplaces and so on. As competition increases, people are bound to act unethically in the pursuit of personal reward. This leads to indifferences between people. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves, is the goal of these programs to encourage excessive competitiveness in society or merely to offer up interesting storylines?  

   Plenty of viewers, Korean and foreigners alike, enjoy survival programming. As the whole world craves content with this concept in mind, production is increasing. However, it is important to steer this demand in the right direction.  Many kids under 19 years old are able to access the content and many parodies are now in production. So the challenge for content producers is to lower the visual stimulation factors, while at the same time, create content that highlights social problems for discussion amongst the public.