Netflix’s Squid Game is the runaway success that has proven to be the streaming platform’s biggest series launch ever. And the show has now become a part of the cultural moment, nabbing representation in things like TikTok trends, Halloween costumes, Lego homages, labor demonstrations and even cryptocurrency.
However, the show’s ubiquity comes with a dark side as reports have come in that children have been replicating the mature-rated show’s violent games, leading village councils and schools in the U.K. to warn parents against letting their kids watch the series.
Now a new report is coming in saying that a psychologist agrees the warning is warranted.
Squid Game is the South Korean drama that centers around financially destitute people being recruited by a macabre organization into a shadowy competition. The contestants are recruited via a children’s game called ddjaki, which resembles the American Pog game, but with folded paper. If the recruit loses at the game against a mysterious salesman, they get a slap. But if they win, they get a sum of 100,000 won (the equivalent of about $85 U.S. dollars).
After taking many slaps, but ultimately winning at a round, contestants can eventually move on to the official competition held on a secluded island in which the winner is promised $38 million for defeating the other 456 people in a series of other children’s games. But the catch is if they lose, they die.
Dr. Robin Gurwitch from Duke University Medical Center, a psychologist, is now advising parents against letting children watch the show in a new interview with People.
“This is not something young children should be watching. There’s nothing redeeming or positive here for children,” she said.
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