What if Squid Game was from Nollywood?

I know what my answer is, but I’ll like to hear yours: ‘How would you have reacted if the hit global Netflix series Squid Game had come out of Nigeria instead of South Korea?’ Say the truth, would you have been this enthusiastic? Well, maybe not you in particular but hundreds of people around the world, especially Nigerians. The noise about this drama series has been intense.

What is Squid Game, you ask? In the unlikely event that you don’t know what Squid Game is, you haven’t seen it or at the very least heard about it (or you live under a rock), Squid Game is a South Korean drama series which has taken the world by storm. It’s a survival game for cash-strapped, down on their luck contestants. The 456 contestants who are housed on an island are made to play children’s games with a mouthwatering bounty promised at the end of the games. Everyone imagines an end to their problems if they can emerge winners.  Except that, losers in each level of the game are killed off. As these are people who are literally on their last legs, some had even considered suicide, death is a risk many of them are willing to take, anything to save them from their dire circumstances before they were roped into playing the game.

So, what has Nollywood got to do Squid Game? Absolutely diddly squat. Well, maybe not exactly diddly squat. Nollywood is also into the production of drama series after all. However, the only reason I’m bringing Nollywood/Nigerian film industry into this discussion is because I was introduced to Squid Game by way of the comparisons with Nollywood along the lines: ‘Could Nollywood ever make a series like Squid Game?’ or the emphatic ‘Nollywood could never make a series like Squid Game.’ As I’ve said in the past (hopefully, I’ve actually voiced this out), it’s totally okay to love Hollywood, K-Drama, or whatever floats your boat. You don’t have to bash/trash Nollywood. Don’t get me wrong, this has nothing to do with Nollywood being perfect. Neither Hollywood nor K-Drama is perfect. Which doesn’t mean that when one’s senses are assaulted by say a film like Elvis Chuck’s “Slay” (you can read “How Not to Slay a Movie” here), one wouldn’t or shouldn’t scream in frustration. But I’ll be careful not to roll the entire industry along with any individual film.

The perceived “sins” of any film shouldn’t be taken out on the industry. I’m no psychologist but always resorting to Nollywood-bashing, usually by people who heartily boast about not watching Nollywood films, could be symptomatic of self-hatred. You know, that bad habit of always putting your own down, always believing the foreign is better and generally, as the Yoruba adage says, pointing at your father’s house with your left hand. This adage doesn’t appear to make a provision for southpaws-How should left-handed people like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama point to their father’s house? These may not be the best examples for obvious reasons but I digress.

Now, let’s talk about my first question (in the headline): What if Nollywood had produced Squid Game? It doesn’t take a seer to predict what many of those gushing about the show would have said if it were a Nollywood production. I can bet there would’ve been questions like: What’s the lesson in this violent series? Don’t we have enough violence in Nigeria, why would anyone re-create and further assault our senses? How believable is this series?’ And on and on.

But while we are on the subject, I don’t like the violence and gore in Squid Game. As a Nigerian grappling with real-life mindless killings by the so-called bandits and unknown gunmen, I don’t really care for re-consuming the worthlessness of human life as entertainment. As some people have said, living in Nigeria is a type of Squid Game as it is. Did you hear the bit about the NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) advising ‘youth corpers’ on how to behave around their potential kidnappers and how to prepare ransom in the very likely event they’re kidnapped? So, understandably, I was almost put off Squid Game after the first episode-No one had prepared me for the bloodiness of the series. The way the entire world was buzzing about the series, still is buzzing, I was expecting something else. I’d actually first discovered it by myself but didn’t attempt to watch it after reading the synopsis. However, one couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about Squid Game, so I had to check it out. I took a little break after the first episode, but I had to go back to finish the series so as to be able to write this piece.

For what it’s worth, it does say something about the world, that Squid game is a global hit, don’t mind my quibbling. Not that it makes any difference. I’ve already watched it and must now be counted among the millions who did so worldwide. According to published records, two weeks after its September 30 premiere, Squid Game became the No. 1 show on Netflix’s popularity charts in 90 countries. And within 28 days of its release, the drama series had garnered more than 111 million viewers worldwide surpassing Bridgerton as Netflix’s most-watched show. Squid Game is on almost every tongue. From the young to the not so young. Religious leaders have not been left out. A few days ago, Daily Devotional (@streetchurch) on Twitter used the symbols from Squid Game (circle, triangle, and square) to a thread to drive evangelism.

There are all kinds of lessons to be learned from Squid Game’s popularity. And everyone is free to choose whichever one works for them. What’s not so cool is using the success of a foreign series to pull/put down others. Everything doesn’t have to be about bants like the type of football and music fans have at least once every week: My football team/star just achieved a milestone, what yours who didn’t?

Onoshe Nwabuikwu, AIRTIME columnist is a renowned TV/Film critic, and Film scholar. She also has experience in Advertising as a senior Copywriter and Corporate Communications as Communications consultant.