Focus on the Squid Game phenomenon
Released on 17 September 2021 on the streaming platform Netflix, the Korean series “ Squid Game ” got a lot of attention among an audience it was not aimed at : children.
In this series, the characters face serious money problems. They are invited to take part in the Squid Game, which could let them win several million euros if they come out on top. To win, several games linked to their childhood memories are offered, such as Red Light, Green Light, marbles and others. At each game, the losers are killed on the spot. The “Squid Game” ends when only one player is left. That player is then named the grand winner and takes home the promised sum.
On Netflix, the series is banned for under-16s. Yet cases of violent scenes being reproduced in school playgrounds have been widely reported in the press. In several schools, many children reproduced the series’ mechanism. Playground games like those shown in the series became occasions for violence against the losers, in reference to the deaths of the “Squid Game” players.
Squid Game and the school playground
Watching this series, the first thing we notice is the extreme violence present in every episode, growing as the episodes go on. First the everyday violence experienced by the protagonists, then the first game that kills and the sequence of other games where the losers are killed on the spot. Finally, for fear of being killed, the protagonists themselves become killers in order to protect themselves.
How did this series get so close to our children? As Serge TISSERON explains[1], the series’ trailer is accessible to everyone on YouTube. Moreover, in a short time, Squid Game went viral: excessive advertising on social networks, merchandise, to the point of becoming a digital phenomenon. The series has been promoted so heavily that it is almost impossible to miss it, and it is possible to know it without having seen it. What are the consequences for our children?
In one of his YouTube videos[2], Frédéric TORDO, clinical psychologist, explains that these violent images have a strong emotional impact on children. The emotion provoked by the image can be regulated in two ways: either the child cuts themselves off from their emotions, or they reproduce what they have seen because the emotion is too intense to be digested. Frédéric TORDO goes on to explain that the less suited the image is to the child’s development, the greater the emotional impact is likely to be. The child therefore reproduces what they saw in the series by playing, in order to make sense of it. Moreover, imagination and reality are two worlds still poorly differentiated in childhood. The fact that the series takes place in a giant playground blurs the boundary between imagination and reality. It is therefore necessary for the child to watch content suited to their age and, consequently, to their development.
Adapting content to age : the recommendations
To adapt the content our children watch, it is first possible to refer to the CSA rating symbols: -10, -12, -16 and -18. These logos apply to television content and indicate the age from which the broadcast content is accessible. The PEGI (Pan European Game Information) rating, for its part, applies to video games, with age recommendations (3, 7, 12, 16, 18) supplemented by content descriptors indicating whether the game contains bad language, sex, money, etc.
However, not all visual content carries a logo to inform us of possibly sensitive content. TV news bulletins, for example, have none, but an oral warning about the violence of certain images is given before the relevant reports are broadcast. On the internet or on streaming platforms like Netflix, it is also possible to activate a “child” mode so that the youngest cannot access all the content on offer. The same goes for YouTube, which offers a “YouTube Kids” mode. Moreover, cartoons carry no logos, yet not all of them are suitable for children. For this, we recommend the website https://www.filmspourenfants.net/, which indicates the age from which a child can watch a specific cartoon and also lists the various scenes and emotions covered in the cartoon or film.
Thus, beyond the logos we can refer to, it is essential to take into account the child’s personality and sensitivities. A logo indicates the average age from which content can be watched but does not take into account each child’s individual personality.
Elodie DELFRATE
Head of health prevention and promotion activity, Mutualité Française Normandie
[1] TISSERON, S. “ Comment parler de Squid Game à nos enfants ? ” (How to talk to our children about Squid Game), 9 November 2021
