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The South Korean survival drama series (South Korea) Squid Game which aired on Netflix made history as the first foreign-language (non-English) drama to win the highest award in the television industry, the Emmy Awards. Reporting from Bloomberg on Tuesday (13/9/2022), Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk won the best director category.
Meanwhile, Lee Jung-Jae, the main character in this series, also won the drama series best actor award. Squid Game received 14 nominations at the 2022 Emmy Awards, competing against HBO's best drama Succession. The South Korean megahits follow the success of Parasite film director Bong Joon-ho who won the 2020 Oscar and drama actor Minari Youn Yuh-Jung who won the Academy Award for best-supporting actress in 2021.
At the 74th edition ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, United States (US), Monday (12/9/2022), Hwang Dong-hyuk took home the best director award. It competed with Mark Mylod, Cathy Yan, and Lorene Scafaria. from the Succession series, Ben Stiller from Severance, Jason Bateman from the Ozark, and Karyn Kusama from Yellowjackets.
This is the first time a non-English language television series has won an Emmy, the most coveted award in the US television industry. Hwang thanked the global streaming platform Netflix for opening the door to his Korean shows and providing an unprecedented opportunity to access global audiences outside Korea.
"I sure have to say we have all made history together," Hwang said in his acceptance speech.
Hwang said he hopes Squid Game won't be the last non-English series to appear at the Emmys. He also wanted the award, not his last Emmy.
Hwang said he will be back with a second season and is aiming for the highest honor at the Emmys next time. He was eager to return to the Emmys the following year.
Hwang is aiming for the best drama series prize through Squid Game season 2. He wants to go on stage with all the cast and crew. Hwang said he is still working on the script for season 2 which will have some character and plot changes.
Squid Game lead actor Lee Jung-Jae, who was named best actor, became the first non-English and South Korean actor to win an Emmy, one of the four major US awards for performing arts and entertainment.
In Squid Game, Lee plays the role of Gi-hun, an unlucky middle-aged man who is drawn into a mysterious competition of traditional Korean children's games with a prize of 45.6 billion won or around Rp. 489 billion in prize money.
Squid Game also features a similar theme by telling the story of more than 400 people who are in debt and then play a series of deadly children's games to win a prize of IDR 489 billion. A game that deceives the poor and entertains several super-rich VIPs. This South Korean drama managed to captivate audiences globally by reflecting on some of the darker sides of its society, including its treatment of North Korean defectors, migrant workers, divorce, unemployment, and people with mental health problems.
In his acceptance speech, Lee thanked director Hwang Dong-hyuk for making a series that has been accepted by audiences worldwide, as well as South Korean fans who have always supported him. "Thank you director Hwang for bringing the real problems we all face to life very creatively on screen with a great script and great visuals," he said.
Lee says the language isn't the only way people tell stories. "Actors don't just tell stories in the language. There are many other ways," said the actor who is also the director of Hunt's film.
According to Lee, the message and idea of a story are much more important to be communicated to many people. Also, the Squid Game series resonates well with people all over the world.