‘We’re All Dead’ Remains Netflix’s Most Damning Hit – Rolling Stone

Even earlier than Hyosan Excessive turns into floor zero for the worldwide zombie epidemic in we are all dead, its teenage inhabitants wrestle to outlive. Critical intimidation, suicide threats, wealth inequality and suffocating strain to achieve making Hyosan Excessive – and Korean society – some kind of hell. “In some international locations they’re sadder when adults die than when kids die. And in different international locations, they’re sadder when kids die. What do you suppose our nation is? » asks one we’re all useless teenager for some time between zombie assaults. Yeah, this present is grim – however, trying on the state of our world, why would not or not it’s?

we’re all useless can also be highly regarded. A 12 months after its debut, the Korean-language collection sits at quantity 11 on netflixit’s list of most watched tv shows. The worldwide success of Ok-drama little doubt has one thing to do with the recognition of the zombie style, however it additionally appears tied to its central theme: a society’s failure to guard its youth. As we strategy the primary anniversary of the collection’ debut – a 12 months of climate-related disasternonetheless a pandemic killing thousands of people day-after-day, mass shootings and a record year police violence in the US, and an avoidable tragedy in Korea which resulted within the demise of greater than 150 younger individuals — it’s clear we’re all useless sadly reached new heights of thematic resonance for its international viewers.

we’re all useless opens with a wet, neon-lit rooftop the place teenage antagonist Yoon Gwi-nam (Yoo In-soo) and his friends slap, punch, and verbally threaten classmate Lee Jin-su (Lee Min-goo). This is not the primary time they’ve tormented Jin-su; this newest bout of harassment is retaliation for a notice Jin-su wrote, naming the others as his major tormentors, earlier than trying suicide. Jin-su’s life hasn’t gotten any simpler since surviving the suicide try. Native authorities failed to carry Gwi-nam and the others accountable in any manner, and Jin-su’s father, science instructor Lee Byeong-chan (Kim Byung-chul), started to injecting his son with mutated mouse hormones in an try to make Jin-su bodily stronger.

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If you happen to guessed that Lee Byeong-chan’s sketchy experiments led to the creation of zombies, then you definitely’d be proper – and the backstory represents one of many collection’ clearest departures from its supply materials. In the webtoon on which we are all dead is based, Jin-su mysteriously contracts the virus that turns him right into a rabid, flesh-eating zombie whereas fishing. Within the collection, it’s the results of a father’s determined try to guard his son when the authorities fail to take action. “We reside in a system of violence,” Byeong-chan says throughout one in every of his analysis vlogs. “An individual like me can not change the system. That is why I made a decision to vary my son. Byeong-chan is not a very likeable character, however Byeong-chan’s actions are as damning an indictment of the system as they’re of him.

Many younger Koreans really feel that their nation is an unnecessarily troublesome and painful place to reside. Though the East Asian nation has the tenth largest financial system on the planet, its wealth and alternatives are unevenly distributed. On this social established order, there may be immense strain on younger individuals to cross standardized assessments, get into high universities and get jobs within the the country’s chaebols — corporations corresponding to Samsung, Hyundai, SK Group and LG Group that are managed by a single household and which personal excessive power in society. Korea has the highest suicide rate of any developed countrywith suicide as number one reason for demise amongst younger individuals since 2007. In 2015, the satirical time period “헬조선” or “Hell Joseon” grew to become widespread amongst younger individuals, first in on-line communities and later in offline and media conversation. (Joseon was a dynasty that existed on the Korean Peninsula from 1392 till the Japanese occupation in 1910; as with different absolute monarchies, a small elite held energy and almost everybody lived in poverty.) in Joseon, younger Koreans draw parallels between the dynasty’s socio-economic established order and life in trendy Korea.

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Wealth inequality is a world problem, together with in the US, so it is no shock that Korean dramas like All of us useless and squid game – tales that explicitly painting the pains of socio-economic stress and trauma – have struck a chord, particularly given Hollywood’s relative disinterest in exploring class issues. In January 2022, the identical month we’re all useless debuted on Netflix, Oxfam launched a report “Inequality kills”, detailing the methods the pandemic has exacerbated wealth inequality and led to extra inequality-related deaths. Within the first 20 months of the pandemic, the ten richest males on the planet greater than doubled their fortunes, on the price of $15,000 per second. In the meantime, within the first two years of the pandemic, there have been a minimum of 21,000 inequality-related deaths day-after-day. These numbers could also be exhausting to grasp (which is a part of the issue), however most of us know what the intentional and rising wealth inequality on the planet is. feels like. And after we see a sight like we’re all useless or squid recreation painting these feelings in a centered and cathartic manner, we reply to them.

These points are complicated and systemic, and generally horrific, preventable tragedies can expose these fissures. The 2014 Sewol ferry catastrophe – when 304 individuals died after a Korean ferry loaded with items capsized and sank – was one such occasion in Korean society. 100 and seventy two individuals survived the disaster, together with the captain and a lot of the crew, who evacuated the sinking ship themselves as orders have been nonetheless broadcast over the intercom for passengers to stay of their cabins. Many survivors managed to leap ship as a result of they ignored these orders; nearly all of those that died have been college students from the identical highschool on area journeys, who adopted orders to shelter in place. Following the discharge of we’re all uselessmany Korean viewers noted the parallels between the fictional zombie catastrophe and the real-life Sewol ferry catastrophe, together with college students recording video farewell messages to their mother and father and using yellow ribbons, which grew to become a symbol of the Sewol ferry disaster after the tragedy. Each are examples of youngsters who trusted adult-built methods to avoid wasting them, and failed utterly.

Within the 12 months since we’re all useless, the theme of a society failing its youth has solely gained resonance – in Korea, the US and all over the world. In October 2022, greater than 150 individuals died in a crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district. Of known victims, the bulk have been of their 20s and 30s, though one center schooler and 5 highschool college students additionally died. The preventable disaster occurred when greater than 100,000 individuals visited the neighborhood for Halloween celebrations. Solely 137 cops have been assigned to the district for the night, and most weren’t ordered to take care of crowds, however somewhat to watch crimes like sexual harassment, theft and drug use. The individuals of the area began make emergency calls concerning the harmful circumstances a number of hours earlier than the deadly crush of the gang, however an ample emergency response was not provided. A lot of the victims died of crush asphyxiation or mind swelling brought on by lack of oxygen; the strain on their our bodies was an excessive amount of for them to breathe.

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As an American watching we’re all useless in early 2022, it was unimaginable not to consider the varsity shootings. The collection options many scenes of terrified kids barricading themselves in lecture rooms and working for his or her lives by college hallways. Presumably, this parallel was unintentional on the a part of the webtoon’s creator or Netflix adaptation’s director, each of whom are Korean. Gun control laws in Korea are strictwhich makes rare gun violence within the nation. Nonetheless, in the US there have been 648 mass shootings in 2022 (outlined right here as an incident wherein greater than 4 persons are shot, excluding the shooter), with greater than 6,000 children and adolescents injured or killed in gunfights. This statistic consists of an incident in Uvalde, Texas, the place an 18-year-old shot and killed 19 kids and two academics at Robb Elementary Faculty. Regardless of emergency calls from children and adults contained in the constructing, the police waited for greater than an hour earlier than coming into.

On the finish of we’re all uselessthe primary season of, a handful of youngsters managed to combat their solution to security within the quarantine zone with out assist from the Korean navy, who actively abandon them mid-rescue on the roof of the varsity when they’re ordered to depart the kids behind. “I’ll by no means ask adults for something once more,” collection protagonist Nam On-jo (Park Ji-hu) tells a soldier within the last episode, when he asks her for data. On-jo has misplaced her father, her finest buddy and most of her classmates. She is severely traumatized and has utterly misplaced religion in grownup establishments which have failed to guard her. On-jo could also be a fictional character within the midst of a fictional zombie apocalypse, however she feels consultant of a real-life era of younger individuals who, even when residing on the planet’s wealthiest international locations, fail time and again. many various methods. If a society’s success may be measured by how effectively it protects its kids, then we’re all useless is a lot nearer to actuality than any zombie apocalypse needs to be.