Squid Game: children imitate the violent games of the Netflix series at school

Unless you live in a cave, it’s hard to miss the phenomenon Squid Game. Since September 17, 2021, the netflix series made a huge splash and is on its way to becoming the most viewed on the platform. She recently invited herself into schoolyards, causing concern among education authorities.

Without spoiler The story, Squid Game is a South Korean fiction in which people in debt find themselves playing children’s games to win over 30 million euros. And losers are eliminated… literally.

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The series, addictive and well put together, arouses immense enthusiasm around the world, which is not without drift. In France, the opening of a dedicated room in Paris degenerated in early October. She drew a large crowd of fans, who, annoyed at the wait, came to blows. The police had to intervene.

WALLAH CHU MORT YA EUX BASTON AT BALL SQUID GAME #Netflix #SquidGames pic.twitter.com/96SdgRsswo

– القنفذ ソ ニ ッ ク ⵣ (@Samsamclv) October 3, 2021

More worrying, Squid Game begins to make an appearance in schools. If kids aren’t supposed to watch Netflix’s artwork – the series is forbidden to under 16s due to its violent scenes -, they were able to discover it thanks to the extracts and other challenges which abound on TikTok and Youtube, platforms accessible to all.

A girl “whipped with a rope”

In Belgium, in a school in Erquelinnes, a town on the border with the North, 11-year-old primary school students reproduced, Monday, October 4, the first game in the series: One two Three Sun. “A teacher saw a little girl cry in the yard”, tells actu.fr Sabrina Caci, the director of the establishment.

She had just been whipped in the face with a rope, luckily, without gravity. She had lost at the game.

She then stepped in to ask the children what they were doing. They explained that they were playing Squid Game.

We discussed it and they quickly realized they had done something wrong.

The parents were also notified and the school sent a message on social networks which was quickly taken up everywhere in Belgium and also in France.

Sabrina Caci also spoke with the mayor and the education authorities: “They are happy with the speed with which we intervened and the warning signal that we sent. The director recalls, however, that games such as One, two, three, sun are not prohibited. “Only violence is. “

No incident “for now”, in France

Should we fear a similar phenomenon in French schools ? According to testimonies that we have been able to collect, many students from all over France know Squid Game and imitate certain games… without violence.

At least this is what the SNUipp-FSU, the main primary teachers’ union, tells us, which indicates that it has not had, “for the time being”, no reporting of incidents inspired by the Netflix series.

Same thing on the side of the Ministry of National Education, which assures however “take this situation very seriously”. A warning message was sent to some 150 DASEN (Academic Directors of National Education Services) in order to monitor this phenomenon very closely.

“Explain to children, but especially to parents”

The teachers have planned to be very vigilant in the playgrounds: “We already are, points out Guislaine David, co-secretary general and spokesperson for SNUipp-FSU. There is the scarf game (voluntary strangulation), or the indian dream (prolonged apnea), which are very dangerous. “

The idea is therefore to better anticipate these games, to rely on “responsible” children and above all to educate, to prevent children aged 7, 8, 10 or 12 from viewing a series reserved for over 16s. Some do it with their big brother, their big sister, or directly on their smartphone that they have earlier and earlier.

Guislaine David concludes: “We must therefore explain the abuses to children, but especially to parents. “

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