But Squid Game has achieved global mainstream visibility in a way that arguably no other non-English language film or TV show has ever managed. Non-English language movies like Parasite, Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, French romance Amélie and 2000's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon have all won Western acclaim and awards before (not a marker by which they should be judged: these are all astonishing works of art, with or without Western approval). If you're a teacher at a UK school, you might even have had to break up playground games inspired by the series, despite its 15 rating.

If you were at a Halloween party in October, you may well have seen guests decked out in the show's trademark blood-splattered green tracksuits. It's a show that's pierced the zeitgeist like a needle through a honeycomb wafer – with an estimated audience of more than 140m worldwide, it became Netflix's most-viewed show of all time. Unless you've been living on a remote, internet-less island for the last few months, cut off from the world while you compete in a variety of deadly games for a cash prize, you'll be aware of Squid Game. The 100 greatest TV series of the 21st Century

The director didn't have to wait long for signs his wish could be coming true.

'Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films,' he told filmgoers who may historically have avoided non-English language movies – or worse yet, waited for their inevitable American remakes. When Bong Joon-ho won best picture for Parasite at the 2020 Oscars, his acceptance speech included a message to Western audiences.

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