Recently, Netflix launched a female-centric survival competition show called Siren: Survive the Island (abbreviated as "Siren"). It is the first time that the concept of an all-female variety show has been extended to the realm of survival competition.
The show invited 24 female contestants from traditionally male-dominated professions such as firefighters, police officers, and military personnel. They staked their professional honor and embarked on a team survival competition on a secluded island.
With the outstanding performances of the female leads, the show climbed to the top ten of Netflix Korea's TV streaming chart on its second day and has maintained a high position ever since.
Looking at the show's format alone, "Siren" appears to be a combination of "Steel Troops" and "Physical: 100," incorporating elements from the familiar survival competition framework. However, it has achieved a level of influence and attention far surpassing these two shows. The key factor that sets "Siren" apart is the decision to feature an all-female cast.
Today, using this show as an example, let's discuss how the casting of an all-female lineup drives the breakthrough of the entire program.
A new portrayal of female characters: Beautiful and dangerous heroines
The popular female images in variety shows have always been a projection of the ideal self by female viewers, which changes with time and evolving perspectives.
So, what is the ideal projection of Korean women today?
We can get a sense of it from the highly acclaimed female screen characters in recent Korean dramas. In "The Glory," Song Hye-Kyo meticulously plans and strategies, creating a thrilling revenge story. In "Anna," Bae Suzy uses any means necessary to achieve upward social mobility, even taking advantage of her husband's death to secure her position.
The image of an "ideal woman" has made a 180-degree shift from "naive and sweet" to "beautiful, strong, and ruthless."
Creating variety show content naturally needs to embrace this change and shape a new female image that aligns with the contemporary aesthetic, helping female viewers project themselves onto the screen.
The success of "Siren" lies in the portrayal of a group of such women.
The visual tagline of the show, "Siren's Seduction," encapsulates the core essence of the female participants—beautiful yet dangerous.
To achieve this, the show targeted the "strongest women" in Korea, selecting contestants from six different professions: firefighters, police officers, military personnel, security guards, stunt performers, and athletes.
Another aspect of the show is that these powerful professions are often dominated by men. When ordinary people think of these occupations, the mental image that typically comes to mind is male-oriented. This overlooks the contributions made by women in these fields.
The Police officers have expressed their frustration with the current situation where male officers are addressed as "Detective" while female officers are simply referred to as "Miss." "I am not 'Miss,' I am a detective," they say.
This is a microcosm of the challenges faced by Korean women in the workplace. Through professions like these, "Siren" goes beyond idolizing individual strength and further uncovers the hidden power of women obscured by these so-called "male-dominated professions."
With the shift in female aesthetics and the global influence of Netflix, the show has entered the top 10 trending charts in four countries and regions outside of Korea (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam).
While other variety shows revolve around female romance and appearance, "Siren" has undoubtedly achieved tremendous success through its differentiated competitive approach.
How to shape strong women? Amplify professional prestige.
In the show, 24 women compete in a 7-day team battle on a 30,000-square-meter uninhabited island. Each day consists of two rounds: an athletic competition and a territory capture. The team that succeeds in the first athletic competition gains an advantage in the territory battle. The team that loses its flag in the territory battle would be eliminated as a whole.
The vast venue and intense competition segments present significant challenges in filming. According to the PD of "Siren" in an interview, the uninhabited island where the show was filmed covers an area of approximately 30,000 square meters, with a total of 354 cameras installed and around 200 staff members and 60 camera directors involved.
Compared to shows like "Steel Troops" and "Physical: 100," where contestants showcase their muscular physique, it is difficult to visually perceive the strength of the female participants in "Siren."
To compensate for this, the production team leverages the professional prestige of the contestants.
Firstly, the tasks are designed to align with their respective professions, allowing the contestants to showcase their unique skills and maximize their strengths.
For example, in the "Protect the Flame" task, the contestants are required to extinguish the opponent's bonfire using high-pressure water guns, which happens to be a specialty of firefighters. Contestant Kim Min, a firefighter, adjusts the nozzle of the water gun to a mist mode, covering a large area with water spray to lower the temperature at the center of the flame, quickly extinguishing the bonfire of the stunt performers' team.
Ron, a member of the military team, comes from a reconnaissance special forces background. She promises her teammates, "Once I go out, I will definitely gather intelligence and bring it back." While accompanying her teammates to the medical tent for bandaging, she can browse through the medical records on the medic's desk and gather information about the fire captain's waist injury.
To investigate the opening mechanism of the hidden door in the wooden base, she patiently waits in the dark jungle like a cheetah waiting for its prey. While everyone worries about the night base battle during a torrential downpour, she is excited because rainy nights are the favorite weather for reconnaissance soldiers as the sound of the rain can mask all footsteps and traces.
On the other hand, the "competitive motivation to defend professional honor" adds a layer of glory and sense of duty to the show, going beyond pure physical competition.
Chen Ya, the show's screenwriter, mentioned in an interview that the show aims to present a "victory based on friendship." "Siren" is a team battle from beginning to end. The four contestants from the athlete team come from sports such as Kabaddi, Korean wrestling, rock climbing, and judo, which are not popular in Korea. They hope to showcase their victories in the show and let everyone know that there is a group of athletes fighting for honor in various fields for their country.
It is worth mentioning that for amateur sports competition shows, the prize is always the biggest motivation. Whether it's the classics like "Big Brother" or "Survivor," or recent Korean competition shows like "Physical: 100," huge cash prizes serve as a tempting factor.
However, "Siren" replaces "financial gain" with "sense of honor" as the core motivation, solving a challenge of localizing survival competition shows to some extent.
Female warriors: Victory and respect are not contradictory.
Driven by the sense of professional honor, each female contestant demonstrates a strong desire to win. The teams are confrontational, leading the participants to comment: "This is a real war."
From the beginning, the production team prompts each contestant to answer who is the strongest and weakest among all the teams, creating an intense atmosphere before the competition.
The police officers confidently state that the physical fitness assessment standards of the firefighters are lower than their own, so the firefighters should be weaker. Each team doubts the skills of the stunt performers, believing that "acting" and actual battlefield combat are different. The security guard admits that she has participated in stunt filming and points out that for the sake of impressive action, they always use exaggerated movements that are impractical. However, real killing actions are always subtle.
On the survival competition, elements such as the base, flag capture, and team totems are used to elevate the sense of team glory to the extreme.
The first task on is to traverse the mud pit and retrieve the team flag, then raise it within the arena. When a team is eliminated, the team members must personally lower the flag. Similarly, in the base defense battle, contestants must do their utmost to protect their team flag. If the flag is captured by the opponents, it symbolizes the breach of their position.
The show also incorporates unique totems for each team, with the security guards represented by guardian angels, the stunt performers by spiders, and the police team by eagles.
These elements inspire the potential in the contestants and visibly display their ambition to win.
In previous survival competition shows, in order to obtain the final substantial prize money, contestants often showcased the dark side of human nature: betrayal, deception, and a willingness to do anything, constantly pushing the boundaries of morality.
While these intense and sensational reality show narratives provide much entertainment value, "Siren" is different. The female warriors demonstrate true sportsmanship, where the desire to win is based on respect for rules and opponents.
Jin Minseon from the firefighter team stated in an interview, "Competition can be intense, but when that intensity spills over into emotions, it becomes inappropriate for a match." This spirit is conveyed by the female warriors through their actions and is also upheld by the production team's attitude.
There are moments in the show that cross the line. In the seventh episode, two contestants from the military team made threatening moves to safeguard their position and gain time for their teammate, even after being eliminated. In response to this, the production team firmly upheld rules, declared the competition suspended, and publicly announced the penalty: both individuals were banned from the next round of competition. This differentiation from survival shows that emphasize "winning at any cost" sets the show apart.
On the other hand, the female contestants demonstrate respect for their opponents during the battles.
The former stunt performer team, considered the weakest by many, gained recognition from all opponents for their resilient spirit after engaging in battles.
The firefighter team, after engaging in a fierce confrontation with the military team, made it clear: Korean soldiers are not as simple as they seem.
To gain the trust of allies, contestants would confidently reveal their vulnerable spots during joint tasks, showing their trust by exposing their weak points to their allies, forming alliances within 3 seconds.
When the security guard team's allies were on the verge of elimination, they expressed, "We could choose to betray, but we know the significance of such dishonorable victory is minimal. We choose to stand by each other till the end."
These details further shape the portrayal of women in the show: female warriors not only aim to win but also value grace. The cost of victory is never about breaking rules and losing respect.
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