La Casa de Papel in Serbia

A small budget spanish show, La casa de Papel, was at the top of the netflix charts during quarantine resonating with people across the globe. The reason it resonated with so many people is because it touched upon financial hardships, anti-capitalism, and breaking the rules and boundaries of the system we all live in. In some ways, the show gives hope to people as it showcases our ability to go against the norm and create change. While it is clear why the American audience displayed such a strong love of the show, it is interesting to explore why it resonated with other countries such as Serbia.

As pointed out by a famous Serbian newspaper, “We are obsessed with crimes and stories that contain robberies, kidnappings, robberies and heroic deeds”. The adrenaline and lively, energetic action that takes place in the series is dangerously reminiscent of reality scenes that have been aired on Serbian televisions for years. The concept is very familiar. The creators of the series introduce you to each character and their deepest, darkest, most unbearable life situation that you can see exclusively in reality — among people locked in a house whose behavior is filmed 24/7. Of course, this may be a matter of fiction, but when you realize that you have seen mostly everything and that nothing can surprise you, you yourself become a part of the life of those characters you watch. One begins putting themselves in the shoes of the characters, thinking about how they would act, whether they would be ashamed, whether they would regret it and whether the whole sacrifice has a price.

The show does a powerful job of spreading the message of what it means to be an outsider as it showcases the struggle of robbers — proletarians, against an unjust and corrupt system. While those times in Serbia seem to be long gone, there are many ways in which the audience can relate to being an outsider and as can be seen in how well the show has done in this region, Serbians very much relate to it.