3%

a look at netflix’s newest dystopian series

ColinH, Business Manager

For those of you who enjoy some dystopian, look no further than Netflix’s recently-created series 3%. The main idea revolves around the idea of a future where a huge majority of the population lives in a squalid place known as the Inland, while a privileged few live in paradise on earth known as the Offshore. It also happens to be Netflix’s first Brazilian production, and consequently, the entire script is in Portuguese. There is an English dubbed option, but I just watch it with the subtitles since it feels more real that way.

I have always been a fan of the dystopian genre because so many aspects of this genre fascinate me. From the way the society is run to the message that they are trying to tell us, these kinds of shows always have some deep theme to them that goes beyond just the surface level script, and this show is no exception. The show’s main message (as I see it) is to show the stark contrast, especially in Brazilian society, between rich and poor and the ever-increasing inequality of income and living conditions around the world.

The world that they are living in, as I stated before, is divided into two very different halves. There is the decrepit Continente (Mainland) and the gleaming Maralto (Offshore). The 20-year-old inhabitants of the Mainland are given the opportunity every year to compete for a spot to the Offshore, but only around 3% of the people that come to the competition make it all the way through, hence the title of the series. It’s gotten quite a unique concept for a society that I’ve never really seen in any other dystopian series, and I highly recommend it if you don’t mind the dubbing or subtitles. The second season is premiering sometime very soon.