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IN ITS run on Spanish TV, Netflix’s Money Heist was more appropriately titled La Casa de Papel — “House of Paper” — which brings to mind Marx’s characterisation of capitalism as a house of cards.
The first season, to the surprise even of Netflix, was the top ratings hit on the service for a show whose language is not English. The series was the most popular last year in Western Europe and one of the most popular globally.
Why the phenomenal success? The answer lies in the major change Money Heist makes to a long and honourable genre, in which thieves often operate in enclaves of marginalised or working-class bands formed to steal money from an impregnable fortress — think The Asphalt Jungle, Rififi, or The Lavender Hill Mob.
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