By Maia Venuti
Staff Writer
“Squid Game” is a 2021 Netflix Korean thriller and horror show that has taken the world by storm. If you are not already familiar with the show's premise, in the simplest of explanations, it is about 456 people who are all living on the brink of financial ruin. All of these people are invited to play childhood games in order to win a massive amount of money, enough to pay off all their debts as well as allow them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. The games played are all childhood games that everyone is already familiar with, having played them as children. The catch? If you break the rules of the game, you are shot execution-style by the mysterious masked guards who help run the games.
The premise alone is horrific and enticing enough to easily make this show skyrocket to the number one spot on the streaming platform, but the concept of playing childhood games like Red Light Green Light and getting shot is not what the real horror is to me. The real horror of “Squid Game” is the parasitic, exploitative and deeply flawed system of capitalism that can and does allow for something like “Squid Game” to be such a real concept.
While the concept for “Squid Game” seems ridiculous and unrealistic, it is slowly becoming a reality of the world we live in. As capitalism continues to make the rich even wealthier and sink the poor further into poverty and debt, people become desperate to do whatever they can to earn money to provide for themselves and their families. This show is designed to show us with a seemingly preposterous and impossible situation how exploitative capitalism is, and how many people are not just willing, but ready to die for the chance to win money.
Something unique about “Squid Game” is the fact that the contestants were able to leave the game and face reality. When everyone gets past the first game and is horrified by the biblical carnage that ensued, they plead to leave and are allowed to vote on whether to continue playing, or disband, with the majority being the decision upheld. Unsurprisingly, the majority of people vote to leave the game and are brought back home into reality. They are all met with the harsh and cruel reality outside of the game, where there is absolutely no hope of them ever being able to repay their debts.
Showing the players different lives outside of the game, and how difficult it is for them to earn money — with some characters not being paid for work, some wanted for federal crimes, and others being unable to provide funds to take care of their families — the odds of turning their lives around are entirely against them. When watching the show, it is so hard to understand why these people would put themselves in a situation where the odds of dying are highly against them, but the reason for going into the games is all the same for everyone: desperation.
Desperation is one of the strongest emotions a human can feel, and desperation causes people to do the most irrational and often senseless things for even a chance at bettering their situations. The decision by the show's creator Hwang Dong-hyuk to show these people in their lives after leaving the games and how their lives will not get better and there is no other option other than to try and win the games was a brilliant aspect to add to the show. It shows how, under capitalism, there is no way to turn oneself around when in debt like these people are, and how sometimes the most ridiculous options seem like the most logical ones when in these situations.
“Squid Game” is a brilliant show, with phenomenal acting, outstanding writing and directing, and most importantly, sends a message effectively and forces people to have a conversation that is extremely difficult to have. This show should be the blueprint for effectively conveying a critique of the reality we live in, disguised as an unrealistic and dystopian reality.
