Squid Game: A Social Commentary

As this South Korean thriller-survival drama series climbs steadily to the very top of Netflix’s most-watched chart, one has to wonder what is making it so immensely popular globally.

Fun Fact: Squid Game is so popular that an internet service provider is actually suing Netflix for risen costs due to increased network traffic caused by the hit series: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/skorea-broadband-firm-sues-netflix-after-traffic-surge-squid-game-2021-10-01/

So…what is making Squid Game becoming the Number One show in the history of Netflix?

My take: Because it mirrors so much of the developed, capitalist world where almost every plot element and main character can be an analogy of, or archetype in, the real world.

The following describes my assumed understanding of the show creator’s intentions and are not representative of my own personal opinions or values.

And if this is not obvious enough…SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Game:

This represents the liberal capitalist system that many live and work in - A seemingly meritocratic system that is fuelled by profits and material aspirations, and governed by a perceived level of fairness.

But ultimately, in this system where it is essentially a game with strict parameters/laws and tangible goals, the elite class rules the roost. Complete control of the majority lies in the hands of the very few. They create the “rules” for the rest to follow to ensure “fairness”, but it is only fair among the lower classes. To the top echelons of society, at times, the rules don’t apply.

It is interesting to note how the Front Man killed a guard not because he was harvesting and selling organs of dead players, but because the principle of fairness was violated.

So was it fair to orchestrate this game to these desperate individuals in the first place?

Fairness is not a universal, objective value. It never was. It has always been just a perspective. What is fair to someone may not be so to another.

The system encourages the maxim that to succeed in the system, one has to have more and more money. This was what drove most of the players in the show to willingly re-join the game. Only money, lots of it, can solve most, if not all, of life’s problems. The richer you are, the more power you hold. It does bring to mind the behemoths of the investment banking industry that were deemed to be too big to fail during the 2008 – 09 Global Financial Crisis.

The Guards and The Front Man:

All the masked characters could represent the administrators of the system. ?They are the enforcers of the “rules” or a personification of legislation. Acting on the behest of the elite, they are there simply to ensure that everyone else conforms to the same rules and are kept in check. This protects the upper classes from losing power.

They are faceless and nameless because laws are faceless and nameless. Laws must be impartial and just. Like the blindfolded Lady Justice who often acts as an allegory of judicial systems, laws in a capitalist economy do not discriminate. They apply to everyone in the system. They are duty-bound, strict and emotionless even if it means subjecting a loved one to his demise.

They are…fair.

Oh Il-nam (The Old Man):

The embodiment of the top-tier of the upper class - the 0.01% of the capitalist society.

Il-nam symbolizes the emptiness of the corrupt elite, where the pursuit of material wealth has rendered it unable to see humanity as human individuals but mere cogs in a cogwheel. It is a point where money can no longer buy happiness or health, but used to entertain and give “meaning” to the uber-rich.

To Il-nam, being a participant staring into the eyes of death is more exhilarating than watching death unfold before him. The excitement in him that one can observe during the Red Light, Green Light game testifies to this. To him, this is fun, but to the 455 other players, this is desperation and hopelessness.?

How many ordinary lives were ruined or lost from Bernie Madoff’s mega-Ponzi scheme??

Seong Gi-hun (The Protagonist):

A realistic archetype of the everyday person – one who is flawed, has made bad life decisions, but, deep down, is still a good-natured soul.

In essence, Gi-hun forces us to reflect, “We are all imperfect and have and will make mistakes in life, but can we still hold true to our moral code?”

Motivated not by wealth itself but more on it being the only resource to gain custody of his daughter, Gi-hun inspires us to place more value on other treasures in life. But unfortunately, he is still a lower-class “player” in the system, one who is merely allowed to enjoy $40 million-worth of breadcrumbs from the table of the richest of the rich.?

What the rich has giveth can be taketh away.

And as Gi-hun walks out of the salon with a striking red-dyed hairdo as a symbol of rebellion against the system, we must be reminded of the subtle commentary emanating from a television in the background – a news update of a growing debt crisis in S. Korea.

This is a symptom of the ills of capitalism, that for the working class to climb up the ranks, taking on more debt may be the only option, and for many of us, this is debt that we’ll never be able to repay.

But ironically, without debt, the capitalist economy crumbles.

Choo Sang-woo (The Fraud):

Which would serve us better in life? Intelligence or values?

I believe this question was personified in Sang-woo.

One whose academic smarts and career success was praised by Gi-hun to the point of awkwardness, Sang-woo showed us how:

1)???Being intelligent does not equate to future success in life

2)???Greed will be our ultimate downfall

3)???A predator can come in the meekest of forms

Sang-woo represents the fallacy many Asian parents place in good academic results as the surest instrument to achieve success in life for their children. Success, once again, that is defined in a capitalist society.

But if we lose sight of our values, we can end up living life as a fraud and a criminal – one who will do whatever it takes, to cheat and kill, just to survive.

Abdul Ali (The Foreign Worker):

To me, Ali is a literal representation of a near-forgotten strata of the capitalist society.

Just like in the show, he typifies the throngs of foreign workers who helped built some of the developed world’s most magnificent skyscrapers and desirable consumer goods.

But tragically, these are the ones who are often mistreated and taken advantage for innocence and naiveté has no place in capitalism.

Kang Sae-byeok (The North Korean Defector):

Perhaps more relatable to S. Korea, Sae-byeok may personify all the N. Koreans who have defected to the South, believing that a better life awaited them.

However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Till date, over 30,000 N. Koreans have escaped from the brutal, dictatorial regime in their home country but how many of them have successfully assimilated to a modern, fast-paced S. Korean economy??

From cultural differences to even language nuances, a significant proportion of former N. Koreans have admitted to have faced discrimination in their supposed promised land. (https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/02/103_284113.html)

And unbeknownst to the casual viewer, in the scenes with her brother, Sae-byeok speaks with a N. Korean accent while she switches to a less pronounced one when she speaks to the game players. This is a character, like many real-life N. Korean defectors, who is trying to blend in but is constantly being discriminated (mostly by Deok-su in the show) and rejected by society.

Forced into a life of crime, Sae-byeok learns to survive through the school of hard knocks and harder reality. We wonder if this is synonymous to marginalized N. Koreans living in the capitalist south.?

Jang Deok-su (The Gangster):

Speaking of Deok-su, one can definitely refer to him as the vilest and most despicable of all the known antagonists.

I, for one, wanted this character dead.

How can anyone be this wicked?

But between Deok-su, Il-nam and his glitteringly masked VIPs, who is the “eviler” one?

Perhaps they are all equally vile.

A rogue trader who over-leverages and bankrupts a financial institution is no better than a gangster who assaults and murders others. Should there be a distinction between white-collared and blue-collared crime? In my view, livelihoods are just as important as lives.?

Hence, one can argue that Deok-su personifies the criminal underbelly of any developed society - A layer of the civil capitalist world that can never be eradicated. Ultimately, there are only two ways to reach the top – through big business where betrayal, deception and threats and done legally, or via crime where betrayal, deception and threats done…well…illegally.

It is simply a case of two similarly corrupt entities attempting to scale the mountain of avarice but with starkly different amounts of resources to start with. In other words, if you are devoid of morality and capital and still want to be insanely wealthy, crime is the obvious path. At the end of the day, as the Christian Bible teaches, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.”….no matter how one intends to get it.

Han Mi-nyeo (The Opportunist):

Opportunistic, annoying but also fearless.

These are the words I would use to describe Mi-nyeo.

But who does she represent in a capitalist world??

The answer to this question lies in an unfortunate mistranslation.?

In one particular scene, Mi-nyeo utters, “I’m not a genius. I still got it worked out.” as the line was translated from Korean to English. But in reality, due to translation nuances, the actual line reads, “I am very smart. I just never got a chance to study.”

This harks back to my explanation of Sang-woo and his capitalist archetype. Mi-nyeo, thus, is the “anti-Sang-woo”. She is the typification of one of the lower classes that has the smarts and will for a shot at education, but didn’t have the resources to do so.

Hence, relying solely on opportunity and manipulation, Mi-nyeo lied and manoeuvred her way to the last 17 contestants because that was what the street, not school, has taught her.

Hwang Jun-ho (The Police Officer):

Finally, this brings us to Jun-ho.

Jun-ho, regrettably, was not a character written with a concrete backstory. Therefore, my analysis of him is only and obviously based on what was presented through the series.

Perhaps, he represents a glimmer of hope in capitalism that individuals with an almost indestructible, incorruptible moral standard do and can exist. Individuals who will always do the right thing no matter the danger or risk of life. They care not about money but only righteousness and humanity.

But who eventually…will still be crushed by the system, because for what the system cannot corrupt, it will annihilate.

?

The Squid Game has indeed presented reflective insights of the real-world. It’s truly ironic that it is capitalism that is contributing to its massive popularity. This is analogous to the show being a critic of capitalism but being loved by the very thing it is critiquing.

So as S.Korea battles a debt time bomb (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8cbwbTqmCw), I shall leave you to guess whether the show really is a mirror of our world – one, in the words of Macbeth, that is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.?

Hey thanks for reading my article.

By the way, I am no Il-nam who devises sick games for desperate individuals….but I do run a company in Singapore that offers a mobile gamification platform for employee learning and engagement :)

So do check out ripple.right-impact.com if you are interested!