Netflix’s South Korean survival drama ‘Squid Game’ has racked up a viewership of 142 million in less than a month of its launch. It has become the most-watched Netflix series to date. Some say it is redefining what it means to go viral. The dystopian drama shows several contestants under crippling debts, ‘forced’ to participate in a series of deadly children’s games to win a staggering cash prize. And another chance at life. Gore and blood remain the constant theme of the show, with one rule in many variations – if you don’t eat, you get eaten up.
Besides the show’s hot pink boiler suits, green tracksuits, and chilling music captivating the global pop culture’s imagination through memes, reels, and Halloween costumes – there is more to ‘Squid Game’s sensational reliability. It shows the underbelly of modern-day society with little or no subtleties. The unclothed society turns and tosses through the show in spattered blood, betrayal, and helplessness.
The game reflects a capitalist system controlled by a wealthy minority, which by design picks the most vulnerable and pits them against each other for its enjoyment – in this case, for thrill and entertainment.
From Competition To Separation
The brutal competition portrayed in the show ascertains that the one winning keeps chasing the dangling carrot (in this case, a humongous shiny piggy bank with stacks of money bills). At the same time, the loser, a weakling, is weeded out immediately. It facilitates separation among the participants and breeds fear and mistrust. Blind competition in modern society has not only led to a certain degree of ‘progress’, but it has also led us towards fractured communities, social scarcity, and disconnection with one another and thus oneself.
Much like the world, the game also boasts of equality and equal opportunities. “Each and every one of you is considered an equal within the walls of this facility. You must be guaranteed the same opportunities without being disadvantaged or facing any discrimination,” says one of the henchmen.
This takes place in an unnatural game setting where the participants are manipulated and misinformed, access to information is curbed, and changes are made at the whim of the controllers.
Fairness And Discipline
Even in its most dystopian form, the system does not let go of its delusional order. The whole system of Squid Game is based on razor-sharp hierarchies that command discipline and fairness. For example, after a vicious shooting by the guards in one of the episodes, a participant shrieks –
“We may be in debt, but that does not mean we deserve to die like this.” To which he is told that “they are eliminated for breaking the rules of the game. As long as you follow the rules and do not impede the democratic process, you will safely exit this place with promised prize money.”
While the rules, retribution, and reward are controlled by the organizers of the game, the accountability to uphold the inflicted norms and play fair remains on the ones at the bottom.
Who Is The Real Villain?
As the show progresses, conditions are set to evoke more violence and distrust among the participants. The ones who have stuck together so far are turned against one another. Slowly, the worst starts to emerge.
One feels so enraged by the participants’ betrayals and brutality that the systemic savagery disappears from the consciousness.
One has to time and again remind oneself that the game is crafted to rouse the worst in people who have no agency. Such a reminder does not come easy when one thinks of the systemic inequalities of the world. Nevertheless, the show succeeds in offering a birds-eye view of an unfair system where the burden of morals and ethics lie on an individual.
The scene in the show’s last episode when Gi-hun, the protagonist and the winner of the game, comes back to his home to find his mother dead on the cold floor summed up the show for me. In a system where only a few CAN win, all of us lose.
Did Irony Die A Thousand Deaths?
Squid Game’s creator Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote the show in 2009, coinciding with one of the most significant economic downturns called the Great Recession. He admits to having been struggling financially at the time, “I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life.”
Cut to 2020-21.
Since the pandemic began, the world’s ‘ten richest men’ have seen an uprise in their combined wealth by half a trillion dollars. Yet, on the other hand, millions of people are either underemployed or out of work. As a result, the socio-economic gulf is wider than ever.
The biggest irony is that a show seen as an allegory about systemic inequality has helped Netflix become a trillion-dollar company. Squid Game has boosted Netflix stock’s market value by $19 billion, according to Bloomberg. While also adding another $900m in “impact value” (a metric Netflix uses to assess the cost efficiency of the show.) As fast fashion to Walmart – markets capitalise on the show’s wild success, the irony is sitting in a corner gasping for breath.