Maybe it’s because I’m from North America and I never got to see a series which has deep well constructed moral questioning like Squid Game does, but it is amazing.
For those of you that clicked here and have not watched it, Squid Game is basically a Fable which looks at the human condition.
At it’s base, humans feel a great need/satisfaction in reaching the top of the pyramid in life (think of the Olympics). This is a great strength that humans have, but it also leads us down a rabbit hole.
Humans also strive for meaning in their lives.
Put the two together and you have a recipe for disaster.
We had organized religion for a long time, but unfortunately the people at the top corrupted it (think of the sex scandals in catholic religion for example) and it opened the door to a new religion. Money.
Recently (in Korea), capitalism has replaced religion. Unfortunately, capitalism is completely devoid of any morality. Removal of traditional religion may have led to the destruction of family values, which is a huge problem right now in Korea.
In Squid Game, you have the creator of a game (let’s call him God), who himself was at the top of the Capitalist world (being a top banker who controlled governments and economies). He was at the top of the world.
Both people at the top of capitalism (the super wealthy) and at the bottom of capitalism (the very indebted) feel despair. The first group because they have very little to aspire to anymore (think of the Olympic champion who crosses the line in first. He feels amazing for one or two hours, but then thinks “is that it?” “Where do I go now?”. The second group for obvious reasons. They are just fu#&ed...
As the God of the show, he puts both groups together.
456 greedy poor people are put together in a series of 6 games to decide on a winner. The super wealthy (let’s call them bad angels) get to observe their fate from the sky.
God has no qualm that 455 (well 454) participants could be put to death, since greed is a capital sin anyway.
In the process, 14 participants decide to quit the game (the number 14 represents deliverance or salvation in the bible).
Throughout the game, we find out that one of the players may actually be God’s son (let’s call him the saviour).
The arc of the show is perfect.
Season one is amazing. It touched on such important current topics.
Interestingly, season one highlighted the problem and that was great.
If season 2 can actually solve the problem of the human condition (humanity has been trying to solve that for thousands of years), then the show creator should win a Nobel prize.
This show is amazing. No matter what angle you look at, you can see a perfect arc.
Why can’t we create shows like this in the US?