Squid Game is the Capitalist Society Game We Play Every Day
At the bottom of the societal hierarchy lie the poor and the indebted. A broken government unable — and unwilling — to help a failed capitalist economy that has led to the downfall of many. An economic system based upon the failure of many in order for others to succeed. Although in a slightly more violent manner, the Korean hit Netflix show Squid Game depicts this failed system through brutally violent reimagined childhood games played by indebted Korean citizens attempting to win a prize jackpot. While some may argue that Squid Game was “too Korean” to translate well across borders, I believe that it translated well because it metaphorizes the physically violent games to the death to reflect our own capitalist society, depicting how capitalism is an unfair system.
Squid Game is a brutally violent sort of reenactment of the way in which our society functions, more specifically Korean society where the poor suffer and the rich chaebols, “corporate conglomerates owned by a handful of wealthy and powerful families” maintain an iron grip in the economy. The show depicts the wealth inequality in Korea much how the Oscar-winning Korean movie Parasite did as well. Although, in comparison, the director of Squid Game decided to take it to a slightly more creative level by creating an allegory with the playing of the violent childhood games to the struggles of everyday life in the midst of a capitalist society. In her article, Squid Game owes its popularity to anxieties of modern life, Zoe Williams claims, “paradoxically, this hyper-real, totally unrealistic drama has lit on the anxiety that really is driving day-to-day, all-too-real mental illness.” This refers to the stresses brought on by the struggles of an unfair capitalist society, a sentiment shared by the players in the game and people in real life suffering from debt, low wages, and the overall pressures of capitalism. While the show is heavily focused on Korean society, the theme carried over across the globe and was well accepted in other capitalist countries such as the United States. However, my argument is limited to countries that share similar issues of wealthy disparity and increasing anti-capitalist sentiment such as the U.S.
This is prevalent in both Korean and American society accounting for the large wealth disparity in both countries. In the final episodes show, a group of VIPs is welcomed to the remote island to watch the brutally violent games take place from a comfortable spot far away from all the gore and blood; as Caitlyn Clark states in her article Squid Game is an Allegory of Capitalist Hell, “a creative illustration of how society under capitalism operates by two sets of rules, one for the rich and another for the poor.” The indebted citizens are powerless to help themselves out of such a wicked game while the mighty and powerful not only fail to provide them with aid, but also take pleasure in their suffering. This depiction of capitalism reflects how the elites, the top 1%, the chaebols, fail to provide aid to help the lower class despite their abundance of wealth. Think of it this way, if you were swimming in the ocean and you see a person drowning, and you see Jeff Bezos in his yacht nearby, who do you expect to save the drowning person? Jeff Bezos who has a boat. He has the advantage, and yet, Jeff Bezos simply watches the drowning person as if it is entertainment for his luxurious vacation. This is how unfair our society is, the rich, although they have the ability to aid the lower class, they fail to do so and instead only focus on their own riches.
Arguably the most popular game in Squid Game which led many people wanting to recreate it was the honeycomb task in which participants were given a traditional Korean candy dalgona and told to cut out the shape without breaking it. However, when further analyzed, this game is just another example of capitalist society. The players are led to an enormous outdoor playground and told to choose from a series of shapes. Sang-woo, who had already guessed what the next game would be thanks to Sae-byeok who had seen the workers stirring pots of sugar and shared this with Sang-woo, gave himself the advantage of choosing the easiest shape and omitted the helpful information from the rest of his friends. Within our society, much like in Korean society, certain people retain an advantage when going into the workforce, or even higher education. In 2019 a large college admission scandal broke out in the United States (involving our dearly beloved USC, no shade there) in which wealthy families, in addition to hefty bribes, had forged their students’ resumes to make them more appealing to the schools. Like Sang-woo in Squid Game, the children of these wealthy families had an unfair advantage in their college admission process, unlike all of the other thousands of applicants who did not have a mommy and daddy bribing coaches to give them easier admission. While in the show it is a mere representation of the unfairness within our capitalist society, the college admission scandal was a very real display of how the wealthy have an advantage over the lower class and therefore are able to get ahead. Meanwhile, in Korea, the disparity of jobs is a serious issue for many young adults entering the job market, and yet there are still those who retain an advantage, something highly valued by Korean society: looks. Matt Stiles writes in his Los Angeles Times article, In South Korea’s hypercompetitive job market, it helps to be attractive, “Facing intense competition for jobs with benefits, many applicants feel compelled to enhance their appearances for an edge.” However, while Stiles attempts to highlight the superficial aspect of utilizing beauty as an advantage, it can all still be reduced to inequalities of capitalism. If you think about it, who would be able to afford enhancing their appearance in order to gain an advantage in the job market? The upper classes. While plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedure are commonplace in South Korea, they are still costly are unavailable to the greater population who must remain focused on simply paying their bills. This demonstrates how yet again, even though a different method, the wealthy have an advantage over others in a capitalist society.
Much like in South Korea, the United States is currently facing a growing wave of anti-capitalist sentiment, especially following the near economic depression during the height of the pandemic. As the lower class went on to lose their jobs, rich CEOs and elites continued to bask in their riches while others suffered. The basis of Squid Game is that indebted citizens are given an opportunity to win a fortune to restart their lives by playing games, however as it is revealed right from the beginning, these games are reliant on the death of other players. This is an allegory to our unfair capitalist society where our successes are often based upon the failure of others. The first few games are primarily based on each players own merits, but as the show progresses the games become increasingly reliant on the players competing with one another where the victory of one leads to the death and defeat of the other, mirroring the capitalist nature of society itself. The way Roxana Hadadi described in her article, A Game of Marbles Turns Squid Game’s Anti-Capitalist Critique Inside Out, “the demands and disappointments of capitalism inspire and enforce the selfishness that the economic system requires for living within it.” Hahadi is specifically referring to the marble game where the main character Gi-hun uses the old man’s disadvantage of amnesia in order to cheat his way into winning. We cannot only succeed based on our own merits, others must fall to pave the way for our success. It is a cruel and rigged system perfectly depicted by the twisted versions of the childhood games.
But at the end of it all, while not all of us may understand the childhood games or the slight phrases that get lost in translation from Korean to English, there is still much to relate to in a short 9-episode violent TV show from across the globe. While we live thousands of miles away, have different types of governments, speak different languages, we all deal with similar struggles. While it is debatable whether this is a reflection of globalization or a result of it, it is true that because of today’s highly-interconnected society we are able to share content that we can mutually relate to. This is both a reflection and a result of globalization. No matter where we are, what government we have, what language we speak, we all live in the same world and we share similar struggles despite differences in our culture.
