Season Two of the cultural phenomenon Squid Game has been released and just as with Season One, people all over school are enthralled with the idea of extreme high-stakes childrens’ games. The show displays the darkest pieces of the capitalist society most of the civilized world is a part of. It is clear that the concept of the games themselves; as imagined by the producers of the show, present an exaggerated view of the economic issues in not just Korea, but the world as a whole.
For those unfamiliar with the show, the setup of the games is simple- players are expected to play through a series of childrens’ games that are deadly if failed. As an example, the first game of both seasons is a game of red-light green-light and players who are caught moving or don’t pass the finish line in time are killed. 456 players start at the beginning of the game, and 100 million won (~$69,000 USD) is added to the prize pool for each player eliminated. The running total would be split evenly among the surviving players. In Season One, players are given only one opportunity to quit the games, but most of the players decide to return quickly after having to come back to their lives of poverty. Season Two has the players vote after every game if they want to keep playing, which is slightly different from the system in Season One.
Throughout both the first and second seasons, the players of the games exhibit extreme greed as a result of their financial situations. It is shown time and time again that the participants value money over both others’ lives and their own. Even when the participants of the game know that their lives are at stake, they still continue to play the games in order to make just a little bit more money to pay off their debts. In Season Two, players are seen chanting in order to play “one more game” because they calculate that their profits will triple if just a few more players die. Despite almost half of the participants begging and crying to be able to go home, the other half is completely overcome by greed to the point where they lose their humanity. This psychological behavior is a reflection of what is seen in real-life society, where greedy shareholders and company owners value their profit margins over the health and even lives of people. The show is written in a way that makes it immediately obvious how money can completely change how people act.
Episode 1 of Season Two of Squid Game is called “Bread and Lottery” because the man who recruits players for the games buys 100 lottery tickets and 100 pieces of bread. He offers a multitude of homeless people either a lottery ticket or bread, and almost everyone chooses the lottery ticket for the CHANCE of money rather than food, which they actually need to survive. It’s a repeating anecdote in the show that for these people who have nothing; the players of the game and the homeless, their lives are less valuable than the chance of having even the smallest amount of wealth. Some of the executives of the game in the show even see themselves as generous for giving the players of the game another chance at life, but they’re all still living.
While the show Squid Game presents itself as a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, its subliminal messaging paints a completely different picture. Really taking the time to pause and think about what the show is saying could completely change your perception of extreme poverty and the impact it can have on the human condition..
