‘Squid Game’ Explores the Human Condition Amid Capitalist Extremes

Squid Game” premiered on Netflix in September 2021 and immediately became a worldwide success. The series critiques late-stage capitalism, warning the audience of its potential consequences. In fact, director Hwang Dong-hyuk began working on the script in 2008 while dealing with his own financial struggles during the Great Recession.

“Squid Game” is inspired by “Battle Royale,” a Japanese film from 2000 that influenced many other survival genre films, including “The Hunger Games” (2012) and “The Hunt” (2020). The series compiles elements from the emerging and popular South Korean film tradition, following recognized directors such as Park Chan-wook, Kim Ki-duk, and Bong Joon-ho. At the same time, it adds a good deal of originality, including the use of childhood games as a vehicle to oppress and deliver violence to entertain an audience.

The protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, is an unlikely hero who lives in a hostile world. He is a middle-aged, unemployed, divorced man who is addicted to gambling. As a result, he struggles financially and needs his mother to support him. Because of his psychosocial situation, he is estranged from his daughter. One day, he is approached by a man who gives him the opportunity to play a game. It turns out that the game is deadly, although the prize for winning is very high.

Angered by the possibility of dying, the participants protest and are permitted to vote to exit the game. However, most of them return when they are given the opportunity. In this extreme capitalist society, there is no place for them. They would rather take a remote chance on winning the prize money than returning to their miserable lives.

It is well established that the negative consequences of lotteries and legalized gambling disproportionately affect the underserved. In general, humans tend to go for short-term rewards over long-term rewards, even if the odds suggest that they shouldn’t. This is even more dramatic in a predatory system like the one depicted in “Squid Game,” where all the guards are also workers; but, wearing masks, they function as a faceless unit that resembles an oppressive killing machine, like the French army in Goya’s painting “The Third of May 1808.”

The game itself is organized by and for extremely successful, immoral men. Following the Great Recession, the financial elite were often portrayed in negative terms, culminating with the highly critical film “The Big Short” (2015), which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Similarly, in “Squid Game,” there is no hope for these kinds of people. When Gi-hun visits Oh Il-nam, the game’s organizer, on his deathbed, Il-nam shows no remorse for what he has done.

In contrast, Gi-hun, our unlikely hero, shows a transformative journey through his experience in the game, becoming an example of resilience. He abandons his deceptive behaviors to become a more moral, compassionate person. He experiences personal growth. In times of crisis, a person can turn to either more antisocial or more compassionate behaviors; both can enhance self-preservation. “Squid Game” bets on compassion, offering a moral message for the audience: In times of extreme capitalism, compassion may save us.

The show was released in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we experienced a lack of freedom. We were asked to follow orders and instructions without questioning. We faced financial uncertainty and feared death. “Squid Game” provided a cathartic outlet for those feelings, making the experience feel almost real. A testament to this is the success of its reality TV adaptation, “Squid Game: The Challenge” (2023).

The paradox is that an anticapitalist TV show owes its success to Netflix, a capitalist platform. Something seems true: In our current times, anticapitalist messages resonate with audiences, often performing better in the media than their capitalist counterparts. We’ll see if that holds true for the second season of “Squid Game,” which is set to premiere on December 26. ■