The Netflix series Squid Game took the world by storm. Centered around 456 debt-ridden people fighting for their lives through children’s games, it’s not only the thriller of the year but also sheds light on how modern-day society and human nature operate. As we watch characters screaming in agony during Red Light, Green Light, or sweating buckets in Dalgona, let’s explore four lessons Squid Game teaches us about real life.
1. Debt Is the Ultimate Control Factor
In a world where money provides basic needs, the lack of it can make us compromise healthy standards to obtain it once again. In the case of Squid Game S1 E2, nearly 95% of participants returned to play the subsequent games, despite knowing they could die; their choice displays how poverty can feel more tortuous than risking one’s life for financial prosperity. In real life, people strapped for cash are humiliated by employers, overworked, or even sexually harassed, but speaking against such maltreatment can cost them their salary. Additionally, almost everything requires loans nowadays: buying a home, getting a college education, even paying off medical bills. Through this cycle of debt, people are exploited and pressed to sacrifice personal needs for survival.
2. When You are Desperate, Anyone Can Belittle You
What makes Squid Game unique is how it implements children’s games into an adult context. 456 grown men and women, cowering over a doll, trembling on a merry-go-round, quaking over marbles—the point is to dehumanize and humiliate. If we expand this concept, we can see it’s another form of power play. When we are in great need of something, those in control can make us perform the most petty, ridiculous acts to make ends meet. This is commonly seen when people wish for acceptance from others, such as hazing at fraternities, completing a risky dare for a friend group’s approval, or being overworked as an entry-level in a workplace. Unfortunately, we fight the ridicule by digging our heels into the ground and gritting through it.
3. When Your Life is at Stake, Your Most Primal Nature Comes Out
S1E4 and S2E7, when the Squid Game players fought in the barracks, unveiled the most about how the socially-conditioned, civilized parts of ourselves melt away when the bounty on our lives is higher. Chillingly, the Squid Game soldiers manipulated this nature by providing low amounts of food and sharp utensils hours before the night massacre. We may like to think we are above primal instincts, but this animalistic side of us is embedded in our veins and activated on a daily basis. The same adrenaline rush we get from a stressful exam was used by ancestors to fight predators. Only when we are put in situations such as Squid Game will we know the power our animalistic instincts can have over us.
4. To Tear Down a System, You got to Play the game and win first
Powerful and highly contrasting, Gi-Hun’s demeanor shifted drastically between S1 and S2. Almost all of S1, you could see an optimistic, naive personality shining through, but after the scars of S1, he returned for S2 with determination to take down the Squid Game regime. The premise of his journey is to show that if one wants to dismantle an oppressive system, one needs to play the game, rise to the top, snatch the power of the oppressor, and use it for good. Gi-Hun would never have been able to overthrow (or almost overthrow) the Frontman until he understood the ins and outs of the games first.
Squid Game may start off as an exciting watch, but as you go deeper, it paints a compelling picture into how modern society works. We may not enjoy dissecting the haunting themes of our own lives, but who knows? Maybe we are a blue player or red soldier in disguise.