By: Charly Peter
The dystopian future is now. “Squid Game” is a Korean drama created by Hwang Dong-hyuk that has taken the world by storm. Quickly breaking Netflix records, the show displays allegory for capitalism that has invaded the minds of people everywhere. Unlike other theatrical works that portray dystopian societies as futuristic, Squid Game depicts a society eerily similar to that of the present. Close to 500 contestants enter a game to win a massive cash prize without much knowledge of the conditions of the game. They play a series of kids’ games that have deadly consequences.
“Money drives people to kill,” says Lily Gillespie.
This refers to how all workers are faced with the dilemma of disregarding their morals to climb to the top. Squid Game is an allegory for the concept of late-stage capitalism, which refers to the absurdity of modern-day capitalism. An example of this would be a beer company spending 1 million dollars on an advertisement saying that they donated 100,000 dollars to charity. They are spending more on convincing people that they are helping than on actually helping the world. Image is everything.
“This show relates a lot to the problems people are facing. Things such as massive debt and class discrimination,” said Michael Vargus.
Each character enters the game in order to win a cash prize. They do this because the players are in debt to banks, loan sharks, or to other people in their lives. In one way or another, they are all victims to the blood-sucking machine that is capitalism, aren’t we all?
“Squid Game had a great plot and each episode had the perfect amount of suspense in it,” said Ria James.
I would recommend this show 1000%. I would also recommend watching this show in its original language rather than watching with the English dub. The Korean actors perfectly executed each emotion of the characters to the point where if you watch in English, you miss the subtleties of their tones. This high-stakes thriller leaves you re-evaluating what you would do for money.
