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‘Squid Game’ and the Truth About Being Just a Number in the System
Capitalism has its claws in all of us, but where do we go from here?
It’s no secret by now that Netflix’s Korean show Squid Game has become one of the unexpected runaway hits for the streaming service in 2021. The dark horse series has even outrun last year’s hit Bridgerton in how the former racked up views in such a short span of time.
I didn’t immediately go with the hype. Though I love K-dramas (the very pulse of entertainment that has allowed Squid Game some of its clout in the Western world), I didn’t know if I wanted to watch something that obviously pulled threads from The Hunger Games and the franchise Battle Royale. Even so, I eventually caved and decided to give the show a chance after multiple friends gushed over its expertise.
What I came away realizing, even just a scant episode in, was that I was watching something that had a lot to say about the systems in which we operate in our very own reality.
Sure, dystopian film and literature all around have a canon that’s very by-the-book in progression — but Squid Game could be operating in present-day 2021 and we might not even know it. It may be happening right under our very noses.
