Squid Game brings a new perspective to wealth
The new Netflix show “Squid Game” was released, and viewers are already beginning to anticipate a new season. Even though the show is not originally in English, many people have been raving about the emotions this show will bring to you within the first season.
The show starts with a company gathering 456 random people who are in debt and desperate for money. In hopes of making billions, they agree to play a few games unaware of the fact that there will be major consequences to losing. They played a series of children’s games that are familiar in South Korea including; “Red Light, Green Light,” “Honeycomb,” “Tug of War,” “Marbles,” “Cross the Bridge,” and “Squid Game.” The rules of the game are simple, win and the players progress, but lose and they’re executed. Whoever survives all games wins a multibillion dollar cash prize.
This show was not only thrilling and nerve racking but it was emotional. The players attach to the people around them making losses even more difficult to handle, especially when you can not keep the promises you originally made. Personally, I cried more than a couple times and got attached to each character very quickly. Getting further and further into the season, you learn about what happened in each character’s past life, the lies and tragedies that got them where they are today. Watching this show is like having to sit on the sideline and watch as you want to desperately help those people succeed because you know they deserve better.
The socioeconomic divide is what drives society to its breaking point. The games are not only watched by rich men, but each player is bet on to see whether they will win or not. Whereas many lower classmen would bet on horses to gain money, the V.I.P.s would bet on humans in the games in an attempt to feel something. In the end, the antagonist explains his idea that the more money you have the more valuable you are to society therefore you have the right to take others for granted.
In many ways people who are poor and people who have too much money are very similar, they get bored and are looking for something to feel alive again. For the lower classmen they are trapped in this game by society because of a lack of money, they have no other choice but to play a risky game because if they go back to their normal lives, they have nothing. On the other hand, for the V.I.P.s it was betting and gabling millions for the chance to feel alive again, while standing on the sidelines.
