The trials themselves are perverse warpings of childhood games. Players like Gi Hun use it as protection against the death and unfairness of the games. Some cling to their lives with savage brutality, and others cling equally to their decency. Women struggle to sacrifice their sexuality in exchange for protection while others hold onto every shred of dignity they have left. Even within the confines of the rigid structure, there is a thriving gig economy dependent on the same bodies that are sacrificed during each game. But you get the impression they are no less desperate than the participants of the game. Yes, they are also bad people as they callously gun down players and box them into pink bowed coffins for incineration. Thus, as easy as it would be to focus on the players’ bad behavior, that sullied lens is always pointed directly at the society that allows such a thing to exist in the first place.Įven those who manage the games aren’t the primary focus of our anger. Even the vilest have histories that have brought them to this terrible place where everyone must make horrible decisions or die. Strangely all of the people who find themselves in the Squid Games are opportunists in one way or another, and all are desperate. Like Lord Of The Flies, there are the overtly strong and weak, the timid and the brave, and the violent and the egalitarian. By episode three, however, the characters take over, and the themes of capitalism and unfairness unchecked become something to prop up the characters. At first glance, South Korea’s Squid Game is another in the long line of serviceable but not particularly creative takes on this theme. But, on the other hand, it is decidedly less funny when we hear a real news story about workplace violence. It’s fun to debate would you or wouldn’t you purge your asshole boss when it’s all fiction. These stories are appealing because the heady truths they uncover are easier to swallow when presented as entertainment. The nihilistically grotesque Platform, Battle Royale, and of course the granddaddy of all human failings, Lord Of The Flies.

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