Squid Game: Is It Worth Dying For?
Netflix’s Squid Game became the most-watched series in its history. The number of viewers to date is 111 million people. Because of the characters it creates and the ‘games’ it offers, the series has become a worldwide phenomenon. So, as a result of this series, what is the most pertinent to our daily lives? Don’t dismiss it by saying that it is just a series.
Let’s start with the truth.
Can we, for instance, imagine the plight of a family that escaped war, drowned in the Mediterranean Sea along with their children?
Does a parent who doesn’t have enough money for their child’s surgery play this game?
There are people who have fallen prey to mafia or pawnbrokers, those lying in the drug swamp, those who are unable to continue their lives because of credit card debt.
Are we going to overlook those who commit suicide due to financial difficulties?
Let’s see. If someone approached them at a bus stop or subway and asked them, “Would you like to play a game? This is a life-changing game. To win this game, you will change your life.” Will these people undertake that death journey?
Are there any solutions?
Who can protect their mortgaged homes from fluctuations in the free market?
Those who are trapped in a snatch-and-run economy or neo-liberal pendulum of day-to-day life, living in a world of corruption, can they help themselves? Is there a way out?
People are living in South Korea or the most secluded corner of the world.
The poorest countries of the world see women, men, and even children being sold for their bodies.
Does the world now resemble a Squid Game?
Let’s face it.
Rules govern the game. The majority of the participants have the right to vote to end the game if they so desire.
According to those who currently watch the game, the majority of them end it at the end of the first ‘Red Light, Green Light’ match.
Next, what? Societies return to the shadows. With illnesses, families dilemmas, stocks, etc., they find themselves at the point of desperation.
Nevertheless, they return to the game and are repeatedly defeated and killed.
Thomas Hobbes used the phrase “homo homini lupus”, which means “a man is a wolf to another man” in his work, “Elementa Philosophica De Cive (1642)”. It is still considered to be a valid motto today. By validity, I am not referring to validity in terms of reality.
Here’s a quick recap of the democracy debate.
What’s the big deal with a majority decision? In fact, who constitutes the majority?
According to Max Weber, a state is a “human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.” Does the Squid Game mean that the players are giving the ‘government’ the right to kill themselves? They return and die and kill again when they return to the island they went to voluntarily. Adults play Korean children’s games, drowning in pathetic despair. In the same vein, in today’s state, is it justified for the state to punish us for voting in error upon making a mistake?
Additionally, even at the beginning of the game, all players are included in their chosen colour (blue or red), right? The blues hunt and the reds are the predators. If you don’t kill, you die. Uniform wearers taking the monopoly of violence, police, soldiers, administrators, hunts are the noble (!) elements of that legitimacy, citizens.
Willpower, huh?
What is willpower? In today’s world, does free will exist? The questions from the beginning of the article should be repeated here as well.
Among the many concerns of people who find themselves in such despair, survival is the most crucial. How could one survive in the complex web of a capitalist market without fighting for money?
How many of us share this trait?
The state is no longer a game-maker, and traditional family structures and markets are collapsing. Where will politics, which is the guide of society, go from here?
Families are breaking up due to economic circumstances (specifically the shattering of the feeling of being a family); When the markets are so volatile, and the government is downsizing so drastically, what remains within the structure of the state?
For example, the democracy crisis in the last American presidential election? The raid on the Congress building where five people died, the extreme right is becoming so noticeable, etc. All of these incidents are very unexpected. Media outlets continue to report on this issue, and the American people perceive it to be a crisis of democratic values that marred their history.
As reported by North Korea’s propaganda website, Squid Game portrays capitalism and its inhumane aspects. Watchers who see the series to the very end may comment on it.
Next, we can look in the mirror and see who we are.
South Korea isn’t the only place the game plays; we know it’s everywhere.
Does this situation seem inevitable?
A few days ago, while sitting in a park in Toronto with my phone in my hand and having a job meeting, I noticed five to six tents lying in front of me with people having fun, chatting, and drinking inside them. Homeless tents. Winter is just around the corner, and heavy snow will begin, and they will retreat to more hidden locations. Hopefully to a warm, “independent” place.
What are we doing? I asked myself.
In truth, what is the purpose of our existence?
Rather than working so hard for a property, to settle down, to own a home and then be trapped just to occupy that one plot, are we living for the sake of imprisoning our children in this system?
There is always an alternative. It is important to show solidarity to those who are ill, to lift up those who are suffering, to support our communities. Someone will come to us tomorrow and ask, “Do you wish to play with me?” We must be prepared to answer.
Our family, friends, or a state based on the concept of rights and freedoms should be of greater significance than the actions of the wildlife.
Solidarity is vital.
