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Depending on how the subplot develops, it could undermine some of the the series’ ambitions to depict the inescapable horror of capitalism. In the second episode, Squid Game offers a respite from the tightly-controlled horror of the arena in the form of a young cop searching for his brother, whom he believes to be a contestant in this secret game. Having only seen the first two episodes of the eight-part season, it’s impossible to draw definite conclusions about Squid Game‘s overall effectiveness. Squid Game keeps its harshest critiques on the people with the power. The story spends precious narrative time contextualizing the characters’ choice to opt in, and doesn’t really judge them for it, even when that choice means condemning others.
Happy game analysis full#
Unlike Hunger Games or Battle Royale, the competitors in this game choose it-first, without full knowledge of the stakes and, then, with their eyes wide open. Interestingly, Squid Game gives its characters a level of agency usually eschewed in the subgenre. While the game-makers do not value human life, it’s clear that that story itself does-a vital narrative distinction. This isn’t a story in which humanity is doomed because of its inherent greed or selfishness, though those traits can certainly come into play it is a reality where people do desperate things because they are in desperate situations, and the system preys on that vulnerability for profit and in disgusting demonstrations of power. Usually, people are driven by the love they have for their family-and we actually get to see that love depicted, as we spend time with these characters in their lives outside of the competition. Other times, someone reaches out a hand to help a stranger. Sometimes, characters make the cutthroat decision. It helps enormously that, while Squid Game is critical, it is not overly cynical. Yes, the game is horrific, but that horror is contextualized in reality it is only possible because the conditions outside of the arena allow it to, and Squid Game never misses an opportunity to make that point. Squid Game is firmly grounded in our real world, represented through various neighborhoods in Seoul, which serves to make it that much more horrifying and its point that much more articulate. These characters are not looking to feed their family and neighbors in Hunger Games‘ District 12 or finding themselves trapped in Doctor Who‘s Dalek-controlled Game Station.
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If watching people slaughtered in droves is a tough sell in our current world climate, that’s understandable-however, unlike lesser examples of this subgenre, Squid Game‘s violence has a sharply defined point, emphasized by writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s decision not to set this story in some near-future dystopia, but in the reality we all currently reside. The Best Korean Dramas on Netflix to Watch Right Now By Kayti Burt Later, we see the logistics of the aftermath, as the anonymous workers who man the facility burn the bodies of the losers, making no distinction between the dead and the dying. The contestants only recognize the true horror of the game when they begin a deadly game of Red Light, Green Light, played out in a bright sun under which the characters-and the viewers-have nowhere to hide. At least in its first two episodes, Squid Game isn’t afraid to follow its premise through to its inevitable, ruthless conclusions.
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Happy game analysis series#
Squid Game utilizes well-worn tropes, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with that-especially when the story template continues to hold such allegorical value and when the series expresses them so well. All have been carefully chosen by the game’s masked, seemingly unfeeling minder because they feel the chance at the prize money is worth more than their own lives. Others, like Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon)-a North Korean defector trying to help her parents escape to the south-need it to reunite their family. Some competitors, like central protagonist Ki-hoon (Lee Jung-jae), have fallen into debt, compounded by a gambling addiction and a loan shark looking to collect. In Netflix‘s new series, the arena is a massive, secret compound the competition is a series of children’s games and the people are 456 contestants who desperately need the ₩45.6billion ($39 million) prize money more than they need the illusion of safety the outside world periodically provides. Squid Game uses a premise we’ve all seen before: People are thrown into an artificial arena where they must fight for their lives. This Squid Game review is based on the first two episodes.