Squid Game Gore & Gallantry A Mixed Bag Of Popcorn

Netflix’s popular “Squid Game” may be what the WSJ calls a “dystopian” take on a society bereft of reason let alone justice; it may also be a violent rip off of “Hunger Games.” Yet, put the kids to bed & break out the popcorn …

According to the newspaper, in fact, “the South Korean survival drama that for a decade was dismissed as grotesque & unrealistic is on track to become Netflix’s most-watched show. The “launch” episode shows desperate folks with nothing to lose being mowed down without mercy by masked men during a robot-led game of “Red Light, Green Light;” but, then, I had also just watched an episode of Chicago Fire where a mom was running through her burning house as a human torch … I think, we’ve all been aestheticized to such gore.

What may be drawing the viewers in to Squid Game as well as the “action” is the human misery portrayed in a capitalistic Korean society that fails miserably for some individuals, yet often because of the individuals’ own human frailties, whether it be sloth, foolish addictions or just plain stupidity. The creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk came up with the idea 10 yrs ago when he saw the world’s growing disparity between “rich and poor.” Commentators have already begun to try & figure out the underlying premise(s). Perhaps posed (I haven’t decided yet) is whether the Squid Game “hosts” are any better in providing “hope” in Hwang’s deteriorating world by offering millions to those participants “surviving” the trumped up all or nothing game. And, who exactly are these creepy hosts? Part of an autocratic government (like a communist North Korea) or a gallant “Deep State” alternative (in the form of a less obvious military-industrial complex)? Is it/they any better or much worse in addressing “the bankrupt society problem”? Stay tuned.

Davd Soul