![]() ![]() Squid Game comes in the wake of a number of movies and TV shows that use potent, gripping metaphors to dissect capitalism, like the train in Snowpiercer or the upstairs/downstairs dynamics of the house in Parasite, both directed by Bong Joon-ho, to the up and down spaces of Rian Johnsons’ Knives Out or Jordan Peele’s Us, to the work-as-slavery plot in Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, not to mention the death game blockbuster that dominated the 2010s, The Hunger Games.Įvidently, it’s in vogue-and highly lucrative-to produce entertainment criticizing the wealth inequality and unfairness of today’s culture. In this plot about forcing the financially desperate to gamble their lives for a shot at riches, Squid Game literalizes the traps that capitalism sets to keep citizens obeying its cutthroat rules, even as they’re deprived of security, respect, and their own bodies. The series follows Seong Gi-Hun, a deeply indebted gambler who’s so hard up for money he agrees to play a series of deadly children’s games for a prize of 45.6 Billion Won, or about 38.3 million US dollars. Korean thriller Squid Game is a massive overnight hit, Netflix’s biggest show of all time, but why? On top of its game-play, gore, and gripping can’t-look-away “death game” plot, it’s also a critique of capitalism and inequality-and fiction in this particular subgenre is in. But like most big-budget media properties that try to critique the systems they exist in, Squid Game ends with a fundamental ambivalence-one that flinches from its own critique at the last minute with a “fantasy” ending that undercuts its own key message. Popular examples include the upstairs/downstairs dynamics of Bong Joon-Ho’s Snowpiercer and Parasite, the work-as-slavery plot in Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, and the death game blockbuster The Hunger Games. Korean thriller Squid Game is a massive overnight hit, potentially Netflix’s biggest show of all time! Squid Game comes in the wake of a number of movies and TV shows that use potent, gripping metaphors to dissect capitalism.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |