Is Squid Game possible, and would you play?

Squid Game is one of those stories that sticks with you. It is hard to watch the series and not have little flashbacks of moments or emotions from the show. What stood out to you?

The main element that stands out to me is the giant piggy bank hanging over the players.

For some reason the story feels so familiar. Despite being set in Korea (a place I’ve never been), its dirty city feels like many other metropolitan settings I’ve been in; likewise, the struggles and conflicts of the people are familiar to a Western viewer as well.

The main character Seong Gi-hun struggles with unemployment and crushing debt; his mother is destitute and uninsured, which means she cannot receive the medical care she needs to survive; Gi-hun is estranged from his daughter due to divorce and his financial failures.

As an American, I can personally relate to all three of these struggles, and I would bet that you are not more than two degrees removed from at least one of these challenges yourself.

The context of the characters in Squid Game is a globally relatable story, at least among developed countries. It transcends distinctions between East and West. In short, it is a story of the corruption of human values by the influence of capitalism.

Ask yourself: Would you participate in a competition like that of Squid Game if you received an invitation?

If your answer is not immediately “Hell no!” we need to have a serious conversation about how you derive meaning and significance in life. No judgment. I hesitated to answer that question myself.

I think we can all appreciate the allure of a great sum of money like what is offered to the players of “the games” in the show. Money has an almost magical attribute in that it can become almost anything. Because of that ability, there is this belief that enough money can solve anything. We know deep down, however, that that is not true.

Regardless, it is this same fallacy about money that motivates the players of “Squid Game.” For each of them, the massive sum of money in the pendulous piggy bank represents not only the fulfillment of all of their desires into the future but also the absolution of their shortcomings in the past. We root for them in part because we share this belief with them.

For this reason, the glorious glass piggy bank is a tragic symbol. As viewers, we want the happy ending the players see for themselves through the money, but we know realistically that it cannot provide what they seek.

No amount of money can reunite Gi-hun with his wife and repair his relationship with his daughter. No sum can heal his mother’s illness.

I would argue that all of us are striving toward some version of the giant piggy bank in our lives. It is up to us to decide for ourselves what we fill that piggy bank with. I would advise against filling it with 45.6 billion Won (or any other amount of currency), though many people will. For many of us, myself included, we can appreciate the fact that the wealth we see for ourselves in the piggy bank will take time and hard work to earn. Many of us also have the means of filling that piggy bank for ourselves, fulfilling our loftiest ambitions.

If you feel similarly, that is our privilege — to have dreams and the means of achieving them. Because of this privilege, we cannot relate to the utter desperation and helplessness felt by the players in “Squid Game.” It is our privilege that we will never have to risk what they felt they needed to risk in order to live safely and comfortably.

When you appreciate the dire and utterly helpless situations of the players in the show, their individual decisions to join “the games” looks more reasonable… Why?

Because while we acknowledge the allure of money, we also understand that nothing is free, that everything comes at a cost.

How do we feel about the sacrifices the players in “Squid Game” are willing to make for money? We love it. We eat it up. We are excited by it. In our competitive, capitalist society, we celebrate those who boldly take huge risks for great gain. We secretly dream of doing so ourselves, and receiving the acclaim of the world.

How do we feel when they face the consequences of their decisions, when they die in the pursuit of money? Callous indifference. It is somehow easy to find reasons not to pity them. “Well, it was their choice” or “They shouldn’t have taken on so much debt” or “They signed the contract, so they had to play.” The fault for their failure is on them, not the society that left them so vulnerable in the first place.

Comments like these may sound familiar. In our capitalist society, this is how the have-nots are sometimes regarded: “They had their chance, and they lost.” You can hear the echoes of this thinking in conversations about the issues of homelessness, immigration, inaccessible healthcare, etc. — all of the most shameful failures of capitalist ideology.

“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members” — Mahatma Gandhi

In a capitalist society that maintains the belief that money is the solution to any problem, any sacrifice made for money is justified. Money justifies any behavior that begets more money, even if it comes at the cost of health, relationships, or even human life.

Be careful with this belief. It is the reason you may have hesitated when asking yourself whether or not you would play “the games.” The majesty of money distorts the real human cost to acquire it.

Likewise, pay attention to how money is used to justify all sorts of costly behaviors, whether it be by governments, businesses or individuals. Enrichment through profit continues to justify things like the pollution of our environment and the lack of social support services like healthcare and addiction rehab.

At an individual level, we may justify sacrificing our health, relationships or well being in the pursuit of money. We may believe, like the players of “Squid Game,” that healing or resolution can come after the money has been won. Consider the real cost of deferring such things with real human and quality of life value.

To be clear, I am not advocating for anything other than capitalism. Like many people have said of it before, it is the best system we have for maintaining peace and civil society. However, that is not a good enough reason to excuse its shortcomings.

In order to fix the shortcomings of capitalism, I believe we need to discover a new paradigm of success, one that prioritizes individual and collective well being.

This is the project of Zeneration Wealth: Empowering the next generation with new ideas of financial wealth and well being. As a community, we are creating a new paradigm of success.

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