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a_millenial t1_j5xo12g wrote

The fact that seemingly the whole world missed the point of Squid Game and just thinks "oh cool, fun games" makes me really uncomfortable.

Kids were dressing up in Squid Game costumes, Mr Beast and his whole thing, now this...

Maybe I just don't get it.

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Rosebunse t1_j5y6smo wrote

People like the costumes because they're easy to coordinate into a group.

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a_millenial t1_j5y9b30 wrote

Haha okay that makes sense. Still makes me squirm, but I get the convenience factor.

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whiskytamponflamenco t1_j5xruu5 wrote

Isn't the point of Squid Game that even good people would do anything for a life-changing amount of money? Take a regular person and put them in a desperate situation, and they will turn on their friends and family. Gi-hun might be the incorruptible hero trope (in the end), but the show isn't really about him, it's about the spectacle of the game and inviting viewers to decide what they'd do in every round.

Plenty of people found the fight for money and survival relatable (since it framed money and survival as the same thing). Don't know about S. Korea, but 65% of the US lives paycheck to paycheck and the average American is 90K in debt. Remember that in the show, all the players voted to leave the Game and then returned of their own free will -- and this was a massively relatable moment for the audience. It conveyed that the Game is inescapable and that we are all already playing it. The show also gave people permission to think about how brutal they'd get if put into this type of situation by making it seem like everyone else would be just as cutthroat.

The reality show is just a PG version of this dark fantasy.

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a_millenial t1_j5xwcn8 wrote

All solid points.

I guess for me my takeaway was a sort of moral shaming of the elites who prey on our desperation.

So to willingly participate in these recreations is like almost giving your approval to these people to exploit you.

But you're right in that even in the show, they chose to come back. I totally forgot that part. People willingly took part in their exploitation, just like real life.

I guess it's a case of art mirroring life, and it's uncomfortable for me to see it depicted so bluntly.

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bigbangbilly t1_j5zas0n wrote

Kinda reminds me of the time when Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle intending to highlight workers conditions at the time but instead lead to food safety legislations and angencies instead

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katievspredator t1_j5y2h9m wrote

Kids dress up as Darth Vader and Joker too. People have always liked "bad" things

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a_millenial t1_j5y9nhv wrote

True. I guess for me what makes a difference is Darth Vader and Joker are both purely fictional characters. It would be like me getting mad at people who like GTA and saying they're promoting drug dealing.

But Squid Game is too close to reality for me to comfortably engage with or make light of.

It's like Nosedive (I don't know if you watch Black Mirror.) If someone copy pasted the housing system in real life just cause they liked the pastel aesthetic. I'd be like... you missed the whole point of what the creators were trying to convey. Yeah, pastels are cute, but wtf dude.

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kalekayn t1_j5zy8h8 wrote

> It would be like me getting mad at people who like GTA and saying they're promoting drug dealing. > >

There are people out there who would argue such a thing I.E. Jack Thompson and people who think like him.

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yellowistherainbow t1_j5xokpf wrote

Yes this is just SAW, right? I liked it alot more than the SAW sequels tho.

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N_Who t1_j5zdahp wrote

Not quite. At least, not by my estimation.

SAW was (at least originally) about a self-righteous psychopath pushing people to face their own failings and prove they had the will to live, in order to encourage them to not waste their lives. There was, of course, the underlying motivations of said psychopath's own anger and judgement, but entertainment was not a motivation.

Squid Game was about a group of wealthy elite taking advantage of people in dire financial situations - situations created, either actively or passively, by the behavior of a culture that serves those wealthy elite - and killing them for entertainment. Those wealthy elite aren't psychopaths, they simply believe themselves above moral concerns and the people they set up to die.

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DeepEb t1_j5xparv wrote

We haven't seen the squid game sequels yet... I believe they're coming.

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Nervous-Dark-4559 t1_j5ygimg wrote

Not just that, everyone stopped talking about this the after children in North Korea where shot to death because....they brought this show home (after vacation) and showed to other classmates, and the supreme leader was not amused

On top of that, iirc families where send to work in mine (aka slaves for life)

techers and other employees from said school (who were completely unrelated..) where dismissed and send who knows where

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Neat_Tangelo5339 t1_j5zs4hn wrote

Honestly because we only saw on the show that having the money doesn’t solve everything and most of the time with similar things the camera stops recording when the prize is won

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blahbleh112233 t1_j5zzeql wrote

That's kinda normal for people to miss the point right? Remember when Rambo I was the story about how society mistreats veterans and war is hell and the subsequent movies are "haha, war is fun!".

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Zero_Griever t1_j60esus wrote

That's what concerns you, not the mass shootings? Not the political rights being stripped away such as Roe vs Wade?

This is a show, entertainment. That's all. There's plenty of fucked up.shit, like people who openly embrace the hate of Republicans in the United States.

I'm far more worried about the continual attacks on energy infrastructure.

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a_millenial t1_j62ixjg wrote

You keep worrying about that. I'll keep being concerned about this. The planet is big enough for both of us, thank goodness.

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