Squid Game, the show which gained overnight popularity, a parallel to real life

Money trapped in a cage to represent the elusive prize of the "Squid Game". Source: Wikimedia Commons

In less than a month, “Squid Game” has established itself as a contender for the biggest non-English show in Netflix history according to Ted Sarandos, co-CEO at Netflix. The show, not even written in English, has grabbed U.S. social media’s attention from tweets to TikToks. “Squid Game” features hundreds of desperate and debt-stricken participants who compete in a series of childish games with a deadly twist to win millions of dollars. Is it the compelling plot that has led to the show’s insane success? Does the show reflect aspects of modern society? 

This article does contain spoilers about “Squid Game”. As mentioned before, the plot of the show involves a bunch of severely indebted adults who agree to participate in what they assume to be games from their childhood for the promise of a large sum of money. But, after the first game, the players realize that losing the game doesn’t just mean losing the chance of money – it means losing your life. This causes the players to collectively decide to leave the game, though some eventually decide to come back. Before Player 456, the protagonist the show centers on, returns back to the game, he learns that his mother is sick and refusing treatment due to medical expenses. This in part motivates the player to return back to the game. He then spends the next days playing games ranging from Red Light, Green Light to Tug of War, all at the risk of death. However, after successfully surviving eight rounds after winning millions dollars and literally fighting for his life, Player 456 returns home to find his mother has died.

In other words, Player 456 was so distracted by winning the money to resolve his debt that he missed the chance to say goodbye to his own mother. This is a parallel to real life because people act similarly all the time, though the stakes are usually not as high. For example, teenagers can become very distracted by social media and making, for lack of better words, the “perfect post” or the “perfect photo” that they miss the chance to live in the moment. Like Player 456, even though the teenagers may have a mindset with good intentions, they still miss out on the chance to live in the moment, falling to the distractions of an elusive promise. Another example of this parallel is that students are too distracted by grades and miss the chance to enjoy learning, spending more time memorizing than understanding. Although our current school system may encourage this, it still holds true, and represents just some of the examples that show “Squid Game’s” parallels to real life.

It is clear that the plot of “Squid Game” closely mimics everyday life and that may be the reason behind the show’s success. These parallels allow for everyone to better relate to the show and that leads to more social media content. The flood of content on social media gives the show more attention as people are more inclined to watch. 

The plot of the show itself is highly captivating and if you have not already watched the show then I would highly encourage you to watch it.