[Media Republic = Broadcast Review of In Sang-sang] 'Squid Game' is a metaphor that can be interpreted in a variety of ways, leaving a bitter aftertaste than bitter laughter. Each death game reminds me of a cruel fairy tale in that it is a childhood play that remains the purest memory, but this is only a superficial element.
The brutal violence of the game, in which someone has to die to survive, seems to denounce the evils of a personalized capitalist society. If you dig into this message, you are awakened to the fact that the game you enjoyed with your friends was actually the beginning of 'brutal socialization' infused with the survival logic to survive by trampling on others.
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The most noteworthy point in the Netflix original drama 'The Squid Game' is that the winners of the game fall into nihilism rather than enjoy the life they dreamed of with the prize money they obtained by voluntarily or unintentionally killing themselves. In the most heinous game of capitalism, the winners play a role in proving the 'defeat of capitalism', in which individual achievement, not the greatest beneficiary of capitalism, is the top priority.
Casting a double message of 'victory defeat', this drama deals with the corruption of capitalism and liberalism, which have been regarded as absolute logic.
The fact that 'Squid Game', born in Korea, the only divided country, is aired on 'Netflix', a global entertainment OTT in the United States, the center of capitalism in the 21st century, further emphasizes the ideological implications of this drama. Above all, if we aim at the now-here right now ahead of the 20th presidential election, which leads to an ideological debate, such an implication becomes even more meaningful.
The frontman and captain have the belief that all 456 players will be given the opportunity of 'complete equality'. The captain emphasizes, “Everyone is equal in this game,” and emphasizes that the death game board is the most perfect space where equality for all, the foundation of liberalism, is realized.
What follows is even more meaningful. He said, “I am giving the last chance to fight and win on an equal footing to those who have suffered from inequality and discrimination in the outside world,” suggesting that liberalism, which is dominated by capitalism, is not a product of equality but a product of thorough inequality.
“Although extremely heterogeneous in terms of a certain ideology that is innumerably combined with the social support base, the core that a period in which the nation is perceived as morally descending and declining is paving the way for the regeneration and renewal of a new post-liberal order. It is a species that draws its inner cohesion and drive from myth.”
Sociologist Jang Moon-seok, in his book Fascism, quoted the British historian Griffin's definition of fascism and explained that "fascism emerged from criticism and skepticism about the moral corruption of liberalism." This presents a perspective from which to view the 'squid game'.
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Even without mentioning fascism, the current society is beginning to question the ideology of a democratic society, which is believed to be absolute logic, as the firm trust in liberalism and capitalism is shaken.
'Squid Game' exposes the moral corruption of capitalism and liberalism with the subject of a game, a microcosm of capitalism's struggle for survival. It further suggests the ideology of 'perfect equality' and 'absolute equality', but in the end, like fascism, which opposes the error of democracy, it has the nuance of denying equality.
This reminds us of fascism, which denies human equality and affirms inequality as an ideal. In addition, the chief's belief, which draws out the brutal violence within humans and forces us to accept it as the universal validity of human beings, is linked to fascism, which is dogmatic and even fanatical.
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The sharp symbolism of the 'squid game' does not end here. Games designed for complete equality operate under a strict surveillance system. This is in line with the 'Panopticon' project proposed by utilitarian Jeremy Bentham under the pretext of re-educating criminals into workers suitable for industrial society.
In the French version of 'Panopticon', a summary submitted to the French National Assembly, Bentham said, "Why do you want to portray labor as a curse even though it is the father of wealth and the greatest wealth?" The Panopticon can contribute to the socialization of criminals through labor. emphasized.
Unlike the Panopticon, which injects the nobleness of labor for the resocialization of prisoners, the death game board denies the existing social system in which the participants were accustomed by drawing out the daily life of evil. Despite these different directions, it achieves the purpose of the daily life of evil by reproducing the perfect monitoring system of the Panopticon.
The Panopticon is a structure with a watch tower in the middle of a six-story circular prison. Each floor and the rooms on each floor face the watchtower, and every second floor is designed so that you can look down from the top. provokes fear.
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The ideal prison Panopticon, which Bentham firmly believed in, was literally just an 'ideal' plan. However, in the present society, CCTV and mobile have replaced the watch tower, and Bentham's ideal has been realized after 200 years of the perfect 'invisible surveillance system'.
'Squid Game' is a compressed reproduction of the 21st century version of Panopticon. In the center of the room, the beds are placed on top of each other, and a huge screen is hung close to the ceiling so that everyone in the room can be seen at a glance. This room structure, reminiscent of Big Brother's surveillance system in the novel '1984', is a structure that perfectly reproduces the Panopticon.
The transparent circular device installed in the cupboard contrasts with the prison structure where you can see the sky proposed by John Howard, who is also called the forerunner of the Panopticon. The prototype device of 'Squid Game' and the sky in the Howard Prison model function to stimulate the desires that cannot be satisfied in the participants and prisoners who are isolated from their daily life.
Especially in 'The Squid Game', whenever the losers appear, the money pouring into the circular device doesn't even give them time to mourn. The minimum food provided to them is also consistent with the restrictions emphasized by Jeremy Bentham in the Panopticon.
“The prisoner's food should be the cheapest and most mundane that the state can provide. Because prisoners and workers should not be treated better than the poor. There is no need to stimulate the appetite, so do not mix anything (stimulating seasoning, etc.) It is the workplace that stimulates the appetite.”
At least the food provided to the prisoners functions as a means to awaken the value of labor. Even in the 'Squid Game', at least the food provided to the game participants plays a role in enhancing the vitality necessary for the game to live.
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The green sweatshirt of 'Squid Game' also functions similar to the inmate costume of Panopticon. Bentham suggested that the clothing be designed with different sleeve lengths, saying, "The clothing should bear some marks of insult to serve its important purpose as an example."
The green tracksuit of the death game participants is a code that symbolizes perfect equality, and it is also a mark that distinguishes participants who are being watched from those who are being watched.
They are called by numbers engraved on their clothes, and they fall and roll on the dirt floor, and they are drenched in sweat, but they are deprived of a chance to change clothes and continue to play the game dirty. The full-course steak dish and tailcoat given to the last three people reveal the meaning of insults implied by food that is life-sustaining and soiled clothes.
Even so, 'Squid Game' does not present a rosy future in the sense that the world is livable. Skepticism about the ruling system, which everyone takes for granted, leads to catastrophic violence.
“Fascists have two faces, opportunists and nihilists,” said Jang Moon-seok. “The nihilism of fascism finds the possibility of total social transformation in war. Fascism has already praised war as a means of purifying a corrupt and shabby society from its inception. The ceremonial idea of cleaning dirty things with fire was unique to fascism,” he explained.
This suggests that seemingly helpless nihilism can actually lead to extreme violence.
As of October 13th, 'Squid Game' was watched by 111 million paid subscription households, setting a record for the first time in Netflix history to break through 100 million households. Can it be denied that there is a sense of harmony and emptiness in the current society within the public's sympathy with the 'squid game'?
Written by Lee Sang-in | cultural columnist
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