Recently finished the "Squid Game", not updated for two months, suddenly wanted to "write something". Looking at human society, the form of the law of the jungle has always changed, but the essence has never changed, man is a knife trick, I am a fish. From Lu Xun shouting "save the child", to today, adults no longer scream and consciously lie flat. Just like the turkey on the farm of "Three-Body Problem", in the process of waiting for the farmer to feed, the turkey will never know that it will not escape the fate of being slaughtered after all.
This figure is from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author
I see that many bloggers who analyze the show refer to the people involved in the game as "the lowest level of society", and I have a big objection to this. The correct understanding of the "social class" in which these people live is very important to understand the core of the play.
Analyze the typical characters in the play one by one:
1, before the divorce of the gambling male protagonist, he worked in the automobile factory all year round, belonging to the working class; after the financial man passed the college entrance examination, he belonged to the intellectuals, his height and appearance were dominant in the workplace competition and the marriage market, and the dress and work were middle class; the two lived in a certain neighborhood of the capital Seoul from childhood, the family had their own housing, there was no rent pressure, and their mothers had the ability to make a living for themselves, which was a typical "small citizen class". They are like the indigenous people in Beijing's hutongs and Shanghai's alleys, facing the vast majority of people living in rural areas, fifteen or sixteen tier cities, and they must have a sense of superiority and geographical advantages in social competition.
On the left is the financial counterattack man, and on the right is the gambling man
2, the mafia murderous men and North Korean stowaway pickpocket women, belong to the "special group" that directly undermines the fair competition in society, relying on violent means and criminal acts, in social competition, the efficiency of making money is much faster than ordinary people. Compared with them, those who are charged protection fees, who can only work for more than a dozen hours a day, and who take a pitiful few thousand yuan of wages, are the real weak and the bottom.
The underworld is murderous
North Korean stowaway pickpocket woman
3, Ali who works as a black worker, Han Meinu who works as a single mother, And Zhiying whose family is broken, these three people belong to the "marginal group", and the reason for the marginalization, most of them are caused by the active choice of behavior, in order to make more money from Pakistan to work in South Korea, the brainy but sexually indulgent Han Meinu, the father-killing Zhiying, compared to the conventional marginal people, such as the disabled who cannot participate in social labor and social competition, the mentally handicapped, etc., these three still do not belong to the "lowest level" of the marginal people. ”
Ali
Han Beauty
Zhiying
In the upward passage of social class, these people in the play are not at the bottom of society at all, but fully qualified for social competition, it seems that they can rely on their own intelligence, body shape, appearance, courage, etc., to live a life of food and clothing or even abundance, and finally the male protagonist is due to unemployment and gambling, financial male desire to inflate the position encroachment, the underworld man does not abide by morality and does not talk about martial virtue, and the original family of the two girls, and finally lost the qualification of "being born as a human", almost in the form of animals, participating in the so-called "fairness" of the setters. In fact, it is the "Squid Game" used by rich people for recreation.
The image is from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author
The word fairness has been mentioned since human beings began to try to establish a system of "democracy and freedom", as if as long as social fairness is achieved, many social problems will be solved. In order to give these real-life losers who are treated unfairly and have a chance to be reborn, the rules of the whole play are set entirely based on the sacred principle of "fairness". Six games simulate the competitive process of human society, and one can't help but wonder why this is still the case in the so-called fair society.
Game One: 123 Wooden Man (renounces personal will and first obeys absolutely)
This is the simplest game, just follow the rules of the game maker, the action can keep up with the large troops, and you can pass. Just like the exam to advance to school, abide by the student code of conduct, do not make a head bird, immerse themselves in hard reading, even if the average intellectual, there is a high probability that they can get the qualification to take the college entrance examination.
Game 2: Take a candy cookie (accept social injustice, learn to focus and be patient)
Choosing the shape of the candy is like filling in the college entrance examination, based on the limitations of their own cognition, the score is good but the wrong major is chosen, and the job opportunities obtained after graduation may not be as bad as the school, the same thing, than others to pay more hardship to achieve the purpose. The university is already a miniature society, Han Mei takes the candy with a lighter, the male protagonist finds another way to lick it with his mouth, and the game of candy that has been unfair from the selection stage is more and more unfair. The playing field is full of surveillance, and it is entirely possible to catch cheaters through replays, why not, because like the black history of many successful people, as long as it is successful, it has really become history.
Game 3: Tug-of-War (Try to warm up in groups and strive to unite strongly)
After graduating from college, participating in work will inevitably produce cooperation with others, find their own position in the team, and give full play to their personal strengths in order to become a "social person" who is not excluded and valuable. Before that, many people have been eliminated by society before entering the group due to their weak personal ability and lonely personality. In the fight with the lights off in the play, most of the survivors are small groups, except for a very small number of single but brain-making. All kinds of chambers of commerce, associations, organizations, and political parties are essentially to gather more resources through the way of hugging and heating up in order to gain an advantage in social competition.
Game 4: Marbles Betting (Abandoning Morality and Morality and Stepping on Others to the Throne)
The first thing that people can deceive and use is that the people who are closest to them and willing to believe in themselves around them, if they want to succeed in the social sense, they must be sweet enough and fierce enough, and the rules of the game are formulated to be necessary to win enough marbles to count, which is also forcing people to be cruel enough. When it comes to survival, if you can't break free from the constraints of morality and take morality into account, the result is naturally to sacrifice yourself for righteousness. Most of the successful people are very lonely, because the road to success is full of deceit, they have learned not to trust anyone anymore, and thus lost their humanity, the man in black who presided over the game chose to kill his brother as a policeman, the good-natured male protagonist, even if he was morally condemned in his heart, still chose to deceive the old man 001 who thought he had Alzheimer's disease. When it is innocuous, the financial man is willing to help Ali, who is a weak person, to give him the fare to go home (which is a virtue with the rich doing charity), but when it comes to core interests, he is still clever and arrogant in the face of the weak Ali, and Ali still chooses innocence and kindness after hesitation, and finally can only receive the lunch box.
Game 5: Crossing the Glass Bridge (Choice is greater than effort, luck is also strength)
In reality, many successful people are very superstitious, believing in feng shui, metaphysics, body- and mental healing, these agnostic things, the reason is that many of their successes rely on luck, catch up with the wind, and can pick up money with their eyes closed; on the other hand, many down-to-earth, conscientious people struggle to survive. Even if the glass workers in the play have spent decades to cultivate their real skills, the game scene has changed, the policy has changed, and they are quickly eliminated in the competition.
Game Six, Squid Game (Character determines destiny, faith triumphs over everything)
Everyone will have a question, when the male protagonist sleeps with the financial man, he thought about killing his neighbor Fa Xiao, why did he not kill the pickpocket woman who lost the ability to resist? Because he has always adhered to the universal value that human beings have formed together in the process of eating the weak and the strong - protecting the weak. Therefore, in the final squid game, when the financial man also became a weak person who had no ability to fight back, the male protagonist chose to give up the bonus and terminate the game. The so-called belief here refers to mindfulness, and only the belief in justice can produce infinite power. And it is this force that pushes human society forward in waves and twists and turns in the midst of bloody slaughter and brutal plunder, moving closer to fairness and justice, freedom and democracy.
The philosopher John Rawls, who was deeply influenced by Kant and Hume, said in The Theory of Justice that everyone is born equal, and that true social justice lies in not sacrificing anyone's rights. The game is over, and looking back, this seemingly fair game shows unfairness everywhere, and this game with the principle of "fairness" is essentially utilitarianism like today's society.
In voting, everyone exercises the right to vote, and the makers of the rules of the game, at the level of rules, make themselves equal to the vote, just like democratic elections in the United States, which are actually swayed by the consortium. The premise of the game is to first guarantee the participants' right to life, and the organizer of the game tacitly allows infighting to kill people and bully the weak, just like the Japanese government let the underworld forces exist legally. Walking the glass bridge, the fairest is 16 players and 16 glass bridges, each going their own way, and the order of the game's appearance is like some rich second-generation officials, and the starting point of people's birth is the end point that most of the struggles in their lives cannot reach.
The male protagonist could have lived a well-off life in a family of three, the sudden unemployment strike divorce, let him indulge in gambling, one two three wooden man game first to die of the two boys, but also died of betting, the underworld man died of many acts of injustice will kill himself, the financial man is too much hope, the mother's love and vanity make him desperate. The so-called "poor" not only refers to people who lack money, but also lacks a spirit and resilience, neither the ability to resist risks, nor the ability to resist setbacks, does not have the ability and virtue to control money, and suddenly has a large amount of cash, but will go to the abyss faster under the anti-phagocytic effect of money.
The seemingly random fate of the poor has long been predestined, because the personality is largely programmed in the genes, and few people can rewrite their own programs. The sebaceous alcohol mentioned in "The Nature of Poverty" naturally exists in the vast majority of people, who are difficult to control their behavior with reason, irritable, impulsive, impatient, impatient, eager to do things with instant gratification, and step up to the sky. Because of this series of personality traits, it is inevitable to embark on the road of crime, or engage in cheap and repetitive uncreative work, even after accidentally becoming rich, it is difficult to escape bankruptcy and return to poverty.
And the current science and technology of human beings has advanced to the point that some of the talents of newborns can be increased by modifying genes and even extending the life of the living, obviously, if this unethical technology is applied, the first to benefit are the rich.
The people who participate in the game are actually not the lowest level of society, but at this moment, we who are chasing the drama have normal intelligence, sound limbs, born in small families, and have certain personality defects. If you and your family are disease-free and disaster-free, and you can still live this life safely, once there is a seriously ill elderly person in the family, a congenitally defective child is born, and your career or work encounters difficulties, we will also fall into a debt crisis, mishandle, and will also be trapped in usury and difficult to get out.
In fact, on the wall of the dormitory, six games have been drawn on it, and everyone is attracted by the piggy bank overhead when the lights are turned on, always worried about safety and self-preservation when the lights are turned off, and in the absence of sleep and food, who can notice? This is very much like those migrant workers who are plagued by 996, who are tired to the point of just wanting to sleep as soon as they take a holiday, and have no time to seriously think about their lives.
At the end of the play, the male protagonist sees old man 001 again, lying on the bed dying, nostalgic for his childhood as a poor person. In the final bet between the two, on this warm Christmas Eve with bright lights and snow, it is not a kind individual who saves the homeless man on the side of the road, nor Santa Claus in the mythological story, nor Jesus, but the people's police. This also fully shows that only a sound and powerful social system is the safety net that the bottom of society can really rely on.
The poor have to face every day, on the one hand, the advertising bombardment of capitalists to accumulate wealth and consumerism, on the other hand, the real-time temptation of various loan advertisements and software, and in the process of watching short videos every day, they will brush up on all kinds of advertisements that lend you money diligently. If the policy of restricting interest rates can be introduced in time to make the lending platform unprofitable, I think many young people who cannot control their consumption behavior will not be trapped in a financial crisis and cannot extricate themselves.
I see that some netizens in China share that they owe credit cards, at most they are prosecuted and detained by the court, they are bombarded by text messages and telephones by borrowing online loans, and people who borrow usurious loans are blocked by people who are coded to chase debts, harass and paint, basically will not be beaten, under the formulation of relevant laws and regulations in our country, the people's right to life can be guaranteed. And when I watch Korean movies, a lot of debt collectors first beat people and intimidate people, and then force the other party to sign something like "Renunciation of Body Commitment" (such as Kim Ki-duk's movie "Holy Death"), which is obviously contrary to human consensus and the spirit of the law, I don't know if it is really recognized in the real Korean court.
Speaking of the poor, let's talk about the rich. These 456 lives will not be known even at the moment of disappearance, and all this is just a game for the rich, no different from betting on horses and hunting. And the male protagonist is leaving the game hall as a victor until he gives up boarding the plane to the United States, he will not know his every move, and he is monitored all the time. This society is like the pyramid of omniscient eyes printed on US dollar bills, we may know who is directly oppressing us, but we do not know what it will be like to be oppressed and monitored by people who are separated by many classes.
These six chaebol VIPs carry masks of the strong men of the forest, lions, bison, leopards, eagles, bears and dragons, and the ones who serve as coffee table backrests are beautiful women of various countries. The guy leopard man takes away the little policeman's room, and the wall is painted with deeply sexually suggestive illustrations, which also shows that the sexual behavior of the rich is unrestrained and restricted, as long as there is money, everywhere is a place of sexual desire. And is their huge wealth counterattacked by Di Si? Obviously not, the upstart is unable to grasp the sentences of Shakespeare, William Congreve and Du Fu.
The chaebols who occupy an absolute advantage, their descendants only sit on the existing resources, do not have to go out to compete and hunt, they have been eating and drinking for generations, and in order to maintain stability, they have given the poor a little possibility of rising, and the poor after the counterattack still have less than one-thousandth of their resources and wealth, so if there is a second season, the male protagonist cannot do anything by relying on his own bonus of one or two hundred million, and what he can rely on is the law that human society has jointly formulated based on universal values.
As a writer, I have been out of social competition for two years, and many ordinary people should take it for granted, and the subtleties that flash by are fleeting, because I am delicate in my mind, and I can always keenly perceive and think about the deep meaning behind it. Supermarkets and community group buying make it easier and cheaper to buy eggs, but in Dali, I will go to the Beimen Vegetable Market every time, walk around the whole circle, and finally choose to buy them at the hands of the oldest grandmothers who have no stalls.
Bai Grandma
Usually I also sell some fruits produced in Yunnan to maintain a basic livelihood, based on the concept of nature, we give up "seize the market, go to market in advance", only wait until the fruit grows naturally before picking and shipping, in the fruit planting process, will also strive to improve the soil, forming a virtuous circle, said to be in order to let future generations of children and grandchildren have better melons and fruits to eat, and the real result is for the descendants of rich people. Because we have a pomegranate and a pear, the unit price will sell for more than a dozen dollars.
Orchard pickers
This summer, I sold a season of matsutake mushrooms in Tibetan areas, went to the countryside to collect matsutake mushrooms, and learned that the Tibetans who picked matsutake mushrooms themselves were simply reluctant to eat matsutake mushrooms, even if they were torn, they were reluctant to sell them, and they had to keep selling money a little bit. On the other hand, in the process of purchasing matsutake mushrooms, I was often deceived by the Tibetans into all kinds of pits, sitting on the ground and starting from the price, and I felt that they were so untrustworthy and poor and poor. I had no intention of participating in social competition, and I had to get involved in this game, and I hoped that my behavior choice would be able to practice the universal values of mankind, and in the end, it would inevitably become a stepping stone for the poor to get poorer and richer to richer.
From a cinematic point of view, "Squid Games" is not completely refreshing innovation in form and theme, and those who watch the movie can think of "Listen to the Words of the Gods", "Battle Royale", "Gambling Apocalypse", "The Hunger Games", "Hunting", "Snow Train" and other movies.
From the perspective of thought, I still hope that this kind of film that can open up the wisdom of the people, expose reality, and be easy to understand can be made a little more, in this era of great change, the poor can give up their illusions early, recognize the reality, then through the institutional level to achieve common prosperity, may be able to come faster.