Do you think Squid Games is just a cool drama or a chicken soup story for the soul?
No, this childlike episode actually hides a lot of obscure meanings.
Today, let's take a look at it once, "Squid Game", a work full of foreshadowing and symbolism.
It's hard to imagine such a good work as "The Squid Game", the writer and director finished the script in 2008, and it took ten years for someone to be willing to let him shoot.
So let me show you the deeper meaning behind some of the interesting scenes in Squid Games.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > foreshadowing one: 4 points hint that the culprit behind Squid Games is right next to you </h1>
First of all, the drama is actually laying out the biggest twist from the beginning, that is, the old man numbered No. 1 is the operator of the squid game owner.
Of course, the most obvious is his number 1. Also, when Old Man No. 1 was in the first, second, or third wooden man, he could still see that when everyone was being targeted by the machine, only he was not full of green light, but only a faint halo on the periphery.
Of course, he also happened to cast a decisive vote when voting. He casts to end the game, on the one hand, perhaps to give the player a chance
On the other hand, perhaps to reassure themselves, to tell themselves that I have let them see the cruelty of the game, and that they are really their choice to come back.
In the dormitory, it was also because he ascended to the height that the captain called down to stop.
The most overlooked hint is that the police peek at the file, and the file that opens the number one of the 2020 participant list is not among them.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > foreshadowing ii: The ending of the player of the Squid Game </h1>
However, this is not the only foreshadowing, the male protagonist Qixun initially clipped from the doll machine to the gift of his daughter, only to find that the box was a gun disguised as a box, which implied that the participants he would be involved in the game of death would be shot. Then throw the body in a large gift box into the incinerator and burn it.
The ending of the important characters
Speaking of death, more than half of the players in the second season chose to abandon the game after voting in the first level.
And the reintegration of several of these important characters hints at their last hope to die.
Ali of Pakistan and the bad guan boss had to accumulate a salary of half a year's salary, and finally were forced to snatch it away and escape. In the marble game, Shangyou's methods were not so direct, but they also snatched Ali's marbles.
Look at the underworld boss Dexiu, who everyone hates the most, who was chased by the money collector and jumped off the bridge to escape. Seeing that Shang You was going to commit suicide in the second season, but was disturbed by the doorbell, he finally committed suicide, giving the prize money to Qi Xun or committing suicide. Both times he was soaking wet in a suit.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" > the wonderful meaning of "Squid Game"</h1>
The reason why the show "Squid Game" is so wonderful is, of course, not simply because of the exciting and violent game.
The most successful thing about "Squid Games" is how it hits the nail on the head and how it contrasts with the distortions created by people falling into a desperate situation in order to survive in the simplest and seemingly innocent child's game. Definitely not a chicken soup for the soul that inspires or highlights hope.
As Bong Joon-ho said when he promoted "Parasite", this drama is "a story that has everything and has nothing".
In response to this theme, the irony of "Squid Game" is divided into two layers.
The first layer
Even if the game is so cruel and terrible, for these people who have nothing, they have no chance of survival in real society.
Halfway through the story, a doctor contestant works with the game's staff to pour in a multitude of cadaver organs in exchange for information on the next level. After being discovered, these cheaters were hung up to keep everyone on guard.
After all, the core principle of the game is fairness and justice.
But how many people in the real world really climb to the top on their own?
This is not to belittle anyone's achievements, to say that they are not smart, not working hard, and grasping the golden spoon that life gives them
But the greatest loss of capitalism is that success equals opportunity and effort to say that capitalists take the greatest risks in the beginning and should therefore enjoy the vast majority of returns.
On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this view, and it can even be said to be fair, but is it really the case?
From a somewhat distorted surface point of view, at least by playing this kind of child's game, participants can compete fairly with pure technology and wisdom.
Maybe that's why we're so obsessed with gaming, board games with friends, multiplayer games with strangers online, cheering at sports competitions, and enjoying the humiliations and entanglements that reality show attendees endure, just to win big prizes.
These games maintain the highest concept of equality, with rules that all players follow, the same starting point, the same toys, and the winners really rely on their own strength to climb to the top. After all, it is difficult to achieve in real life
The most brilliant thing about Squid Games is that it points out that all of us are in the game all the time.
Second floor
Ironically, even if the most level playing field is deliberately designed, the game is still not fair at all. The contestants are nothing more than ants under the capitalist game, transformed into internecine arena fighters.
These children's games have many unreasonable rules and advantages. In several games, it is to force these people to form small groups, to make certain teams play at a disadvantage from the beginning, and to let participants kill each other outside the game
The real world is like encountering some people who are squeezed into a shape that does not suit him at all, or like a tug-of-war game that is in the middle of an inferior group at the beginning and is powerless, and is pulled into the abyss.
However, you may think that you are sitting on the couch at home, but in fact the audience is more like the contestants of these squid games, and still do not realize that they are just a pawn.
Everyone is trapped in this system, like the system of the house in the parasite, which leads to the malice of people's greed.
The people at the bottom can only dance their teeth and claws, stomp on each other, and climb upwards, not caring who is being used as a stepping stone. The last effort was made to see a ray of sunlight flowing from the gap in the upper layer. Even if you are close to the top, you can never get rid of the anxiety of looking ahead.
Just as the last few people put on suits and could not get rid of their numbers, the people on the upper floor sat most comfortably on the throne made of people and watched the drama.
In the absence of a rationalization of everything, people can only put into vain hope, just like a line in the episode: the ultimate goal of all people's actions is to be happy.
But too often people put this happiness in the hands of others. Everyone thinks there's a chance to get that bonus, even if it's most likely a mirage.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="49" > What's so great about Squid Games? </h1>
What I admire most about Squid Games is that no one is portrayed as a full hero or villain except for the boss Anderson and the VIP.
The character that fascinates me the most is Shangyou, who is gradually plunging into the abyss. From the beginning, he was frustrated, but still tried to reach out to others. In the end, Jiang Xiao directly framed Ali and was dying with a blade.
It shows that he is the only one except for old man No. 1 who really sees through the rules of the game. Capitalism is such a cruel zero-sum game that if someone wins, someone has to lose.
He didn't enjoy the demise of others as well, but for those who had already experienced the fresh air of the upper class, this was the only ladder.
Squid Games is a live-action trial in Dune, only magnified several times.
In the middle of the dunes, the Virgin asks the protagonist to put her hand into a box and suffer intense pain, and as soon as the hand is pulled out, it will kill it.
Animals will survive when trapped in the scene, and real people will stay in traps and wait for the opportunity.
But I also think what the author is trying to convey is that this live-action test is completely upside down. The reason why people are human is because we can and must adapt to changes and refuse to sit still; knowing that it is not feasible, we are bent on taking risks with our lives and sacrificing a small piece of ourselves to seek a faint way of life.
Players who leave the game and come back are not ignorant, they would rather gamble their lives than stay in the pain box of the real world. Shang You's final decision to commit suicide highlights this point even more.
He did not do so out of empathy or respect for Qi Xun, but because he had no choice. He could not bring Qi Xun down and was reluctant to give up the game with him.
Because once he gives up the game, his mother will have no one to take care of her, and she will be crushed by debt; and she will not be able to justify the people he has killed along the way, and this final sacrifice is not actually a sacrifice, but the last blow made by a person to retain the last bit of dignity.
There is no touching brotherhood here, only a stench of guilt, in other words, reality, which is why the evaluation of the ending is so polarized.
In the end, the protagonist, Ki-hoon, abandons the precious opportunity to meet his daughter and decides to go back to face the top brass who hosted the game, and also dyed a bright red hair. It symbolizes that he, like the soldiers, has come to control. Or another Matrix meme, which can be said to go against the main theme of the entire series.
It's never a story of a showdown between rich and poor, but rather one percent of people watching others compete for wealth that is insignificant to them. However, the final picture is clearly intended to open the prelude to a war.
The reality is that no matter how you try, this deep-rooted system still stands and the game continues.
Although Qi Xun eventually won, and the nomads on the road were indeed helped, it was only a trivial victory.
Most of the time, people can only achieve such a trivial victory, and they can't finally start to resist like Qi Xun, but his turn to prepare for a counterattack can actually be said to be real cruelty.
And it can be said that the most important existence in his life, he also survived to the end because of his daughter, and now he finally has the opportunity to meet his decent daughter, but at the last moment, he turns around and becomes a hero, like the horse race at the beginning of the episode, once again sinking into this fantasy.
Isn't that what people are all about? The most important things in life are taken for granted, but they are always trying to create a brilliant legend.
Ignoring the story they already have, after all, people still have a child who plays games in their hearts, and they still continue to play, not only because they want to win, but just because they want to experience the feeling of being alive for a short time!