As soon as Mr Beast uploaded his version of squid games I knew a lot of people had grossly missed the point of the show, now this? This is a hilarious example of society becoming a satire of itself.
I don't think anyone missed anything. It's entertaining to watch, it made money for them. Win win.... not everything has to be correct, or have a message or be morally right. A network made a show, people liked it, network made money, we got entertained....
@@tuanoful Everything does have a message though, wether the creator put intention into this message or not. Nothing occurs in a vacuum, every action in society is contributing something to it, actions/events will always be interpreted.
@@tuanofulThere's a really good video by Dan Olson from Folding Ideas called Annihilation and Decoding Metaphor, it's a phenomenally good video about art and meaning. Art always has meaning and to deny it is to do a disservice to the creative minds that have put their heart and soul into building their message. I apologize for being rude, but the Squid Game is very blunt with it's fiercely anti-capitalistic message and the fact that you dismiss it so casually as "it's something fun that people like" and have multiple upvotes really illustrates the media literacy and anti-intellectualism problem we're facing today. It's one thing for a studio to miss the message, they simply don't care about it. But for someone to look at a story literally about a group of super wealthy people literally paying to watch people kill each other for entertainment, with some of them barely paying attention to the carnage they funded and claim there is no message is just being dumb.
@@heydude4193 How unnecessarily rude you are... are you happy now? I am talking about the game show, NOT the original movie script.... dont be rude to people
As a joke?! Let the TikTok-generation grow a little bit up being so numb to dangerous and hazzardous challenges and seing thousands of influencers and content creators die on live-stream the "Hunger Games" or "Squid Games" will soon be reality! I do not know when it will begin but I am dead serious - no pun intendet!
It's the paradox of criticizing the system: If your critique is not successful, nobody learns about it. If it is successful, capitalists take the critique, turn it into a line of products and sell it to you. We can't really win.
What's worse and mind boggling to me was that Mai was suddenly the villain in the group when she was the only one that had that balls to confront 278 about what happened, talking to others about 278 in the bridge game, and taking action against 278 in the next game of chance.
If you'd go to therapy, you'd learn that she's entitled to her reality, and everyone else is to be respectful and accepting of it. She believes she didn't break the agreement, therefore she didn't. Any suggestion that she did would deny her her reality and is therefore abusive.
@@nathanbrady8529 what? that guy jumped because she would not move when it was her turn to take her chance. if someone believes that 2+2=5 that doesn’t make it so.
@@elmerglue21 ep 6 was heavily inspired by the vietnam war, and the prequels show the republic to be a failing democracy rampant with corruption where people no longer trust the governing institutions
@@elmerglue21 Lucas himself said in the OT the Empire was based on the US during the Vietnam war, which is why it heavily featured the jungle guerrilla fighters, the Ewoks, as the good guys. You can look it up, it's pretty interesting. It wasn't until Disney took control that they specifically made the empire based off of the Nazis, because Disney is completely devoid of creativity, and their art is soulless with nothing at all to say.
278 really ends up being a perfect example of the gutting of social systems. especially pensions, those that benefit and move through it turn around when they are safe/no longer immediately benefiting and say well this isn't needed anymore
@Joe-sg9ll Highlighting 278's selfishness isn't racist, just because she's a black woman. She openly dismissed a plan that actually benefitted her when compared to how the original Squid Game characters handled the glass bridge game. In fact, she got off lucky compared to Doek-su, who attempted the same strategy in the original series, but it backfired on him. Although I do acknowledge that some subtle racial dynamics were present within the wider game, that wasn't the case with the glass bridge game.
@Joe-sg9ll So you're not going to at least try to address my counter argument, and choose to still dismiss the criticisms on player 278 as racist, even though they weren't? Have fun with that, buddy.
It's so funny (in the bleakest way) that the people with the checkbooks saw how popular this show was that called out how deeply insidious they are, and said "Hm. What if we do that, but _without_ killing people? That's not evil right?" To quote that Subway sandwich meme, My Brother in Christ you *_ARE_* killing people. You're just not taking them out right where they stand.
And to make it worse, it indirectly cheapened the stakes of the first season by making the horror of the deaths of the characters emotionally hypothetical. A nightmare we can conveniently forget because its just a mere gameshow, right? Now I am imagining Arnold Scharzeneggar hosting a reality tv version of the Running Man.
Squid Game: People's ability for empathy and solidarity is constrained by their material conditions. Squid Game The Challenge: People's ability for empathy and solidarity is constrained by their material conditions! :D
While many people watched it, sounds like most (including me) hated it. Curious how the viewership goes for ssn 2. Whole thing just felt forced, staged, and scripted. Not onenof the contestants talked about how excited they were to be on the show. First time the staff appeared, not one person cheered. Sections that were filmed over hours were edited to look like a 5 minute timer. Then the “deaths” when shot with the paintballs… don’t get me started. I’m a huge survivor fan and even so I couldn’t stand squid game the challenge. Yet, all that and I was counted as one of the viewers.
With Takeshi's Castle coming back, theres something ive noticed about it while watching, the contestants on that show arent competing against each other, they are acting as an army working together to attack Takeshi's Castle, and the atmosphere on that show is so much happier than any other show of a similar style. Everyone cheers on each other, people have fun even when they lose. Theres something special there, and i think the fact its not a competition between the participants has a big part to play in that.
Its so interesting how everyone had amnesia to Ashley not doing her part except Mai and they didnt want to turn on her and turned on Mai when she stood up to Ashley in the next game
Altruism exists in many non human species and the crutch of calling selfishness “animalistic” is routed in a narrow view of who has the capacity to care for others. This view and resulted in unimaginable suffering for other animals with the capacity for compassion
Being in a union really helps with the competitive nature of work. Its one of the reasons I love being in a union. You get promoted based on very specific things and you have to apply for a promotion instead of waiting for your manager to consider promoting you. I prefer this method because it doesn't incentivise us to throw each other under the bus, and incentivises us to work together. This is really important in my line of work (urban planning). Its very interesting also because there is a private sector of urban planning and you can see huge differences in the work environment between us in the public sector with a union and those in the private sector without one. The private sector has been experiencing a huge talent drain to the public sector for this reason, especially the intermediate levels of positions.edit - this is in Canada, I can't speak to the American urban planning job situation
I think it’s interesting that the original show the audience was the wealthy, while the reality show version the audience is presumably the middle class. When the wealthy exploit us for their entertainment it clear. When we exploit those under us for comfort there’s a disconnect. In our small privilege, it is easy to watch human misery on a screen and rejoice “I’m so glad it’s not me, and even if it was me, I’d be the one who wins” it’s reinforcement of American Exceptionalism and evident that more deconstruction of colonialism must be performed.
@@UltralinedI litterally protested season 2. In person. with other people. Pretty sure those protests are still ongoing. Welcome to the side where we care about humanity first and dollars second.
Idk I think they totally missed out by not allowing the viewers to gamble on who won, and instead of all the stupid ass interviews trying to make the contestants relatable THAT I SKIPPED BECAUSE THEY WERE SO CORNY, the could have used that air time to go over the standing and set up the new bets for the next round. THAT would have made for clever tv
While I agree with all your points - I'm not sure the "I'm glad it's not me, and if it was, I'd still win" has anything to do with Americans or colonialism specifically. That just sounds like basic human instincts to me. Of _course_ you'd be glad it wasn't you, and of _course_ you'd lie to yourself and imagine yourself winning if it was. Interestingly, studies have found that people generally want to stay alive. Even the most empathetic and saintly people will push others in front of a train if it means saving themselves. The fear of death is an insanely powerful motivator, which is why we're all still here.
Exactly! The plan literally benefited her (as a lower number) and she was still stupid enough to not go with it...If she was a higher number I can get why she'd e annoyed or hesitant, but bruh, the plan is made to give people like YOU a better chance! ) one 50/50 jump vs 10+ when you're inevitably first in line
That's interesting too because I think that's the one thing that DOES change the context of the show vs the reality-show which I think @wisecrack missed (respectfully). The original, fictional Squid Games wasn't being filmed (at least not on a global scale), where all of the contestants in the context of this show know they are 1. Going to make it out alive and 2. Going to be on T.V... If you want it to be true allegory for how people behave under capitalism, I think it would be truer if they didn't die AND it wasn't broadcasted, perhaps in more of a scientific research-like environment. The group of people deciding to work together may have been influenced by the potential public shaming they would have to endure. It could be some people decided that losing publicly would be better than winning shamefully, which you would likely, eventually, have to endure unless you are RIDICULOUSLY LUCKY. Cameras off though, let's see what happens. And you could argue many of our workplaces do have cameras, but many know how to avoid scrutiny and fly under the radar, and no one is "constantly" watching us in a Trueman show kind of way; it's just not the same as being on a reality T.V. show and how that would influence people.
@13:19 Man, I remember watching this episode. I hated that girl so much. And to add insult to injury, the Asian lady, Mai, ended up being the villain [to everyone's eyes] afterwards for attempting to give that dude justice and that girl some karma.
@@jenniferw7928She tried to get the girl eliminated in the next game despite the fact that everyone just agreed not to put anyone else at risk of elimination except for themselves (which is ironic in a way because that is exactly what the girl refused to do in the above clip). But anyway, it was a game of chance and it didn't go the way Mai hoped for.
People often take away the wrong message from dystopian media. Bladerunner is a great movie and I love me some Cyberpunk dystopian hell but when I look at where we're going with things like generative AI and automation I'm reminded: I don't want to live in that universe.
It’s important to remember that movies like blade runner or squid games are not necessarily glimpses into our possible future but representations of the modern world. 1984 was famously written about contemporary society in Britain in 1948 but people missed the message of that book and assumed it was about a possible future.
Currently dealing with an Ex-Employer who owes me not only 2 weeks pay in lieu of notice, but also 68 hours of pay. Then they actively tried to fight EI so I would go homeless before Christmas because they didn't want to get fined... also there is currently a Human Rights case open on them and the Union going after them. This all over me submitting my accommodation request they asked me to do.
Unfortunately, they only wanted you to submit that accomodation request as it was (I'm assuming?) required of them - but they definitely didn't want that request to cause them any effort.
I think turning squid game into an actual game is really interesting. It doesn’t miss the point anymore than Family Feud or Wheel of Fortune does. But with squid game, we get a great social experiment. The best was when folks would lose and say how much it sucked to lose because of a game of chance….but THAT’S the point. The entire thing was a game of chance. Ppl who progressed further thought they were playing better than others, but in reality, it was always a game of luck. Not speed, not skill, not strength, just luck.
Ding ding ding. It's also amazing that they blew past the fact that Squid Games really hit with an American audience, the most individualistic society in the western world 😂
This is a perfect example of how in King of the Nerds season 1, when one girl Celeste won in the final round verse Genevieve. Even though fairly Genevieve should have won the finals because she did the most, somehow Celeste, who did nothing, won because it came down to a vote from everyone who had already lost. Somehow, everyone forgot how hard Genevieve worked to get there and yet still gave Celeste the victory undeservingly.
This is why I don’t watch “Big Brother” or any show that gives the losers a chance to sway the ending. Whether is be the season Paul lost Big Brother to Nicole, or the season of the challenge Johnny Bananas decided to take the entire pool of money for himself in front of Sarah’s face-these shows have truly taught me the horror money has over people
The reference to school debt reminded me Michael paid $15K for improv classes. I'm starting to wonder if that investment is paying more dividends than his other classes and/or degrees. 🤔
@@Joe-sg9lla mindset people enter voluntarily? Can't you imagine a reality where people born before you and with way more power devised a system where you were a slave throughout your life in the hopes of somehow achieving that same status? Playing into that system is not a choice for you, you don't have a say
Debt actually pre-dates almost all forms of modern economies, even predating barter societies. It is more fundamental than capital, coinage, or barter. The book Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber is a fascinating read, and definitely a must-read if you are still under the misconception that debt is a modern invention.
How are most people so unable to grasp critiques of capitalism?? I thought it was relatively common knowledge that "money is the root of all evil" and that greed shapes the structure of society in unfavorable ways, but people see a show like Squid Game and all they think is "wow cool gameshow"?? What is wrong with people?!
Being poured propaganda since birth has made most of us see capitalism as the "natural state of things", as common sense and something as essential as the air we breathe. Couple that with the exhaustion prevalent among everyone, the worsening living conditions and the unavailability for time for thinking and reflecting plus the desperation of making a living and most people just can't even comprehend a capitalist critique, at best they could say: "yes, it sucks, but that's the way things are"...
Most people I've talked to don't like capitalism, but can't imagine or believe in anything besides it. they think it's the only way, the natural order, that anything else is impossible. many think it's part of human nature, because they've been told so, by capitalists. Also, I think many would rather not actually think about critiquing capitalism, because to do so they'd likely have to acknowledge their own role in it, that they too seek to capitalize.
@@septanine5936 On a shallow level, people are also fed the idea that socialism = communism = authoritarianism = China or whatever the boogeyman of the era is. Like capitalism sucks but it’s still better than anything else.
2:00 As someone who was hit by a car and permanently messed up but not too messed up, I can tell you it's not worth it. The amount of people I've lost over the years versus the amount I got didn't make up for it. Now I'm just broken alone and mostly broke anyway because I can't work XD
The winner of the whole thing, Mai I think her name was, was the only player after the bridge injustice occurred, that tried to get justice against the player that refused to play by the groups agreed upon rules, which resulted in the demise of a trustworthy player. But instead of being hailed as a hero for trying to eliminate a villain, Mai was persecuted herself as being untrustworthy, and people worked hard to eliminate her even though she was in the right. Your point about collective amnesia. Didn’t they all see that Mai just wanted justice? Nope, they all “forgot” what occurred, persecuted a just person, and defended the unjust perpetrator. Mai won the whole game in the end. Karma??? I think so. Can we discuss the concept of karma since that was basically the result of the show?
I'm sure the writer/creator, Hwang, already expected this to happen. The viewers got entertained, Netflix increased viewerships, critics had lots to say, and all of them knows Hwang's point...but never cared at the end.
My dad has had to fire people before and you can really tell when he does cause when he gets home he is totally and utterly drained. It’s noticeable that he is aware of the consequences of being fired, but he has no other choice. He has brought up the ethics of firing people several times at dinner cause it just crushes him to realize he has to do this to someone. It’s crushing to see that nobody wins here even if we’re tearing ourselves apart
Prime example that capitalism recuperates everything even the stuff that is supposed to oppose it. Reminds me a lot about mark fishers writing on Kurt Cobain, that no matter what he did , he was always commercialized, always exploited.
About the bridge scene: the odds are probably not 1/2 but just a function of which logics the producers want to reward or discourage. The sinister reality of this kind of programming is that the narrative and the appropriate logics are predetermined by production.
That's a good point. The floors don't break like in the show, they're controlled by someone... that person could've wrote down beforehand which plates are "fragile" and just gone with that, or not. We don't know.
Was 10/10 disappointed that they didn't actually execute the losers. Very sad. I mean, yeah watching desperate people become sad when they don't win the money is fun and all, but what about authenticity? Ready to see someone next season that needs to rebuild their lives after losing it all to Masterworks.
It reminds me of how soldiers have to be taught to dehumanise the enemy in order to reliably be able to kill them. I mean in game design there's the magic circle concept where the rules of real life are suspended and replaced by the rules of the game but that only really works in games where there aren't tangible consequences outside the game, like in Russian roulette.
Literally had some layoffs at our company yesterday, and my first thought was that it felt like we were in squid games. Because suddenly several of my co-workers were basically eliminated before an all-employee meeting letting us know.
I’m not surprised that the bridge strategy fell through the way it did. Anytime you ask a large group of individuals to sacrifice their individuality for someone else to benefit from the thing that they themselves are here for is asking for failure. If I lose, I don’t get a second chance at the game which means that my incentive to win Vastly increases, so why am I taking the L and going home just so that somebody who is all the way at the back of the line can benefit from all the sacrifices
The bridge plan still worked on some level. After that part shown in the video, everyone else resumed with the plan and skipped over 287, since they couldn't find a way to punish her without worsening their chances to win. As it turned out, a surprising number of contestants survived, compared to Squid Game itself. Of the 20 who entered, 12 of them won. In Squid Game itself, the 16 who entered reduced to 3 by the end.
This video, and if one is made on another RU-vid channel, is as close as I will get to watching the Squid Game Challenge. I can’t help but think about the rich guys rooting and betting on their favorites in the original when it comes to the thought of watching the reality version. But reality tv and competitions tend to make me uncomfortable anyway, something like a modern day carnival sideshows to gawk at.
SIR, YOU DO NOT NEED TO CALL ME OUT FOR WATCHING THIS AT WORK LIKE THAT I literally laughed out loud so hard a coworker asked me what I was doing so I had to make up a funny memory about my dog. That said, i can listen to whatever i want while I type up my documents...especially if i need to take a break from staring at my computer screen, to stare at my phone screen, and watch a video about you encouraging me to watch your videos while on the clock.
I'm really not wired for competition. I accidentally caused a 33% layoff in my place of employment. At the time I was just looking for ways to make our lives better at the office, creating and refining systems we worked with to prevent errors and speed up our production to match (and exceed, I guess) demand. When the layoff occurred it really baked my noodle. I got really depressed, especially as the office culture afterward was totally changed. It was like we went from being a team to being individuals, each hyper-focused on our own survival. I think only one other person in our office kept their integrity through the change. I'm glad I left when I did.
As someone who has had to fire someone, it always sucks. Even if you actually dislike the person it sucks to know that you are putting them out of a job. Had someone who just didn’t work when clocked in, had to term them because it was affecting everyone else. Still sucked.
As someone who got laid off from his dream art job before christmas after being given tons and TONS of overtime work that I had to make magic happen by working nights and weekends. I needa know for real, if my manager felt bad at all about that. Cause man I could never do it to someone else.
Don't you love it when a massive conglomerate or TV network adapts a popular story or idea in a way that completely misses the point of the original because that original point was anti-capitalism?
No, the upper class has never been afraid to humiliate the lower classes for their entertainment on top of the exploitation of that lower class for their enrichment. The lower classes of humanity doesn't really have much of a choice but humiliation in the face of starvation and homelessness when living in a capitalist society. The very first person exhibited in the video is a woman talking about absolving herself from the shackle of debt, that's wanting to get out of those shackles and into freedom. There are billions of her out there. And the anger in all of them is going to get harder to placate for the upper class every day that passes.
To be fair this was the most social commentary ive seen and i realize how unfair the circumstances are the debt ceiling climbs higher by the day even the government overspend and the rich continue to get richer
Excellent show an excellent perspective. I consistently take this approach every time I have to interact with somebody who is at work. They are a person they have a job they are doing things that are expected of them; and maybe just maybe they are prioritizing their work over the interaction they are having with me. So I must be patient, be understanding, be respectful, and continue to show them love as a person and not as an employee.
There’s literally no reason why this should exist, it goes against the creators vision and the series’ message . Knowing that the behind the scenes were worse than the torture on screen and as someone who hasn’t watched because i genuinely can’t stomach it I don’t understand why someone would.
In dantes inferno. The greed circle of hell is filled with people pushing heavy burdens of their own wealth in the shape of ball's around a hellscape. While competitively pushing and slamming it into others and shouting 'why do you hoard?'. Projections of jeolousy over and over for eternity
In the gameshow there are other forces influencing and constraining behavior that there wouldn't have been in the abstract. If the next person who she demanded overtake her instead pushed her onto the next panel, and the next if she survived etc, that would establish a form of justice system for those who break the agreements in the future. But that would also be assault captured on half a dozen cameras in front of a bunch of witnesses - not worth winning a gameshow competition, so they don't do it. People in an isolated situation left to form even the most bare bones 'government' for themselves would make different decisions.
7:01 Did he just encourage me to get fired? 😂 Also, that first interview is a built-in advertisement for future auditions, desperation is an effective marketing strategy.
When I have had to fire people, it was largely me being told that the person was being let go and that as their manager I was the one letting them know. That is not to remove me from the responsibility of that situation. In each case I was part of conversations and actions that lead up to and helped create the situation. At the same time though, the employees that repeatedly failed to show up to work, or would show up but lash out at the customers, each of them also helped shape the situation. Looking back, firing people is similar to breaking up with someone, and often happens when you realize that you and them have been working toward different ends and that those destinations for both sides have been getting in the way of each other.
I kinda took the whole thing as a: we SAY we care...we make a big song and dance about the show's themes and feel like we learned something at the final episode specially the final "game"...but we actually don't. We still tuned in, we still watched, and everybody that entered did so of their own accord just like the show. The wheel turns...and the sky is some shade of blue today.
Maybe nothing serious, but certainly adjacent, Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is a story about people who cannot endure the horror underlying their perfect society.
On the topic of people not remembering when something good happens, I just took a behavioral economics class and we talked about that in the idea of loss aversion aka Prospect Theory. Basically, we value losses as more important than an equally large gain. If someone asked you if you'd rather have a 50/50 chance of gaining $20 dollars or losing $10, OR a 50/50 chance to gain $5 or gain/lose nothing, we find that people are much more likely to take the latter. And people have done lots of studies similar to this in measuring loss aversion so it's definitely something you could add.
I've come to the realization that the people at the top, who are sitting on piles of money they don't know what to do with, genuinely believe the rest of us are sitting on piles of money we don't know what to do with.
Worked at a marketing agency, I was my manager's right hand, held NO official title, but everyone knew I was her go to, simply because I was there the longest. Her hiring process was to tell no one she was hiring, then out of the blue tell all the employees to "say hello to ur new co-worker!" So we'd all rush to get to know them, at the same time as train them and try to help them to accumulate to the office culture. We worked in a really fast paced environment, deadline heavy, large workload, plus having to be very friendly to our really mean clients. Within a month, none of them could catch on fast enough for her. And I shit you not, every time she would tell me I had to fire them. Right there, on the spot. I always felt SOO BAD. I cried 2 out of the 4 times she made me do it.
I think the game show was able to show the dehumanizing effect of competition based on money because they didn't kill anyone-there was ironically a better environment for the people to bond with each other esp. knowing they can live after the game and have to face any consequences caught on camera afterwards as well as continue friendships that were made.
We have debt in Europe 😂 But with the ability to pay off the debt, and regulations to make lending a bit less predatory. So if a person can’t pay off their debt…it isn’t the end of the world…they’ll create payment plans, affordable paths or just write it off (depending on the size of the debt). Also, in some european countries you can get government assistance to pay off some of your debt if you are unable. Social democracy and what not.
There was a video game called Disco Elysium. Here is a quote: "Capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself. Even those who would critique capital end up reinforcing it instead." This doubly ironic because the corporation that funded the game eventually forced out the creatives because they wouldn't participate in a a sequel.
Squid Game the Challenge is just like any other game shows on TV, just with the Squid Game Theme. Like playing a Star Wars version of Monopoly, same premise, different coat.
I often watch at work, even though we aren't on the same page most of the time, I appreciate the videos. Been waiting on an Atlanta Compromise video since the Get Out release, might disagree but I'd still appreciate it.