Squid Game has risen to become one of the world’s most coveted Netflix series, thanks to it’s solid writing, acting, and directing. It has captured the hearts of many through its heartcrushing scenes as well as plenty of meme bait. But like most media these days, Squid Game offers its own critique on modern society, as well as commentary on the ever confusing and complex concept that is human nature.
The philosophical debate that is “What is Human Nature?” is long and winding, but it can be summarized in 3 main arguments: 1. Humans are naturally selfish and evil, 2. Humans are naturally selfless and good, 3. Human nature begins as a blank slate, only to be shaped by its environment.
At first, the titular Squid Games seem to suggest that humans are naturally selfish. Throughout the games, we see multiple instances of humans using any means necessary in order to inch closer to the 40 million dollar prize money. This includes turning the kindness of others into naivete, tricking them into an unwilling pawn in your plan, as seen with the actions of Sang-woo during the marble game and the penultimate bridge level. The genocide of the blackout stage also serves to this point: Eliminating the lives of others without mercy in order to makes the odds easier in your favor. If there can only be one winner, there’s no point in forming a group, if not for the brief protection you will receive, until you are used once again to further someone else’s path, as seen with Deok-su’s aggressive, violent behavior. Even when the contestants are given the choice to stop the game, the majority of them decide to continue, in want of that cash prize.
It’s easy to thus assume that from these examples, humans are always selfish, pushing others aside to fulfill their greed.
But when you look at the mechanics of the game itself, inspecting the details, then you begin to realize that the squid games are a farce, trying to perpetuate a naive, simpleminded message.
With Squid Game, I’m really reminded of a somewhat similar anime series called Death Parade, in which, in order to determine who gets reincarnated and who goes to nothingness, gamemasters will pit their players in a 1v1 battle, with the loser being sent to eternal damnation. The purpose of these games is to apparently “bring out the darkest sides of these people, their true humanity to see who deserves their damnation.” But over the course of the series, this notion is challenged again and again, with the gamemasters having to confront the truth that they’re creating a scenario in which the “true humanity” being brought out is merely a survival instinct, based on the fear of death, rather than being an authentic reflection of that person that can be judged fairly. The system is based on the comparison of two people, saying who’s worse or who’s better rather than looking at them individually and making the decision based on that.
The Squid games, in essence, gather people from the furthest fringes of society, the ones in desperate need of money, lock them all together, and tell them that only one can win the ludicrous cash prize. If they decide to forfeit the games, forfeit the torment and horror, then the entire cash prize is lost. If they try to leave, then they will die. What I’m trying to say here is that the games give its players the illusion of free will, when there is really only one choice considering their situation. For its rich mask-wearing betters, the games are just games, ones where they can complain and laugh at the selfish little pigs. But for it’s players, they are given the choice of forfeit and return to poverty, dying a slow death, or, playing the game for the slim, but incredible chance for a way out; a chance at a normal life. Basically, it’s “play or die” for the players. And when you think of it that way, they really have no choice but to lie, use, claw their way to the top, don’t they? Is it really selfish when it’s a matter of need, not want?
And even when you realize that the game can only end one way, there are still players who refuse to fall into selfish territory. Gi-hun, Sae-byeok, and Ali, despite being in desperate need of the money to survive, all shy away from stepping over that moral line, because they know it would cause them pain. Even when Gi-hun takes advantage of Il-Nam’s “Amnesia”, or when Ji-Young dies during the marble game with Sae-byeok, neither character clearly wanted this to happen, greatly despaired by the death of their friends, even through to the end of the show, where Gi-hun honors Sae-Byeok’s last wish, and takes care of her brother. It’s as if to show that the games are trying to force it’s players into a scenario that not all will or even can conform to. Yes, the only way to survive the marble game is to let the other die, but it doesn’t mean you can just disregard the empathy you have for others, the connections that have been created up to this point.
Like Death Parade, Squid Game questions the idea of absolute black and white morality, by showing the light within the dark, and the dark within the light. That pitting the poor against each other in a battle for their lives is not adequate evidence to prove that all humans are selfish monsters. This is because the games force their formerly mundane players to become selfish monsters in order to have the highest chance of escaping the system they are trapped within. Such a strict, unfair game all but shows the inevitability of rebellion, refusing to bow down to the unseen rules of the game, through characters such as Gi-hun or Saebyeok. That it is the unfair nature of this rich-poor split society that forces us to these depths, while the rich look on as one does to an ape doing slapstick, amused, pitiful. But even within those depths, there are still moments of happiness and hope, even if it may be in small glimmers. But the comparisons to Parasite can be made another day.
The final moments in the show help us understand the motives and philosophy of it’s creator, and therefore how flawed it is. In the final episode, it is revealed that Il-nam, player 001, is the grandmaster behind the squid game, and he states he created the games because he was bored, that both the rich and the poor lead miserable boring, selfish lives. It seems as if through the squid game, Il-nam is trying to prove that human nature is very concrete, that both the “without” and “withs” are selfish. Because if there is ludicrous limited money, the poor will always fight over it. But of course, as explained before, the very mechanics of squid game forces its players into this philosophy, all but outright telling the players to abandon their humanity to survive, an order which some don’t even follow. Il-nam puts his theory to the final test through his bet with Gi-hun. Spotting a homeless man on the street below them, Il-nam thinks that because humans really only care about themselves, no one will help him, that pedestrians will walk by, caring only about their own issues. And for the most part, they do. Until one pedestrian walks by, and calls the police. The homeless man is given help, against all odds. In one fell swoop, this very event upends the entire nature of Squid Game, defeats its philosophical argument.
Human selfishness is not inherently natural, and even if it is, it does not consume our identity. It is merely a product of the competitive societal environment we are born in; and thus we can push past our self fulfilling expectations and be selfless. We’re not horrible people, not exactly. We are merely placed into situations and circumstances that may force our hand. But in the end, it’s our decision to make, whether to follow or reject the expectations placed onto us in that moment.
— Writer Panawee Sakulwannadee (Biew Biew) can be reached at psakulwannadee@gmail.com.
Follow her on Instagram biew_2808.
