During the pandemic, American billionaires added US$2.1 trillion to their hoard. Many people were questioning capitalism before Squid Game debuted in September.Įven before the COVID-19 pandemic, just over 2,000 billionaires controlled the same amount of wealth as the 4.6 billion people who constitute 60 per cent of our global population. Squid Game alludes to the actual violence of South Korean labour history, as well as the need to overcome real inequalities of income and living conditions, in South Korea and globally. Squid Game addresses this problem in an escapist, dystopian tale, suggesting the extreme lengths people might go to in order to rid themselves of debt.Īs one of us argues in research about neoliberalism, escapism and seeking utopia, the tension between the traumatic experience of work and the need to survive prompts escapism, precisely because escape from wage labour is impossible for most people. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Survival heroes critique reddit