Squid Game is Wrong About Capitalism
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- Опубліковано 17 лис 2021
- Netflix’s smash hit “Squid Game” quickly became the platform’s most watched show of all time, but for good reason?
Many admirers praised the show for its anti-capitalism smackdown. However, it’s not the scathing critique many think it is… Ultimately, “Squid Game” demonstrates that poor economic circumstances can be a result of individual choice, not systematic failure. In essence, the show is about characters who choose not to take responsibility for their actions, and end up as victims of their own greed. We break it down on this short edition of Out of Frame.
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CREDITS:
Written by Sean W. Malone & Jen Maffessanti
Produced by Sean W. Malone
Edited by Michael Ozias
Asst. Edited by Jason Reinhardt
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LINKS:
-- Understanding Capitalism --
www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/...
www.investopedia.com/terms/c/...
www.investopedia.com/articles...
www.investopedia.com/ask/answ...
www.scu.edu/government-ethics...
www.cato.org/policy-report/ju...
www.contractingbusiness.com/r...
austrian-institute.org/en/sub...
www.heritage.org/conservatism...
-- Squid Game Popularity --
www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...
usatribunemedia.com/news/tech...
-- Squid Game & Capitalism --
www.msn.com/en-us/money/other...
voxatl.org/squid-game-is-a-le...
www.jacobinmag.com/2021/10/sq...
www.newuniversity.org/2021/10...
www.denofgeek.com/tv/squid-ga...
www.theguardian.com/commentis...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/...
www.youthareawesome.com/squid...
www.msn.com/en-us/news/techno...
-- North Korea & South Korea Wealth Disparity --
www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/b...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
preview.redd.it/vpk7hputd7231...
english.hani.co.kr/arti/engli...
www.nknews.org/2020/12/north-...
www.statista.com/statistics/7...
-- Perils of Over-Regulation --
www.uschamber.com/small-busin...
www.cato.org/policy-analysis/...
No idea how people could blame muh death game on capitalism when we already had the colosseum thousands of years before the concept of industrialism even existed.
The powerful will always want to watch a deathmatch,regardless of whether you are in a capitalistic society,a socialist one or a slave-holding one.
I think the vips isn’t a representation of capitalism or the elites, it’s a representation of us the viewer who are watching the show the same way as they are
Are people forgetting about Gladiatory arena's and how quite oftentimes people would watch convicts be thrown into a fight to the death against skilled gladiators and butchered?
@@tomvanoostendorp5891 But what if I _didn't_ watch? Does that make me a good person?
What's precisely so insidious about the modern death game is that it gaslights the people into believing that this is the only way a society can be run. So in the end they perpetuate the system for the false hope of soon having their turn to be the one in the powerful position to "screw" the people.
@@Michelle_Wellbeck Shake up the pyramid and you end up with someone else on top. Even if it's a cube which can easily be moved about without much pain or suffering, there will be those who slowly chisel at it until it's a pyramid, and they're the ones on top
to me. Squid game was just a show exploring human nature with the money only being the circumstantial motivation
To which I would ask you, was it an accurate depiction of human nature? And if so, why is it only fiction and not history?
@@gorkyd7912 people have killed each other over food sources for years.
@@gorkyd7912 an accurate depiction of the worst of human nature, yes
XDDD how friggin convenient
I agree. I think the creator of this video missed that the main character and other characters were meant to be flawed. That's the whole point. The wealthy businessmen who bet on the game were counting on them to turn against each other which is why they picked specifically people who were ethically bankrupt. But the end message wasn't nihilistic. It was the main character chose to not sink to the level they wanted him to.
*_I took the themes of 'Squid Game' to be self-accountability and the dangers of greed. It's popular to say that money is the root of ALL evil but I always believed it is the overindulgence of self-interest (greed) that is the root of all corruption/evil. The more the Won (money) poured into that piggy bank, the less other human lives, decency, and moral values mattered in comparison. The contestants didn't even ask where the money from the games came from? Or why the shadowy organization had easy access to detailed personal information about the people they recruited? These contestants were willingly or willfully blind to the legitimacy of the games. The moral identities of the contestants outside the games were frighteningly easy to cast off in favor of an assigned number on their uniforms. The contestants that survived & returned to the death games with familiarity & clear insight as into what context being "eliminated from the game" truly meant, volunteered to be cutthroat monsters for personal gain and others' entertainment. They allowed the value of their very lives to be summed up as a few stacks of paper dropped in a plastic pig-shaped container. Their "hardships and sacrifices" were self-inflicted. Their better judgment was rationalized away by greed for most and the fear of being powerless to avoid the consequences of having been who they were in the outside world for some. A few of the main characters arguably had a noble cause, I will admit. But, they didn't consider what would happen if they never returned from the death games. What would happen to their loved ones in the aftermath of their "elimination"? How would their "mysterious dissappearance" negatively affect their children? Their spouse? Their parents? Their siblings? Their friends? Once again, SELFISH to the end. They lived irresponsibly and end up where they ended up. They were not victims of circumstance in this case. It is self-deception (and a lack of self-criticism) that blinds us to the accompanying high risks of our petty, short-sighted decisions that involve "easy money" We wander into the jaws of wickedness as if we're entranced by its siren song. Compelled by desperation and honeyed words to walk an eager death march on the narrow path lined with thorns to self-destruction. A shaky, razor-thin tightrope, blurring in and out our vision, over a maddening abyss of hypocrisy with the slimmest chance of coming back from whence you came in one piece. Unknowingly, hurling ourselves into an even deeper pit of despair. Offering ourselves up as easy, willing prey_* .
Indeed the actual quote (from the Bible) is "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil"
Its* siren song
Yep, thing is everyone over looks, at any time the contestants could have opted out and the money would have gone to the families of the dead. These people chose to risk their lives, and most chose to murder in an episode. The people running the game really did nothing then set things up, the contestants made each other so everything. Just like getting in their situations were the choices of the contestants.
Fascinating analysis. One of the few long UA-cam comments I enjoyed reading.
@@gigahorse1475 Thanks. Had fun analyzing it.
I love how people complain about debt slavery when they literally push for the institution that wants more debt, the fed.
It's their stated goal to discourage savings & encourage speculative borrowing with inflated funds.
The show repeatedly emphasizes how each character's choices were of singular importance in... almost every episode, and that struck me as the central theme of the show, as well as what ended up on trial during the final showdown.
The childhood friend/antagonist is criticized at the end for consistently choosing money over human life, and criticized at the beginning for being crooked with his ambitions. He's never criticized for having had money at one point, nor for making it to begin with, in fact he's regularly lauded with praise for his achievements. We even see his initial scene with Ali in which he feels relatively safe, and so chooses to give away his food and cab fare.
So to me it's evident that the show wanted to talk about morality and choice, not capitalism.
But, whenever entertainment is released you can bet someone is going to imagine how it criticizes capitalism. And now we have a video defending capitalism when it wasn't really being attacked.
Looks like someone didn't watch till the end of the video.
@@goblin8557 I went back and re-watched just in case I missed the Marvel easter-egg, or... you know, in case I just wasn't paying good enough attention.
Do you mean to say that the blurb near the end where he said what he thought Squid Game was really about, suggests that he actually *liked* Squid Game, and would return for the sequels because of the way it handled [Capitalism, commerce, money-issues, etc.] and "unsympathetic" characters?
Because that was the bit I was addressing.
Pretty sure director said that its about capatalism
@@0912sooli yep that's right. If i am not wrong, he said that it is a critique of capitalism. This show was inherently political in nature, at least from the point of view of people who were behind this web series.
@@0912sooli then the director clearly doesn't understand capitalism, but seems to think he does
Honestly, I wonder if this is more of a localized problem with South Korea's implementation of capitalism than capitalism itself, and "capitalism r teh baaaad" is an ignorant Western reading.
Gundam has the same sort of problem of being misinterpreted by westerners. While it appears to champion the "war sucks and has cooties and you should never ever fight for any reason" message, the _actual_ message from the series itself is that war is ugly, violent, unpleasant, and inglorious... and yet must sometimes be fought regardless when _somebody else_ starts a fight, which is 100% true. It does NOT say that you should never fight back (at least not in the Universal Century). It's worth pointing out that Yoshiyuki Tomino's intended audience is a Japanese audience. Unlike the US, Japan _does_ have a robust record of ugly and sadistic war crimes, far outstripping all but the worst dictatorships, and easily on par with their fellow ex-Axis allies. Such "anti-war" messages to _them_ are a way of rejecting the actions of their aggressive Imperial Japanese predecessors. Gundam acknowledges Japanese culpability, rather than whining about kindly Imperial Japan minding its own business and getting nuked out of nowhere for no justifiable reason whatsoever... Kojima. The US doesn't even have a _remotely_ comparable history (yes, including slavery), and so to read that message onto America is neither fair nor intended.
(And no, 00 doesn't count. While Celestial Being were essentially literal world police in the style of War-on-Terror America, the series ultimately sided _with_ them, or at least suggested that their peacekeeping role had reasonable applications after dispensing with the evil psychic clairvoyant cyborg boy band that was bossing them around... yeah, 00 is weird, even for Gundam...)
Point being, it's _the other side of the planet_ for crying out loud. Not every story needs to fit into an easily digestible box for Westerners, no matter what your take. (Hunger Games, though? That's American made. They writer should know better. Go nuts.) Besides, I thought that Gi-hun being a gambling-addicted ass _was_ the intended message. Maybe South Korea has a larger gambling problem that goes undiscussed in the West ("not our circus..." and all), but is ubiquitous to them. After all, most "death game" stories have Asian heritage, from Yugioh to Saw. In fact, you could probably blame Kazuki Takahashi (a game nerd and westaboo) for a least the modern popularization of the concept.
Wait, where's the part where Kojima whined about kindly Imperial Japan getting nuked out of nowhere?
@@lopusmaximus3272 Most Metal Gear Solid games revolve around the eponymous superweapons, easily read as nuke analogues, and the message usually boils down to the mere existence of weapons with that kind of destructive power is fundamentally immoral. (And the main reason for that caveat is that more recent Metal Gear games have the message of "wow, making a lot of money while not exerting a ton of effort on making a half-decent video game sure is a great deal".) Resident Evil, another Japanese property, loves playing with this trope as well, hence why world peace and nominal stability is routinely threatened by each game's eponymous (in its Japanese title) biohazard. RE6 even deploys a virus by means of a nuclear warhead at one point (...somehow), just in case you're slow on the uptake.
But MGS isn't the only time that Kojima feels entitled to weigh in on a culture he knows nothing about, as proven by Death Stranding. Kojima has such a third-grade-level understanding of geopolitics, and yet he never shuts up about it, and that unfortunate combination is probably what sets him apart as a special kind of insufferable to many. Resident Evil can usually skate by on the parody excuse (whether valid or not), but Kojima insists that he's trying to be serious and make legit points.
@@draketheduelist "Most Metal Gear Solid games revolve around the eponymous superweapons, easily read as nuke analogues, and the message usually boils down to the mere existence of weapons with that kind of destructive power is fundamentally immoral." This was due to irresponsible usage of them though, it's not just because it's been used to end a war quicker. It's not the existence of the weapon that's immoral, it's that it has been proven quite a lot of times that the superweapons has been used inappropriately and not as the moral function of it, a deterrent. You're missing a lot of context in order to make it that the message is "the mere existence of weapons with that kind of destructive power is fundamentally immoral."
"Kojima has such a third-grade-level understanding of geopolitics, and yet he never shuts up about it, and that unfortunate combination is probably what sets him apart as a special kind of insufferable to many." I have honestly never heard of him being referred to being "a special kind of insufferable to many.". Hell, a majority of people find his stories entertaining and philosophical, at least from what I've seen from the reviews of his games (in regards to MGS). Maybe I'm ignorant to this, but from what I've seen from reviews, story-breakdowns, and comments in them, people seem to praise it highly. Some may call it too complicated/convoluted, yes, but not insufferable.
It's kinda sad that the writer of the show says the show is a critique of capitalism :/ The show is moreso a critique of cronyism and authoritarianism, unless you define capitalism as these two things, or maybe he doesn't understand what the word actually means.
@@draketheduelist Thank you, I can't stand that moron. Not to mention that most of what made MGS so enjoyable was "allegedly" stolen from one of his co-creators. Norman Reedus and his funky fetus, just proved he's all glamor and no substance. Very pretty visuals, lots of big words, a high school level of philosophy, and an air of smugness so strong I can smell it through the fucking computer screen. I cannot stand that man.
Capitalism did nothing wrong! Corporatism on the other hand...
Capitalism is the free exchange of goods between one individual and another that they own. Corporatism is that the corps own everything and you have no right to bargain away anything that is the corporates.
Wait a moment....
*rips off the mask of Corporatism*
I knew it!
*Communism*
it was communism all a long! calling yourself a corporation when you rule a country is merely a level of detachment, they are very much the government, and most 'Corporate Dystopia's' are rather communistic don't'cha think? (you own nothing, can choose nothing, and only get what the state gives you... which is often times not enough to survive)
Isnt monopoly the same kind of system?
It's better to sell that Capitalism is the problem and not you (who benefits from Corporatism) as you will always be able to find a way to exploit the masses. If people come to understand the difference they will tear you down, why not use have them fight amongst themselves, tear down everything the can use to compete against you then enslave them?
@@tatteredshield8120 Monopoly is somewhat capitalistic, same as how Communistic dictators abuse whatever system they needed to accumulate enough power to get and stay in charge. Monopoly is a very straight forward game with little to no nuance, but with what I know now, its definitely more Corporatism than it is capitalistic
Pretty sure that Corporatism is the inevitability of Capitalism. The thing with Capitalism is that when people get powerful enough, they tend towards Cronyism, they gatekeep, it becomes Corporatism.
I remember this guy kept saying that "there are only few bad actors" or something in the line of that, but the problem isn't the amount, but it's the power. That us as individuals won't help with climate change, because corporations are responsible to the 70% of the global pollution.
I viewed squid game as more of a critique of how people use capitalism to exploit others and how capitalism could create a society where the elite are on top and everyone else suffers. So basically corporatism. However I don’t think that it was a direct critique of just regular capitalism. In fact I would argue that it’s more of a critique of socialism.
I went into it seeing articles about it being anti capitalist, and I was fully prepared to disagree with the message, but I think you're 100% right about how it critiqued socialism. It probably wasn't intended to come off that way, but a lot of overtly political media comes off that way (songs made by Left leaning bands being adopted by the Right because it fits the issue or movies being made to criticize the Right coming off as arguments FOR the Right, etc) AND on top of that, it came off as more like a critisism on the Government itself
"...a society where the elite are on top and everyone else suffers."
The great irony is that this was the status quo for thousands of years of human civilization before property rights and market economies gave the common people an opportunity to better their lives.
@@deepspeed84 Smashed it
i actually die inside whenever i read corporatism lmfao
@Angus Chandler I described corporatism as when elites controlling the people through companies. And I actually do know what socialism is. Not the collective ownership part of socialism but the “everyone is equal” part of socialism. In the games, everyone had a fair shot at winning the money and anyone who prevented anyone else from having a fair shot was killed, even the people working there.
The most frustrating thing about squid game is the Kaiji Ultimate Survivor is a much better show and several years older than this. It shows how one man overcomes his gambling addiction through his own wit and values. Although the show was never finished, its a good reflection on how quick free money is never a good way to gain capital in the long term.
Kaiji's anime was also a thing when the director of this crap first had the idea
The manga was ages before the anime too and went for a really long run
I gotta admit though that kaiji too can fall into some dogmatic zero-sum thinking especially how the author used tonegawa's viewed money as his personal projection, years after I saw it I realized that what is the more important view is not acquiring money, but the creation of wealth through innovation
That said, what I think kaiji does so much more right is that it is less a commentary like squid game and more about using a story as a call to take risks with a sense of urgency to life. That was the overwhelming message through the series and it really hit in the end of season 1 with tonegawa's famous speech and kaiji's e card game.
I too am a Kaiji enjoyer. 🍷
@@aMrAppleMonkey based
Anything is anti-capitalist if you do enough mental gymnastics. But my guess the only reason there are so many articles about that is the fact that it, ironically, sells much better than trying to frame it as anything different.
Which is likely what the *real* problem sees, and pushes that narrative, now aware of how to play the people.
I wan to try!
Pepperoni s anti-capitalist because pepperoni s associated with Italians, who suffer under anti-Italian racism in the United States. Racism is capitalist because Caucasian conquerors were capitalist and imposed their capitalism onto the lands they have conquered. /joke/
What you mentioned in episode 7, they actually say "we have a philosophy of true equality" which is why they dimmed the lights. Surprised more people don't say it's an allegory for communism
Haven't seen the show, if this is the case then I 100% agree with you. If this blood sport is a 'philosophy of true equality' then it's most definitely Communism, the guys running the show (the state) are the ones giving the people promises of wealth for following the rules, when they know that it'll be squandered and they'll be back for more later.
That is how I viewed it but people have this warped view and don't believe communism will make an even more powerful elite class.
I don't think that was the writers intent, but I read it that way to.
It is closer to communism than it is ro capitalism.
The game itself definitely has some shadows of communism/ socialism in it. An authoritarian regime that tightly controls the lives of everyone involved and forcing them to do horrific things to each other in the vain hope of improving their lives. The talk big about equality and everyone having a chance but the reality is blatantly the opposite. The entire game is organized into and unassailable pyramid with the VIPs on the top and everyone else essentially being their slaves. Several of the games intentionally make it so it is nigh impossible for certain people to win and if someone has a personal skill set that would allow them to succeed, the gamerunners change the rules to to screw him over.
I watched this series and saw NOTHING related to capitalism.
What I saw was a story, character development, struggles, and emotions at some of its finest.
I really hate how people have to overly politicize every good movie or series.
Guys.....WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO JUST WANTING TO TELL A STORY?
Yeah just because money is involved does not mean it’s a certain political situation
"All art is political (even teletubbies)."
GUYS.... WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO MEDIA LITERACY???
Silence is violence to stupid over political people, everything is "wrong" and must pointed out all the time.
Thank you. I saw the stupid headlines about Squid Games being a commentary on capitalism and I said to myself “Wtf? No” and moved on. When I watched the show, I saw the same as you.
The very fact that the South Koreans can make Squid Game is thanks to Capitalism and economic prosperity and high education in the arts that it enjoys.
You do know social artist existed during the prime of the USSR, and it’s scientists were one of the best in the world
@@egoxagony4623 These intellectuals existed and excelled to the extent that their commitment to rationality compelled them to mentally escape into endeavors where the rules and objectives were rational, while being surrounded by a society built on irrationality and protracted collective suicide. Would you become an accomplished artist if your brushstrokes were dictated by a commissar standing behind you, with a gun pressed into your back, who does not explain or argue, knowing that his gun is his sole argument and only qualification? Would you become a great scientist if you were forced by government fiat to declare that the laws and rules of the natural world conform to a dialectic reality, allowing unknown arbitrary powers to merge and muddy your rational view of the world, in favor of the official Party line? That is precisely the practical policy under which those same intellectuals you praise had to endure in the USSR, and they succeeded in their endeavors to the extent that they were able to endure it.
If you want a proliferation of productivity, creativity, and intellectual greatness among men, you are not likely to find it in a communist society, except for a few people who learned to hide and compartmentalize their talents. You will find it among the citizenry of a country based on capitalism, where the rules are objective and clear, where each individual is free to make use of his mind to its fullest extent, on any scale he wishes, where he would be allowed to enjoy the rewards for his achievements as well as left alone to endure the consequences of his failures, and where irrational “men” such as yourself would not have the power to stop them.
@@egoxagony4623 ussr was killing its scientists for being too smart, even just being a biologist was a death sentence back then.
It doesn't change the fact that the show shows people getting failed by capitalism
@@egoxagony4623 They where a generation behind at best.
Yeah Squid Game is depressing. Even Kaiji and Danganronpa (show & game that some said this was inspired from) aren't that dark for a long period of time
Glad that someone is brave enough to say negative things about Squid Game.
Yeah goverment is definitely ruining people's lives, not the capitalism. I can agree wholeheartedly on that
yeah in kaiji is the game is made so you don't leave it most times the losing party doesn't get killed they have more debt to the system, it's more about gambling and casinos than any economic system, it also helps to have a more likable protagonist.
Squid game seems to be more depressing than Kaiji and for longer, but I doubt it can be as tense as Kaiji
More depressing than danganronpa? Bro at least the characters in squid game are flawed and aren’t teenagers thrown into a situation by a psychopath who runs others misery….
Legit that’s what kept me from being miserable the entire time-treating it as a fun character study and hoping some characters bit the dust and hoping others see the errors of their ways and hope to improve themselves as people. Or if I want to be challenged-they can do the latter and then pull the rug and kill them anyway like a couple of them in episode 6. Or maybe they are forced to see the consequences of not being better people like again in episode 6 with the main character being called out for being a manipulating cheater.
Also not to mention I found other Netflix shows to be more depressing and miserable like Daredevil and Jessica Jones and even A Series of Unfortunate Events AND THAT LAST ONE IS AIMED AT CHILDREN!!!
Hell I find Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass more miserable but yet again they have higher highs that remind you at times there is hope yet despite the depressing nature of the situation.
And those last two are horror shows as well so that helps too.
I saw squid game more about how desperate situations tend to draw out the worst in people, and yeah, mostly about being the victim of your own doing. I never got people's econ allegory.
That being said, I do feel more sympathy the the characters then you do. Heck, I enjoyed Netflix's Dark, and some of the characters do awful things in that show.
Me too, i watched it just as it popularity started to grow because my brother recomended it so i never new how big it was until 1~2 weeks later. It never even crossed my mind the fact the show "criticized capitalism", shitty bosses? Yes. But that ain't political, ali's boss was a twat. I saw it firstly as a fun experience (brazillian movies and the news here in general made me quite dessensitized to violence. The only scene where i kinda cringed was when the dude said he took turns raping a woman, that was messed up) second as a critique of being bad with finances
The characters in this show are flawed (which is a good thing) and practically all of them are there due to their own actions.
I mean it kind of promote the idea that instead of working for money, you should join a deadly game show in order to pay off your debts. I kind of see it as a way to get money without having to actually work for it.
But what creates the desperation? Yeah, it's crapitalism.
@@cn2673 Duh? Capitalism provides jobs haphazardly because it's so inefficient. It needs a supply of disposable laborers (out-of-work folks) so that it can hire them in times of increased productivity and fire them when productivity/demand/whatev goes down. In a better system, that wouldn't happen. Capitalism itself is the reason people don't have jobs.
And so is gambling addiction. Slot machines, for example, are not just games of chance. They are literally designed to be addiction machines. The way the colors light up and sounds go off when you win triggers dopamine responses in your brain, which jogs a need to keep pushing that button or pulling that lever to get more dopamine. It almost doesn't matter HOW MUCH $$ you're winning, the colors and sounds are what matter. And, of course, you're losing money in reality. The house wins. The machines are designed to pay out fractions of cents while you're plugging dollars into it. So it's a game of diminishing returns, though it looks and sounds like you're winning. And FYI: casinos make more money from slots than from any card game, or roulette, craps, etc. It's not just some good faith business, it's actually a capitalist grift to pickpocket customers through sophisticated (and researched) psychological processes of addiction.
@@cn2673 Under communism, labor is directed toward need. If demand goes down, a person isn't just out of work. They're moved where they're needed and provided with any necessary education and training. Only under capitalism is the logic, "Demand went down so you're fired, good luck affording food!"
And if capitalists are designing machines that are literally meant TO CREATE ADDICTION, then yes, that addiction is capitalism's fault. People aren't born with addiction. You might be genetically predisposed to it, but it's onset requires environmental and psychological triggers, which the capitalists have capitalized on. And don't forget, the reason people are "going in there" is because of high-level marketing and advertising campaigns. But I'm sure if people stopped going in there, you'd still blame them for "destroying the economy!" It's always the fault of the people who are being oppressed, isn't it?
I remember when my highschool economics teacher explained crony capitalism to the class and he asked "what does that sound like?" and I replied "it's just socialism with more steps." He then went on this entertaining rant on how socialist are essentially using the crappiness of socialism to promote socialism. This video just reminded me of that
"it's just socialism with more steps."
-> That is succinct, true, elegant, and beautiful.
I take it your teacher was a Fed. Or Mr. Boo-urns.
@@witprole3050 I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Although I get the boo-urns part. Hehehe, Simpsons...... Anyways, if I take your meaning right then I'd disagree. He's a very conservative man, and he was DEFINITELY a capitalist
@@logantidwell7698 My point:
"SoCiAlIsM iS wHeN cApItAlIsM!"
Give me a break
@@witprole3050 Exactly
What a joke his education must have been with teachers like that
Exactly right! Much of their pain is self inflicted. All the players did it to themselves. Sebyok didn't do her research before finding an agent, Gi-Hun was a gambling addict/mooch, Ali was an illegal immigrants/didn't go through the courts for his money, and Sunwoo was legit gambling with his mom's life in risky assets!
Agent? Sae-byeok hired a human trafficker for her family to get them across the border from N-Korea. Wouldn’t really blame her for that. And Ali wanted the money for his family, not just because he was greedy. Those two hardly deserved their fate
@@thotslayer9914 well yeah exactly
This comment is basically talking from an arrogant privileged perspective.
@@kroolini3678 Thank you.
@@kroolini3678 Yea you just named the only two actual victims in this story, what about literally everyone else?
I understand what you mean about most of the characters being unsympathetic. Matpatt pointed out that you could get out between games by majority vote. After the tug-of-war, they should have done a vote to stop the games. The money would be won from killing others not how well you perform. If anything, Squid Games shows that people need to improve themselves and not fall for get rich quick schemes.
FEE: "I kinda hated Squid Game."
The Fans: So you have chosen... death.
Of note, I 100% agree with the sentiment. Not a fan of Death Games or Koreans whining about how evil capitalism is when a capitalist nation was what ensured they didn't fall to communist totalitarianism long ago.
To be fair most South Koreans love the ccp and simp for communism on the lowkey
@@mbansjddbsj funny how not one of them tries to defect to the north.
@@dfmrcv862 lol, yup. Thats how most commies are, love to preach about how perfect a system it is. But wont move to an actual communist country and see "how that perfect system" really works.
well i don't think they whine about capitalism in these examples in my opinion because even the ''winners'' of capitalism still suffer from what are pretty obviously bad choices from themselves or other characters.
Alice in borderland
Check it out!
Way too many people feel that other people voluntarily trading with each other is evil.
@ur couzin Do you feel the same realizing that wealth is not a zero-sum game?
That is not what capitalism is capitalism is the ability to gain capital and have capitalists which means private individuals can own the means in which commodities are made for profit and create capital.
its not called tradism its called capitalism because people can have capital fucking shit is it that hard like you shouldn't need to read walth of the nation or das Kapital just to understand something that has its main concept in the fucking name
now why is gaining capital bad well its bad because Eventually in the pursuit of capital the capitalists class will have class struggle with the working class of whome they exploit they must do this to have the most capital because if they don't some will
Disney must keep their eye peas on strict lays to because if they didn't someone else might make a better product and they need the most capitals that they can just buy blue skies and fire all of their workers go bye
the profit motive Creates inherent contadictions like plan obsolescence. Why would you make a product that purposely breaks or isn't the best of its kind well because it's not supposed to be a good product you're supposed to just be getting the most money out of it.
This is the dumbest shit i've ever heard lmao.
thankfully I watched this before it really took off, I saw it as a critique of selfish self centered people who were only out for themselves more than anything. I mean the 'hero' left an old woman and a little boy to rot and fend for themselves for over a year all because he was selfish and unwilling to think of anyone but himself. it just showed his personal character perfectly which is the exact character flaws that got him into the situation to begin with.
even at the end with the old man in the bed it was never said HE couldn't go help the guy on the street, but even then he never considered taking it upon himself to do something to make things better he only worried about himself
And before he even helps Sang-woo's mom and Sae-byeok's brother, he goes and dyes his fucking hair!
@@alexvaughan1013 lol exactly!
In the end, when he abandoned his daughter, I absolutely hated him. I don't care if he was being a "hero". Other than the biscuit game, he couldn't win anything himself, he used his friends as a human ladder to get to the top and *could not* save anybody. What good is it doing him to go back there? To use more human rungs and achieve what exactly? He's not gonna win anything. He could have been a good father finally but he blew it. Just my opinion.
I thought that Squid Game was a complete failure in terms of its commentary on society. But I really enjoyed it (or at least, the first half) for its character interactions and stakes. I definitely agree that most of the characters were in self-inflicted dire situations, but that didn't stop me from sympathizing with their struggles and desperation. The show also did a great job at communicating the intensity of the games, which was the main appeal for me during the first several episodes.
I haven't seen Squid game, not interested in watching Squid game, if I were asked about Squid game being a social commentary I would answer with 'Elitism', the people are here of their own volition, the elites believe that they're entitled to toy with people's lives because of their status. Money has nothing to do with it, heck, we've seen it with Gladiators and Blood Sport.
@@amateurishauthor2202 Bloodsport as in the movie with JCVD about Frank Dux who is a liar?
I think the show makes an ok statement but I think that shows like this should be viewed just for its actual content insted of its message to have the best time viewing it so I completely agree with you.
@@notmyrealnamesorry3118 Yeah, not every show or movie needs to be some commentary on society or whatever. Sometimes, just enjoy it as a goddamn show.
@ShadeSlayer1911 I always thought it was "The rich have all the money, therefore they can decide what's right and what's wrong and if they don't like it, they can just change the rules, and they never have to pay for their crimes"
UA-cam I hate to tell you this but Putin is never going to run out of money. I'm sorry but it's true
@Foundation for Economic Education South Korea was never capitalist, it’s actually an example of fascist economic principles (if you define fascism as lucrative merger of state and corporation instead of the existence of a moral state).
South Korea’s economy was built on a system of chaebols. chaebols are government backed (and sometimes built) monopolies operated and ran by clans/families.
the government went to existing companies and promised them almost total market control and government funding for research, projects, and expansion in return for a cut of the profits.
that’s how south korea built it’s economy, it’s the exact opposite of capitalism as it was built on government interference and support in favor of a company/companies over the others.
it’s at its core anti-competition outside of the favor of the government.
that said south korea is a lot more mixed than it use to be but it was never capitalist.
Lol the free state of south Korea is fascist but north Korea and China isn't. GTFO
@@snintendog where did i say china and north korea were better or that they weren’t fascist?
@@draconisthewyvern3664 in your Edited comment....wow
@@snintendog it was edited a month ago well before you responded to add information to my statement.
i never said north or china were better or that they weren’t fascist
I would say that for most people capitalism simply means: "Evil rich people run everything" -- which is how you could describe monarchies, dictatorships, communism in practice etc.
The problem with capitalism is that it doesn't encourage the winners to stick with it.
The people who make it to the top have no incentive to keep the system fair for everyone else -- that's why we see cronyism, monopolies etc.
Cronyism, monopolies, that's created by the government.
@@AnimMouse de facto monopolies (e.g. Google on net searches) are created by the industry. They can be just as stifling on competition as legal monopolies.
Cronyism… well, did the politicians ask for a bribe first or did the industry offer one first? The net effect is the same.
I liked the show...
But it didn't even occur to me that this should be a "critique of capitalism"
Me neither. I thought it was an analysis of personal behavior under extreme circumstances. I heard the director said it was a critique of capitalism, but to what end he did not explain. The show displayed both the evil people abusing capitalism and the benefits of using capitalism.
I agree but I believe the intent of the video was to prove that point as opposed to the people that did see it as a critique of capitalism.
I really enjoyed squidgame, found the characters interesting and well written. I didn’t really get the “capitalism bad” message from it, more that the very very rich can do whatever they want, which isn’t really wrong
Well, what made the rich powerful? It's capitalism that made them powerful, it's when they wurm their way within the infrastructure that we're completely dependent on their services. The Private Sector doesn't have the responsibility to us, they just want our money. The market isn't self-correcting, it's constantly manipulated.
@@The6thMessenger yeah so lets stop allowing our governments manipulating it
@@The6thMessenger @The6thMessenger I couldn't disagree more on your comment. That's just a bold assumption of yours. Just look at the political leaders of China, North Korea, UAE, Russia, every country in South America and Africa and tell me again that capitalism made the rich powerful. Are you serious? Do you even live on this planet?
@@The6thMessenger That's cronyism. Elites can do whatever they want under any system. Lavrentiy Beria was a high ranking Soviet official who raped numerous amounts of women got away with it and was only gotten rid of because he was in the way of Khrushchev.
@@joebro186 Wut? Dude Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. Dude.
Remember even though Sae-byok was living a crappy life in the south, she rather participate in a literal death game rather than go back to the north.
Meta textual, I know, but the reason she can't answer the question that was given to her is because SoKor is dictatorial in nature and any perceived praise towards NoKor can get you to jail. It's quite odd they decided to include that.
And it would have been better if they decided to just say Yes, SoKor is better than NoKor, wtf is wrong with you, but they decided to bet that the SoKor government won't fuck them over like those strike workers that got blacklisted.
Also, also, what do you think happened to those people who wanted to go back to NoKor but can't? I guess they're not real people or something, right?
Jesus, you guys and your need to paint everyone as malevolent beings no one likes to the point that you ignore that not everyone actually likes the current system and the only reason it exists is because apparently the FEDposters decided to simp for whatever it is that get people to dehumanize anyone that they disagree with.
South Korean media legally cannot show North Korea in a positive light. It’s like a McCarthy era American movie where the Soviets are the protagonists.
Think you nailed it here. Especially because in non-capitalists systems everyone is basically in the squid game where they are forced to obey the governments rules or be eliminated.
Do you mean laws? I dont think having to battle to the death for survival is quite the same as being told not to kill people, steal stuff or kidnap people by an elected power.
@@notmyrealnamesorry3118 check out some of the laws of North Korea. The difference with the squid games is it is voluntary to put yourself in that position.
It's a gulag with extra steps, and we all knew which system hosted the gulags.
That has also happened in capitalist countries so that isn't a argument againts anti capitalism
@@notmyrealnamesorry3118 Maybe the disagreement is on the extent of government reach. You will have many agree with you herr if you advocate for limited government, not anarchy nor big government.
Doesn't the show somewhat acknowledge this to an extent? In fact the only people who were literally victims out of their control were Sae-byok and Ali.
Illegal immigration is a choice. Sae-byok was exploited because people in North Korea are so deeply uneducated and propagandized that she very well could have been considered a victim.
@@chrisburch1406 Sae-byok is best girl, and character. Though I did like her friend.
@@chrisburch1406 I mean apart from being brainwashed or fear, who wouldn't want to leave North Korea after all?
I didn't really like Sae-byok - she literally stole someone else's property and was ready to literally kill other people as well. Ali, on the other hand, was very naive - he got tricked very easily. People are being killed for that in real life.
Remember, North Korea was so shitty that Sae-byok rather play a death game than go back
I really disliked the protagonist. I hope that was the directors intention. 100% agreeing with you that people misinterpret the show and that it's not a good example for anything. It's just entertainment.
It plays off the idea a flawed protagonist is more interesting than a perfect protagonist.
It also plays off the idea that you either want to see these characters bite the dust or see them improve as people-or perhaps pull your heart strings by doing the latter first then pulling the rug by killing them anyway XD
Corporatism.
The problem is corporatism, not capitalism. Please start calling it that.
*corporatocracy.
Corporatism is something else.
That's the same fucking thing capitalism is the private individual's ability to own capital And to do so in the modern era is owning a company a corporation that is how you get capital
There are a few points where every "critique of capitalism" metaphor almost always falls apart.
1.The personification of the allocation of resources. Wealth always rains down from on high as some sort of reward for behaviour a central decision making entity deems "good" behaviour.
2. The inversion of barriers. People are always protrayed as trapped on the inside. The walls of capitalism keep people *out.* You aren't trapped.
3. The Zero Sum game. Resources can only be consumed. Production is not possible. Co-operation is not possible. And everyone has the same mutually exclusive goal.
1) Resources allocated to military budget far outweigh those allocated to Build Back Better. Call militaristic behavior good or bad, point is that behavior is being rewarded by the capitalist-imperialists. And just a reminder, it was Reagan who called it "Trickle-Down Economics."
2) You ARE trapped. Can you quit your job willy nilly (without having another)? If you do, will your landlord let you squat? Will your grocery store give you free food? Will your hospital perform surgery at no cost without insurance coverage? There is no exit from capitalism. Choice is an illusion.
I don't even understand where you're getting Point 3.
@@witprole3050
Neither military spending nor infrastructure projects are anything resembling the direct individual reward/punishments given out in these "capitalism" metaphors.
Yes, you *can* quit your job willy nilly. You don't even necessarily need another job lined up. All you need is a plan to make ends meet after the fact, which can be achieved a number of ways (live off savings during the transition, start your on business, live with a friend / family / partner, make arrangements with a church / charity / sugar daddy, hunt / scavenge as a vagrant, downsize... or any combination of these). Not every option is going to be amenable to your specific circumstance, but your options include anything you can think of. Being a wage-cuck is simply the path of least resistance for most people with very little marketable skills & assets. All "capitalism" really does is take the options of theft and slavery off the table.
Point 3 is that these metaphors always portray a desperate struggle to take meager resources from each other. But all the incentives in a free market system are to create new forms of wealth. Finite resources in short supply explode in price, driving down potential profit margins, and creating economic incentives to find cheaper alternative ways to accomplish the same demands.
@TheStinkyPoopooHeadz Right. Next time someone makes a movie about WWII, I'll wait to hear your criticism that the "theme" wasn't depicted "well" because fascism wasn't portrayed sympathetically enough to let the audience decide for themselves whether the Holocaust was a good thing
@@witprole3050 Not able to understand point 3 sums it up your hate for capitalism.
@@AnimMouse Well, when capitalism is killing people, starving them to death, depriving them of necessary medical care, keeping them houseless, freezing them to death, trapping them in violent/abusive relationships, making them indentured servants and lifelong debt slaves, denying them equality, equanimity, autonomy, and full rights, you'd have to be out of your mind not to hate crapitalism.
But no, the third point just didn't make sense. Production is not possible? What are the workers producing then? Cooperation is not possible? Workers are cooperating every day -- on assembly lines, in company teams, buddying up to build something on construction sites -- to render goods and services from which capitalists steal the wealth they create with their labor. And critiques of capitalism, even Squid Game, show this. Point 3 just doesn't hold water.
I loved it, but definitely didn't see it as a "capitalism bad" story. Like others have mentioned it's far more a story about how desperation can bring out the worst in people and about the consequences of people's greed/self-interest
So, did i. Plus i kinda skipped the dull parts. I find mostly about selfishness and selfness and how some idiots try to excuse their wraped morality.
yes but what causes that desperation? capitalism at its core is competition. if you put two burger restaurants side by side, one is bound to put the other one out of business, leaving the owner and workers jobless. at this stage of humanity, we should not have to compete just to live anymore. it’s a caveman mentality that should be retired.
I always thought of it as "The Ruch can do whatever they want to whoever they want, and they'll never pay the price."
There's an episode of the show Superman and Lois where a company is going to open a branch in Smallville and Clark and Lois aren't 100% because said company isn't talking about benefits or decent wages, meanwhile, the people of Smallville are all for this company because that means jobs will be created and said CEO wasn't happy Lois Lane was sniffing around and was threatening to pull back on the deal.
Thank you for this & also mentioning Parasite. In Parasite, most people see the rich people as the only villains, but fail to see how the main family also cheat, disrespect others, and become increasingly greedy as their wealth starts to grow. Just look how they treat the basement dwellers who are in a worse situation than they were.
Despite the misleading titles I do appreciate that you make the nuance between the message of the show and what people are led to believe by the media. I'm really tired of the "capitalism bad" and "late stage capitalism". The problem are the people at the top who pull the ladder up so nobody can have a decent quality of life. They actually turn the system into a socialist one. Look at all these companies who have a monopol, look at what happened with parlor and Amazon. Amazon simply didn't want them to compete.
Monopoly is socialism?🤨
@@wilfredomarenco9939 I think he means where there is a lack of free market. He phrased it awfully though
Adam Smit the father of capitalism called monopoly the worst enemy of capitalism.
@@wilfredomarenco9939 Yes. Because they can only exist through the ladder being pulled up by the state, to prevent undercutting. All monopolies are essentially incorporated.
That's what capitalism is, bud: the tendency for capital to funnel into fewer and fewer hands. Exactly what capitalism looked like when it took full steam in its infancy. The only reason we don't recognize this as capitalism is because capitalism was regulated by social checks and redistributive programs after the New Deal. Now that Neoliberalism tore those apart, we're back to classic, unadulterated ("unregulated") capitalism. This is what you're advocating for? Because it ain't socialism.
amazed that the creator actually thought this was a scathing critique on capitalism. was an entertaining show, but as a social commentary it completely fails at its goal
Squid game had awful acting, so over the top. And the characters were meh. The plot was really slow. The night murder scene was just a black screen> I could go on. This series was average. Perhaps average is good in this age of shtty tv?
@@TheBelrick Average? The idea of people competing in children's games turned deadly for money is something completely new and different from the other movies in Western television often about saving the world, superpowers, school or office drama. The character plots were good as well. And what part of the acting was over the top? I don't know why you would call the show average.
@@kseniachevenard839 You mean like say running man from the 1990s? Trust me kid, this movie isnt original. and the characters were awful to watch. that darkness scene was a crime against cinema. All the acting was over the top, really childish extreme actions. Re watch the movie. Note down their conversation. Then act it out the emotional scenes. No one is like that in real life.
@@TheBelrick You forget the situation the characters are in. In their daily lives they struggle to make a basic living, and during the game they can die at any time. So one movie from the 1990s that I'm betting nor many people today have watched had the same idea. That is still so much better than the hundreds of recent movies that basically all revolve around the plots I mentioned. The darkness scene was one scene. The point of the scene was for it to be chaotic also. Why did you need to see exactly how the contestants died? It was light enough to make out what was happening, but of course not as clearly as if the lights were actually on.
@@kseniachevenard839 Im going to hard disagree and state, that if you didnt find the actions and dialogue of these characters alien, you dont get out much or you are not from this world. Go in peace.
I am *so* glad that you did this video.
I saw Squid Game very early on and saw it as a character study… like much of the media of this type from the East. It was about the growth of the main character from a totally worthless scum bag to someone who genuinely cared about (most of) the people around him. In stark contrast to his childhood friend, who was built up as someone to be admired and swiftly spiraled down into a truly terrible person… only to receive a momentary flash of the person he was at the end.
It is a story about people… not about money.
A thing to note about parasite is that its a very Korean cultural film: It reads very differently to someone that knows all the cultural meaning, then to a westerner with more protestant view of ethics. Short version: In korea, rather then being about the individual being a hardworker, its about living humbly in your social position and stability, and for the the rich to be paragons to the lover classes: and in the movie, no one in the rich family is a good example of virtues, even if they dont "sin" in the way we westerners traditionaly think.
Another point of the movie is that people become nice by their circumstances, and that the poor family has become mean and embittered by the poverty and competition they live in. I dont thinkthats how reality works, but that is the cultural context as to my understanding
Been waiting for a Squid Game out of frame!
Me too
Same
Capitalism: The voluntary exchange of goods and services while respecting one another's private property.
Simple and beautiful.
Which is why there is nothing wrong with socialism
@@Lilhajxjk274 please elaborate.
@@TheRealNormanBates all anti socialist arguments contradict themselves and go againts capitalism
@@Lilhajxjk274 like what arguments?
@@TheRealNormanBates I want to hear them first
YES thank you! I also hated this show. I never connected to any of the characters, and had the same thoughts of "they're only here because they keep making extremely bad decisions over and over" But never really had a good explanation.
I think that people tend to forget what capitalism is exceptionally good at: Giving people what people really want. We complain about all the issues with products and companies, except that these companies only exist and continue to grow because people fund these companies through their own actions. And companies must adapt to fit their customers. If every single person who used Amazon for example decided to only purchase products that were labeled Green Energy, then Amazon, and every single seller on their platform would adapt and change their products or marketing to fit the demand. And if people instead want only the cheapest products, no matter how poorly they're made, or how much the advertising is a lie, then that is what companies will produce because that's what will make them the most money.
If capitalism is really good at giving people what people really want, why are we sanctioning Cuba just because they're socialist? If the people of Cuba want socialism (and yes, they do, don't waste my time with propaganda) why don't capitalists let them have it without restriction if capitalism gives people what they want?
If capitalism gives people what they want, why won't the gov cancel student aid debt, a policy favored by almost all student loan recipients? Why won't they pass Medicare for All, another policy favored by the majority of U.S. citizens?
It's because capitalism doesn't give people what they want. It gives the capitalists what they want. And no one else, except by coincidence. Wake up.
@@witprole3050 "(and yes they do, don't waste my time with propaganda)" Bruh, what? Did you just forget all the anti-government protests against the Cuban governments authoritarianism and censorship? They were literally waving American flags ffs
@@MasterBeast46 Yeah, that was American propaganda, because the MAJORITY of activists there were PRO-GOVERNMENT who want to keep their socialist system in tact and KNOW that the only reason their country struggles is because of the disgusting sanctions and embargoes the U.S. places on their nation to keep them impoverished and deprived of resources. Of course the American MSM wouldn't show THEM and their overwhelming numbers, which is precisely what makes it propaganda. Wake up.
You have no idea what capitalism is like in south korea if you are making such ignorant comments from your high horse. Absolutely soul sucking society with no room for joy. Everything is about money, money, power and more money. Capitalism at it's most degenerate, no joy, no culture left. Everything replaced with brands and consumerism.
@@witprole3050 Fake news, bud. We all know authoritarian Cuba sucks dick for its citizens. No wonder you see twitter bots making a copy pasted argument to lift the embargo and let the foreigners in from accounts that seem to reek of CIA.
Man, you didn't even mention Gi-Hun's backstory about getting laid-off by Dragon Motors and participating in a strike that got him PTSD. That backstory was based on the 2009 Ssangyong Motor strike in South Korea and if we're assuming that both strikes are the same and end with the same outcome, then he wouldn't have been able to get a job anyways since participants of the strike were blacklisted from getting jobs in their field. The fact that you completely ignored this detail and branded Gi-Hun's situation as his fault really shines your pro-capitalist bias.
I rate this video an F.
Or... Or was barely mentioned, and nearly at the end and doesn't change any of his choices.
Also, I am pro-capitalism. That's what this whole video is about. It's not exactly a secret.
@@FEEonline Why does it matter that it was barely mentioned or nearly at the end? Context is still context.
Doesn't change any of his choices? Do you honestly think that if he wasn't laid-off or blacklisted from new jobs, he'd still be the way he is? Who knows, maybe if he wasn't laid-off, he'd be more responsible. I mean, think about it. It wasn't his fault that Dragon Motors laid-him off, he had no say in that decision . When he fought back, he was punished. This is clearly a failure in the systems part. Imagine your youtube account was deleted for reasons out of your control and when you protest, your banned from ever making a new channel. You did nothing wrong, It's the system that did something wrong. I'm not saying I support socialism, but this stuff happens when government does too little.
@@crapydevices9198 him being a terrible father and stealing from his mom - who has supported him for years instead of him finding another job - are not caused by being fired.
Almost everyone will be fired or laid off at some point in their lives. I certainly have been.
The idea of just giving up on life because of it is a personal choice, and an absurd one.
@@crapydevices9198 BTW, striking is *always* going to be a risk you take at the possible expense of your job or career. It's a gamble that the company cares more about you and the other employees and doesn't have sufficient alternatives other than to meet your new demands.
Sometimes it's worth the risk. Other times it's not. Sometimes you should just quit and go get a better job.
But Gi-hun took that risk and got burned. That was also his choice.
man, I really hate that I can't see the dislike
3 as of now
11 now
@@Mcgowanlol You can see the dislikes?
@@pedropradacarciofi2517 I can see them but idk if it’s because I’m on mobile or because I have UA-cam premium.
I can't see them on both my computer and phone wtf
I mean this as an honest question. Does free market capitalism have a tendency towards corporatism and cronyism? If this is the case, What methods can be employed to either prevent or reverse this?
You've basically stepped into the big debate between Anarcho-Capitalists and Minarchists. Lots of people will have differing opinions on the role of government in a free society.
@@michaelspence2508 That's fair, and I understand it's a delicate question. I am little more than an armchair economist, but I think that there is a role for the government in the economy, though am unsure as to *what* it should be. Standard Oil exists as an argument for and against intervention.
I doubt Rockefeller could have gotten as far as he did without greasing the pockets of some politicians, but at the same time, I think antu trust laws are a good idea.
@@coltondodger Well I'm in the same boat. I've tried to study economics on my own time, but I don't have any answers and I'm suspicious of those who are confident in theirs.
In any case, it's a problem with HUMAN corruption and moral failings.
All systems are subject to this. Socialism moreso because it only takes the moral failings of one or a few at the top to corrupt the entire system, where Capitalism is distributed so each entities impact is far less on the entire thing.
In my opinion, the biggest buffer to thile problems you describe in Capitalism is the society has got to have a strong and shared moral belief system.
The US was a powerhouse because of Christianity (say what you will on it), compared to today where we have a country made of a mishmash of beliefs, morals (including NO morals) that is rotting it inside out.
@@dragons_red I absolutely agree. The problem is that Christianity wasn't built to survive the modern era of science and so it's no longer fit for purpose. Although I admit that it's in the process of being redefined now by people like Jordan Peterson. Not that I think he goes far enough. But we clearly need a common moral framework from *somewhere*
Just finished watching the original UK version of the show Utopia from 2013 and I think it would be a really good series to do an Out of Frame episode on....unfortunately there's only 2 seasons and it got cancelled... but I still feel like it deals with some deep themes that would be interesting to explore for an episode.
Personally, I liked the show up until the final twist, as it can explore the concept of what people will do to get out of a tough situation and what underhanded methods many would take to get out clean. Thing is, the way the story sets up a lot of it - the backroom deals, competitors dying when they lose, the overseers that watch the people kill each other for fun and act like the most one-note corporate villains I've ever seen, the final twist - these all sorta rend the Capitalism commentary mute as these as literary auxiliaries for White Collar crimes, Business shutdown or unemployment, Big Wigs, and... well, any analog would spoil the admittedly dumb twist, all fail to acknowledge that Capitalism isn't a system where failure means permanent suffering or death (at least, if you're careful and smart enough to know when to take risks).
As an commentary on Corporatism, which is basically Capitalism with government interference via Big Wigs lobbying and bribing others to make it how they want, it's downright excellent. In such a context, the story works more on a structural and writing sense as it switches to Capitalism's bastard child. The twist at the end still sucks though, because it ruins a character I previously liked.
Corporatism is a problem in our society.
Everyone always says the quote incorrectly. It is not money that is the root of all evil. It is the Love of money that is the root of all evil. A.k.a. greed
455 people not 456 people , one of them is richest old man who created the game.
Well put. I've been hearing a lot of blame put on capitalism, really messing with my head. This was the solidifying I needed.
If it really messes your head then consider building some foundations for it. Some resources to check out are Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics, Hayek's Road to Serfdom, and George Gilder's Life After Google and his really interesting Uncommon Knowledge interviews with Peter Robinson
Gilder is heavily overlooked of the 3, and is also the author of Life After Television which actually helped Steve Jobs envision the smartphone industry as we know it today. Highly recommend his interviews after you at least look into Sowell first as the two are contemporaries whom Gilder even cites in his own work too.
@@epsilon3821 Thanks, I'll check those out
@@strokernut Yeah what you really want is just some clarity. Simplicity. There's so much going on that people overlook things that are only obvious when one actually tries to think independently. Thinking back now, perhaps you have some misconceptions that will set you back so your priority then is to check out Thomas Sowell's interview on Economic Facts and Fallacies. To the layman, it seems like a counterintuitive explanation of economics but is backed by actual evidence like how price controls are actually hurting the economy as a whole.
oH GOood i was almost going to see the faults of the current situation!!! now time to go back into the wagie cagie ! thank god we ain't like those reds. WE HAVE ACTUAL LIBERTY the liberty to go to a job you hate to go to your house that you don't own to pay student loans for an education that you need to get out of that situation (or atleast you would have if you didn't need 64 years of experience). But hey atleast i ain't like those commies who didn't own anything, i don't lease from the goverment i choose who to lease from because it is my god given right
@@archafromdmc1913 Come back in a few years kid you need a social media detox from all that rot making you incapable of independent thinking
This is the first time I have ever seen the FEE miss the point of something. Squid Games is not about capitalism failing, it's about our flaws sometimes consuming us, and us failing to look at our mistakes.
I think you missed the point of something
@@witprole3050 At which point? Feel free to elaborate. I still stand by what I said about Squid Games not being about Capitalism failing.
@@driddick7361 Squid Game is unmistakably about the failures of capitalism.
The characters wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for capitalism. It has created their desperation by putting them in unmanageable debt and relegating them to dead end jobs or dangerous lifestyles so they'll never be able to escape that debt. The characters aren't making bad choices. They're doing what they must to survive. The game's just rigged against them.
Capitalism compels them to despise and even kill each other. Just look: Sang-woo, who earlier gave Ali money for cab fare, deceives him in the marble game to ensure his death. It's not simply that Sang-woo is out to kill or a bad person at heart. Capitalist conditions drive him to act in terrible ways. Same with Gi-hun. He manipulates Oh Il-nam's dimensia (or so he thinks) to save his own life and beat the man at marbles.
Plus you can't even say they ALL made terrible choices. What terrible choice did Ali make? His boss refused to pay him what he was owed. Sae-byeok paid someone to get her mother out of the North and he flaked. Meaning she got cheated. Are you saying anyone who gets cheated made a terrible choice?
The series even points out that, like you're doing, we blame each other for problems caused by capitalism, as when Gi-hun's ex-wife blames him for not being there for his daughter's birth. But he explains the company he was working for had a striking worker killed and he couldn't leave the man in his dying moments. If capitalism didn't put workers in a position where they needed to strike to maintain their rights, Gi-hun wouldn't have missed his child's birth.
And I love how everyone's like, "Oh, these characters just made terrible choices," but apparently, obscenely wealthy men creating a death game for their pleasure isn't a terrible choice. They weren't even getting anything out of it financially, that could have just given these folks the money or held a lottery or whatever. Mustn't criticize the saintly capitalists however!
@@witprole3050 I see where you're coming from. But the good choices having bad consequences are not what I am referring too. Nor am I implying that all the main cast is horrible people. I was incredibly upset when the old man got done dirty in the marble game at first. Now when I say flaws, I mean how the characters are slowly becoming more and more corrupt, until eventually they become the people that tricked them into the game.
Also, in a purely capitalist scenario, rigging certain events or such, tend to bite the perpetrators in the ass when they can't keep up. And mine you, one of the characters is a North Korean defector, I don't see any anti-capitalism in that scenario, she is trying to ESCAPE North Korea. Also, let's not neglect the psychos controlling the squid games, rich or otherwise, they are more likely crime lords. This is not a normal capitalist scenario. These people are not being given fair shakes or a chance to get back up. Capitalism is not one and done, usually people live through failure.
I am not saying that the characters got there through ENTIRELY their own faults, they ended up in the Squid Games because their problems, self caused or otherwise, were exploited by criminals. And as FEE has stated, whenever the games seem to have more survivors than intended, the Squid Game owners intervene like how the government tends to in the market.
Also, situations like Gi-Hun's coworker dying, how is that the fault of capitalism? Again, no sane business owner kills their worker. That worker would be an asset lost. No this part I must've missed, how big is the company that Gi-Hun works for? Are they actually paying their workers well enough? Capitalist ideology doesn't make anyone a saint anymore than Communist ideology makes any small time person a mass murderer. But what you described is a corporation screwing people over because they have the power to do so.
Now please continue, I would like your reply.
@@driddick7361 Obviously the game-players don't become "the people that tricked them into the game." The only way to make this claim is to erase class consciousness. If they became those that tricked them into the game, they would have the power to change the games and to order around the gun-wielding enforcers in pink. And they wouldn't even need to participate because they'd have the sort of wealth that would alleviate their economic anxieties. What the series DOES try to point out is that capitalism, regardless of your class position, creates greed and selfishness and forces you to indulge in them for the sake of your very survival. Whether it's the billionaires in the gilded masks or the exploited contestants, they're all responding to impulses engendered by the social structure they're living under. It wouldn't even be accurate to call this corruption. Corruption insinuates something went wrong or was contaminated. In fact, this is exactly how capitalism is supposed to function. The only reason we think it doesn't is because of a brilliant marketing machine.
And why might Sae-byeok be trying to escape North Korea? Could it be because of the disgusting sanctions and embargoes CAPITALIST countries place upon the country to keep it poverty-ridden (no different than the U.S. has been doing to Cuba for decades)? Because we couldn't allow a socialist country to be successful. We have to pull the strings, tank a country, so we can then say, "See? Communism fails!" in a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The game is always rigged in capitalism. It's how the system works. Capitalists steal the money that's created by their workers' labor. This is where profit comes from. It's why it's called "wage theft." Then they use their wealth to rig the game further. Bezos buys WaPo to publish anti-union articles right when Amazon workers are going on strike. Capitalists use lobbyists and campaign donations to shape laws to their benefit, laws that are bad for us. Wealthy people are given "legacy admits" to college (essentially free/reserved/guaranteed admissions thanks to a sizable donation) then they decry affirmative action. And if you really think Squid Game's depictions of these rich folk are exaggerations, the capitalists have succeeded at pulling the wool over your eyes. Epstein bought an island no different than the one we see in Squid Game. But instead of using it for death games, he and Ghislaine Maxwell used it to run a sex-trafficking ring where they turned women into sex slaves. No, capitalism does NOT present us with a fair game. Wealth begets wealth, and if you don't have it, you're out of luck.
And it boggles my mind that you can't see how Gi-hun's coworker dying is directly capitalism's fault. The workers go on strike to preserve their rights and a livable wage and THE CAPITALISTS, in response, HAVE THEM KILLED. It's called union-busting, it's one of the oldest capitalist tricks in the book, and erasing it from our memories is probably one of the most successful feats the capitalists have managed in this class war.
It is funny how people associate corruption in capitalist systems to capitalism, while associating corruption in socialist systems to simply "corruption".
Honestly squid games looks like it was written by a depressed suicidal girl. Not because it's a death game but because there's literally nothing good in it
It's interesting how a Korean show could be critiquing capitalism when the failed state of communism is right around the corner from them
1. The show isn't just a blanket critique of capitalism. It's about human nature and what people will do when desperate
2. Just because you criticizes the negatives of capitalisms doesn't me you automatically endorse communism. I'm fairly certain that the show intentionally portrays Sae Byeok's plight to get save her family from North Korea in a positive light.
yeah because we cannot criticize stuff just because there´s worse stuff, you dorks really hate free expression when it's about looking at our own systems
@@lulustuckie6030 that's the problem with this channel and almost all the people in the comments.
They are so corny when someone point out failures in the system they say the same as the socialist, it's not real capitalism. It's not fault of capitalism, then blame something else.
People think criticizing greed and other universal failings of humanity automaticaly means your criticizing capitalism, I see the same thing when people talk about Kaiji
Because if the government were in charge nothing bad would ever happen and everyone would be good, obviously
On a separate note, I don't know if it's popular enouth to guarantee a video (specialy considering how similar it is to Squid Game, with desparate people betting their lives for life-changing amounts of money in insane bets), but Kaiji has an intresting point about how critics of the rich beeing greedy are almost unequivocaly greedy themselves, refusing to give up their money to help others, with the main character beeing the first to break that rule and help others even when in dire situations and at a cost to himself
Is Kaiji a show or anime?
@@SomeDigitalGhost It's a manga that got an anime. It's on crunchyroll I think. But there is way more manga than there is anime
@@pedropradacarciofi2517 I'd rather read the manga, and after the stunt they pulled with high guardian spice, I'm not in any hurry to give crunchyroll money to hear them lie about how they'll spend it.
I want to say that i like the subtitles you guys have in the bottom of the video: i have autism and inconsisten Audio processing, and altough i can "listen" relatively well, its still just very nice to have the text as sometimes my brain goes "huh?" when it hears a word said in a way i dont expect
South Korea's economic problems are mostly due to massive gov't spending and hyper regulation, neither of which are capitalist issues but socialist.
I watched Parasite with a friend and it was like a Rorschach test. She saw the business owner father as evil and I saw the lower class family as being victims of their own decisions. She actually became very angry with me when I continued to press that the servanta were in the wrong considering they were lying, cheating and stealing. I asked her to point to any example where the business owner did anything wrong, and she could only point to the fact that he didn't want to be to familiar with the help. Which I viewed as perfectly reasonable when you are basically paying that person for their time.
“The help”. Talking about them like they’re objects and not people
@@ianj705 Both are families, it's been a year and I didn't remember their names so I was simply identifying them as I could. Would you prefer I said the family of liars? Go clown someone else
@@ianj705 How? "The help" is just a title for a group of people who do a certain job. Is calling someone "The accountant" equivalent to dehumanising them too?
I'm extremely pro capitalism and you were overthinking everything in this show.
It's just a death game for desperate/bad people
The working class and entrepreneurs who stick to the script have a good life, it's just those who do bad things or are impatient/desperate end up in the game.
You say he's overthinking it then repeat everything he said.
@@colemin2 I think he focused too much on the capitalism aspect which ruined his immersion.
Sorry, I didn't mean to repeat, I just wanted to emphasise that everyone else, like the mother characters where actually doing fine sticking to an honest living (which he touched on)
again... the creator of the show himself say it's a show about "capitalism" and "extreme competition" and leftist started using the show as an example of how "capitalism is bad", so nothing is overthought here. Creator of this video is just a response and he showed even examples of articles in the video saying it's about "capitalism", so your comment makes no much sense.
@@MamRadVlaky Ironically enough. The show also displayed that good can be done with capitalism. Hell the show it self was produced thanks to capitalism.
I knew I could count on you to say what I've been thinking all this time... At least the memes of the main character's serious face is decent :P
Keep on doing the good work!
These videos are fantastic. The way you use movies/TV shows as comparisons for what's going on around us in the world.
As always, great video!
It blew me away that so many people, even Kim Jong Un, reacted to Squid Game saying things like "SEE!? THIS IS WHY CAPITALISM FAILS!"
Uh, yeah, capitalism fails because you're free to choose to be unemployed and borrow money from gangsters to gamble on horse races. Sure, bro.
I'll take "shit you'd expect Kim Jong Un to say" for $300.
Would you kindly review Bioshock and the Philosophy of Andrew Ryan?
Thanks for another insightful video. I now know roughly why I was unsettled while watching the show.
I do want to ask though, I've noticed a fairly consistent trend about criticising the effect of government intervention. So I wonder, what is the role of governments? Provision of public goods and services that producers would not usually produce? Regulatory responsibility given that free markets aren't exactly free in reality (there's always some asymmetries that result in externalities).
Maybe it might be a nice video idea to see what is the role of governments. I mean most suck but they can't be all bad right? I do also want to make the distinction that I'm talking about governments, not political or governance systems like democracy or monarchy etc.
Why do capitalists always mock communists when they say "that’s not real communism" but then deflect valid criticisms of capitalism by saying "that’s not capitalism that’s actually corporatism"?
Its mostly because when communists say it, they are only really saying it to give an excuse to repeat the same mistakes of communism over and over again until people are truly coerced into thinking that communism is good. They also use it to help make the whole concept of communism more vague and open to reinterpretation thanks to wordplay.
When capitalists refer to capitalism and corporatism, both terms were clearly defined, and so the capitalists can use the terms correctly depending on the situation. If its merely the actions of private entities in free market conditions, it is capitalism. If there are interfering parties, usually governments, extremists, and people with a political agenda, it is corporatism.
Im surprised there so much commentary claiming squid game is a critique on capitalism. I never once thought the show was critiquing capitalism even after watching more than once
That's just says more about the brain washing of America than it does about the show you probably don't even understand what capitalism actually even is
you think it's an the ability to buy stuff or something like that...
@@fistpump64 😂😂😂 ok buddy 😂😂😂have a nice day
@@situzifeng No what is capitalism tell me what does capitalism mean
@@fistpump64 lol dude you can look it up in a dictionary or google or wikipedia. No need for me to explain it to you what is capitalism. I just found it hilarious that you dont even know me, but you make such rude assumption that im stupid or retarded. I dont take offence to your comment, im not new to being on the internet. Have a nice day.
It was a critique of patriarchy ! ! !
I don tunderstand why china cancel squid game. I mean, it is critic to capitalism, not communism so why cancel it.
I would love to see you do an out of frame on arcane after the last act releases, there's a lot of themes that can be touched on
I originally came to this channel because of Seamus of Freedom Toons, but these videos made me decide to stay! Keep up the great work!
I've always found your insight and videos fascinating. Sometimes repetitive but I can appreciate your frustration against an increasingly circular public discourse.
But I think this particular video is very confusing and that the confusion stems from the narrator's own feelings. You didn't want to analyze your thoughts on the topics of squid game and I think it really shows in the video.
He didn't like the show, that's why. He literally says its not healthy to spend nine hours watching human misery. What else do you need to know, other than the video's defense of capitalism
I don't have a problem with giving your show a political message.
But like, 'capitalism bad' is starting to get old, its was fine the first couple of times but its honestly played the same way every time with nothing else added and i'm getting bored.
Damn you sound entitled
@@BatmanISTheGame im sorry, is having media that critises capitalism in the same boring way everytime a human right or something? XD
@@Uniquenameosaurus Wait what?
@@BatmanISTheGame You said I sound entitled. What do you think I feel "entitled" too? More nuanced critiques of capitalism in my media?
@@Uniquenameosaurus This channel is political. You said "I'm bored."
0:04 Death games are one of the most popular manga sub-genres so maybe a few people might have seen it coming.
Yo another great video man you really do a great job informing stuff
I live in Greece, a country that was literally destroyed by private and public debt. For comparison, Greece's NPL ratio reached a high of 45% while South Korea fluctuates all these years between 0.7-1.4% !!!
Having experienced with my family what it is like to live with a debt that you can never pay back, i cant see the producers of squid game anything else other than dramatic idiots with no connection to the real world whatsoever.
Squid Game isn't just a critique of capitalism. It's a study of human nature and a look at what depths people will reach and small glimmers of hope when thrown into desperate situations. If it's a critique of everything, it's of the elites in any society and how they manipulate and torment others for entertainment (BTW, if you want a good analysis of that, I highly recommend Paul Joseph Watson's excellent video on it).
Also, as for the culpability of the contestants. I didn't really mind it. None of them was meant to be perfect. They were all just regular people who had made mistakes and were trying to improve things for themselves and their families, and just like regular people, they continued to make mistakes along the way. To me, watching that struggle and hoping for them to become better people was one of the most enjoyable and important parts of the show.
My biggest problem with the show is the twist in the end. Mainly because it made the character Gi-hun even more unlikable. Because when him and the old man bet on whether the homeless guy will survive unless someone helped him, it never came to his mind to be the guy who helps. Now because of what he just did, how is he any different than the people who watch the players suffer to survive and win?
are you planning to do an analysis on Arcane ? the funnily newest most watched on netflix
also i think it fairly explains the struggle of both sides
I enjoyed Squid game (especially since I have been around Seoul several times on business) but my take was basically the same as yours. I heard later that the talking heads thought it was a critique on capitalism but I do not think they were paying attention (to be nice).
Talking Heads? the fucking writer of the show so it's about capitalism
To me Squid game was a ringing endorsement of capitalism. Case in point the scene where they show the several squid game enforcers who were killed and hung from the ceiling because “everyone should have an equal chance.” Yep. Socialism in a nutshell.
According to some people it is about dehumanizing the masses by the elite and dividing us, and it's why there is so many occult themes, I don't remember where I heard this from though
@@Alexmarill interesting. To me it was about a bunch of losers making really bad choices.
@@TheMichaelMove that is true, though it is not really anti capitalist
literally not socialism but ok
The only part of Squid Game I like was with the policeman sneaking into the games as a pink guard to find his brother.
Squid game doesn't criticize capitalism even once. It is in fact is a show that focuses on personal responsibility. Every character in the show is a bad person. They even give them a chance to back out at one point. And everyone came back.
8:30 This is a lot like the family in Parasite. The family was composed of a bunch of intelligent, talented, and competent people whose problems seemed to stem exclusively from their own laziness. The horrible events at the end of that movie are attributable to the family lying and manipulating everyone around them. I think I heard the director played coy about any message in Parasite, but saw many people nodding their heads sagely while discussing it as a parable for capitalism.
I'm getting the same impression from Squid Game. I'm not sure what if anything the creators of Squid Game said about the show's themes, but maybe I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the message they're going for (and the message of Parasite) is that being a selfish a-hole will lead you to ruin.
@Franco Javier Carrizo Sparosvich Based on the fact you read my comment and decided my take was "poor people are lazy", I'm not sure anyone should be taking your word for what is and isn't "smart satire of social realities".
Great use of all caps, though.
Isn’t capitalism by its nature competitive? So by definition it tends to eliminate the others??
It is. It is also open, leading to lots of entrepreneurs coming up with new ideas, breaking existing business models, and adding their own ideas to the competitive field... So for as many people are being outcompeted and may lose business, new people are entering the market all the time.
@@FEEonline yes, but isn’t that by definition predatory? And also produces a lot more unnecessary stuff in the world? The fact that arms manufacturers and medicine is in the capitalist system is mind blowing and most likely immoral (other conversation) and leads to companies not wanting to cure disease, but just treating it like a chronic illness and gives the wrong incentives
@@whatitdo5966 not at all! It's the process by which we improve everyone's lives.
You are starting, incorrectly, with the assumption that there are obvious, predetermined best solutions to all sorts problems... But there aren't. We do not know what's going to be the best, most effective, efficient, etc. way to heat or cool a home; build a car; produce food; or make any of millions of other products we all use and enjoy every day. What happens is, *entrepreneurs* offer options and - in a capitalistic market economy - *consumers* choose among them, ultimately deciding which is best for them... And as that process unfolds, some entrepreneurs earn profits, others earn losses, some business models thrive, others fail, and through those price signals, we all learn how to make better products more efficiently and solve new problems that people may have never before realized could even be solved in some cases.
It's not "unnecessary" stuff. It's the rise of our standards of living as judged by the end users themselves.
@@whatitdo5966 also, neither large scale arms manufacturing nor medicine are predominately produced inside a capitalist market. They are produced inside a monopsony system where the state is the main/only buyer.
Very, very different.
@@FEEonline I'm not talking about whether it improves lives although I agree it improves some people's lives. In America the most capitalist country in the world, almost 30% of people are in debt with collectors. I know entrepreneurs is what everyone aspires to, but entrepreneurs who aren't super rich get fucked. I mean because of the stock market (I don't know if this is also part of capitalism), people's wages get cut a shit ton or don't move at all because these companies would rather pay their shareholders/CEOs get paid obscene bonuses. I don't even have a point I just wanna know your opinion, you make good content. I would also disagree with the making things more efficiently thing because I've seen too many times where things are made terribly, but maybe that has more to do with laws (lack of) and regulations as opposed to the system of capitalism itself.
is this a re-upload; I feel like I've seen this.
3:02 What shows are in these 10 seconds?
Surely daddy government will prevent me from making or realizing the negative consequences of my bad decisions without any unintended consequences or abuses of power!
This guy’s comments about North Korea expose his deliberate omission of important lines from Squid Game, and his refusal to research cultural context before writing his script.
In episode 6, when the characters play marble games, the South Korean girl Ji-yeong asks the North Korean girl Sae-byeok if life is better in the South than the North. Sae-byeok does not answer in words, but shows a pained expression in silence.
Many North Korean refugees find life in South Korea to be incredibly hard. There is wealth visible everywhere, but it is difficult to reach when you start from the bottom and society considers you to be an outsider.
Furthermore, North Koreans tend to have strong bonds with their communities, partially because they do not have so many modern distractions isolating them from each other, but also because of well… communism. In contrast, South Koreans are forced to compete with each other as individuals for good jobs, spouses, and social status in a capitalist system, and they often suffer in solitude even living in their own community. So there are many reasons why some North Koreans willingly go back to their home country even after reaching South Korea.
But just as important, South Korean law does not allow you to say in media that the North is better than the South. That’s right, in a supposed liberal democracy, citizens do not have the freedom of speech to critique the South by way of comparison to the North. That means Sae-byeok’s silence is not only a protest against the cruelties of South Korean capitalism, but the hypocrisy of South Korean liberalism.
... Then how come she's betting her life to bring her mother over and not just returning herself and her brother? Isn't the mere fact that she's there kind of destroys your argument?
Furthermore, you do know that it is necessary for liberalism to not restrict the rights of the citizens, above all the right of free speech. So you kind of just admitted it's not liberalism.
Squid Game can't be wrong about capitalism, because it isn't about capitalism.
My primary critique of capitalism (from someone who greatly prefers it over other systems) is that it fosters a mentality of consumerism and materialism. When in order to succeed you have to appeal to what people want, sometimes/eventually that involves appealing to their base desires in a way that erodes the morality of a culture at large. As an example, “sex sells” is a branding technique that capitalizes on our powerful desire to procreate by associating products with sex, and when such a thing as sex is part of daily life in the things you see publicly, it lessens what sex means in private. I think this plays some part in hookup culture and the subsequent decline of the family, when sex is so public it has lost its sanctity in marriage. What I’m saying is that capitalism can lead to idolatry of products and trends, when your life is dictated by the next pop album so we get to the point where shit like WAP is one of the most popular pieces of music. I think this kind of consumerism is spiritually and morally deleterious on the culture, and I believe that capitalism is best when a moral and virtuous people precede it.
I saw it as simple take on moral failings and their consequences when you keep making immoral choices.
Capitalism is the BACKDROP because only in a free Capitalist society can the consequences of the individual's moral failings be of the most significant.
In top down societies, you have no agency, therefore no choice, no possibility to be immoral.
The morality/immorality and it's consequences lie mainly with the State/ruling class.
This is what critics of Capitalism fail to recognize. The "problems" with Capitalism are actually with the moral failings of the individuals within that system, which is why Capitalism is only as successful as the members of it's practicing society share and hold a common moral belief system.
Every system is subject to moral failings of the humans using it. The strength of Capitalism is those lie at the level of the individual, and thus less problems are created for the society as a whole should they fail in being moral (as we see in Squid Game). In an authoritarian structure, it only takes the moral failing of the leader (or few leaders in charge) to screw everything up and wreak suffering the consequences upon everyone, including bringing the whole system down.
Spoken by a clown with no class consciousness
Hey bro, how come you conveniently leave out the part where Gi-hun lost his job after a brutal crackdown of a worker's strike at his factory? Was that his fault? how could he have utilizaed his free enterprise to prevent that from happening? Did you miss the part (I know, it's only the second episode after all, it must be hard for you to watch something for that long) where every player voluntarily returned to the game because they literally thought a game of life and death was preferable to the *real life* capitalist society they lived in? Was it Ali's fault that his employer refused to pay him? Was it Saebyeok's fault that her status as a social minority (a North Korean) disadvantaged her in the free market and prevented her from accruing capital legitamately? how could they have helped any of that purely through their will and effort? they thought winning a death game seemed more likely than ever earning enough money in a capitalist world. that was the fucking point!
This disingenuous arse (the video creator) has no problem sarcastically responding to someone (recently) when they expected a more rigorous definition of communism. But when someone like you brings out legitimate criticisms, complete silence.
Wonderful analysis. I hope you won't think ill of me for saying I still enjoyed the show. I agree that Gi-Hun was, as you say, the architect of his own misfortune, but I developed a sympathy for him making an effort to do something different. It was his love for his daughter that seemed to finally put him on a better path...even if that path ran straight through a battle royale. His inability to prevent the death of his mother and his resistance to using the prize money illustrated, for me, the ineffectiveness of wealth to solve the really big problems. This message was hammered home when we learn of the origins of the squid game in the final act, all the money/power/access in the world can't create contentment for you, as Gi-Hun learns. It's the law of diminishing returns, and I hope Gi-Hun realizes this more fully...after he goes full John Wick on the gamemasters in season 2.
Great video. I'd really like to hear your opinion on the US healthcare system.
What you miss is that they all CHOSE to play the game even after they knew they would likely die. It's a perfect depiction of how the supposedly 'voluntary free market' is not actually free and voluntary in a real sense, because the comsequences of turning down an economic opportunity are so severe.
Now, we can say that many of these people made bad choices- and that is often true, yet I think most people would agree just because you made some bad choices that shouldn't condemn you to misery for the rest of your life. Also, it fails to see where bad choices come from, often they come out of pure desperation or out of mental ilnesses, which is made worse by their material conditions.
I could say many other things about this video, but in summary it deliberately misconstrudes the true lessons frol this show in order to push the FEE's narrative. Which ofc is to be expected given that these videos are sponsored by big money donors.
In squid game you choose to join but then cannot choose to leave.
likewise you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to Shoot your way out
"It's a perfect depiction of how the supposedly 'voluntary free market' is not actually free and voluntary in a real sense, because the comsequences of turning down an economic opportunity are so severe."
Except it is free and voluntary as evidenced by the people that LEFT the game. And the point of that vote was not to force people back, but to remind them of their OWN situations that they dug themselves. The games never altered these people's lives before getting in. That was their choice and it was also their choice to go for broke and die instead of making it in the real world.
@@jakelee7083 They literally can't leave unless everyone voted to do so, like in real life. Many people want out of this cronyism you guys seem to be shouting about, though again, we just call that capitalism, and aren't you the same guys who say "capitalism breeds innovation", disregarding how electric cars weren't sold to the market because of big oil and coal, and "capitalism is efficient", if by efficient, you mean what a fucking waste of resources, 1/3 of American food goes to the bin, among other things?
My mom asked me why I love Marvel. It's because it's hopeful. No matter how bad a situation seems there's hope that it gets better. Even something dark (by Marvel's standards) like Endgame, Infinity War and Black Widow, there is that sliver of hope that the heroes will win.
Meanwhile, she watches gritty hyper real shows like Shameless and Squid Game.
Then again, people get bored of such movies despite displaying such levels of hope because its so redundant, overplayed and a cop-out. Isabela from Encanto has said that she is sick of something pretty and wants something real. Oh btw, Encanto managed ti be hopeful yet so real in most parts that it was a compelling movie. On average, a show like Squid Game just genuinely appeals because it was so real one way or another. But that doesn't mean I don't support movies that try to be hopeful. I just don't support movies or any form of medium and especially advices from anyone that just forces positivity and optimism. Because when you force that on others, it's just toxic.
Using your example as Marvel. Yeah I can see people love Endgame because it was genuine in bringing such hope sensibly and not in any distracting contrivance. Something like Black Widow? Absolutely predictable and forced positivity just because she's Black Widow. Absolutely disappointing of a movie despite the saving performances of the actors.
A movie or any form of medium is splendid, superb or spectacular if it is genuine with itself. If its not and its just either optimism or cynicism for the sake of it, then it's just not good.
I didnt even see this as anti capitalism. This show actually has nothing to do with capitalism
I agree with you on almost everything, but you far underestimate how difficult it is to get a job. It's worsened even further by online applications.
You kinda skipped over how the main guy had a very productive job, but was brutalized and fired for trying to unionize for better working conditions. A very common issue in capitalism. You can complain about "cronyism" all you want, but at the end of the day it is capitalism which creates cronyism.
@brien I think you have it backward.
Children are the ones who think that throwing tantrums, hitting people, ignoring other people's property rights and taking things that don't belong to you are OK.
Adults respect other people's choices and property rights.
As for the thing you think I "skipped"... Gi-hun made the decision to do something he knew his employer wouldn't like. *No one* should get physically hurt or arrested for simply striking, of course, and anyone who does try to force people to work for them should be in jail... But none of that changes the fact that Gi-hun made the initial choice, and he made a ton of choices after that. Getting fired didn't make him never get another job. It didn't make him a terrible father. It didn't make him gamble away all his money after promising he would take his daughter out to dinner. It didn't make him steal from his mother and try to cheat nearly everyone he meets.
And if you think that his experience is a "very common issue" under capitalism, wait til you find out what happens in socialist countries that don't care about human rights at all.
allthatsinteresting.com/cannibal-island
@@FEEonline Doing something "your employer doesn't like" is grounds enough to have your livelihood taken away? And what if the employer does something their employee doesn't like? Whats their punishment? Very voluntary and free system you have there. As for not getting another job, that was explicitly explained in the show and is historically accurate. Korea had a massive economic crisis which saw a huge percentage of the population lose their jobs. After that, millions of jobs moved overseas to countries with poorer worker rights. The jobs market has still not recovered to this day and many people have not been able to find a job since. That is a very real story for thousands of Koreans and a problem directly caused by capitalism. There's a reason this show resonated so hard with people.
I won't defend his decision to steal from his mom. I think the show is pretty explicit in condemning that action. But that doesn't make him an automatically bad person. He was desperate. Put in a desperate situation by a system entirely outside his control. Desperate people do stupid things. But also, what was he supposed to do? He wasn't exactly buying Lamborghinis. He took out loans from predatory people because the alternative was homelessness and probably death. He wasn't gambling for fun. He was gambling because that was the only chance he saw to not get tortured to death by loan sharks. Maybe a system which forces people to make those decisions isn't as free and voluntary as you'd like to think. I won't even bother clicking that link. It's just a whataboutism. Yeah bad things happen in socialist countries too. Oooo got me.
@@dannehrbass2977 if you do something your employer doesn't like, they no longer need to employ you and give you money. If they do something you don't like, you no longer need to provide your time and labor to them.
He wasn't in a desperate situation. He was in a stupid one of his own making. He didn't need to take out loans or be homeless. He took out loans to gamble. We're we even watching the same show?
In any case... South Korea is massively wealthier than North Korea *because* of capitalism. It is one of the greatest natural experiments you could get in economics. A tale of two approaches to economic organization.
By the way... South Korea's unemployment rate has averaged around 3.5% for over a decade, with the very brief exception of the end of 2020/beginning of 2021 where it peaked at 5.5%.
@@dannehrbass2977 and no, not just "bad things"... *vastly* worse things. Constantly.
Great video, but you missed the part where author of the show himself said it's about how capitalism is evil and he was inspired by the poverty he lived in while he was trying to sell a screenplay. He wanted to demonstrate how "extreme competition looks like" and so on. Ironically Squid Game show made him rich, lol.
The problem of course is that he has no idea what capitalism is and his analogy makes no sense. Too bad the show made many leftist wet how "deeeeeep" it is.
I enjoyed the show overall, but the capitalism thing is really absurd.
Anti capitalism show make the anti capitalism creator rich and consumed by anti capitalism consumer. The beauty of capitalism.
The purpose of power is more power and power corrupts while absolute power corrupts absolutely.
hey I know you probably don't very much care but I'd be interested to maybe debate abit on what is the message of squid game