Who Really Has The Power In Squid Game?
Squid Game has taken the world by storm, becoming a global phenomenon, with its candy coated killer kids games that expertly explores its characters and the balance between society’s powerful and powerless. We follow Gi-Hun, an absent father who is struggling through life following his failed marriage, gambling problems, and debt issues. He meets a man at the train station who offers him the opportunity of a lifetime and ends up kidnapped into a Battle Royale to the death alongside 456 other contestants to win a life changing pot of money… but is it all worth it in the end? And do any of the people in this story actually have any power?
Inspired by the violent, competitive, albeit beloved Korean children’s games of the same name, Squid Game balances nostalgia with terror as the contestants play red light green light, honey combs, tug of war, marbles, and hopscotch… but there are deadly meanings set up from the minute the show begin.
From the circle, triangle, and square shapes that symbolize the squid game and are hidden everywhere from the set to business cards to the masks worn to show ranks, to the over the top size of structures, representing the hierarchy in the game, everything has a meaning. All people are supposedly created equal, but the reality is that we’re not treated that way. Everyone that participates in this game is just trying to survive in today’s society, whether its trying to reunite their family like Sae-byeok, or trying to provide for their family like Ali, but they’re unable to catch a break. These are everyday people just like us viewers who are just trying to succeed and be happy, but the real world isn’t as easy as all that, as the show dives into an allegory of a capitalist society and how we ourselves are always fighting for our lives… often pitted against each other.
Shades of red and green are prominent throughout the show and the colors are set up from the beginning to seemingly represent the powerful vs the powerless. From red light green light to the colors of the wardrobe the guards vs the players wear, this was done purposefully.
In the first episode of Squid Game, a mysterious salesman knows Gi-Hun is struggling with debt and invites him to play a life-changing game with him by picking either a red or blue card. He chooses the blue card, becoming a player in the Squid Game, though it’s seems likely that people who chose red might became guards in the game. Was it really up to a color difference that could’ve changed Gi-Hun’s role in the game? Would choosing red have put him in a position of power?
Regardless of his choice, to me, the pink and green represents a false power divide.
While the players are just seen as numbers and a gambling bet, it seems like the guards have power and are in control, right? The shapes on their masks depict how much power they each have with circles being workers, triangles being guards, and squares being more managerial. It seems the more angles, the more power… as we see The Front Man has many contours on his mask, while The VIPs have even more intricate masks. But taking a closer look it seems the Playstation controller masked people are in similar position to the players…and are just as powerless. They are numbers as well, they sleep in cells, and they are killed when they fall out of line. If anything, they are the workers being taken advantage of too, being forced to do the dirty work of the higher, wealthier corporation.
At the end of the first episode, all the players vote pressing red or green buttons for if they want to stay in the game or leave. The vote starts backwards with Gi-Hun aka the lowest number, and ends with number 1 Il-Nam, the person who seems the weakest to those playing but ultimately has the deciding vote. When you find out the truth about Il-Nam, the power balance between pink and green goes completely out the window because the reality is neither group is in control — Il-Nam is the one with the power.
Dive even further into this power divide and the truth about Il-Nam in my video, above.
