The 2nd season of the Korean series Squid Game was recently released on Netflix, and in another blog post I already explained my problems and mistrust with the Launch of series on Netflix and Co expressed. So I've only just watched the series Squid Game, worried that there might not be a second season. The series itself is really good, without spoilers, good characters and actors, a story that you can follow and actors who control the whole thing in the background.
But in this post I don't want to talk about the series as a cinematic dramaturgy, which is undoubtedly great and where Hollywood could take a cue from, this post is about an analysis and philosophical reflection.
Spoiler warning: If you haven't watched the series yet, we recommend that you do so before reading on.
Squid Game - The greed for more
One thing becomes clear again and again in the series: even if you think that this deadly game is cruel, none of the participants are really forced to play, anyone can make use of the rule and stop the game by majority vote. If someone comes back, it is their own decision. And although this rule is used in both seasons, the negative character of the people prevails.
The fascinating thing is that people who are heavily in debt don't see it as a real choice, either they would be so indebted their whole life that they could no longer lead a life and possibly have their organs removed by loan sharks, or they have the chance to buy their way out of these debts, with the risk of dying in the process. All voluntarily, of course.
The participants you meet always have different motivations, everyone has debts for different reasons, but mostly it's greed or gambling. But when you think about it, if the players go home with the money they are already owed, why should they continue to gamble? What remains is their greed for more, just one more game, and again just one more game, over and over again.... This becomes particularly clear in the second season.
Is money worth human life?
In the first season it's a bit different, because while in the second season the money is divided among the remaining participants, in the first season the participants can only finish the game with a majority, but go home without money, so there's a moral dilemma here, because your own debts don't disappear, the people who lost their lives would have died in vain and the suffering and agony you had to endure remain with you as your own trauma, without getting anything in return.
After all that has happened, is it morally right to simply break off and accept the suffering that has been caused for everyone, or should you be the last one left and live a carefree life with the blood money of the dead? Not to mention the nightmares you would then have to endure and the feelings of guilt that would gnaw at you.
In the end it is a hypothetical, what if question, which is not uncommon in philosophy and everyone will answer differently, I myself think that in such a situation morality no longer matters, but it is a survival instinct to simply want to survive, there is then no right or wrong when it comes to your own survival. In the series, this even goes so far that you can't even trust a once helpful friend and they betray you. Sadly, this behavior can also be seen in reality, even if not to such an extent that you would think that would betray and deceive their loved ones with little money.
Especially in the second season, I think the theme of greed is more prominent, as it introduces bigger debtors who prefer to keep playing and are willing to walk over the dead bodies of those who just want to get out to get back to their family, remembering what is actually more important than money.
Friends and confidants
Leaving aside the issue of greed, there is another component to Squid Game that gives us hope of getting to know people who trust each other and try to help each other stay alive for as long as possible in order to be able to break off the game together as a majority. But perhaps this is exactly what makes someone realize that life is about more than money and that those you trust so much will cause you even more pain if you can't save yourself together.
I think that even if this series is fiction (and hopefully remains so, not like Medvedev made the suggestion to South Korea), there would certainly be people in reality who are greedy enough to win. Because there is a slightly hidden hint in the series that if you have too much money, you won't be any happier and you will come up with ideas that are beyond the thinking of normal people.
And that's not far-fetched, if you have too much money, you would sooner or later no longer feel happinessbecause you can have everything at any time, this is not meant to be a criticism of wealth, but rather a reminder that happiness is part of the journey you take and that you are happier about something if you have worked for it yourself in order to be able to afford it.
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