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TheDougler
Canada8304 Posts
Who's your favorite character? How do you think it holds up as a critique of capitalism? For myself it got me thinking... In the past I've often criticized people who view capitalism as only a series of zero sum games. I hadn't thought enough about how that might reflect them growing up with a much harder life full of more zero sum games than I've had. | ||
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riotjune
United States3392 Posts
Some people really overestimate their own capabilities while ignoring their circumstances or good luck when crediting themselves with their own successes. What better way to justify one's sorry existence otherwise? I myself hold Sang-woo's attitude towards team games: all my wins is due to me carrying my useless teammates (despite going 0/11/2 heh), all my losses is because they were dragging me down. Another reason why 1v1 games aren't as popular, I don't think I can handle taking the L all by myself like a lot of other people! Call it a coping mechanism if you will. Poor people and losers deserve their shit circumstances because they are stupid and lazy. Winners like rich politicians consistently outperform Wall Street in the stock market because they are smart, talented, and hard-working (inside information from the FBI or CIA has nothing to do with it, no siree). It's attitudes like this that makes it easier for everyone to accept inequality. People just need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, while ignoring some don't have boots to begin with. You can't choose where, when, and who you're born to, God decides that. Do you believe the starting line is the same for everyone, assuming they all have running shoes on? Fortunately or unfortunately, the solution to being successful is a paradoxical one in that you need to hold Sang-woo's attitude if you want to succeed, because you believe you are the master of your own fate and thus this results in a self-fulfilling prophecy. And if you win out, you will see the world as being fair, just like a lot of successful people despite this being the result of survivorship bias. It's just that people like Gi-hun are more mindful of their good luck and remember they got help from other people to get to where they are today, and thus are more kind and empathetic to those around them or less fortunate. Anyway I'm drunk right now and idk how I got all that from a TV show. | ||
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AmericanUmlaut
Germany2577 Posts
The bad: + Show Spoiler + Kang Sae-byeok's death The good: The Red Light, Green Light game was iconic, and a few of the performances (Seong Gi-hun, Player 001, Kang Sae-byeok) were outstanding, as was the visual design of the enire show. I definitely feel like it was worth the time I spent with it. I was really surprised when I read that there was talk of a sequel. A story like Squid Game relies so much on the layer-by-layer peeling back of what is really going on; I really liked it, but I can't really imagine what would make me want to watch another season. | ||
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Harris1st
Germany6888 Posts
On October 11 2021 21:05 AmericanUmlaut wrote: I enjoyed it overall, but it was definitely a pretty mixed bag quality wise. The bad: + Show Spoiler + Kang Sae-byeok's death The good: The Red Light, Green Light game was iconic, and a few of the performances (Seong Gi-hun, Player 001, Kang Sae-byeok) were outstanding, as was the visual design of the enire show. I definitely feel like it was worth the time I spent with it. I was really surprised when I read that there was talk of a sequel. A story like Squid Game relies so much on the layer-by-layer peeling back of what is really going on; I really liked it, but I can't really imagine what would make me want to watch another season. Season 2 is go bigger of course! | ||
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Erasme
Bahamas15899 Posts
Kinda surprised that + Show Spoiler + it wasn't the island side goal to harvest participants organs but just some staff The vips had the classic asian dialog for westerners, hilariously terrible | ||
Nakajin
Canada8989 Posts
The premice is fun, the game themselves were good, the main actor was great and the ending twist was neat, but I really could have done without the supporting cast melodrama, the stuff about the police officer or the stuff with VIP and the inner working of the game and all that. Also, I don't know if it's just me, but I felt like they were hitting the "Women are worst at this" nail a lot. I'm not someone usually too bother with things like this in my silly B-movies, but after a while it felt kind of odd to come back to it. | ||
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Razyda
687 Posts
Admittedly I must say I have no idea how "Squid Game" became so popular. Few years ago I became big fan of KDramas, unfortunately for me among the first few I watched was "Signal" and "Stranger/Forest of Secrets" season 1. After watching those two, quite frankly everything else seems somewhat lacking. "Squid Game" actually feels like western TV show with Korean actors rather than Korean Drama. Must also admit though that after first half an hour couldn't stand main character any more, so that probably affects my opinion of this show. | ||
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ETisME
12384 Posts
Alice in borderland is a lot more polished imo, shame it didn't get nearly as much attention | ||
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Emnjay808
United States10655 Posts
There were times where drama was forced and we’re supposed to care about some characters that had like 2min screen time prior to their death scene, but those are tolerable. | ||
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Hyperbola
United States2536 Posts
Good:
Bad
Overall, I'd say it's a pretty good show. I'm not sure how they're gonna follow up with a second season. The only thing I can think of is if they have a new cast of players that goes through the game (with new games this time) while 456 works behind the scenes to try and take the organization down kind of like the cop did. Regardless, whatever they do, I doubt the second season will even compare to the first, since all of the mystery and novelty are basically gone. Unless they do the anime thing where they say "this main antagonist/organization? they're actually nothing! they were just pawns working for the real antagonist...!" | ||
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Harris1st
Germany6888 Posts
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RKC
2848 Posts
On October 15 2021 22:36 Harris1st wrote: I started watching Alice in Borderland now to have some comparison Which is better? I've only watched Squid Game. Mixed feelings. Great visuals, but predictable plot and twists. I'm more of a fan of Jap stories. Which are wilder and wackier, but seem more 'realistic' within their universe. In contrast, Korean stories are less 'realistic ' because they try too hard to be grounded on the real world. I really wish Netflix, HBO, or Amazon would make a series out of 'Battle Royale'. Nothing beats the legend! | ||
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Harris1st
Germany6888 Posts
On October 17 2021 23:28 RKC wrote: Which is better? I've only watched Squid Game. Mixed feelings. Great visuals, but predictable plot and twists. I'm more of a fan of Jap stories. Which are wilder and wackier, but seem more 'realistic' within their universe. In contrast, Korean stories are less 'realistic ' because they try too hard to be grounded on the real world. I really wish Netflix, HBO, or Amazon would make a series out of 'Battle Royale'. Nothing beats the legend! Hmm... difficult. I'd say Squid is more realistic in a "this could be possible" kinda way. Acting is about the same level Character building I would slighly favor Alice Story I would also give the edge to Alice | ||
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Poopi
France12790 Posts
On October 17 2021 23:28 RKC wrote: Which is better? I've only watched Squid Game. Mixed feelings. Great visuals, but predictable plot and twists. I'm more of a fan of Jap stories. Which are wilder and wackier, but seem more 'realistic' within their universe. In contrast, Korean stories are less 'realistic ' because they try too hard to be grounded on the real world. I really wish Netflix, HBO, or Amazon would make a series out of 'Battle Royale'. Nothing beats the legend! Squid game is miles better than AiB (imo), alice in borderlands is originally a manga and it shows it's a live action (in a bad way) -> kinda cringe / unrealistic, first half (pre "beach") is decent / good, but the second half starting from the beach is far worse | ||
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RKC
2848 Posts
The thing is, the game doesn't have to be built at such scale for the same story to run. But the scale was necessary for the visual impact. Anyway, the show was enjoyable, but overrated. The games progressively got worse (purely luck). I'm curious as to how a sequel will unfold, but I can't imagine how the story can improve from here. Still, I'm happy for South Korea and Asia. Hopefully this paves the way for more investment in the region. (By 'realistic', I mean realistic within the internal logic of a story's universe - whether based on real life or fantasy. A story can be based on realism yet unrealistic. A story can be realistic without being based on realism.) | ||
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Excludos
Norway8046 Posts
On October 19 2021 03:16 RKC wrote: I don't find Squid Game realistic at all. How does a project of such scale get covered up? All the workers get paid millions? The police get bribed? Hundreds of people going missing within few days can't go unnoticed. And what about the contestants who don't return (the show hints that they are being monitored... but for their entire lifetime???) The thing is, the game doesn't have to be built at such scale for the same story to run. But the scale was necessary for the visual impact. Anyway, the show was enjoyable, but overrated. The games progressively got worse (purely luck). I'm curious as to how a sequel will unfold, but I can't imagine how the story can improve from here. Still, I'm happy for South Korea and Asia. Hopefully this paves the way for more investment in the region. (By 'realistic', I mean realistic within the internal logic of a story's universe - whether based on real life or fantasy. A story can be based on realism yet unrealistic. A story can be realistic without being based on realism.) I wouldn't say it's unrealistic just because we don't know. Bribed police chiefs would immediately explain why 456 missing people, who society doesn't give a shit about, goes unnoticed. Yeah, an operation at this scale would indeed be difficult to cover up, but it's not like large illegal organizations who literally kidnaps and rapes children, fronted by some of the richest in the world, hasn't been a thing up until very recently (And that's only the one who know of). And at the end of the day, what is the police going to do when some random people tries to report a large conspiracy like this? I'm willing to bet they would react pretty close to how it happened in the show. This series has a lot to say about human psyche, society, and how humans treat each other. And while some parts are clearly exaggerated, I'd say it's hitting the nails very accurate. | ||
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Harris1st
Germany6888 Posts
On October 19 2021 03:16 RKC wrote: I don't find Squid Game realistic at all. How does a project of such scale get covered up? All the workers get paid millions? The police get bribed? Hundreds of people going missing within few days can't go unnoticed. And what about the contestants who don't return (the show hints that they are being monitored... but for their entire lifetime???) The thing is, the game doesn't have to be built at such scale for the same story to run. But the scale was necessary for the visual impact. Anyway, the show was enjoyable, but overrated. The games progressively got worse (purely luck). I'm curious as to how a sequel will unfold, but I can't imagine how the story can improve from here. Still, I'm happy for South Korea and Asia. Hopefully this paves the way for more investment in the region. (By 'realistic', I mean realistic within the internal logic of a story's universe - whether based on real life or fantasy. A story can be based on realism yet unrealistic. A story can be realistic without being based on realism.) This could literally happen right now in some 3rd world country and we'd never know... Imagine some drug lord in South America or some blood diamond warlord in Africa. You think somebody cares about some poor souls over there? | ||
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RKC
2848 Posts
On October 19 2021 16:43 Harris1st wrote: This could literally happen right now in some 3rd world country and we'd never know... Imagine some drug lord in South America or some blood diamond warlord in Africa. You think somebody cares about some poor souls over there? Yes, it is realistic if the story was set in some third world country (or dystopian Tokyo in the future or alternate reality ala Battle Royale). But not South Korea in real time. That's all I'm saying. | ||
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stilt
France2749 Posts
And only the fifth game could be considered as fully luck based but its point wasn't about being fair. It was more about showing the lack of cohesion and sacrifice of the contestants in this competitive environement, just like irl, basically the show wants to point out the destruction of social link and solidarity mecanically created by poverty and extreme competition. | ||
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RKC
2848 Posts
But the VIPs don't get to watch all of that. They only get to watch the games without knowing the inner conflicts. As rich and corrupted people may be, surely there are much more rewarding and exciting games that they can invest in. Sports, or some secretive mortal kombat death match. I can understand how the VIP angle was added to give more depth in the anti-capitalism theme. But it was laughably unrealistic, that the message gets diluted. Anyway, on the positive side, I would recommend Kingdom on Netflix. The zombie apocalypse has been done to death, but the story set in medieval times gives an exotic spin. | ||
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