#MoralityInSquidGame

[thesovietgerman]

What Issues Raises "The Squid Game"

The Squid Game, the popular South Korean series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, addresses important and timely social issues.

Class Struggle and Economic Inequality

The most central issue in Squid Game is wealth disparity. The players are all deeply in debt or financially desperate, reflecting the harsh realities of capitalism and the widening gap between the rich and poor. The VIPs—wealthy elites who watch the games for entertainment—represent how the ultra-rich are often disconnected from, and complicit in, the suffering of the less fortunate. They treat the games—and human lives—as sport, highlighting moral detachment and systemic abuse.

Many characters are trapped in debt with no way out, symbolizing how financial systems can exploit the vulnerable. The show reflects real-life pressures such as predatory lending and medical expenses.

2. Exploitation and Dehumanization

Players are treated like disposable commodities, paralleling how modern laborers—especially the poor—can be exploited for profit. The games strip away individuality, reducing people to numbers and spectacle, mirroring how society can dehumanize the marginalized.

3. Survival Ethics and Human Nature

The show poses difficult moral questions: What are people willing to do to survive? Will they betray others? Can empathy survive in a system built on competition?

These dilemmas reflect how harsh economic systems can erode community and trust.

4. Selfishness and greed

The show uses the brutal competition for a massive cash prize to explore how these traits emerge under extreme pressure—and what they reveal about human nature and society.

The premise is built on greed. Players return to the deadly game voluntarily, knowing the risks, because the prize money is seen as their only way out of poverty or disgrace. As the games progress, alliances break down, and players begin betraying each other to increase their own odds of survival. Perhaps the most painful example of selfishness is in the marble game, where players are forced to eliminate someone they trust—often through deceit.

Cho Sang-woo, Im Jeong-dae, Nam-gyu, Lee Myung-gi are portraits of how ambition and greed can corrupt a person.

Wealthy elites who watch the games for entertainment represent greed in its most grotesque form. Their detachment and amusement at others' suffering show how greed can completely erase empathy.

Squid Game portrays selfishness and greed not as flaws of a few individuals, but as behaviors encouraged—even required—by a brutal, unequal system.

5. Immigration and Marginalized Communities

Through characters like Ali, a Pakistani migrant worker, the show highlights the vulnerability and exploitation of immigrants and minorities. It emphasizes how systemic barriers prevent them from achieving stability or justice.

6. Mental Health and Despair

The mental toll of poverty, trauma, and loss is a recurring element. Suicide, addiction, and emotional numbness are shown as consequences of social neglect and inequality.