I would want them but uh I don’t even have my ears pierced

Ahhhh Xiran I'm so proud of you! I'm so happy about your recent book success, and am always so happy to see your new vids. Keep it up my dude 💖💖💖

Mmmm, yum

Hey Xiran, are you ever going to cover Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3 on your Channel? As well as Wish Dragon?

I have that dress~

@@ilijaan have you heard of Cuba? North Korea? Russia? Countries bound to communism and socialism are living IN POVERTY. Saying that Capitalism is evil is untrue vice versa with Socialism. The problem is when people abuse those powers

@@Error_-ct2vp WRONG!

@@Error_-ct2vp Oh dear hear we go... Okay forst Xolopitili never said socialism Marxism communism or any of the alleged evil social economical isms were better. He simply said a negative statement about capitalism. I'm going to take it a step further and respond directly to your comment... The United States might be the only country in the world capable or nearly capable of pulling off some sort of socialist communist social economic and governing system. Weird thing for me to say right? Not really the problem is that the global economy and therefore each modern National economy requires trade. Out of the 100 plus countries in the world no country is big enough to have everything needed resource and climate wise. The US is probably the closest and Russia or China is probably the second closest with Brazil being third or fourth. No country has everything required to be self-sustaining and still maintain this modern lifestyle that we have grown accustomed to. So what does any of that that I just said have to do with anything? All of the countries that you mentioned were sanctioned or excommunicated from the greater part of the rest of the global economy. Russia attempted to create a secondary Communist global economy but got too busy trying to compete with US armaments while simultaneously building up multiple other nations and of course Joseph Stalin got it off to a terrible start with his purges. Funny thing about purging people capable of replacing you: you will also purge the people that you need for everything to work. Okay sorry back on topic the poster never said anything about any other form of social economic governance just that there was a problem with capitalism. Also the countries you mentioned were intentionally cut off from the rest of the global economy so they would fail. Haiti became a country after freeing itself from French colonial rule and immediately the United States refused to recognize or trade with it, blockaded other countries from trading with it, and the majority of the rest of the global economy did the same. I can't declare Haiti as being capitalist specifically but it certainly was not socialist, communist, or Marxist. It was a brand new nation with a brand new social economic governance that was essentially forced to fail using the same tactics that brought about the economies of the countries that you mentioned.

@@ilijaan I think you need to edit "white men" with "ruling class". The newly Capitalist Russia Federation is almost all "white" and yet the majority of citizens still suffers economically. I will however admit that generally speaking the "ruling class" is white men but not always.

@@ilijaan what are you talking about

they were like hmm should we pay people good wages? or exploit children. Exploit children it is.

Even people who like capitalism in theory have to recognize that its current crop of advocates suck in practice.

Next thing they're gonna ban abortion and limit contraception, so poor families will end up having more and more poor children who will have no choice but to work, just to survive and feed their younger siblings...... Oh wait, that's already happening. Women (who are rich enough) are already travelling to different states and countries to get abortion. And 14-year-olds around the world are already working to feed their younger siblings. Great. Who needs to read dystopia novels when we're already living in it.

One the one hand, we could pay people a decent wage so they are willing to work for us. One the other hand, child labor.

i've said it before i'll say it again; cyberpunk fiction is better than our current reality. we are just as dystopic as all but the most extreme cyberpunk fiction but we lack the technological advancements and the escape from poverty through unorthodox means. in Shadowrun or Cyberpunk even someone with absolutely no advantages in life (someone to teach hacking/magic/engerneering/other-black-market-skill or spirits or a hook up for tech/drugs/whatever) could just hurt or kill some people (who probably deserve it even!) for money then use a deepdive VR system to escape hell until they need to pay for food again, and someone with some small advantage could probably do something far less violent for the same escape. in real life there is no easy escape and stepping too far out of line will get you thrown in jail or put into a worse financial situation than when you started.

its the same mental gymnastics they went thru when parasite came out lol these ppl are so out of touch its fucking crazy

Exept it is there stupidity that got them there

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl Except it isn't, the entire system is shit.

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl Sometimes it's their stupidity, sometimes it's bad luck, sometimes its a combination of various factors, regardless they all suffer the same.

@@shadenox8164 people made billions in that system despite being mid class or even lower

Fairness is fundamentally unachievable, because humans arent born equal, and I dont mean rich or poor, black or white, I mean everyone has different physical and mental capacities thus we're all unequal.

@@mrmr4622 A true equality may be unattainable, but we can, and should, take that into account and give assistance to people who need it to make life more equitable.

@@logic_error ah, equity, of course this word would come up.. You mean that equity that openly discriminates against Asians trying to get into university? The equity that says you need to hire a woman based on quota even if she might be less qualified for the job? Yeah, all of that sounds very fair. What's next, gonna hire a blind guy as a surgeon?

@@mrmr4622 First of all you don't seem to know what the word means. Secondly, if a blind guy somehow finishes medschool and passes his exams to the point he's able to become a surgeon, then absolutely I'd want to hire him.

@@mrmr4622 $50 says this is the only context in which you give a shit about the plight of Asians

Exactly! Everyone has their own unique skills. The Deok-Su's tug of war team won from strength, but nothing was changed in that. I don't believe that was even about equality. The VIPs were upset, so the rules were changed to please them

It's definitely a commentary on how the elite figuratively move the goalposts in their favor.

@@leamonty2992 Nothing was fair in the game.

@@arcturionblade1077 Like with covid? But lefties seem to love that tho

@@mrmr4622 Do you mean fuckin studies and research and science discovering NEW things about a NEW disease to try and keep us all safe? Yes - we do love that lol And we hate capitalism ✌🏾

Sorry but the series did show democracy right 51 percent get to inforce there descions on the other 49 percent

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl it's a false democracy because it was a forced decision. Ultimately most of the players came back because they had no other choice. And something tells me the ones that didn't go back died.

@@rachael4345 iirc the front man instructed his goons to just keep tabs on those who leave. But yeah, things look pretty grim nonetheless

@@rachael4345 Somewhat an illusion of choice then? The people don't really have a choice because of lifestyle and/or environmental factors

I feel the same way. It's been frustrating to see all these takes on the show that don't really account for context and don't seem to realize that Gi-Hun's victory was completely hollow, a fact that the character knows.

I-

Really good point. Seems like we forgot that despite the messages, we forgot about the story as entertainment too.

Not really. We know that they're not really being hurt and that it's all for show. All the actors went home to their nice homes at the end of the day, if they were truly suffering, than yes, but these people are being paid to read lines off a script for money. Let's not mix fiction and reality here. Vips are integrated into the show as a direct cause of the characters suffering. The audience is merely watching actors on a screen pretend to be hurt. By your logic, the director and the writer would be more like VIPS because they're "making" these characters suffer. Unlike VIPS also, no one has a say on who dies or not, these actions already happened long before the audience came into the picture and we're merely watching a scripted replay. The VIPS are bad people because they're playing with actual human lives in the context of the story, the audience is paying 8.99 a month to watch people being paid to fake everything and go home safely afterwards, knowing that these people aren't actually going to be effected physically. There's a stark difference. We know they're ok. The VIPS don't and don't care. If Squid Game was a reality TV show, then yes, we'd be more equated to VIPS, but as things are, it's not a reality TV show and we are not. This is kinda flawed take.

@@MahouShoujo-Studios That's a good point that even translates to the show! We say it's okay because it's not real. In the same way, how real are the contestants to the entitled VIPs? They're also just watching people die theough a screen.

@@applzd We're saying it's not real because ALL of the actors are ok, getting paid, and having a good time off set. These people were actors before in different shows and movies, and are all still alive. No one actually died while filming Squid Game. The VIPS want people to die because it's entertaining. They couldn't care less, regardless of how real it is. Basically, all of the deaths were faked and no one got hurt, and WE as the audience know that no one actually died. The VIPS don't care who actually dies or not. This is fiction to us, and fiction is entertaining. These people aren't dead, and that's why it's entertaining, no one is actually effected. If this, again, was reality TV, then yes, it would be more comparable. But fiction has no affect on reality, hence why it's called fiction. Do we "cry" when these "characters" die? Yes, because we're invested. Are we suprised to see these actors alive in other places, however? No, because we know these people didn't actually die. Heck, the VIPS themselves are also actors and aren't actually rooting for people to get hurt because it's not real. Was I sad when Will Smith died in I Am Legend? Yes. Was I suprised to see him in the Aladdin remake, however? No, because I can separate fiction from reality. That's the reason why we get entertainment from fiction: we know no one is getting hurt. It's like saying that we're murderers for playing call of duty, or that we're evil for watching game of thrones when the entire point is that none of this is real, so we don't have to worry about morality issues. That's usually why we tell little kids that horror movies aren't real. At the end of the day, all of these actors are doing even better than we are in life.

@@calitaliarepublic6753 conservatives really only have one response to critique of our economic systens

Anything that critiques any political system is automatically about communism to most americans

i feel like communism has become this term people just throw around without understanding what it is

Yup, because they don't want to admit that late stage capitalism has replicated many of the same things they feared from communism. Everyone gets the same food and clothes? Look at all the monopolies and food swamps where a handful of corporations control all supplies and everything else is too expensive. Overlords control things with surveillance and brute force? Bosses watch you constantly and you cannot speak freely at your workplace lest you be fired and unable to find another job. I swear some people genuinely think capitalism is God's gift to the world rather than an economic system with flaws like any other, and they're so wrapped up in it that they've let those flaws fester and consume us all.

Ben Shapiro put out his own video yesterday (I think), so yeah. Many people on the right are competing for the gold medal in Mental Gymnastics.

Agreed. I see Sang-Woo as the Shane character from The Walking Dead. Also the unscrupulous and ruthless best friend who has different idealogiies from our main hero character and betrays him but in the end, still kinda sorta wins because his family is still taken care by the survivor.

I'm confused how you can write all that but still say he is a horrible person.

@@InBedwithaBL Because nothing i said justified his actions. At the end of the day he still let his friends go in blind in the candy games and almost got them killed. He still refused to help others that is not important for his goal. He still choosed to cheat and betrayed Ali after knowing his story, knowing how must Ali trusted him. He still pushed that guy off the glass and killed Kang Sae-byeok with his own hands. The motive doesn't justified the horible actions.

Sang Woo was also a white collar criminal. He was already prepared to exploit others fro his own benefit.

@@lordheadass8310 none of those were cheating though. He just played the game to survive just like every other character. all other main characters did that were not by the books as well to survive. the editing was to make him look more devious, but his actions were in line with just about every other character. your candy game statement rang true, also he wasn't 100% the girl he just met wasn't lying. If he didn't trick Ali (not against the rules) he would die. if he didn't push the man (not against the rules) he would die. in the context of the situation he was in, nothing was abnormally horrid. ya know?

As explained, children's games have simple rules that are very easy to learn even if you're unfamiliar, and they are very fair for the most part. That's my take on why it's kids games. It could just as well be because the old man very clearly loves thinking back on his days as a kid where he'd play such games.

I read in an interview that the director also choose easy children's games so the audience would not be distracted trying to figure out the rules

Black Comet, yes, this hit me hard. I'm disabled and neuro diverse, and let's just say that the education system has made it impossible for me to be hired, as I have no grades to my name at all. This is also not even reflective of my abilities as I am not stupid but no one will hear my explanation of why its wrong because they're so sure that it's right. Did I mention I hate manipulation?

I've never seen the show, but when she said everyone had to play children's games, I immediately thought of factory. If you've ever worked production labor, you'll recall that your whole day is set up like kindergarten. You have to go to your assigned spot, the bell rings to tell you when to start, a bell rings to tell you to stop, and then you go with your group to lunch in the lunch room that looks just like the school one. You have to ask permission to use the bath room for godsake, and they hold your time card until you get back so if you take too long you get docked. Literally no difference from kindergarten.

In my personal view the fact that it is children's games also communicates the idea that the tasks these people have can easily be viewed as very easy by an outside observer. I don't know if this is a thing in Korean, but I know that several languages use terms like "child's play" to convey that a task is very simple. It heavily reminds me of the way rich people talk to poor people about how they can become rich asweell. It is always presented as very easy, you basically "just have to do it", even though those same rich people will make you believe they themselves worked very hard. It's an exercise in double think to convey that rich people are deserving of their money and everyone else deserves to not have any money.

@@sarahwheat7094 how could someone miss such an obvious message one of the characters LITERALLY says something along the lines of "its not much better out there than it is in here"

Have you ever heard of The Coconut Analogy?

That's what happens when people are so immersed in a capitalist world view that they can't see past it.

Yeah I feel like if they're not already looking at it from a mildly leftist perspective, it flies over lots of people's heads despite how painfully obvious it was in showing how miserable they were (gihun's mom in the hospital with outrageous bills and practically about to die without care because they can't afford it, ali's boss hoarding money while he can't do much since he's so otherized by Korean society, etc)

@@sarahwheat7094 I think that might only be partially true mat pat did a video that explains it better that I could but the Guard said something along the lines of any players who complete the games gets a cash reward in the main character was allowed to bring something from the previous game

OH SNAP THE FORESHADOWING

Financial district + the HQs of several broadcasting stations and, you know, the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. So yeah, having a friend in Yeouido is having an important friend one way or another. Very good point you make

MINDBLOWN

I'm too scared to watch the show (I'm bad with gore and stuff) so I'm not caring about spoilers

Same here

@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072 I was actually surprised by how much it managed to surprise me.

Same - I’m the sort who looks at the last page of a book before reading it lol

Also yeah I hate that it has so much death in it so I probably won’t watch

Completely agree!

I loved how clunky and obvious it was. It do be like that.

They even make 69 jokes. Exactly like Musk, aka the smartest person in any room.

You’re only naming the newly minted super rich. But yeah.

There was an interesting theory going around, that perhaps SOME of the VIPs are the winners of the games in other countries, that had come into being after 1988. The prize money they got upon being the sole survivor gives them all a nest egg that they live on. If they also were gamblers before they entered THEIR version of the games, this partially explains their behavior. After being rewarded by "the system" they came to believe in the system. The Front Man's speech is not a fluke. He returns in Season Two. We may see his "back story" and also those of the VIPs then!!! Clearly, upon winning, as individuals... they would want to believe their triumphs were inevitable and that they deserved to be part of the elite. Not all gladiators in Ancient Rome ended up seeing life the way Spartacus did. The lucky few became very wealthy...

And they say it's for fairness, but it would have only been unfair if the glassworker kept his knowledge to himself. Then having the glass explode afterward and mortally wound Sae-byeok made it even clearer that fairness didn't exist.

Americans are so brainwashed to the propaganda that's been shoved down our throats, that if you even bring up the idea of Universal Health Care your an insane communist who wants gulags and famine to them immediately. It's disappointing.

@Mckenzie Hyde and replace the system with what? Marxism?

Well my friend whos father served in wars of the 90's in Bosnia is pretty adamant that Communism is a no go.

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl You make it sound like we only have two kinds of systems. That is extremely narrowminded. Why should we bow down to the oppression of either a capitalist or communist regime, when we could ask for something better? These talks and even conflicts on ideologies & economic systems have existed for a very long time, so isn't it the least bit suspicious that a hypothetical third option hasn't become mainstream? That sounds like a status quo problem that needs to be fixed. Other systems can and do exist, but it takes quite a lot of support to get them implemented... while also fighting the existing systems. FYI, I can already name 4 main types of systems: traditional, market, command, and mixed. The world isn't as black and white as you make it seem.

@@TrueMentorGuidingMoonlight sorry but I found the absolute hatred that is displayed against capitalism to be against your own argument because you are portraying competive free market as some absolutel evil despite the fact that countries with the highest quality of living are captlisit including the Nordic model

They are my favorite patreon

@@scaraheim2624 It's kinda like leblehblebleh from LavenderTown xdd

I'm pretty sure I've seen them in another youtuber Patreon shoutout

This!!

+

^ This.

That's another way that I noticed it wasn't really fair though they kept claiming it was supposed to be. That and how they incited them to riot and take out the weaker players the night before the rope game. A lot of women, elderly, or younger people would probably be seen as the weak.

We also see through the women in the show (but especially Minyeo) the only/best ways women can survive. She uses her body to try to gain favour with the strongest player. She begs and attempts to gain pity. The one time people actually sympathise with her is when she says she has a baby. Of course people try to disprove even that because they don't like her and her being a mother with genuine love for her child would somehow come in the way of that. And it would work normally but...since she's older she's seen as a "crazy" woman. Annoying. I guarantee people would have adored her if she was the same except a younger woman. She's doing exactly what other characters are doing, hey maybe even less destructive to those around he just to stay and survive. The alternative is becoming numb and detached. People call you badass and strong for those qualities that are traditionally male but also something that lively stems from deeply traumatic experiences.

Wtf are you on about xD its set in Korea so guess what, moat of them are Korean. Plus its stated a lot of times that the males had a lot of advantages in some of those games. Tug of war? The brawls at night come on dude use your brain.

If I recall correctly it wasn't really 50/50, they were mostly male. Also, of course it got dominated by South Koreans, the only non-Korean player is Ali.

@@Thaumaturge2251 That's literally what they're talking about, the games weren't fair.

@@Thaumaturge2251 Yikes, you were so close to realizing the comment's intent, and yet so far.

of course young people are going to win out, that is just life, even without that the elders wouldve died naturally, and when squid game gives little room for wits unlike life, what can you do?

so true

I ask people a question sometimes to see how they respond and make them uncomfortable. Why is murder illegal? Its not because of ethics. That's circular reasoning and further, there's a great number of unethical laws. And laws that would be ethical but can't get passed. So ethics isn't a sufficient explanation. Murder is illegal because our laws are based on emergent expressions of underlying biologically (evolutionarily) derived behavioral norms. Every species on the planet evolves to delay physical conflict until no other options are present because fighting is very dangerous, even to "winners". Humans, like any species, has evolved ritualizations of competition (competition is formally defined as a mutually destructive relationship, one reason we need to stop listening to economists trying to talk up comp as a good thing). Capitalism is one such ritualization of competition. A market is akin to a territory under dispute. Or a mate two individuals are fighting over. Back to laws. Laws arrange the rules of the competition so that individuals are better able to succeed, yeah nothing new in this sentence. We all know this. But when the rules are enforcing a game based on success via monopolization of a certain resource (capital, in this case) it leaves the system open for invasion by individuals operating on a different currency (like say, your life). Murder is illegal because the rich can still be killed. They are seeking to enforce high costs on this invasive strategy, because ultimately every decision is a cost/benefit analysis. Only those with nothing to lose (low cost) are predicted to turn to this strategy. And this isn't just for the rich. We all have resources others don't, clearly at least we have internet access meaning some level of resource that someone less off might kill us to obtain. And so we all agree, subconsciously, that murder needs to be illegal. Not because ethics, but because of evolution and resource competition. And while the rich can buy armies, they're still susceptible to bullets and guillotines. Edit: before someone inevitably says it, no, I'm not saying it should be legal or that its "good". I'm making a descriptive observation. What would be good is equalizing the drivers of said behavior by equitably allocating resources. But that not how the system has evolved because no animal operates to optimize group fitness, rather individuals are out for themselves first. This is also evolutionary. Those of us seeking equity do so because we see that it also benefits us as individuals. "A rising tide lifts all boats". Not entirely accurate in all contexts, but in this, if the threat of death is in your face, being less rich but alive is the better outcome. This is why most democracies that exist only came about through threat of violence, or actual violence. And so this leads to a prediction. Wealth will continue to be hoarded. We've reached about the most leftist the planet will get under current circumstances, thus the rightward walk many nations are currently undergoing. As we get closer to a return to de facto feudalism, people become more violent. We have uprisings and some return of economic equality will be conceded. And this is the cycle that will continue.

Fudge you do this to me 😭

And they have poor living quarters with strict schedules are are only referred to by number, much like the contestants. Really, they aren't much better off than the people they are watching.

@@evilbob840 So true. They are one of the ways the wealthy showrunners turn the working class against other working class, by elevating them above the others, just a bit.

Yes I can say after seeing his flash back changed how I perceived the character

@@ancho3995 Gi-hun got laid off in 2011, two years after the strike. He was not part of the core group of strikers.

The strike impacted a few thousand workers. How did it "severely impact" the working class?? SsangYong Motors was going out of business. In the same year, five automobile companies in the US went out of business. In fact, 90% of the auto companies went bankrupt. The only reason they're still in business is the government bailed them out. The economic crash of 2008 that started in the US had a global impact.

@@CodyCha the few thousands of korean workers that got laid off are part of the working class. It shows how little power/agency and social security the working class have when businesses and the economy go south. The companies got bailed out but the workers are treated like thugs/outlaws, they are left to fend for themselves.

@@coffeemug3009 it's called life. In an economic downturn, you get laid off as an employee. Businesses go bankrupt. If a company is bailed out, employees will still have jobs.

I'm glad someone else noticed that.

Yes!! I loved that he never lost hope in humanity and this part of his nature despite all that he was put through.

That scene when Gi Hun was pickpocketed and he helped her up was actually improvised, lol. You can even see the girl bowing slightly, trying not to laugh.

I think I read somewhere too that Ali specifically represents undocumented immigrants, who often end up being forced to take abuse from the companies they work for because legally, they can't fight back nor make a formal complaint. This also makes sense why he trusted Sangwoo so much, Sangwoo helped him with no questions asked (giving money for a bus, letting him use his phone, halving the corn) and was pretty humble about it.

As an immigrant in EU in search of a job I concur. My situation could be much worse; I'm lucky to be a skilled specialist with higher education, nevertheless I feel the disparity quite keenly.

I have said those things to many westerners who complained about Ali’s “racist portrayal” and they just told me I didn’t know what I was talking about when I literally come from an Asian country famous for exploiting migrant workers in the same way lol. Americans especially are too obsessed with the idea of a perfect minority representation.

He’s also Indian, which also adds onto his oppression in an East Asian country, particular Korea here. Like colorism, Xenophobia, classism, etc.

@@smlj42069 Your racism is coming out and the way you’re saying “Americans”, as if your people aren’t the most racist on the planet is hilarious. 💀😭 Delusional af and dumb af.

This explains many peoples’ mindsets really good dude

Ironically, "only a Sith deals in absolutes," is an absolute delivered by a non-Sith.

@@evilbob840 True, but “deal” is the key word. Obi-Wan is trying to convey the idea that Anakin’s ideology is extremist absolutism of “I’m right, you’re wrong.” Obi-Wan’s perception of a true Jedi is one who is open minded enough *not* to “deal” in absolutism, but to try to see the good (or evil) in anyone simultaneously. I think the Clone Wars show actually did a good job with this.

Quoting Star Wars like some kind of pinnacle of philosophy is the definition of cringe. And you didn't even get it right. Obi Wan Kenobi wasn't right in that scene you're quoting. He was wrong. "Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is literally an absolute statement delivered by a non Sith. This was the final nail in the coffin of the Jedi, making their hypocricy and self-righteousness obvious to everyone. Everyone except you apparently.

@@snakeseyes-uroborodjinn5159 You seem very judgmental. “Definition of cringe”? That is very absolute, isn’t it? “Obvious to everyone but me”? You seem to be ignorant of how people can interpret things differently. Your narrow frame of mind is not the end-all, be-all judge on how others should think and perceive things. And what is obvious is only obvious in hindsight.

Yeah I wish they did go that extra mile and do what Xiran said bc in the end, cops are just as bad. He only even investigated bc of his brother. If we do get a season too I hope they add that and in the end show the brother's downfall bc of how he cared for his brother rather than getting caught by cops.

I think most people criticising the ending are missing the point that if the show had portrayed gi-huns life and character flaws changing drastically for the better, it textually wouldve been a tacit approval and commendation of the games existing, which is specifically the opposite of the point of the show! it makes perfect sense that at the end of this arbirtarily brutal ordeal he is still the same flawed man with many of the same problems, just... more traumatised and impulsive now.

I actually loved the police detective subplot as it was. It served as a PoV exploring the behind-the-curtain portion of the games, and the fact that the cop failed in the end and his story was abruptly cut short with few answers mirrors what often happens to cops who try to go against the system of corruption. I definitely agree with Xiran that it would have been hammered home better if his messages had been sent successfully and left on read, but I truly don't think there's anything else to fix.

The amount that Gi-Hun won equals to about $36 million USD. It's a substantial amount of money, yes, but I'm not sure if it's nearly enough to fund his crusade against the VIP backers of the Squid Game.

He's also mainly driven by preventing future deaths and tortures, because he didn't choose to go back until he saw some new guy being tricked into playing those games. It's not that he's a vengeful person or doesn't care about his daughter. He's a good, brave and emotional person who just cannot stand all that cruelty and injustice anymore. I don't blame him. His personality is very similar to a lot of revolutionary leaders in history who had to sacrifice their family duties for the greater good. Sometimes you just can't have it all. You have to make the hard decision and carry the guilt and regret either way.

while a total lack of media comprehension isn't uncommon in general (really isn't helping my misanthropy!), it seems to be ubiquitous in conservatives. go watch the kavernacle for more examples.

Exactly!!! I also felt like his choice to go back, to prevent any more deaths, was partly based on the thought 'my daughter could end up there'. You may think 'why would she end up there, her dad's a millionaire lol' but people don't always tell their family about their financial struggles, i.e. Sang-woo didn't tell his mum

Idealistic world? Whate kind of utopianist are you?

It's not a commentary on capitalism, it's about corruption of a system that is secretly controlled by a cabal who are orchestrating society's problems. The symbolism is there if you look hard enough. We even learn Il-nam is part of the banks - corrupt monetary system is the biggest problem, not capitalism.

@@Clickathon bruh, the director said that its a commentary on capitalism.

@@civilengineer3349 I know he said that, but something's cannot be said for reasons I'm not willing to get into. If I told you every industry and government in the world has been subverted by secret societies maybe you'll understand. Do you smell something fishy about the Alec Baldwin shooting? Go watch Paul Joseph Watson's video on Squid Game. Then research Predictive Programming. Maybe you'll follow the white rabbit and get red pilled

@@Clickathon dude the guy who made it LITERALLY SAID it was a commentary on capitalism. People will do anything to simp these days, including living in a fantasy world where everything is made to suit their worldviews.

@@SolarFlareAmerica read above

My friend and other people have been told by companies who have "were understaffed" signs that they're not hiring. I 100% believe the worker shortage is fake.

@@sonneann I saw an article where a man applied to 60 entry level jobs that were "urgently hiring" He got 2 interviews.

@@nectarina3891 That isn't even uncommon or impossible. I applied to 200 entry level jobs in the past 2 years due to various reasons, and I only got less than 6 interviews, if memory serves. Considering my background, I think a lot of other people were in a similar position as I was.

Watching the labour shortage unfold in my country was unbelievably cathartic after getting countless job rejections, for minimum wage labour as well as proper jobs. All I could think was: well, you rejected everyone, you made this mess yourselves.

Sorry but these critics fail because they believe that rich and poor equals capitalism when no as there is many countries that are not captlisit and have a massive wealth gap and yet are not captlisits

Once again... because SQUID GAME was well thought out, at best the sequel can only hope to answer the open questions that linger in the air from season one. IMOHO it cannot surpass season one, it can only hope to be good at "fan service" as we get a much more complete story. Bread and Circuses. Ending the games demands courage and risk taking. In ancient Rome, if you bet on the gladiators, you were thought to be normal, slightly religious and ethical... because... not all the bouts were death matches. In the days of the Roman Republic, the games were like morality plays. Under the Empire, the opulent and ongoing games were used to prop up the state. It took decades after Constantine the Great and his religious conversion, for the games to be banned.

I am pretty certain I would choose a place where people hardly care about me than a dictatorship when one misplaced word may be equivalent to a death sentence.

@@giorgialadashvili4771 And I am pretty certain you have no idea what North Korea is actually like. I mean, neither do I, but then again, I don't pretend to, while unwittingly propagating anti-communist ideas by telling everybody how horrible NK must be (also I'm a Trotskyist, which long story short means I have more than my fair share of criticism for a place like North Korea, believe me). Shouldn't it tell you something that someone who actually is from South Korea tells us that people who have fled NK want to go back, once they see that capitalist hellhole? Shouldn't that tell you that MAYBE you've been fed lies by the capitalist propaganda machine? Because of course North Korea has to be the worst place on Earth, because GOMMUNISM BAD, it has to be lest we might start questioning the way things are under capitalism.

@@wawawuu1514 Damn, actual pro-North Korean propaganda. If North Korea is such a paradise, why aren't you moving you there?

@@giorgialadashvili4771 They literally just said they have a lot of criticism towards NK, why would they even move there?

certainly understandable issue

I've never seen someone compare the capitalistic system to a deity but that rings so true in my experience. It seems like the second you even float the idea that capitalism is not the greatest of economic systems and that we can think of something better, the way some people react you would assume I asked them to sacrifice their first born child to me.

Heretic!!!

@Ankh The thing is, economic systems exist on a spectrum. Capitalism isn’t inherently the issue, it’s a failure to regulate it. Since the 1980s, neo-liberal trade and economic policies have hollowed out the protections and safeguards in our national economies. They did what they aimed to do. Economic growth and wealth creation expanded exponentially, but wealth and living standards for the middle class have essentially stagnated since the late 1990s when you adjust for inflation. So where did that wealth go? It went right to the top. But it’s not as if we didn’t have capitalism before the 1980s. The problem is we so severely deregulated it.

Sorry but a centralized armed command that is constantly oppressive but tells you that you all are equal is not communist?

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl No, what you describe sounds just like a military dictatorship or totalitarian state. And a lot of those would tell their opressed populace that they are all equal, when they clearly aren't. A capitalist dictator would say that everyone has equal opportunity to improve their lives, even if it is a blatant lie, not really different from a communist dictator telling the people under their boot that everyone in the country is treated equally and taken care of. Your criteria could both describe a marxist-leninist dictatorship or a South American Military Junta. Neither is what Adam Smith or Karl Marx had in mind when they wrote about their respective economic systems. Your description doesn't really take any economic system into account, the show however very clearly does. If you want to criticise an economic system, criticise the economic system. If you want to criticise authoritarianism, criticise authoritarianism.

Not sure about you, OP, but, from what I've been seeing,I have a feeling most people mean "unequal" instead of "unfair." The hosts withheld info but this impacted all of the players, thus fair. However, the games are set up to be unequal as some may have prior experience that gives them a leg up, a la honeycomb, or just dumb luck of the draw, a la bridge. Everyone had equal opportunity to get the right number so it's still fair but designed to be unequal once the numbers have been selected.

@@slin2678 equality, equity and fairness are three different things. A lot of people forget about the latter two.

I thought that commentary on self-help was absolutely genius on the show's part...lol

@@slin2678 Not really, there was someone playing with them that not only knew everything about the games but also did not die when he lost. So basically it was not fair either because they were not playing by the same rules.

Another point to “the games are unfair,” consider the bridge game nearer to the end. One of the players had knowledge that he was using to benefit all four players, so they were still on equal ground. However, the VIPs got bored/offended/whatever that they weren’t fighting or narrowing down the player count, so they killed the lights. This is unfair to the survivability of the remaining four players. And it’s not about “re-instating equality,” because the glassmaker was helping them already; he wasn’t leveraging his knowledge to disadvantage anyone else behind him.

I can totally relate to this but at the same time is not 100% because the company I work for is like a toxic partner, they do thank us and are nice to us while basically asking us to be available any time no matter if it is off working hours and saying "we employing more people is not for you to do less job but for us as a company to get more projects" while some of my coworkers work more than 5 projects and most often than not work overtime. I got soooo upset when I told my boss some coworkers were asking for some headphones for their video calls and he was like "what they can't even buy that themselves?" and in my mind I was like "it's not like your paying them tons and they need them in order to work your company's projects!!!!" but at the same time I see them lending money to coworkers who ask for it and trying to organize s get together for everyone... And I'm like "this is like a toxic relationship" you're seeing every bad thing but with a little appreciation are like "it could get better"

unionize

@@tullus.aufidius but then they’ll be call communists and beaten by their superiors because apparently workers sticking together to make sure they’re being treated like basic human beings makes them the worst people ever in the eyes of Capitalism

@@Crystal_Dylan there are ways to unionize safely. If you'd like to learn more about that, I would recommend contacting a branch of IWW. But if you are certain that your job/conditions cannot be improved or may be worsened by unionization, it's okay to not do it. Your safety comes first.

@@tullus.aufidius sure, then you have Australia where the unions are the devil because they condemned the protests that happened here.

She got it exactly right.

Eh...I wouldn't say exactly. Jobs are determine by the consumer's, not employers. Bosses can't offer "better jobs" if no one is willing to pay the business for the products of that labor. So in times of economic depression or change, there can be a labour shortage if the current labour force does not have the skills to produce products desired by consumers. Doesn't mean there aren't people available to work, just maybe not the right kind of work.

I reading these comments, they scare me. I don’t think any of these took an economic course,

@@slin2678 The issue is that those companies aren't losing money, instead they're strangling the income across the board except the highest branches of the company. An example, let's take a game company like Activision-Blizzard, it keeps firing large chunks of employees and the rehires some of them after their quarters, meanwhile they announce to the world highest profits ever and the CEO gets massive payouts for "good work". Despite being immensely succesful as a company the lower parts of the company have terrible working conditions and are overworked with no job security while all their work goes to funding already rich higher ups.

@@MrSophire Which comments?

Did you mean percent?

Me either

The other thing I don't see anyone discussing is the fact that Gi-hun has been a "loser" since he lost his job and went on strike. He saw himself as a leech. And then he has had to live for a year with the knowledge the only thing he is good at, was a death game. He turns back at least partly because it will give him the opportunity to do the thing he is good at, but this time for more than just monetary gain.

I (respectfully!) disagree. I read Gi-hun's hair change as a rejection of societal norms. It's unprofessional in a country where your job title is part of how you are addressed in everyday conversation even by people who don't work with you. And it's not something he would have ever done before Squid Game or the revelation about Il-nam. I think it is red just because it's an extreme colour and reflects his rage. I don't think his rejection of society is necessarily aligning himself with communism. That's just what I think though! I responded because I think the hair is super interesting and your comment made me think :)

i actually saw one of the people who worked on the show (not sure where to find it so take with a grain of salt) say that red/pink in the show was used to symbolize power (hence the masked soldiers' uniforms), and that gihun dyeing his hair red represented him gaining/taking back power!

I thought he dyed it to symbolise the blood of the other players who died. since he's now using the money that cost their lives, and he didn't want to forget it. but your theories are much cooler

iirc the director confirmed in an interview that it symbolises gihun's inner rage coming out. he also said it was something crazy gihun would never do normally, probably to represent the change in his character

damn all these analyses are 🔥🔥 i just thought he had awful taste 😭

I couldn’t help but think about the Japanese show “Alice in Borderland” which is a similar concept except the games all (usually) have a trick to win that the protagonist needs to figure out before the time runs out. I kept thinking about ways for everyone to make it through the games. For the Marbles one, I kept thinking that it’s just about how many marbles are “won” by each player, so if you win 10 marbles and then subsequently lose to your partner you both “won” a game, just one after the other. I dunno, crazy to think about.

I watched this show with Chinese subtitles (which were probably more accurate than English), and if I remember correctly they said that you needed to have ten more marbles than your partner, so this trick wouldn't have worked but that's just me nitpicking XD

@@ycp4194 aw damn it, they outsmarted the outsmarting :(

@@Kerosiin XDDD

Shame the character was awful tho.

I'm having deja vu. I've seen this thread before...

@@Thaumaturge2251 NO? She was amazing wdym

@@Thaumaturge2251 why do you believe her character was terrible? Genuinely asking, not trying to fight

The entire game looked really communist to me

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl that’s probably because you don’t know what communism is. i suggest researching more on this topic (from actual progressive sources, not capitalist propaganda)

@@save_bandit Communism requires a all powerful government to safe guard and over see so to say the reforms and the revolution {if one has happened} after which that all powerful government is going to simply go away in favor of a true communist society all of this is according to marx as you see it doesn't happen like that

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl communism requires a government? lol a self-report right there. just google the thing man, it’s not that hard to learn new concepts.

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl here kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r9mKdpN7tL-9h6s.html

It's funny, western media has literally ALWAYS done its utmost to make North Korean soldiers seem like raving lunatics or scared lost children unsure of why they're fighting. It never presents them as having any spine, or any good reason for why they fight. I would love to see north and south Korean veterans interviewed together.

The PRC was also an imperialist occupier and colonizer like the Americans and Soviets. The Chinese and their Northern puppets were just as complicit in war crimes and oppression as their US and Southern counterparts. The fact that NK regime is still able to oppress their people is because of Chinese support...

@@dylanrodrigues very true.

Honestly, the majority of Communist revolutions in Asian countries can be directly linked to Japan's actions during World War II, but after the war, America supported Japan because they were a "capitalist" nation and didn't punish them nearly as much as they did the Nazis even though Japan was the root cause of the majority of wars America fought for the next thirty years or so.

@@dylanrodrigues Was? Well yes, it was, but also it is doing that right now too. PRC is giving massive loans to African countries in exchange for basically owning all their infrastructure that is built by Chinese companies. They are making a killing. Not only do they buy influence over those countries by making them indebted to PRC, the money they give goes straight back to their own companies, who then also profit from charging the locals for services. The money was a loan, with low interest, but still, with interest, so that is profit too. And they can spy on the country through their companies. The countries take the loans both because of bribes and because they also need to compete in the global economy somehow... Western countries might have done similar stuff before, but they are playing catch-up right now. (and the small countries still get fucked regardless of who is doing it)

Theyre they/them

@@idek6300 thank you!!!! Edited!!

That head turn is fierce

It also starred Gong Yoo who was the guy who played ddakji with Gi-hun in the beginning.

Big Book of Communism 😅. Love it

That is exactly what happened in many communist countries

What about office workers with a strict dress code, and uniformed students all living in a capitalist society where food is scarce and rationed due to war or something?

@@TrueMentorGuidingMoonlight read about the the great leab forward or the holdomor to get why communist countries have this image

​@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl I already know about the Great Leap Forward. If you care to enlighten me, please deliver your concise points with cited examples for each. It is your argument, after all. Burden of proof goes to you.

Agree 1000%

You were taught that? Where? I grew being taught to find a trade and to find your way. A blacksmith, gunsmith, welder and engineer is useful and needed anywhere and everywhere.

@@trollge419 in the US it's very normal for the school system to brainwash kids into believing the country is perfect the way it is and teachers have been fired for saying otherwise. We literally pledge to the freaking flag, for some reason we are obsessed with worshipping capitalism and the poorest of the poor will continue worshipping it

@@sonneann Not to mention American culture revolves around consumption. The message given to Americans after 9/11 by the president? Go shopping and support your country in "the fight against terrorism".

I don’t know what you are smoking, but the US teaches that Capitalism while not the best, it is way better then communism, and socialism. I keep seeing comments that we are brainwashed, but look at history. Ever time communism was tried it became a dictatorship not within decades but within years. If Cuba was so great why are people fleeing it. Yes, capitalism has its issues but going to a systems that fails over and over at cost of millions of lives maybe we should look for a alternative.

Would you be so kind and explain to me where exactly the show critiques communism, because I don’t understand your perspective at all. I am willing to rewatch any scene you refer me to :)

I don't think there is any possible interpretation that the creator was thinking about North Korea on that part.

@@NaFran49 I am patiently waiting for an answer here

and to be clear the massacres and brutal repression of labor movements continued under Rhee's successors Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, with tacit US approval of the Gwangju massacre in 1980 as the most egregious example.

This is standard US procedure. Phase 1: Use media and pressure on private entities to funnel money into anti-left politics in foreign nation. Phase 2: "US Aid" to foreign government bribing support from "Pro-American" (read, anti-left) local politician in building policy friendly to US capitalist interests. Phase 3: Covertly funnel resources (money, weapons, etc as situation escalates) to local right-wing movements (if leftist gov) or political entities (like police; if rightist gov needing to suppress left movements). This phase is where US was at with SK. As the multitude of South American nations. This is the US backed coup phase. Phase 4: Open invasion to remove a nations government and installation of pro-US "democracy"; the hard imperialism phase. We rarely get to this phase as phase 3 is typically successful. This is what US did in Korea. Its related to US activity in Vietnam. Its the pattern is all of US involvement in South America. Its the US backed massacres in Indonesia. Its the aim of gov entities like US Aid, and even multinational western outfits like the IMF and OAS. And its desperately important than western leftists understand all this, esp in the US, as these tactics are now in open use by the US gov against its own citizens; see the entire Trump administration. The stoking of right-wing militia groups to violence against leftists places US gov firmly in phase 3 against its own citizens. You know, the phase that typically does the job.

@@cjohnson3836 Your point about South America is so right for Brazil! US implemented those phases at my country in the 60's. At that time we had some excellent political studies and some Marxist groups even more developed that Europe. Of course we never had any risk of becoming communist at that time, but we had a president that wanted to make great reforms and a super strong labor force since the 30's It was too much to USA, so they started their interventions phase after phase untill the military coup in 1964. During all the military years we turned into a US puppet with privatizations and terrible consequences to our own economy/society just to favor the big multinational groups... Fight and blood was used to recover our democracy and we finally managed to have a leftist govern again in 2003 untill around 2016. Then, unironically, we had a parliamentary coup, that favored the capital (again) but this time, with the neoliberalism ruined worldwide, we ended up with a far-right and a openly Trump supporter president :( The country is a mess with everything going down but we still have a mass of enraged white people that support capitalism and claim that "squid game criticized communism"... Another "funny" point is that here they even changed the name of "Squid game". It's called "Round 6" because the Portuguese word for "Squid" is "Lula", the nickname of a leftist president that they don't wanna mention...

@@nonsense_vacilonayuuki-man2297 Lula is an amazing leader. North American leftist movements have much to learn from the Southern counterparts. The exploitation of the south goes back to the colonial period. Bolivar, through mutual friendship with Prussian scientist von Humboldt, pleaded for aid from the Jefferson administration. Jefferson refused, not wanting to have a western hemisphere competitor to the young USA. How different would history be if, in those early moments, they could have set the seeds for some measure Pan-American unity?

@@cjohnson3836 Yeah, we could have some achievements worldwide if we managed to reach some integration back then. Sadly, our worker's movement slowed down recently and even the Mercosul couldn't grow fully befere the power shift here... Right now Brazil is isolated since our president is a international joke, but Lula may be able to come back in 2022 elections, so maybe in the future we can hope for a new left movement gaining force here and, if we're lucky, reaching other countries in America. You are in USA, right? Hope your minorities are also being reorganized after Trump left his seat...

Right?? This video has me wanting to... DO something! I don’t know what though

Did you forget about North Koreans treatment of their own people?

@@Error_-ct2vp classical whataboutism. don‘t bother

@@stargirl7646 YES. I want to stick *something* to *some* man...I just have to figure out who. And it's gonna be REVOLUTIONARY.

@@Error_-ct2vp No. What does that have to do with this conversation?

The difference I noticed is that in Hunger Games, our heroine is stuck in a dystopia different from our world but inspired from it. In Squid Game, our hero is stuck in our world. We live in the world of Squid Game minus the games

I see what you did there.

It's getting easier nowadays. Socialism is becoming more popular amongst the youth, unfortunately.

That's right, squid Games is a copy of Kaiji in maaaany aspects, that's a shame that this isn't talked about enough.

Thing is, battle royale, the book, came out in the 80s (just checked my copy). It is a fantastic read and you can see how this and hunger games owes a lot to Battle Royale, and The Running Man by Stephen King.

More than anything Squid Game reminds me of Kaiji. Actually, both shows are practically the same.

@@Miraihi yeah, the director got inspired by that manga. So, he made his own version of Kanji.

I'm in the same boat! Keep going friend, you've got this ♥️

@@definitelynotashark1799 thank you friend! 💜 Appreciate the kind words

Before the 1988 olympics the Korean government kidnapped its own people off the streets and stuffed them into “camps” so they wouldn’t be seen by foreigners. What did they do with them? Hard, unpaid labour (and murder, of course).

I mean look at some of the narratives surrounding Gwang-Ju. People in Korea today still talk about "trouble makers" when referring to some of the pro-democracy protestors. There are plenty of suckers who want this stuff to disappear and want to rewrite the history to say protests were bad or whatever. Same thing happens in America; it isn't just those in power, it's people who've been propagandized to who want to sweep things under the rug or change history.

@@spookyghostwriter3110 they did?!

@@DerpHerper yeah that’s another topic I need to read into more!

@@spookyghostwriter3110 don't they still kidnap disabled people and force them to mine salt?