“I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life. But I wanted it to use the kind of characters we’ve all met in real life,”
I don't think the show ever really clearly says whether or not the protagonist is responsible for his own position, and I think it kind of works better that way. Like if he's totally blameless then ok he passed the means testing and he's one of the good poors and so it's a shame that he got lumped in with the bad poors who deserve what they get. Instead, they de-emphasize his past and present some flaws as if to say, "If you want to say he's poor and desperate because of his own choices, then go ahead. That's not the point."
I think to say that the message of the show is, "Capitalism screws people over so hard that they would accept these games" would be a surface level understanding. I mean, one of the characters (Ji-yeong) tells a story where she killed her abusive father after he killed her mother, and she's pretty much just participating in the games because she didn't really know where else to go, which isn't directly connected to capitalism. Also the show never really suggests like social programs or any other solution, and many of the protagonists' problems come from criminals and his relationship with his ex-wife and her husband, and while money is the driving force behind those problems, those figures aren't really representatives of capitalism. Besides, the show is about the games, the world at large exists primarily as a backdrop to the games. If the message was what I said at the start of the paragraph, the show should've been primarily about the world and how it screws the characters, and it would be enough to just communicate that the games are a bad time (if they were included at all).
What the show is really getting at is critiquing the idea of "making it big," having a sigma grindset and putting yourself through hell, maybe you have to screw people over along the way, but at the end of the day you'll have everything you wanted and you'll be able to help out your friends and family and everyone will love you and nobody will be able to push you around, and it'll be awesome.
Here are some examples of how the show criticizes this idea:
Gi-hun's before-and-after images
Gi-hun's mother dying alone while he's in the games
Gi-hun trying to stop the game right when he's about to win, and clearly regretting the whole thing
Gi-hun not touching his winnings and basically reverting to his old lifestyle
Sang-woo, who embodies the cold logic of the rat race more than anyone, killing himself
The increasingly reprehensible actions of the characters. At first they just have to stand by while others die. Then there's the tug-of-war where they kill others, but they're also pulling for their own survival. Then they have to exploit the vulnerabilities of their closest friends. By the bridge game, they're killing each other on their own initiative.
The fundamental problem with this idea of doing something awful every day in hopes that someday you'll be able to be a better son to your mother, a better father to your daughter, etc, is that it's fundamentally not how people work. As the saying goes, "Life is what happens while you're making other plans." We are creatures of habit, and if you're doing awful stuff all the time it has an effect on you, in addition to the world around you.
The only answer that the show provides for what should have happened instead is provided by what Gi-hun does at the end, reverting to his old lifestyle. It would've been tragic and heartrending if his mother died because they weren't able to afford basic medial care, but he could've helped her as best he could, and at least be there with her in her final moments. As hard as his life was, he was still human, and he was still someone who was able to smile. It's not really clear how he would've dealt with the criminals who were talking about stealing his kidney, but that's kind of the thing, it's supposed to be a desperate situation where any alternative is preferable, but then the show says, "But even so, participating in the games was the wrong choice."
tl;dr: Stop pretending you're a temporarily embarrassed millionaire, and instead accept reality and try to make the best of a bad situation.
I think it's fair to criticize the show for not offering a better alternative or suggesting how society might be changed for the better, but as the title of the article says, it's supposed to be a story about capitalism, not about socialism.
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