The Squid Game - A message for educators

''Squid Game'' is a rage with more than 130 million having watched it and personally, when I began watching it, within two days I completed all episodes. While I was watching, my husband joined me in and could not fathom how something so cruel had me hooked. Agreed the concept is novel, the direction is excellent and the characters touch you with their outstanding acting but it is DARK. 

Source: https://miro.medium.com/max/1200/1*0DQ2QlkHZe4ycAkYNJoc6A.jpeg

For starters, 456 players are given game cards and expected to play games related to childhood days where either you win or get eliminated [shot dead]. For every player lost, the winning money increases and the winner takes back 45.6 billion approx. $38.6 million. These players are poor and struggling to sustain themselves in society. Every episode the plot keeps changing and you cannot predict the next episode. This uncertainty had me going all the time, I kept feeling that people creating a game so inhuman, so torturous had to be caught. There had to be a consequence for wrongdoers but it never came. Instead, the lessons were different. So, let's begin:

1. We created the game for fun - When the protagonist, Seong Gi-hun asks the creator of the game the reason for creating this game, the response was ''WE WANTED FUN". People with money have nothing exciting them and this GAME thrilled them. The definition of the word, ''FUN'' has definitely metamorphized and the impact it will have on future generations is critical. Today they feel the game is fair and all participants knew what was in store for them when they returned so the end justifies the means. I ask you, 'DOES IT?'

Lesson: Do discuss this game and hear student's perspectives. The ''5 why'' approach will take you to their root thinking. 

2. JOIN me - Police Officer, Hwang Jun-ho is frantically looking for his brother, enters the island, and discovers that the frontman leading the games is his brother, Hwang In-ho who was also the winner in 2015. The frontman asks Hwang Jun-ho to join him and when he refuses, he is shot by his own brother. So, how are we defining relationships today? Is money the be-all and end-all? 

Lesson: Analyze Hwang In ho's character in class and the possible outcomes of his actions. 

3.A fair world  -The game has been running for over 30 years and no one ever asked where the people disappeared. The participants did hail from poor families, having huge debt but is the world so happy to be disposed of them. They knew what was in store for them but still went back. Why did the participants lose HOPE? Why did their family not approach higher authorities?  Are human lives so disposable? Let's introspect and ask ''How fair are we''?

Lesson: surround yourself with people who love you and will question your absence. Get students to invest in relationships. Create empathy backed curriculum. 

4. Stick to the Team - Participants are asked to make teams of 10 not knowing it is 'Tug of war'' game. Seong Gi-hun's team is weak and the opposite team is strong. If the team is pulled over, they fall from the raised platforms and die. Oh Il-nam, an elderly man with a brain tumor who prefers playing the Game as opposed to waiting to die in the outside world shares the strategies for winning this game and asks the players to work as a team. Reluctant initially, the protagonist believes in himself and has others believe in him too. They win and save their lives. 

Lesson - No matter what the game, only team work reigns supreme. Every player is important so capitalize on his or her strengths. In school, create activities that promote collaboration and communication. The 'WE'' is more important than the ''I''. 

5. You are my gganbu (trusted friend). - The players are to form teams of two and then asked to play a game of marbles where one competes with another. Suddenly, partners even couples try to outmaneuver the partner or sacrifice for one another. You see the worst coming out and in some the best. In life, when you are standing at a precipice, your true colours manifest. 

Lesson: Create situations in class where the masks fall and identities emerge. Ensure that there will be no judgements but follow up with consistent discussions and counselling so that students always choose the right path. 

In the end, the protagonist is leaving for the United States to meet his daughter and notices the same game card moving around. He wonders who is running the games as the creator dies after his interaction with him. He feels responsible that no more lives should be lost for a game and returns back. This ending gives me hope for humanity. 

My final takeaway is that such serials for entertainment purposes are fine but if real life imitates reel life then the consequences could be detrimental. We have to help the students differentiate between the two and recognize the possible outcomes. 

आकिञ्चन्ये न मोक्षोऽस्ति किञ्चन्ये नास्ति बन्धनम्।
किञ्चन्ये चेतरे चैव जन्तुर्ज्ञानेन मुच्यते॥

English Translation:

There is no redemption in poverty and no binding in prosperity.
Whether there is poverty or prosperity, an individual gets liberation by conscience.​