That’s right. Netflix‘s Squid Game: The Challenge is a reality show based on the popular series, and… its producer Tim Harcourt is now telling us the original series was all about the games. Not anti-capitalism.
Y’know Squid Game, right? The dystopian thriller with strong anti-capitalist messages wherein people on the brink of poverty and destitution are given the choice to participate in games that depend on everyone else dying in order for them to get a chance to win?
Where participants are numbered and forced to confront their humanity (or lack of) for the greed and entertainment of the wealthy elite?
What even. I’m not even making this up, either. Harcourt was reportedly quoted in a recent interview saying:
For us the anti-capitalist allegory is only one very small part of Squid Game. I often say to people, Star Wars is about swashbuckling rebels overtaking an empire, but people don’t necessarily just focus on that as being about freedom or being about anti-imperialism.
Wha-wait… WUT. Does not compute. None of the above actually makes any sense to my brain, so let’s move on from that hot take for a second. What is Harcourt actually claiming Squid Game is all about? Surely it’s not just the funky outfits.
It was about how people come together when they’re required to beat the game. It was also about how we’re ingrained from childhood to be competitive. These games are all childhood games, and they’re super-sized and it brings out this childhood competitive spirit in everyone.
Ummm. Maybe read the room next time, Harcourt. Anyone else sold on this? I guess good publicity is better than no publicity, right?
What do you think of Netflix’s decision to produce a reality show based on Squid Game? And why is Harcourt pretending to be utterly tone deaf when promoting it? Answers via smoke signals, carrier pigeon, postcard, Myspace or… in the comments.
