No argument, Squid Game was a blast! Recording an overwhelming 1.65 billion hours in view time within its first four weeks of release, it was the most successful movie to ever proceed from Netflix. The enthusiasm about the movie spread across the four walls of the globe, from bettors enjoying the most attractive odds on bookmaker-ratings.com to even the surgeon about to enter the theater!
So exciting was Squid Game that people are eagerly drooling about the second season.
But for all the excitement, Tiktok challenges, and trending memes that escorted the movie, Squid Game taught us some valuable life lessons.
Do you mind us sharing some with you?
1. Money can get you a lot of things…but not happiness
It is worth starting our compilation of the wisdom nuggets we gained from Squid Game with this. The movie pulled one of its biggest surprises on us when it was revealed that Il-nam was the mastermind behind the murderous game.
Il-Nam– and his clique of affluent friends – despite being crazily wealthy, were bored with life.
It was astonishing to learn that Il-nam founded Squid Game as a source of gruesome entertainment for him and his rich friends (and clients) who were bored of life and desperately for amusement.
After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Il-nam decides to spend the last days of his life seeking thrill and dangerous excitement.
Despite participating in Squid Game, Il-Nam would only find happiness not in the gut-wrenching twists and turns of the game but in his genuine friendship with Seong Gi Hun.
So we could derive from Il-Nam and his friends that while money is good and necessary, it is not the ultimate assurance of happiness and fulfillment.
2. Don’t be reckless with your trust
Don’t get this wrong. We don’t advocate that you turn into the bitterest pessimist in the world. But from the betrayal of Abdul Ali in Squid Game, we saw how fatal it is to be unselective about who you trust.
We saw that Ali was sentimentally bonded with Cho Sang Woo throughout the movie, constantly referring to him as a beloved older brother. But then Cho Sang Woo was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
This was demonstrated when Cho Sang Woo betrayed Ali, who was on the cusp of winning the game of marbles. Carelessly trusting Cho Sang Woo, Ali believed him when he urged Ali to delay to survive mutually.
It wasn’t until the last moment (when the damage was irreparable) that Ali learns his beloved marbles have been maliciously replaced with stones.
Unavoidably, he was killed, passing a strong warning against being too quick to trust people.
3. Most times, brains beat muscles
The movie taught us the supremacy of a concise and intelligent strategy over blind application of force. We saw this exemplified in Il-nam’s triumph at the tug-of-war contest.
Clearly, with his life on the life and pitted against a way stronger team, Il-nam knew he had to improvise to win.
Instead of blindly resorting to muscles (which he didn’t even have, as he was old), Il-nam built a comprehensive and detailed strategy.
Despite being one of the most physically disadvantaged contestants, we also saw how Il-nam’s smartness kept him alive through the series.
We also how he intelligently crafted a way for him to be liquidated at the marbles game’s conclusion, ensuring that no one took note he wasn’t murdered.
4. People are unpredictable when survival is at stake
This was arguably the theme of the whole movie. Squid Game shows us the unpredictable moral lows people can slump to when their very survival is threatened.
We saw savagery, unbelievable betrayals, and selfishness as participants battled to save their lives and win the prize.
While Sang Woo started the movie as a likable character, we saw how each contest progressively brought the worst out of him, transforming him into one of the most vicious characters in the movie.
Most of us were stunned at how readily he pushed a fellow contestant off the bridge in the penultimate contest. Even when Sae Byeok was wounded and his defenses down, Sang Woo would kill him before the final game commenced.
Yes, we may be quick to condemn Sang Woo’s savagery and propensity to cheat. But humans are fundamentally survivors and could resort to the darkest procedures to stay alive.
So here are some of the most exciting and truest lessons we learned from Squid Game. Overall, the movie was a delicious mix of horror, thrill, and comedy.
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