Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk recently addressed criticisms about the graphic violence depicted in his series. The show first debuted two months ago and has quickly become Netflix’s most popular original series of all time. Thanks to the meteoric success of Squid Game, the show has routinely been the subject of countless news stories and discussions – mostly positive, but some less so, particularly with regards to the explicit depictions of gore and violence present throughout every one of the show’s nine episodes.

While most mainstream, adult-oriented TV shows these days don’t necessarily have to defend their depictions of violence, Squid Game is in somewhat of a unique position due to its nondiscriminatory popularity. References and memes are inescapable on social media and video-sharing platforms like YouTube and TikTok, both of which tend to skew much younger with their respective user-bases. As a result, Squid Game is just as popular with young children and adolescents as it is with its target adult audience. This has unfortunately had the unintended consequence of inspiring children to mimic Squid Game‘s violence on playgrounds and schoolyards during play.

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Although Hwang acknowledges the controversies surrounding the depictions of violence in his show, he remains steadfast in his decision to include them. In a recent online speech reported on by Yonhap News Agency, he defends Squid Game’s violence, saying that it is “figurative and allegorical […] [it] mirrors people who run into a dead end after failing to survive the competitive society.” To that end, violence is a necessary component to convey the weight of the writer’s critiques about capitalism – a point which Hwang has belabored in countless interviews. Check out the writer’s full comments below:

Violence in the show looks very lifelike, but it is figurative and allegorical. It mirrors people who run into a dead end after failing to survive the competitive society.

If there are teenagers who watched this show, we can discuss current issues of our society with them. I hope parents tell their children that the violent scenes have their own message in the show.

Later in his talk, Hwang directly addresses the parents of Squid Game’s younger fans: “I hope parents tell their children that the violent scenes have their own message in the show.” Indeed, every death in the show has meaning in one way or another. Even the seemingly senseless mass killings of contestants early on in the season serve to highlight the dangers of the lack of transparency in an unjust system.

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Ultimately, Hwang does have a point. With the internet so easily accessible for all these days, parents need to be ready and willing to engage in tougher conversations when their children inevitably stumble across disturbing content online. Hwang’s show is, after all, rated for mature audiences, so it isn’t as though Netflix intentionally deceived its subscribers. Fortunately, under the gory surface, there’s plenty of positive and socially conscious themes to discuss in Squid Game for those who choose to critically engage with the material.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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Brendan Kim
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Brendan Kim is TV/Movie news writer for Screen Rant. His favorite shows/films include: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Bong Joon-ho’s entire filmography. He is also a lifelong fan of Star Wars and would get a degree in it if given the chance.

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