Squid Games: A Game of Worth and Sacrifice
“Spoiler Alert”
Written by Rev. Philip
There are many times when watching something where I will ask, “Do I actually like this?” Squid Games brought up that same question and ultimately the answer was no, but it is suspenseful, captivating, well told and ultimately was asking a series of questions that needed asking. There are many questions, but here are three that I would like to look at:
What is someone’s worth?
What is worth my sacrifice?
What is fun?
Squid games did not present answers, but they did present many of the problems related to modern cultures answers; though it was written and took place in South Korea, I would say that the cultural awareness goes much further than that. The Bible also asks these questions, but offers many answers that challenge our norms and habits.
What is someone’s worth? The game presents it to be 100 million korean won, which roughly translates to 105,000 Canadian dollars. That is really not much. I felt my heart fall when I learned that number, even though this is fiction. Yet, what isn’t fiction is the realities we discover in these people’s lives. People are defined by their worth or by their debt, people are shackled because they don’t have enough to save a family member, or even survive, people are defined by how much they can give to society, so the truth is that we, without words, but by our actions, by what we say make people worth far less than that. In a very very sad way this can seem like a mercy today. I have little doubt that something like this would be possible in our broken world.
Yet the Bible continually reminds us of our worth. It starts out with humanity being made in God’s image and given position (dominion), privilege (the garden) and work (be fruitful and multiply, which applies to their tending the garden too). The idea that everyone came from these two people, this image of God and more gives every single person a worth and dignity. It doesn’t matter where you came from or what you have done. Even Cain the first murderer in the bible is given a mark of God’s protection over him, God still sees his worth. Throughout Scripture we are called to care for those that are downcast; in the Scriptures they are often listed as the widows, orphans, foreigners and sick. We could easily add to this list from our day, but we who have been gifted with the privilege and position, must be willing to do the work that we were originally charged with to see and create that worth in others as well. In that we can be truly fruitful.
This obviously takes a willingness to sacrifice that most people are not willing to do. Yet, Squid Games presents a whole lot of sacrifice. I do not agree with the Christian character that God is doing this sacrifice for them, or that just because they are all sinners that it is okay, or that if you just pray about something you are okay. I cannot dig into all of that now, though please reach out if you would like me to. These people in the squid games sacrifice themselves because they think they see a way out, they think money will solve things, they want more. We do the same things. We may not be putting our life on the line, but we are wasting our life on the same thoughts and that is a sacrifice. Sacrifice is all around us and for some reason we are a lot more willing to sacrifice for things that are a lot less worthwhile, one predominant sacrifice is for money, but there is also success, comfort, fun and a lot more. When I came to this realization long ago it was one of the reasons I committed myself to the church.
Of course in much of humanities history sacrifice has been an essential part of religion. Animal sacrifices, human sacrifices, sacrificing stuff. In Jewish tradition, which Christianity is indebted to, human sacrifice has always been forbidden. Otherwise, sacrifice was often given in thanks or for the restoration of relationships; the predominant one being for restoring our relationship with God (sin offerings). This is important, because where we are willing to give/sacrifice shows what we really care about: “Where your treasure is there your heart is also”. In Jesus God became human, sacrificing his power, his time and eventually his life for us. This not only shows our worth to God, but also shows us what is important to him, what God truly loves (John 3:16). He has given and sacrificed everything for us, are we willing to sacrifice even a tenth for that loving God and those he cares for, or do we love other things in this world more?
The last question posed by the whole participants and viewership, ourselves included: what is fun? We hear that those without anything and those with everything no longer have fun. Except in one particular case when someone who has everything puts it on the line to be like a child again. I would agree that is what the show presents. There is a rich man who continually repeats, “I am very hard to please”. It doesn’t seem like anyone in the whole show, excluding one, is having fun even for a moment and I wonder what kind of happiness it elicits in any of the viewers; I am doubtful much of it would be considered fun. There are definitely redemptive moments, when someone forms a friendship or trust, or gives out of their own sacrifice but that is different. I would argue with the show's image of fun. Fun in its ideal has a childlike playfulness that is hard for most adults to capture at any level, but I would say is just as accessible to those at any level of wealth. The hardest part is a kind of letting go and being present to the imaginative possibilities of a moment.
The Bible doesn’t talk much about the word fun, instead it is more concerned about lasting joy. A joy that can never be relinquished no matter how much or how little we have, or how much we hurt, struggle or find success. That is a joy founded on the only consistent, but also rooted in the one who gives us and created everything good: God. With Him at the centre of our joy and fun, we can always see the good that he is offering, even if we lose many other things. In him we can even find joy in our suffering and sacrifice, because we come closer to the one who suffered and sacrificed for us. This is why we worship and rejoice, not because God has given us everything, but because He is everything and with Him we never go without and that includes fun. I took a short trip to Honduras where I worked with a church there. The amazing thing is how much they had, when they actually had very little. We could learn a lot from this kind of joy.
Every person is worth a great amount more than we usually realize and we have a duty to that worth
We continually sacrifice, but there are only a few things that are really worth it: God and those around us.
Greater than fun, is a lasting undefeatable joy and the only possible source is a lasting and undefeatable God who is giving us continually more than we deserve.
Short note about the portrayal of Christians: The Christian man playing the game is someone very much manipulating the Christian faith to fit his own ends. This definitely happens in the church and outside. Many kings throughout history did this to fight wars and commit atrocities. This is wrong and not following Christ, instead it is following yourself. With any library of books, like the bible, you can pick and choose to find something to justify whatever position you want to take, but if you really take the Bible at its word, wrestle with it, see what God considers important and how humanity screws up, you will get a much different picture, one that challenges all of our personal interest and preconceived notions. Yes, we are all sinners as he says and that does mean we are guilty, but only God can be the judge and God’s predominant stance is mercy, desiring for all of us to be saved from our own brokenness. That man at the end that is preaching salvation from hell isn’t wrong, but the part we are missing is that God wants to save us from the hell we are creating, the hell we are giving ourselves over to. It is symbolic that this is the message first heard when the main character finally gets out of the hell that was the Squid Games, but he still finds himself trapped in it.
Other interesting topics from Squid Games:
Death and Sacrifice changes our hearts
Do we know what is best for us?
Should we have faith in humanity?
How does God deliver us?
How do we set our lives right?
Childishness in adults
Leadership and power taking away our humanity
Ruling slaves
