Squid Game, a dystopian, violent, South Korean, Netflix series has taken the world by storm. News 24 on the 20^th October 2021, reported that: “About 142 million member households started watching “Squid Game”, making it the most-viewed new show in Netflix history.”

South Korean film and series has received massive global appreciation in recent years. Films such as The Host (2006), Train to Busan (2016) and eventually Parasite (2019) – which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2020 – has thrust South Korea as a force to be reckoned with, in the world of entertainment.

However, the focus of this piece is on the social commentary the two most successful South Korean entertainment exports have had on the world.

Squid Game and Parasite are explicit social commentaries on poverty, a theme with global resonance. At their core, both speak directly to the desperation and the desperate measures the poor are willing to take, to give themselves a better life. The film and the series, at their core, are social commentaries of how so many poor people fight the system on a daily basis, doing all in their power to earn an honest, hardworking living, but have overwhelming odds stacked against them. The protagonists and their fellow characters are in turn forced to take extreme – albeit extremely fictional – actions in an effort to get their heads above water and survive economically. In the film, an entire poor family takes the place of a wealthy family as imposters, whereas the series sees contestants play children’s games with a deadly twist in an effort to win a large sum of money that would extinguish their excessive debt.  

What lessons do these tales hold for the world and for us here at home? Why do these stories in a unique setting and a unique language hold so much appeal, even here in South Africa?

The story of poverty, the struggle to survive and feeling that the odds are stacked against you, are a universal tale for the poor, working class and emerging middle class across the world.

What is particularly interesting about this social commentary is the imperative on big business and the State in alleviating the suffering of the poor. Without these efforts, it is clear that desperate measures – even those extreme and fictionalised – may seem tenable to the poor.   According to Statista.com, “In 2019, the share of people in South Korea living with less than half of the median disposable income was 16.3 percent, showing a slight decrease compared to the previous year. While the relative poverty rate has fallen steadily in recent years, the figure is still relatively high by global standards, especially among the elderly.”

The Asia Research Centre Working Paper 14, in an academic article titled, Towards a Comprehensive Welfare State in South Korea: Institutional Features, New Socio-economic and Political Pressures, and The Possibility of the Welfare State by, Yeon-Myung Kim from, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea in 2006;  South Korea adopted the National Basic Livelihood Security SYSTEM (NBLSS). “The newly-established NBLSS provides the poor with medical, educational and housing assistance and living allowances and embodies four fundamentally different principles of protection compared to the prior programme (Jung, I.Y., 2004). First, the new system made it clear that enjoying a basic standard of living is a basic civil right; thus, the government has the responsibility of guaranteeing a minimum living standard, even for those who cannot afford it.” The article as a second distinguishing factor highlights that this assistance is no longer based on particular demographics, like those persons with disabilities, children or women but also extends to those should be working but are not.

Why this shift in policy?

If anything, here in South Africa, poverty has proven itself to be indiscriminate. It affects anyone despite their disability status, age, gender and to some extent race. South Africa has one of the most extensive social welfare systems among developing countries in the world. According to Statista.com “As of 2019, approximately 18 million South Africans vulnerable to poverty or in need of state support received social grants, relief assistance or social relief paid by the government.” According to the World Bank Databin: “Approximately 55.5 percent (30.3 million people) of the population is living in poverty at the national upper poverty line (~ZAR 992) while a total of 13.8 million people (25 percent) are experiencing food poverty.”

The extensive social welfare system in South Africa struggles to alleviate poverty within South Africa, with a historical context of deep economic inequality, however it has proven to be essential in maintaining relative stability. Although the prevalent economic inequality in South Africa has been causally linked to high crime rates and protest action, South Africa remains relatively stable.

South Korean series and film highlight the simmering tension felt by the poor who feel that the assistance they require is insufficient. As Dutch twentieth century painter, Piet Mondrian, remarked: “The purer the artist’s ‘mirror’ is, the more true reality reflects in it.”

South Korean film and series holds resonance with the world and with us here in South Africa as it is the pure mirror reflecting true reality.

This artistry – brutal and unsettling as it is at times – shares an essential lesson for the need for big business, the State and civil society to do all in its power to provide assistance to the poor. It is incumbent on the poor to ensure that they too contribute to their own economic upliftment through seeking employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, focus on education and avoid social behaviours that deepen poverty.

However, to dampen increasing discontent and simmering tensions within society, a lot more needs to be done to prevent the fantasy of Squid Game and Parasite becoming reality.