Latest Posts by always---wrong - Page 2

giving gi-hun the hugs he deserves <3 (ignore in-ho's being slightly nefarious)

I love this. Its so cute

by @Kettmono

Finally decided to watch squid game and the chemistry between these two bewitched me 😊😊😊

Real

The urge to wrap him up in a blanket and kill everyone who ever hurt him consumes me btw.

As a trans man, I HEAVILY relate to Mulan. Even if she is not trans I just do. Her transformation scene, becoming the soldier, makes me either grin like an idiot or wanna cry. Sometimes both.

Does anyone get me???

AND THE MUSIC?!?!? DURING THAT SCENE?!? PHENOMENAL

The best thing about being a stan of both Gi-hun and Jun-ho and constantly defending them as the perfect angels they are is knowing that the fucking main villain of the show agrees with me lmao

Season 2 of squid game:

Before I watched season 2 of squid game I was quite sceptical and not sure if I was going to watch it despite loving the first season.

I think what I worried about is a 2nd season made not to tell something but simply for Netflix to make more money. ie: captilism.

I'm already quite sceptical of other shows doing the same thing. I question, are they making another season of this popular show because it has more story to tell or is it milking it dry. And pushing a story for such reasons always ends up badly.

This was more worrying for me because it was SQUID GAME, the show criticizing capitalism.

I was worried it would take the amazing story telling and themes of the 1st season and throw them away. That it would be a poor attempt at trying to get the attention and money that it had in 2021. A poor copy.

(Needless to say, I was thankfully mistaken)

I saw a lot of fanart and fan content for season 2 which meant people liked it, 'and sure it maybe wouldn't have the same themes but at least it might be fun'--- I thought like a fool.

My goodness do I love season 2. Actually more than season 1 probably. Hot take I know. I'm not saying it's better, I'm just saying I enjoy it more.

It built on the themes of season 1 and is growing on the point it made. That's incredibly important for any show but especially for one like Squid game with strong themes.

And also it hit home to, because how season 2 (the games) were set up it reminded me so much of the political climate and economy in America. Its crazy to me that a show that doesn't even take place in America reminds me of America. I watched this season only a week or so after the inauguration and it smacked me dead in the face.

With the voting, how its main purpose is turning the players against each other. The red and blue color scheme of the votes (which is I think referencing the Matrix, the red and blue pills specifically) but also still reminds me of America's colors. How the voting and the fighting distracted the players from the true enemy, the ones with the money and the ones controlling them. My goodness kendnrjekkeke, I can talk about this season endlessly.

I'm also fascinated by the things that happened in the beginning of the season. Specifically the recruiter and what he was doing. It set up the season perfectly! It had a bunch of the major themes in his actions and also the things surrounding him. Like, the two loan shark guys (who one was the one that threatened Gi-hun in season 1 which reveals interesting things about Gi-hun), their friendship and how the dude sacrificed himself for the other. That single scene reveals that humans, people, even cruel ones, can care for each other and sacrifice everything. That was in the beginning of the season too!!! I found that it said so much.

Anyhow, squid game did have more to say, and I think it has much more. I excited for season 3

Beautiful art style 🤩

I was thinking that if Gi Hun really is back in the games and some players (like 100, etc) start criticizing Gi Hun, or wanting to kill him (the fact that he is handcuffed only makes the situation worse), Hyun Ju would probably defend him

This is so pretty. Well done ❤️

when we were kids, we would play just like this,

and our moms would call us in for dinner.

but no one calls us anymore.

Took this from Instagram because this is urgent US folks.

You need to call and email your reps no matter if you live in a red or blue state. This cannot be allowed to pass.

It will prevent anyone who has ever changed their name from voting (including their last name)

"Thought I was patient, but I bit right through

I could never get enough of you

I could never get enough of you

I don't lose."

Accurate. Very accurate. This is so funny

One of my favorite scenes from season 1

Gi-hun! Do you know why your life is so pathetic? Because you ask the dumbest questions even in this situation. Constantly minding other people's business with that pea brain of yours, not knowing your ass from your elbow.

ME

WAIT, THIS IS ME. THIS IS MY LIFE.

True true true, but also, gi-hun by American standards is actually only a millionaire. He has about 38 million in USD. Which is A lot but not A LOT. It's not a billion dollars. He needs about 960 million more to get to that point

The only billionaire I support is Gihun

CORRECT

I saw that some people in the fandom have this headcanon so I decided to make this fanart, it seems accurate

Me when I see Gi-hun’s stupid little dad outfits

The more I think abt it the more season 6 Adrien’s appearance makes sense to me. Like yeah he was just orphaned he’s gonna be depressed. His dad was in control of all his model stuff and therefore appearances, so of course now that he’s gone he might not take care of his appearance as much. He’s experiencing a new loss, but a new independence that comes along with it, he may not exactly know what to do with himself now. While everyone is moving along and changing, getting older, he’s a bit stunted, stuck in this limbo time in which he needs to actually figure out who exactly he is.

So yeah maybe I do like the Justin Bieber cut. It’s grown on me

I keep thinking about Squid Games season 2, and specifically why In-ho didn't reveal himself.

I heard a lot of people say that hom revealing himself as young-il would destroy Gi-hun, which I agree with. It would hit Gi-hun to the core. It would permanently change his ability to trust probably.

However, I do not think this would break him but rather, prove something. The ONLY reason why gi-huns plans didn't work was because In-ho has been by his side like a little weasel. And also, the same with the captain on the boat who is preventing that team from finding Gi-hun and the other players.

The first way in-ho messed with the game was by voting as a player after the first game. He voted for everyone to stay rather than everyone to go. He then made it sound like gi-huns fault.

He also messed with gi-huns mind and just said bullshit.

Most importantly, he sabotaged the revolution. The revolution that could of worked in Young-il was on their side. And then he killed Jung Bae, made it seem like Young-il died , and made it seem like it was all Gi-huns fault.

If he revealed that he was Young-il, then all of that pressure and guilt is no longer on Gi-hun. Right now he believes he is the one at fault. And sure he might still blame himself partly if he realized he was betrayed, but he would also know it was because someone sabotaged. Someone had purposely made him fail.

And honestly, I hate that In-ho mocked Gi-hun at the end for 'playing a hero' cause it's so manipulative and hypocritical (which I'm sure is the point and in-ho knows) and its like, Gi-hun doesn't deserve all the blame at all

This is so fricking cute!!

Will you be my valentine? 💌

I saw these alignment charts and knew I had to make a squid game version of them lol. Enjoy!

I really really love Gi-hun and Jung Bae. Not really as romantic, but platonic. I love their friendship. Really, out of everyone in the world he was the only one left that can bring out a part of Gi-hun that was thriving before the first games. And now that he's dead I'm worried we'll never see that part of him again.

I want more content about them, like just, talking and stuff during season 2. It's the fluff I need after all the inhun angst content I consumed.

Im having the same problem. As much as I love inhun, I want to read more stuff than just them

okay but where are all the gi hun centric fics? i feel like we could explore so much angst with him, especially on the years between the first and second games.

I was re-watching episode 4, and just look at Gihun's reaction when the first teams lost in a six legs game

It looks like he was trembling 😭

THATS JUNG JAE?!?! I DIDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE HIM. He's SOOOOO pretty.

THIS AU PLEASE

OMG, I fricking love them. Babies. They are part of the reason I enjoyed s2 so much.

I wanna see more of them in the next season

my shayla....my shaylaaaa

I agree with this. Man, now I want to write my own thoughts because Season 2 is so interesting to me. Especially since I was immediately reminded of American politics, with the two parties that are pushed to fight each other when really our true enemy is those trying to control us, when they were told to vote. I knew instantly that the game makers were trying to pit the two sides against each other. Especially with the red and blue colors. The other analogy being made is the two sides representing the red and blue pills from the Matrix.

Squid Game Season Two Analysis: Capitalist Ideology, The Illusion of Democracy, and The Necessity for Revolution

Why the second season of Squid Game is a great follow-up to the first season and offers us an even more radical critique of capitalism and its supposedly "free" and "democratic" institutions.

(Spoiler warning for both seasons. I won't go into too much detail, but some spoilers for the bigger plot points will be present)

I really enjoyed the second season of Squid Game, so I was surprised when I learned that a good amount of fans of the first season did not feel the same.

Because of that, I wanna give my thoughts on the themes and messages that this season in particular offers us and why I believe season 2 is, in many ways, even more radical than season 1 in its narrative choices.

Season One: The Dehumanizing Nature of Capitalism

Season 1 did a great job as a more general critique of capitalism (with some elements that are more specific to South Korea). It showed us a story of impoverished people that are so desparate that they find themselves trapped in a literal game of life and death that forces them to not only compete with other participants who are in similar financial situations, but to sometimes even betray and kill them just to survive and possibly win the big money at the end of all rounds.

To make it all even more cruel: It is soon revealed that the whole game just exists for the entertainment of rich elites who change the conditions of the game as they please when they are bored.

Needless to say: The game in Squid Game is a pretty heavy-handed allegory for the predatory nature of capitalism and how it literally kills us. The creator himself has stated this multiple times, since there are still people who (willingly or unwillingly) deny this.

There are already plenty of great analyses of these aspects in season 1 (I really recommend the video on YouTube called "Squid Game: Ideology and The New Soviet Man" by Kay and Skittles), so let's move on to season 2.

Season Two: The Setup

Our protagonist is once again Gi-hun, the only survivor of all games from season 1. He is practically a billionaire since he won all the money in season 1, and could therefore live a pretty comfortable life.

And yet he is fixated on one singular goal: To track down the location where the games take place to put a stop to them once and for all. Gi-hun feels guilty to spend his fortune on anything else than this one goal, since it's a fortune that came from the deaths of his friends and countless other people.

Gi-hun eventually finds himself back in the game after every other approach failed. Unfortunately for him, the tracker that he surgically implanted in his tooth got removed while he was knocked out and transported into the game. He is once again forced to participate in the game, since his rescue team that was supposed to save him and attack the island on which the games take place cannot locate him as of now.

The Greatness of Gi-hun: Resisting Hyperindividualism, Cynicism and Capitalist Ideas of Worth

I really like Gi-hun as a character. He started out as a deadbeat dad who got into severe debt because of his gambling addiction. Gi-hun is someone who many people that are entrenched in neoliberal capitalist ideology wouldn't feel much sympathy for at first, as he's shown to be pretty reckless and just overall far from a noble hero when we first get introduced to his character in season 1.

If you're from the west (or a country like South Korea which has a similar hyperindividualist capitalist culture), then you are taught to see Gi-hun's situation as something self-caused, as something he freely chose to be in with his own bad decisions. Furthermore, you're taught to see his socio-economic situation as a direct reflection of his value as a person.

In the series itself, the Front Man, the VIPs and even some other players in the game reinforce this way of thinking. They constantly express the sentiment that the players in the game are "worthless", "scum" and "trash" that deserves to be "filtered out" (killed) because they are responsible for the situation that they are in and have no worth anyway, as their socio-economic status shows according to this logic.

Gi-hun is someone who rejects all of this.

In season 2, we see him more determined than ever to save as many people as possible in the game, and to ultimately put an end to the game itself. He does not believe in the narrative that people's worth is determined by their socio-economic status, nor that they are completely self-responsible for their situation and therefore deserve to be killed in the game.

Gi-hun calls the game out for what it is: A predatory and cruel tool of rich capitalists that preys on people's fears and vulnerabilities to encourage the worst aspects of people's personalities to flourish, all just for the entertainment of rich investors who see the players as expendable and enjoy watching them die and betray each other.

Gi-hun isn't particularly gifted or talented, he's not the exceptional, flawless individual that neoliberalism fetishizes. He can be cowardly, insecure, frightened and even selfish, as we saw in season 1 when he lied to the old man to save his own life.

But at the end of the day, he is someone with an unwavering belief in the worth and potential of people despite what his hypercapitalist neoliberal culture (and people deeply embedded into it) constantly tells him. He's someone who, despite all his flaws, risks his life and happiness for that simple belief.

Gi-hun is the antidote to a deeply cynical, hyperindividualistic and neoliberal capitalist society that conditions us to not believe in the worth and potential of other people beyond their wealth and social status.

The Illusion of Democracy: A deceptive Facade of Free Choice and Equality

Let's look at the game itself this season, since there have been a few changes to its rules.

In this season, the surviving players are given the opportunity to vote after each round to either continue into the next round or to stop playing and divide the money that has accumulated so far among each player that survived. The more players die, the more money gets added to the final prize and the fewer people need to share the total sum with each other, meaning each player gets more money in the end if the majority votes to stop playing.

The staff of the game keeps emphasizing how the players chose to be part of the game, how they always have the option to leave, how the game respects free choice and values democracy, how everyone is equal in the game, and how the rules are fair and universal.

Unsurprisingly, this is all nonsense.

The players are not even aware that they are playing with their lives at risk until after the first game, a game called "Red Light, Green Light", which has a high fatality rate because once the first player dies, the shock and sudden rush of fear causes people to panic, leading to more deaths.

The first season also showed us that the VIPs can change the rules and conditions of the game whenever they feel like it, even during a round.

Age, health, knowledge and experience with the particular games that are being played in each round can also make the difference between life and death. Sometimes the games also straight up involve a factor of luck that the players have no real control over.

Then there's also the fact that not every player is in the same situation. Some players, such as Hyun-ju or Yong-sik, are shown to have severely more debt than others and lost significantly more in their life, which means some have the privilege to be all set again after just one or two rounds (if the majority votes to stop playing) while others will have barely earned enough money to fix their life, and would therefore need to play more rounds to achieve that outcome.

Some also have family and friends that need them, while others lost everything and have no one to come home to. All these factors make them unequal and shape the way they vote.

So basically: The players are stuck in a game that they didn't even know puts their life in danger until after they played the first round. The only reason they entered in the first place was because of their precarious situation that varies in severity from person to person (which means some have the privilege to vote to end the game early with their financial issues fixed, while others do not). Some players have more advantages than others in each round because of age, health, knowledge, experience or even just sheer luck. And the VIPs can just change the rules of the game whenever they feel like it.

Squid Game tells us very clearly that it thinks very little of the rhetoric of "free choice" "free democracy" and "equality" in a structurally coercive, brutal and predatory system with fundamentally unequal conditions such as our capitalist society.

The Front Man: Cynicism, Vote Manipulation and Counter-Revolution

A key aspect of the second season of Squid Game is that the Front Man himself pretends to be a regular player; he participates in the games among Gi-hun and the rest as player 001. The Front Man deliberately gets close to Gi-hun and even manages to win his trust pretty easily with his down-to-earth and kind facade, making him involved in Gi-hun's every move.

The Front Man is, in many ways, the opposite of Gi-hun.

He is shown in both seasons to think very little of the players and humanity as a whole. He sees the participants of the game as worthless trash that deserves to get sorted out. The Front Man believes humanity is selfish, greedy and cannot be better than what it is right now, which makes the game a necessary part of the world to him.

The Front Man is thoroughly entrenched in the cynical, neoliberal capitalist worldview that sees humans as fundamentally selfish and greedy beings that only have themselves to blame for their situations.

It is noteworthy that the Front Man is very fixated on Gi-hun, and even seems to grow a liking to him because of his unwavering belief in the value and potential of people that he upholds despite all the horrors and betrayal that he witnessed. This suggests that a small part of the Front Man might still have hope that Gi-hun is right and wants him to succeed in his goal.

But at the end of the day, we see that his cynical and neoliberal view on humanity rules over what little hope in a better world he might have.

As such, the Front Man ultimately sabotages Gi-hun's efforts whenever he can. When the vote was tied after the first round, he votes to continue into the next round so that more people die, something Gi-hun fought to prevent by making it clear to the other players that more people will die if they continue.

But this is not the only time he manipulates Gi-hun's efforts: When Gi-hun organizes an armed resistance to finally put an end to the game itself for good, the Front Man betrays him in the last minute by kiling members of the resistance group and then shooting Gi-hun's best friend in front of him in order to emotionally break Gi-hun and make him lose hope.

The Front Man is not just a despicable antagonist, he also serves as a pretty blunt example of a member of the ruling class that rigs elections and destroys revolutionary movements from within, a strategy that imperialist powers such as the US have utilized many times in history already.

When Voting isn't enough: The Necessity of Revolution and Class War

Despite Gi-hun's attempt to end the game for good having failed (at least for now), I don't believe the message of Squid Game's second season is one of resignation. Not only is the game shown to be fundamentally unjust and rigged, but voting alone is also portrayed to not be enough.

Throughout the whole season, those who vote to end the game never succeed. This is not a coincidence. The game is designed to make it the less likely outcome not just because of the involvement of Front Man, but because the game preys on people's despair and precarity, all while also encouraging selfish, greedy and reckless behavior in its very design.

But even if enough people voted to end the game: The next batch of players would just be thrown into the same situation Gi-hun and the others just escaped from. A successful majority vote to leave the game would save many lives, but Gi-hun's fight would be far from over. His goal to put a permanent end to the game would not be achieved yet.

The staff of the game also makes a deliberate choice to put a big X or O onto the jumpsuit of each player depending on how they voted. This encourages players to define themselves as either Xs or Os, which leads to hostility towards the players of the other fraction.

This reaches a point where players of both fractions plan to murder the other fraction in order to secure the next vote for themselves.

But Gi-hun puts a stop to that.

He realizes it's a deliberate distraction so that people fight each other rather than the game itself. He proposes that the players should instead organize together to fight the real oppressors that forced them into the whole situation in the first place.

They are not Xs or Os. They are impoverished and desparate people who were manipulated to participate into a literal game of death that requires suffering, betrayal and murder for victory.

The message of Squid Game Season Two is one of collective resistance and revolution:

The institutions of a fundamentally rigged and predatory class system are not enough to abolish the system itself. Voting can be used as a form of damage control, but it cannot replace collective action and organizing.

Instead of fighting each other, we need to organize together to fight the system itself. It is the only way we can truly all be liberated from the death game of capitalism.

I think Gi-hun from Squid Game is Neuro divergent. That is all ladies, gentlemen,and nonbinaries. Good night