 So I usually don't get to talk about fun things on this show very often like video games movies and television So I should probably preface this conversation by saying spoiler warning if you have not seen Squid games I will be discussing spoilers that are pretty crucial to the show's plot So if you plan on watching it definitely don't watch this video or come back to this video after you've seen this series Having said that though I want to talk about Squid games because of somebody on the rights interpretation of this series Now when it comes to art some artists will leave their art open to interpretation. They'll make it more abstract Leave it purposefully vague Squid games is not that it's not one of those shows where you can kind of extract your own meaning from it It's it's very explicit in its message. It is a critique of capitalism I think that's pretty obvious if you watch the show and the creator of the show Huang Deng Hick Confirmed this saying I wanted to read a story that was an allegory or fable about a modern capitalist Society something that depicts an extreme competition Somewhat like the extreme competition of life, but I wanted it to use the kind of characters We've all met in real life now Tim Poole However after watching the show said you know what? I think the message actually is that it's about communism and specifically the message is communism bad Now it's not like he didn't know what the creator of the show said He knows that the creator explicitly is criticizing capitalism But Tim Poole is gonna have the audacity to say actually he's wrong This is really about communism when I think if you watch it It's very obvious to get a critique of capitalism Nevertheless, let's watch and see what he has to say and then I will break it down after we hear from Tim Poole so I think squid game is I Don't think it's overtly political Apparently, you know, you were telling me Gary that it was like there's like a political message in squid game Yeah, the writer at least that's what he said my takeaway from it was communism bad That was my takeaway from it Okay, so now I'm gonna say this for those that are listening spoiler alert. Yeah, I haven't finished squid game It's an awesome show. Yeah, I prefer watching it and the original Korean with with subtitles I think it's fantastic with the dub you lose a lot of that like reverb and like natural sound It's kind of weird. So spoiler alert. I'm gonna say it again. We are going to spoil this show to the To kingdom come there we go spoiler alert So what was it about you mentioned that the creator had said something and it was like the creator called it a fable for modern-day capitalism But also for life and the competitiveness of life And that message I it's it's not subtle at the end Which I won't ruin for anybody But it's not subtle at the end and that messaging was there and you know, some people can't get past it And I understand that but I thought it was a damn good So what was the messaging like what do you think the message can be? Well, it's that it's a it basically it's a cold and cruel system. They're in that fable, you know There is no resolution except for at the end. They create their own enemy quote-unquote, but that's what I got Just for context, okay, because those of you that are sticking around even though we told you spoilers are here I'm gonna give you the quick breakdown of the show It's a bunch of desperate people in debt and then all of a sudden they get an opportunity to play in a game But the game is brutal and you die in it But if you don't you win, I think I think it's like equivalent of us like 35 to 40 million dollars is the is a translation So it's like 45 billion Korean won or something now. We're gonna get into Again, I warned you spoilers. I think the whole thing is the perfect example of Somebody who thinks they're opposing capitalism, but just makes communism and wokeness look really really dumb Huh and the show ends up being in my opinion more anti-communist than anything So one of the big themes in the show is that everyone is equal There they all enter the game as equals and they're allowed to play as equals And there's an arc in the show where it's like somebody violates the equality and so they kill him and they were like That's the worst thing you could have done is strip the equality, but now Here's how the show ends. You've been warned In this equal system everyone dies, but one person who gets all of the money Okay, so that doesn't sound to me like capitalism in capitalism. We recognize not everybody is equal Not everybody does have an equal chance. We do want equal opportunity But some people are poor and some people are rich in this system Everyone is wearing the same clothes in the same room being brutalized by by the powers that ultimately results in one person having all The wealth and everyone dying that is not capitalism in capitalism. There's too much food People are morbidly obese and there are homeless people who are fat in communism Everybody wears the same clothes. They have limited access to anything. They get garbage food every day They're like, okay, the game's over. Here's the food you get and they get trash Yeah, and they're fighting each other because they're starving that to me is an indictment of communism And if this guy who made the show is actually like it's it's actually capitalism. That's bad I'm like it just goes to show this is a person who made a great show But was really dumb and didn't understand they were actually critiquing communism I don't think that the creator of the show is the dumb one here, Tim I think that the dumb one is the person who Refuses to accept that a popular television show that he likes has a political message that he doesn't like and look I I kind of understand as a political commentator if I was watching a movie that was very explicitly Anti-socialist and pro-capitalism. I wouldn't enjoy it I don't like television shows that I view as basically propaganda for the military industrial complex So I understand where he's coming from it kind of detracts from the enjoyment if you're a really political person Having said that though, I don't twist Myself into a pretzel trying to make it fit my worldview This show just doesn't fit his worldview and rather than accepting it what we see here is cognitive dissonance where he says Mmm, I actually think that communism bad is the message No Communism bad was not the message and even his co-host disagreed and said the message at the end It wasn't subtle at all, but yet Tim pool says I don't really think it was overtly political how How do you not view squid games as overtly political and as an explicit criticism of Capitalism I just don't understand how you can be somebody who is savvy enough to have a political podcast That is incredibly popular, but not really be able to extract very obvious themes from a television show That's kind of really throwing it in your face So part of the reason why he thinks that it is a critique of communism is because of the conditions of the game itself He says that they're all wearing the same clothing and they're giving shitty food and he says they're fighting each other and they're starving Right, but why are they fighting each other? Why are they starving? Why are they there in the first place? Because in the second episode Basically, what happens is they all vote to leave because one of the rules of the game is that if a majority of players vote to lead the Game they get to leave the game But even after leaving the game they come back because the conditions outside in a modern capitalist society are so brutal That they realize they're no better off outside of the game than they are in the game and at least in the game even if Certain death is going to be the outcome. Well, at least they have a small chance of Making it getting a lot of money so that way they can live a happy normal life That is not a message that is saying communism is bad that is speaking to the ruthlessness of Capitalism and late-stage capitalism where these folks are so desperate where they have so much debt We're so impoverished that they willingly and knowingly go back to a game after escaping so they can play it I mean, I just I feel like there's there's no way you can spin this There's not even a little bit of room for interpretation here It's very deliberately a criticism of capitalism But he talks about how the condition of equality being emphasized that really says something right because in a communist society You know, it's classless. It's moneyless equality is the outcome so My response to that I don't necessarily know for sure what the intent of that was but you have to think of it from the Perspective of the rich people in the game There's a lot of rich people who are betting on certain poor people in this game So if the conditions are unfair then these rich people are gonna get incredibly pissed if they feel as if Another player has a leg up on someone that maybe they bet it on but he kind of latched on to that element of equality within the game And he said that's it right there That's that's communism. I just I feel like it says something about you as a political commentator if you watch squid games and you don't view it as a criticism of Capitalism it tells me that you either a fundamentally misunderstand communism and Capitalism or B you actually do understand the differences between these two systems But you feel cognitive dissonance and you just you can't enjoy art unless it fits your worldview And so you try to twist it and that's kind of what I'm leaning towards because look Tim Poole All the things that you'll say about him. He's a grifter. He's disingenuous sure But I think he's far more intelligent than the other right-wing grifters And I think that he does know a little bit more about these political systems So him saying that this is really a critique of communism isn't actually compelling It just kind of makes him look foolish, especially if you've seen the show because again This is not a subtle message as this coho said it's very explicit I mean if you watch this and the takeaway is oh wow, this convinces me I don't ever want to live in a communist society Then you're kind of weird. You're taking away the wrong message. It's a critique of modern day late-stage capitalism capitalism and the way it leads People to kind of compete and fight against each other Just to make sure that they have crumbs That's kind of represented in the scenes where they are given portions of food that that are limited It's just everything about this show screams capitalism bad, but yet Tim Poole says oh it means communism bad Okay, whatever. I mean you're free to think whatever you want But that's not the case and you're objectively wrong in this instance So whatever if you haven't seen the show watch it and you will see why Tim Poole's criticism here is just so bizarre and off base Recovery mode my brain I did