Netflix

Hi. We thought we would do a quick podcast on the phenomena which seems to be going around all the schools and with young people. And on Netflix, which is called squid game. It's on Netflix. It's an it's a quite an adult program.

With with with quite a lot lot of violence in it. And I'm here. My name is Pete Woodcock, and I'm pastor at the Cornerstone Church, and I'm here with Ben. Hello? Who's also pastoring the church as well.

And Ben's looked into this a little bit because it's it's it's such a big topic. It is a big topic, isn't it? It is. Yeah. It feels like a flash in the pan, 1 of these trends that comes and and will go pretty quickly.

But whilst it's here, it's quite a big topic. Yeah. And it's it's streaming high on on Netflix. Yeah. It's actually 1 of their most highly streamed TV series ever, apparently.

And yet, it's in Korean. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. It's it's in Korean.

It's a South Korean TV show. Written and produced by South Korean people sold to Netflix and you can watch it dubbed and it's very badly dubbed or you can watch it with subtitles which is what I did. Yeah. And it's it's a series of 9. Is that right?

Yep. 9 episodes. And it's and and in that 9 episodes, there is a complete story. It's not sort of waiting around for serious. No.

Yeah. It obviously ends and you kind of think, well, where what happens now? Where do the characters go from here? But there is an ending I say, yeah. Okay.

So let's have a think. What's the what's the main premise of the of of the story then? The main premise of the story is that the hyper super rich in South Korea have created a kind of Hunger Games island where they take people from the real world in South Korea, people who are experiencing extreme financial sort of problems. So, they're in massive debt or they are in serious trouble with the law or for whatever reason, they don't have a lot of value in normal life and they take these people to this island at first largely against their will because they don't know why they're being taken. And then they are putting competition against each other in a series of childhood sort of playground games.

But the twist is if you lose the game Instead of just being out of the game, you are killed. So you they they murder you. Then in there, on the spot, you're shot in the head. And and you do you do see that. Don't you?

Yes. Quite quite it is it's quite gratuitous. Yeah. And and the way that you see it as an audience member in the same way that the characters do. So you don't have a huge amount of knowledge of what's going to happen.

But then in the first game when people start losing you see them die and an awful lot of people die in that first game because they obviously don't know what's going on. So they're trying to figure out why are people being killed around them. So there's a lot of death and a lot of So the first game I mean, I I spanned through the the the first episode and and it was enough for me. The first game is is basically what's the time, mister Wolf, but with a with a great big sort of, dull thing. Yeah.

And then to just describe what happens there. Yeah. So it's it's it's what's the time mister Wolf, but in Korean they call it red light, green light. So when the doll sings red green light, you can walk towards her and then when she turns around and says, red light, you have to stop. And if she sees you move, you get shot and you're taking out.

And it's an odd, it's kind of 1 of the reasons I think why this show so popular is because it's taking something that's so innocent and childlike like this game. And even the doll, this big animatronic doll looks like a children's toy. And the arena they're playing in is is painted almost like a child's playground. So it's there's like light blue colors and there's you see like birds flying and it's all very pretty. But then there's this really sinister turn where you're playing this child's game and you die pretty brutally when you're when you lose.

And I know, is is there any sort of more thought in it? Is it is there anything more than just child's game and people get killed? Yes. I think there is that there's a lot of gore and that's 1 thing we could talk about, why does it have to be that much gore? Is it good for people to see that much gore?

1 of the interesting things for me was the sort of world view that's presented. Because at first, these contestants are abducted against their will in a sense. They're put in these vans. They're drugged so they don't know where they're going. And then they realize what's happening.

And they actually they given the option to leave which is very odd. So there are 3 clauses to playing the game. You see that in the first episode. The first clause is when once you agree to play the games, you have to play the game. Second clause is if you refuse you're eliminated And that means killed.

Which means killed. Yeah. And the third clause is if the majority decides to stop the games, then the games will be ended and everyone can go back to their lives. So after witnessing the massacre of the first game, they realize elimination means death. It doesn't mean you're out the game.

It means you're gonna get killed. They actually vote to end the games. Although it's a very close vote some people wanna carry on and we can get to that. Why they want to do that. But after they vote to end the game, people go back to their lives and what happens over the course of an episode is people realize that the real hell is not on the island playing the game.

The real hell is actually the lives they've gone back to. So there's sort of this world you put put up that is life's not worth living unless you have lots of money which is the prize for winning the games. That's the the price you get you get something like 28000000 pounds but it's in the Korean currency. So if you win the games, you get 28000000 pounds and people want to go back to compete in this game, even if it means death for themselves, even if it means death for hundreds of other people, they want to participate because without that money, their life's meaningless. And and it means that they killed.

Does it not only are you eliminated by a big dollar, whatever are shooting at you. But as the games go on, you in fact are a murderer. Yes. In order to be able to win? Yeah.

First first of all indirectly because there's a tug of war game, for example. Yeah. And obviously, you're competing against the other team. So by trying to win, you are effectively indirectly killing other people. So if your team beats their team, they all get killed.

So you've all of them Yeah. On the other side of the tug of war. But then later on, people realize that they can kill outside of the games and that counts towards who win. So they start killing each other while they're asleep at night, for example. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Right. Because they realize you can do that. You can do that. That's legitimate.

It's only 1 winner, is it? There's only 1 winner. Only 1 person can take the And for someone win, you know. I mean, I know this is but I don't think it really is. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's probably quite an interesting moment to watch because they win all the money, but then what on earth have they lost? In the experience that they've just gone through. And 1 of the 1 of the sad things I suppose is at the start, people make teams and they form friendship groups to try and help each other survive.

But there's only 1 winner. So towards the end these people start turning on each other And so people who had previously saved each other's lives and had protected each other are now. So it's like Hunger Games. It's exactly like Hunger Games. Yeah.

And so as a, you know, they're just thinking about that world view. What you know, what is as a as a Christian? What what sort of, you know, what what what where do we go from here? Yes. I mean, being able to talk to to maybe young people about the show or just other people about the show.

It's really clear in the TV show that the life these contestants are experiencing in the real world is so dark and empty and meaningless. The fact that they would all choose to go and participate in these horrible games says that they don't value the life that they have without that money. And so there's no real value or purpose or meaning to their lives without being rich and able to do stuff. So the the Christian gospel message into that situation radically transforms everything. You totally swap it over.

You know you flip the whole thing on its head. You say you don't your life doesn't only have meaning if you have lots of money or if you win this game and you can pay off all your sort of debts financially. You are made in the image of God, you can be rich spiritually even if you're poor physically. And you have a purpose in this life which is to reflect God and to hold out the gospel to other people. So that there's basically the only the only way out these people saw to their lives was to participate in these games.

Whereas the gospel would would radically change that and give them an entirely new way out. But it but but it's also reflecting that I can stamp on it anyone and anyone that gets in my way, I can do what I like as long as I can get that -- Yep. -- get that sort of Yep. God like status of of money. Yes.

It's complete opposite to the Christian message, isn't it? Was it we're actually we sacrifice give. Yeah. We stand in front of people and get shot rather than just wanting others to get shot. Yes.

It's probably a good You could have a good discussion around it with someone who thinks that, you know, is humanity generally good? Or is it corrupt and evil. It's a good TV show to prove really that it's corrupt because all of these contestants go in at first looking like good people. Well, They've got massive failings, but generally they form friendships. They're quite nice to each other to start with.

And then over the course of the games, they turn on each other. And so you kind of peel back the layers of social niceness. What do you have left? You have people who only look out for themselves who are willing to kill even to survive. And so you could you could say, look humanity needs a savior because we're we're not okay if we met God today, he would see that part of our humanity, which is that, you know.

So we we we're in need we are fundamentally corrupt and broken and we need a savior. Okay. So that that's the that's that's the sort of interesting bits of it. But it's it's obviously become a sort of big thing amongst I mean, it it it really is an 80. Isn't it?

I would I would say it's an 18. Yeah? Because because of the way the the way you see people die, heads blown off, and it's quite bloody. And so every episode, I guess, gets probably worse if not. I mean -- Yep.

-- if not the same as the first 1, but but it's suddenly become a sort of big thing that that schools have worried about and all of that sort of stuff. And, I mean, you think it's a fad. But how's how's that happened? Yeah. So it's a 15, which I think makes it immediate more accessible to younger people.

If it was an 18, you would get a bit of, you know, if it was an 18 you get 15 year olds watching But because it's a 15, you get 11 year old watching it. It sort of works out like that. So I think partly it's Netflix' responsibility for or whoever I can't I don't know the British organization that labels it. So it's partly that that it's been labeled as a 15. It's also I think another thing that's influenced young people being exposed to it is TikTok because there's been a there's been a large trend on TikTok where people have been putting posting videos about it.

And a lot of them make fun of it or are fairly lighthearted about it. But I think what that does is it opens a small window to the TV show to sort of 10 11 year olds. They are on TikTok they're watching these videos of people talking about this TV show and then that piques their interest and they wanna watch it. Particularly because it's quite shocking And if you watch these short clips of people playing kids games with blood all over their face. That's like you you think what on earth is this about?

Oh, is that what the fun thing is? It's the the the mocking of it is is people with tomato sauce all over them. It could be. Yeah. But people people are sort of saying, like, if I was playing with someone I didn't like or an ex boyfriend, like, I like anymore, I would push him over in red light, green light.

And then that that would mean he would die because he was moving. Yes. So people sort of do stuff like that. Gosh. Yeah.

But then young people are seeing that and they go, what is this TV show? Yeah. And then everyone's talking about it in school. I think as soon as it gets a bit of momentum in the playground, people talking about it, then there's social pressure on other young people to watch it, to know what's what's going on. I guess it's like my dad always used to say that growing up it was the muppet show.

So if you watch the Muppet show, the next day everyone in the playground was talking about that episode. It's a slightly different show, isn't it? It's a slightly different show. But the same idea that if you hadn't watched it, you wouldn't be in on the conversation the next day. And I think a similar things happening that lots of young kids are coming up to their parents and saying, oh, but my whole class has watched it.

All my friends are watching it. Yeah. Please can I watch it as well? Yeah. And then that's harder for a parent to sort of say no to.

Yes. I'm sure I'm sure it is, but it certainly isn't, you know, anyone under should not be watching this -- No. -- because it's so violent and quite disturbing, I think. Anything else we need to, you know, think about to be helpful to to parents? And and Yeah.

I mean, it's probably worth watching an episode if your child wants to watch it. And I I You know, even if it's to just know what it is that they're seeing. I actually don't think there's anything particularly new here. So if anyone's worried or hysterically sort of concerned because oh my goodness, there's this new thing that all children are watching. What on earth do we do about it?

There's no massive new thing in it that we've not that you won't have to deal with somewhere else. So they'll they'll be exposed to blood and gore somewhere else. So it's not so much what do we do about squid games. It's it's squid game. It's what do we do about blood and gore?

How do we deal with that? In the video games they play in the films they watch at their mates houses. It's a bigger conversation. I mean, there are warnings in the bible. I mean, if you take proverbs, you know, you've got the father warning his son.

Mhmm. And you've got quite a lot about violence in in proverbs. But 1 of the first things he warns his son is be careful. Of joining with those that are about violence and and violence in order to for you to get gain -- Mhmm. -- which is quite which is quite interesting because well, let let me just read a bit of it because I think in 1 sense, these are the verses that you'd wanna be putting over squid game.

My son, if sinners, entice you, do not give in to them. If they say come along with us, let's lie in wait for someone's blood. Let's waylay some harmless soul. Let's swallow them alive like the grave and hole like those who go down to the pit. We will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our fill our houses with plunder.

Through in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse. My son, do not go along with them. Do not set foot on their paths. For their feet rush into sin and they are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net in full view of the birds?

These men lie in wait for their own blood and they way lay only themselves, such is the end of all who go after ill gotten gain it takes away the lives of those who get it. You could almost put that over squid game. I I mean, that last bit. Yeah. So such as the pass of Luca after Elgatan game, it takes the life of those who get it.

So those Yeah. So the so the winner of this thing at the end is covered in blood. Yeah. And you sort of say, your life's been taken away from you, you've got the ill gotten game. You've won that prize money, but your life has completely been taken away from you.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it'd be interesting if if they did a second series. And perhaps we ought to do a series on following the results of that bloke. Yeah.

And what actually happens to him and how he screwed up because of it. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Well, I bet you they don't.

Yeah. No. But there there is an interesting thing in it, and this is a bit of a spoiler. I guess this is all spoilers. There's a sort of side story line where a police officer has lost his brother and he suspects that his brother's been participating in these games.

So he eventually finds himself on this island. He sort of sneaks on. And at the end of it all, he discovers that his brother is 1 of the ring leaders now. So 1 of the people who were dragged off the street to become a contestant is now running the show. And so, that is an interesting thing that that you become, you know, he who may have looked around with horror violence to begin with then becomes 1 of the people who -- Yeah.

-- who runs the violence. Which is what Proverbs is saying, isn't it? As you go down that violent route. You be you become hardened and hardened to it. And you don't realize -- No.

-- you're doing this. Yep. And in the end, you're laying a trap for yourself. And you don't realize you're laying a trap for yourself, and it will trap you and and kill you. Yeah.

Well, there you go. Okay. Anything else we need to say? For people? That I think if you're a youth worker or you, you know, you you can you talk to teenagers about different things.

Maybe you've got teenage children. It's a good If you watch it with them, I think that there is this good opportunity there to talk about world views and about the difference Jesus makes. Yeah. There is actually a scene in the first episode I think where what looks like a Christian man dressed up in a suit with a suitcase sits down next to the main character. And the main character turns to him and says, I don't want to know about Jesus, which is ironic because Jesus would totally transform the show in this guy's life.

There is there is This is a good opportunity to look at it and go, what world view is this show depicting? How is it sort of dark and empty and where does the good news of Jesus fit into this? And how would Jesus radically change everything that's going on here. I mean, it could be a really good show if they just took out all of the all of the the blood and gore. Yep.

And and it seems to be a quite a cheap way of sensationalizing that, whereas you could make this story much better. I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Why do you think they've done that? It's just just because that's what gets the attention of people quickly. Exactly. Yeah. It's cheap and it's it it adds to the shock factor, I think.

And yeah. So just probably views and it's worked. Okay. Well, I think we'll leave it there. Thank you very much, Ben, for for helping us think think these things through.

We have all kinds of other podcasts that you can listen to, which I can't remember. Animals of the bible? Animals of the bible. We're we're going through for both for kids and for adults. There's 8 to zed of of Christian doctrine.

Recommend you have a listen to those things as well. So thank you very much.