impossible lee said several of the shows characters like north korean migrant kang saebyeok and pakistani migrant abdul ali show how universal class struggle can be and how hard it is to escape the cycle of poverty even in new countries that promise more opportunity more 150 million people set to fall into extreme poverty due to covid pandemic world bank warns in fleeing to the south kang saebyeok has encountered or entered another dystopia said lee adding that the show probably hits very close to home for many viewers for them a fandom springing up around the show is something in which they can take comfort a customer plays the red light green light game from the netflix show squid game at strawberry cafe in jakarta indonesia oct 15 2021 ajeng dinar ulfianareuters the show also debuted at a moment of global trauma rutledge added as the covid19 pandemic appears to have only exacerbated racial social and economic inequality rutledge said the collective grief from this past year may be causing people to laugh in the face of the devil or deny fear and anxiety about these issues in the name of selfpreservation waiters dressed in outfits from the netflix series squid game pose while playing a game to attract customers at a cafe in jakarta indonesia on oct 19 2021 adek berryafp via getty images the elements that have created the squid game dystopia are present in our world rutledge continued many people have a fundamental fear of death mortality is a scary thing and its especially scary after a period where in the states where we lost 600000 people and childrens games played in a visually stimulating colorful environment also provide a sense of comfort and nostalgia its a way of processing some of that emotion and connecting back with our humanity rutledge added oddly enough dystopias tend to give us hope because its sort of like a lesson in how to survive the worst possible outcome