You may have seen “Squid Game.” If you haven’t heard of the show by now, you must have spent the entire year cooped up in an offshore facility playing lethal survival games. It’s the conversation starter of 2021.
For those who somehow missed it, “Squid Game” follows 456 debt-ridden competitors in a competition where they must take part in deadly variations of kiddie games for the chance to earn a substantial sum of money. The horrific South Korean thriller has amassed about $900 million for Netflix to date, making it a huge success.
Everyone has a viewpoint on it. Some people gush about the show and its ideas, while others dismiss them as being vastly exaggerated. Personally, I thought it was a clever but superficial retread of concepts, clearly deriving inspiration from films like “Battle Royale” and “The Hunger Games,” and a triumph of striking design. But what a layout!
The eye-catching masks worn by the evil employees, managers, and spectators in the show are one aspect of the “Squid Game” design that causes the greatest controversy. What do the masks, if anything, mean?
Let’s start with the workers’ masks…
The entire “Squid Game” competition is held at a complex island facility with unusual architectural elements, which is managed by the mysterious Front Man, who doesn’t enjoy getting his leather gloves soiled. The anonymous workers in the pink jumpsuits are responsible for keeping everything running smoothly, and they have a defined hierarchy. Masks are necessary for everyone in charge of the presentation in order to hide their genuine identities.
The typical dogsbodies are the guys wearing masks with a circle sign on them. They are required to perform all the menial tasks, which includes hauling bodies away and burning them. Since they are the lowest of the low, no one may speak to them. The policeman Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who enters the game covertly to hunt for his missing brother, begins by pretending to be a Circle.
The Triangles are located over them. Armed with handguns and submachine guns, these are the enforcers. In addition to serving as crowd control, they have the unfortunate distinction of eliminating losers from some of the games.
The Squares, who are in charge of the Triangles and the Circles, are at the top of the heap. They receive orders straight from the Front Man and also monitor the CCTV system of the building. When Jun-ho grabs a mask from a deceased man, he unintentionally elevates himself to the rank of Square.
The three shapes that make up the playing area for the kid’s game that gives the programme its name, Squid, are reminiscent of the buttons on a Playstation controller (Ojing-eo).
What about the other masks in the show?
Additionally, the forms can be used to form full or partial letters from the Korean alphabet (Hangul) to form the initials OJM, which stand for the Korean name for “Squid Game,” Ojing-eo Geim.
The Front Man is dressed in a black geometric mask that, like the others, has a voice-distorting mechanism. Other than the fact that it looks great and menacing, there doesn’t seem to be any purpose behind this design.
Later, a group of VIPs arrive on the island to place outrageous bets on the results of the last several games, joining him. To hide their identity, they too wear masks, but their disguises are far more ornate, including stylized images of numerous animals in shiny gold. The gold stands in for the nauseating wealth of the VIPs, guys who are so numbed by their enormous money that they find joy in gambling on the outcome of a group of commoners. What about the animals themselves, though?
“The Deer symbolizes longevity and spirituality, while the Tiger, once native to the Korean peninsula, represents authority and power. The Lion and Eagle are both similar to European symbolism, so may indicate strength, courage and military might. The Buffalo, much like the Bull, represents wealth and prosperity. The Bear is not frequently used in Korean visual culture, but according to the myth, Korean people descended from a bear-woman and the son of Heaven. Lastly, the Owl signifies inauspiciousness, death, and loneliness, a perfect animal for the old man.”
I asked Dr. Sooa Im McCormick, Curator of Korean Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, to explain, and she provided the following explanation:
Could this make us assume the VIP wearing the Tiger mask is a politician? Is The Lion a soldier? A financier or a broker, The Bull? The Bear is a member of the royal family, while the Deer is a leader in religion.
