Squid Game is rated TV-MA, and here are parent’s guide

Squid Game is a Netflix series with views of over 142 million households. This TV series has accumulated over $900 million in revenue. It has been awarded multiple times from various organizations but is it okay for kids or not? Well, this a question asked by most parents as this series involves life-risking games. So, here we are going to give a full Squid Game parents guide.

Is the Squid game safe for kids?

“Squid game is a South Korean series in which 456 players risk their lives to play different games so they can win a 45.6 billion won prize ( $35.8 million ).”

It is not secure for young ones because it has adult content. The show displays explicit violence with intense death scenes and brutality, which may be quite disturbing. This is a tale featuring deadly competitions. Those players engage in survival matches with great monetary prizes, resulting in numerous cases of physical injury and emotional suffering.

Furthermore, there’s also the foul language throughout this show. And some dark aspects, like financial desperation or manipulation, as well as moral dilemmas, are addressed. It can be traumatic for them to process these features since they are too young to confront such issues head-on. These children’s minds and eyes should not see this type of psychological intensity or graphic content.

Parents guide to Squid game

Squid Game is rated TV-MA, which stands for Mature Audience. In other words, this program is only for adults who are 17 years old or above as it exposes shocking details like;

Violence and scariness

The participants die violently, including shootings, stabbings, and other violent acts that are graphically depicted. Mass killings result from games that ultimately lead to detailed depictions of injuries and deaths, thereby creating an intense yet unnerving atmosphere that is unfitting for small age audiences.

Sex, romance, and nudity

There are scenes where sexual activities happen a few times especially one wherein two people have sex inside the washroom without inhibitions. Other occasions however have nudity though its scope remains limited; partial nudity appears in non-sexual contexts. It is worth noting that this movie isn’t about romance as it’s mostly about survival in relationships between characters.

Language and profanity

All through the series, you are going to hear strong language and profanities. Many of the characters use explicit language that includes harsh curses and vulgar expressions ( fuck, shit, bitch, dickhead, piss etc ).

Substance use (alcohol, drugs, smoking)

In “Squid Game” there are scenes showing substance abuse such as drinking alcohol by various characters during VIPs’ meetings and personal hardships. There are brief references to drug misuse in flashbacks particularly involving Jang Deok-su’s character. Smoking is happening in different scenes.

Mature themes or topics

1. Positive messages and role models

Seong Gi-hun, the main character played by Lee Jung-Jae has some redeeming qualities. Despite his flaws, Gi-hun shows compassion, empathy, and a sense of morality especially when dealing with others and trying to protect his daughter. Similarly, Sae-byeok demonstrates resilience, bravery, and a strong sense of family loyalty. Her motivation to secure a better life for her younger brother reflects her caring and determined nature.

2. Educational value

The educational value of Squid Game lies in its exploration of themes such as socio-economic class, human nature, and moral dilemmas. It reveals how far people can go when they feel the pinch of financial difficulties and the effect that competition and survival have on their minds. The series is a thought-provoking commentary on contemporary social issues because it encourages viewers to think about moral decision-making, poverty, and general empathy.

3. Consumerism

The contrast between high-end game settings juxtaposed with the desperate lives of participants illustrates how obsessed society is with wealth. This narrative subtly references brands like Gucci and Samsung to highlight materialistic tendencies and social inequalities.

4. Representation of diversity

There are different characters from various walks of life; for instance, South Korean, North Korean, Pakistani, etc. This array symbolizes economic inequality and struggle among humans that cuts across cultural, national, or ethnic lines offering a broad spectrum of perspectives as well as experiences.

5. Overall tone and intensity

It is darkly intense, seen through dramatic scenes that create an atmosphere of uneasiness throughout the series. With elements of suspense thriller, psychological horror, or graphic violence being interwoven in this show, it maintains a sense of urgency at all times. These include brutal games mixed with morality choices plus emotional depth, contributing to an absorbing and often distressful watching experience.

6. Specific scene descriptions

There are some disturbing scenes in the squid game for kids, but here we have listed some;

• Red Light Green Light. The graphically violent opening scene where players get shot if they move during “red light”.
• Tug-of-War. The visually shocking scene where contestants are forced into playing tug-of-war on a high platform resulting in fatal falls.
• Glass Bridge. A visually distressing scene that augments fear of heights/ death when contestants cross over dangerous and weak glass bridges resulting in them falling off deadly ledges.
• Marbles. Emotionally painful game due to personal betrayals and deaths during the course of playing marbles.

Why is the Squid Game rated 18+?

Squid Game has an age rating of 18 and above because of its very intense content. The series contains graphic violence, such as scenes involving ‘Red Light, Green Light.’ And participants are shot if they move, and the ‘Glass Bridge’ game, where players fall off a high platform. These scenes are visually disturbing and emphasize the extreme nature of the show. Moreover, it contains strong language throughout, with explicit and offensive terms several times.

Also, there is sexual content like a graphic encounter in a restroom adding to the maturity themes. Dark and complex subject matters like financial desperation played out in harrowing fashion depict the show’s disturbingness. These fragments come collectively to form intense emotionally challenging television series designed for adults only.

What’s the story of Squid Game?

The plot revolves around 456 people who owe money and much invited to some mysterious competition “Squid Game.” They initially thought that losing any game meant only out of competition or some injury at worst but later they learned it was their life at stake.

The protagonist Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-Jae) is a struggling gambler with family problems and heavy debts. At the same time, Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon), a defector from North Korea, and Ali Abdul (Anupam Tripathi), Pakistani immigrant, among others have their dreams about bright future driving them.

Participants soon realize these seemingly innocent children’s games are actually life-threatening challenges. As time progresses through the game, the stakes get higher forcing players to navigate shifting alliances and betrayals. This series uncovers human nature at its worst showing that people can go to any length just to survive or become rich. Eventually, all players left confront each other after their mastermind comes clean forcing them to confront themselves about what they’ve done and where they are.

FlashGet Kids advice on watching Squid Game

Squid game series is not appropriate for kids, as it involves famous children’s games but with life-and-death stakes. So, you are basically making a memory in your kid’s mind that injury and killing are okay in games.

Still, if your kids still persist in watching this series, you can set up a family time, and as the series progresses, you can warn your kids to not learn from these games and harm others.

Besides that, when threatened with life and death stakes, almost all the characters in the movies become brutal, revealing the true nature of society. So, parents can use this theme and teach kids, that if ever such a survival situation occurs like war, then they must depend on themself and never trust others. Moreover, you can teach your kids to be passionate and never leave their moral values, even if it’s about their lives.

In this modern day and age, there are hundreds of movies & series are released every day. Some of them have so much nudity, alcohol use, and violence that you can’t even imagine. These inappropriate film media can ruin the lives of your kids and make them a person without aim ( only addicted to the screen ). So, to save the kids, every parent needs to monitor and control their kid’s phone activity. Using parental control apps like FlashGet Kids can help.

With FlashGet Kids, parents can control their kid’s phone directly from their phone and do tons of stuff, such as;

• Live screen mirroring. With this feature, parents can see what their kids are doing during the night or sitting alone in the corner like watching inappropriate movies.
• Usage reports: To make everything easy, FlashGet Kids keeps a record of daily mobile usage with app details, calls, etc. This feature helps parents find out their kid’s addiction to movies, games, etc.
• App blocker. This feature allows parents to block all the addiction apps that are harming their kids like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Flixeon, etc.
• Keyword detection: This feature will never anything slip away, as you can tell the app to look for inappropriate movie names and it will work in the background 24/7 > whenever your kid types any bad movie name, parents will get an alert on their phone.

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