SQUID GAME Costumes Banned After Students Found ‘Mimicking’ the Violent Show
By Movieguide® Staff
A school district in New York has barred elementary students from wearing clothing inspired by the latest hit Netflix series, SQUID GAME.
Despite its popularity, the new show has received backlash from medical professionals who warned parents about its ultra-violent content.
Since its release in September, Netflix claimed it became their “biggest series launch ever.”
However, the TV-MA rating has done little to deter adolescents and teens from imitating the games depicted in SQUID GAME.
Movieguide® previously reported:
SQUID GAME, which Netflix released in September, is a South Korean fiction series about a group of contestants who compete in children’s games for the chance to win money.
While the premise seems harmless enough on the surface, the penalty for the contestants in SQUID GAME is death. Unfortunately, the show does not hold back in its depictions of the contestants’ gory death scenes.
“The level of violence is horrifying — more than most shows,” David Anderson, Head of School and Community Programs at the Child Mind Institute, said in a statement. “It’s a murder fest with the premise that out of over 400 participants, there can only be one survivor.”
In anticipation of Halloween, school principals from Mott Road, Enders Road, and Fayetteville Elementary schools in upstate New York sent out an email to parents that said students were reenacting the show’s competitions at recess and discouraged students from wearing Halloween costumes based on the show.
The Fayetteville-Manlius School District Superintendent Dr. Craig Tice said: “Staff members have recently noted that some students at recess have been mimicking games from Squid Game … [which] is intended for mature audiences due to the violence depicted in the show. Because of this activity, our principals wanted to make sure our families are aware that it would be inappropriate for any student to wear to school a Halloween costume from this show because of the potential violent messages aligned with the costume.”
While teaching children media discernment is critical, parents of children and younger teenagers should limit their children’s media content intake and strongly consider skipping gratuitous shows like SQUID GAME altogether.
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