Recently there’s been a lot of buzz about Squid Game, which in just four weeks since its release has become the most popular series on Netflix. It’s quite a dark & dystopian series, with heavy themes and a fair amount of violence and gore. So how should Christians think through whether or not they watch a show like this?
This question came to the fore for me a few days ago. I made a brief post about Squid Game on Facebook, and a Christian friend mentioned that she and her husband were thinking of watching it, but weren’t sure whether it would be helpful/edifying to watch. That is an excellent instinct and the right question to ask! As Christians, we don’t want to mindlessly consume whatever our culture produces.
But how do we think through the question of which shows to watch? Here are a couple of pointers.
Some Principles
One common mistake in this area is that a lot of Christians focus on the wrong question. They ask whether it would be sinful to watch a particular movie / TV show. The underlying assumption is that if it’s not sinful, then it must be permissible, so go for it!
But the New Testament shows us that this is the wrong question to ask, and it sets the bar far too low. In 1 Corinthians, Paul is addressing the Christians at Corinth who were enjoying their “Christian freedom” a little too much. They rightly rejoiced that they were free from Old Testament law, but wrongly used that “freedom” to get into all kinds of sin, including sleeping with prostitutes (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)!
Paul exposes the superficiality of their thinking by quoting them (“everything is permissible”) but then pushing deeper to show that not everything is beneficial:
12 “Everything is permissible for me” – but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me” – but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)
So when it comes to Christians consuming media (or anything else for that matter), we shouldn’t simply ask if it’s permissible. We should ask: “Is this beneficial? Will it help me honour God and love others?”
That is the key question to ask. Our goal as followers of Jesus is not to ‘get away with’ as much worldliness as we can without ‘crossing the line’. Our goal is to honour Jesus as much as possible! And this should shape every area of our lives, including our media consumption. Watching Netflix is permissible, but it’s very easy for it to become a barrier to my growth in Christ (i.e. “not everything is beneficial”) or for me to become addicted to it (i.e. “I will not be mastered by anything”).
So if you’re a Christian, should you watch Squid Game? The answer is, it depends.
It definitely has potential for some value. It explores deep themes about humanity, hope, what life is about, what satisfies, etc., and could be a great starting point for conversations with friends about Jesus. But each Christian also needs to discern if watching Squid Game would be unhelpful (i.e. not ‘beneficial’) for them and their own growth in Christ, in which case the potential value isn’t worth it.
And this largely comes down to the individual Christian and their conscience and motives. Paul shows in 1 Corinthians 8-10 that some things are permissible for Christians with a strong conscience, but those same things might be sinful for those with a weaker conscience (see esp. 1 Corinthians 8:1-12).
So part of this comes down to conscience of the individual Christian and what each person will find unhelpful. For me personally, for example, my tolerance for violence and gore is very high – I find I’m not bothered or affected by it at all, whereas my wife has a much more sensitive conscience in this area. When it comes to nudity, on the other hand, I have zero tolerance. I know that any amount of it will be unhelpful for me in my walk with Jesus.
Some Practices
So what are some concrete practices that can help navigate this area?
If you don’t already know about it, IMDB Parents Guide is your friend! We looked it up and discovered that Squid Game has just one sex scene in the whole series, and it told us where it was so we knew when to be ready to skip past it. It also gives you an idea of how much violence, profanity, drug use, and scary scenes there are in a given movie / TV series, so it’s a helpful resource to use before you watch something.
Also, having regular open conversations about this with fellow Christians is a great practice to help us guard our hearts and be thoughtful and wise when it comes to our media consumption.
So if you’re a Christian, should you watch Squid Game? It depends! If you think it won’t be beneficial for your own walk with Christ, then it is wise to stay clear. But if you think it will, and that it will give opportunities to have good conversations about Jesus with others, then it may be worth a watch. And on that note, I’m going to do some follow up posts [see below] unpacking some of the themes in Squid Game and how the gospel speaks into them.