By now it is a familiar scene. A crowd of men and women play Grandma's FootstepsAlso known as Statues and Red Light, Green Light, this is a game in which competitors try to run towards one designated player without being seen to move. with a huge, eerie doll. One of the players goes too fast and wobbles, getting himself spotted. Some of the other players smirk: one less competitor. Until a shot rings out, spattering the next player in line with blood.

This is Squid Game, the new South Korean Netflix series that has become a hit around the world. For over a week it was the most-watched Netflix global drama, and it is on track to become the most popular show in the history of the streaming service.

The series follows a group of desperate people who volunteer to participate in a set of games for the chance to win 45.6 billion WonThe currency of South Korea. (£28.2m). The catch? Each game has fatal consequences for the losers, who over the course of the nine episodes are shot, stabbed and dropped from deadly heights.

At first glance, it seems like an unlikely hit. Squid Game is hardly easy viewing: it is gritty and visceralFelt deeply or instinctively, often based on emotion. , showing the panic and desperation of its protagonists in minute detail. Most of its scenes take place in barren, sterile environments, the characters dressed in identical green tracksuits and pink hazmatsSpecial suits that are worn to avoid contamination from hazardous materials (from which the name is derived)..

But TV has always had a unique capacity to tap into the fears and hopes of the general public. A decade ago, Mad MenAn extremely popular US TV series that satirised corporate life, focusing on an advertising firm in the 1960s., in its portrayal of glassy-eyed advertising executives with carefully calculated personalities, seemed to capture the superficiality of corporate life. Before that, The West WingOne of the biggest TV shows in history, The West Wing portrayed the career of cerebral centre-left President Jed Bartlet throughout two terms in the White House. provided American liberals who despaired of the right-wing turn their country was taking with the image of a wise, no-nonsense centre-left leader.

Horror series seem to fulfil this function especially well. Aristotle wrote that the reason we enjoy watching tragedies is that they cause us to feel fear and pity in a controlled setting, allowing us to rationalise, master and purge these feelings. He called this process "catharsisOriginally used by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to explain the power of art to dispel strong negative emotions. The term is used in psychotherapy to describe how patients can overcome difficulties by expressing and facing their fears.".

That is why some think Squid Game speaks to something in our own lives.

The key to the Games is that the players are allowed to leave. They can walk out, give up all hope of the money, but keep their lives. Yet, as one character darkly points out, it is "just as bad out there as it is in here".

The reason for this is simple: the protagonists are burdened by debt, unscrupulous bosses and callous bureaucracy. There is no choice between starvation outside the Games and a quick, cruel death within them. It is a grim vision of society as a rat race.

The series reminds many of the German philosopher Herbert MarcuseA German philosopher who was a member of the Frankfurt School. His writings on modern society were influenced by Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud.'s concept of the "Great Refusal", the idea that in the face of a dehumanising, controlling society, the only possible escape is simply saying "No".

Yet Squid Game retains its sense of hope as well. In the course of the series, characters learn to trust each other and work together. Even in the face of such cruelty, they retain their decency and selflessness.

Yes, say some. As work becomes increasingly casualised, inequality skyrockets, rents rise and home ownership becomes a privilege of the few, people are coming to despair of society. Added to the threat of climate catastrophe, living in the modern world has become nasty, brutish and unbearably stressful.

Not so fast, say others. In the western world at least, this is still the best time in history to be alive. Living standards are high, education freely available, we have access to opportunities that our grandparents could only dream of. We should be grateful for what we have, not resentful.