Spoilers ahead
“I have the conch, I have the right to speak.”
Williams Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” was a study of society. What laws, traditions, and roles of power could be made in a place where there is no foundation for it to exist? Many a modern media have followed this ideology. Shows like Netflix’s “The Society”, trilogies like “The Maze Runner”, and even video games such as “Fortnite” subscribe to this idea. What will people do to win, lead, or earn?
In collaboration with Mr. Beast (who, for the sake of this article, will be referred to by his given name, Jimmy Donaldson), Amazon Studios released “Beast Games”. With promises of the biggest reality show ever (1000 players in total) and the biggest prize ever ($5 million dollars), the show was expected to reflect what Donaldson usually does, just with a box office budget. Instead, what audiences received was a pungent display of greed, yesteryear’s classic dystopia, and a representation of modern America’s fractured society.
The show consists of 1,000 players competing in challenges to win the grand prize. Nothing unusual. But instead of physical gameplay or academics, it’s mainly mental. One player’s actions can eliminate hundreds of people before they even have a chance to play. All with Donaldson urging and manipulating the masses through a mic, standing on a mountain of money.
Donaldson and his primarily white, online counterparts make up the hosts of the show and more closely resemble guards from The Stanford Prison Experiment than the “Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men” they hoped for, not unlike the role that many of our primary tech/corporate giants try to play. Like our corporate leaders, he seems to view himself as a philanthropic Prometheus. Disobeying the Gods, Prometheus gave humanity the gift of fire, also interpreted as knowledge, technology, and civilization. Donaldson is giving 1,000 people the gift of betterment, of dreams, in the form of money. Just as Zuckerberg gave us “connection” and Bezos “convenience,” Donaldson is giving currency. His entire career has been based upon people needing more money and what they would endure to get it.
Traditionally, reality shows are singular. “Big Brother”, “Survivor”, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, “Chopped”. Although contestants may be paired in teams for certain aspects of the show, their game is theirs. Alliances form, and relationships are made, but they are responsible for themselves. Even “Squid Games”, the fictional Netflix series that “Beast Games” is based on, relies on a singular game plan.
Where Beast Games differs is that there is little to no strategy. These players have only a small measure of control. In the first episode, one person could choose a cash bribe and eliminate their entire row and themselves. Over 100 people went home. In episode 3, Donaldson told players to pair in teams of 3 with their friends, their partners, and their families. Those three players were locked then locked in a room for up to 5 hours and told that only two could leave. We see two brothers refuse to play a game of chance to decide who would go home and instead watch them manipulate their female team member into sacrificing herself. They laughed at her tears and on their way back into the competition.
Race, gender, religion, and class play a larger role in this show than its traditional competition show counterparts because, unlike a seasoned show, the vetting process of who gets to play seems to be non-existent here. Players come from all aspects of life and have different reasons for being there. Player 696, Julie, is trying to fund her dog rescue, while Player 561, Marissa, is a single mom of two kids. What that does is show a true depiction of our society, the same way a social experiment would. The discoveries are appalling, but expected.
In the first challenge, one person had to sacrifice themself for their team of 100 people. The last three teams that didn’t were eliminated. The nine people who sacrificed were women, people of color, and one elderly man. Women, queer people, and people of color were drastically more likely to sacrifice themselves for another player, while traditionally, white men were more likely to take a bribe that, in turn, eliminated others.
In the fourth episode, a religious aspect took hold. A player used his belief in God to decide who should move on. But unlike in a private confessional booth, he preached to the crowd. Some players bowed down to him, others argued about what God had told them instead, and others simply just laughed. In the end, the preacher chose four white men and one woman to move forward. I guess he only prayed for people that looked like him. After, we see women banning together in a display of rejection to the men that moved on before them. When a woman finally was able to choose five people to move on, the contestants she chose were a mix of gender and race.
As the competition wound down, these displays of human nature became more and more apparent. In a challenge resembling the Trolley Problem, Player 539 Akira was made to choose between contestants placed on one side of the track and a Ferrari Donaldson placed on the other side. Akira chose three black women and proceeded to (symbolically) run them over with a train, therefore eliminating them from the game. Object over individuals.
I’m not trying to say that these are inherently bad or racist people (but these actions do speak loudly). However, when putting together a pool of contestants that closely resembles our society, there is no way to stop stigmas and internalized bigotry from coming to the surface and affecting the game. And Donaldson seems to like it. He seems to view this as a twisted social experiment and less of the “game show” he pretends it to be.
“Beast Games” isn’t all bad. There’s a glimmer of hope. Four contestants turned down one million dollars for their teammates. Friends were made. But those friendships ended up being betrayed, and those contestants used their sacrifice as a way to move forward. Is there such a thing as a selfless action?
Now I wont spoil the winner, but as the competition wound down, ethics and integrity were most contestants highest priorities. But our society doesnt exist in small numbers, so there isn’t much of a true relecftion in the people who made it to the end.
In a world where Donald Trump slashed DEI, it’s not surprising that prejudice can play out on screen. And it’s not shocking that a “self-made” white man can facilitate the events that led to it. Donaldson ominously teased that there would be more than one season. Hopefully we can progress by then. But without people in power who put others first, who uplift the small, society has no leadership to reflect on. So, we are left to our own devices and selfishness. A society that lets only one govern, cannot govern at all.
Words and Graphic by Evan Skovronsky