The glory of “The Glory” seems to shine brighter every day, but there are some flaws that cannot be ignored.
On March 10th, Part 2 of the Netflix original series “The Glory” was released. Within three days of its release, it recorded 124.46 million minutes of viewing time and became the top non-English language TV show on Netflix’s global Top 10 chart, as well as the overall number one in both English and non-English language TV and film categories. It also ranked first in 23 countries, including South Korea, and made it onto the Top 10 lists of a total of 79 countries.
However, “The Glory” has been labeled as a “school violence drama directed by a school violence perpetrator”. The controversy surrounding the director, Ahn Gil Ho, and his past school violence has not been erased. On March 10th, just before the release of “The Glory,” news of Ahn’s past school violence emerged. Ahn denied the allegations, but later admitted to them after two days.
In addition, whether the production team verifies its cast’s school violence record remains a mystery. Particularly, in an interview on March 15th, lead actress Cha Joo Young said, “I don’t know how the verification process was conducted, but I confirmed that my character had nothing to do with school violence.”
However, in an interview on March 17th, actress Lim Ji Yeon said, “I didn’t talk about my school days, and I focused more on the character from the beginning. We discussed a lot about Yeon Jin’s starting point since her school days, but there was no such verification process. I don’t know much about it.”
With two among the major cast answering differently to the same question, it seems unlikely that the production team conducted proper verification of school violence controversies.
Ultimately, Ahn Gil Ho admitted to the school violence, but the drama still reproduced the official formula of school violence where the perpetrator cannot remember, but the victims does, vividly.
If Ahn’s handling of the school violence controversy was disappointing due to his quick denial and later admission, the production team’s handling of the body double rumor was also problematic. In particular, a person who looked similar to actress Cha Joo Young was rumored to have been used as a body double, but the production team did not clarify the truth and remained silent. If the production team had simply stated that it was not true, the online community and media would not have engaged in endless arguments about body doubles or CG effects. The victim of the false news could have been spared the agony of being misunderstood.
The production team of “The Glory” should not forget their duty to correct any factual inaccuracies or misunderstandings. While they should be proud of the success of the drama, they should also take responsibility for any flaws that arise.
Source: Naver
