Coupang Play’s representative content “SNL Korea” has recently been embroiled in controversy over mocking weak people.
Netizens have continuously criticized “SNL Korea” when they made a parody of Netflix’s original series “The Glory’ and used the school violence issue as a material to make viewers laugh as well as added prejudice among young people with a comedy that tells about MZ Generation officer workers. However, some are saying that excessive standards against comedies prevent producers’ freedom of expression.
● “Is school violence something funny?”… Controversy over caricaturing victims
“SNL Korea 3” recently introduced the skit “The Calories” and faced a public backlash. The problem was that they parodied the drama “The Glory”, which tells about the revenge of Moon Dong Eun (Song Hye Kyo) whose soul was broken due to the experience of school violence in the past. In the drama, there is a scene where the perpetrator burned the skin of the victim using a heated hair straightener. This was replaced by the scene where the perpetrator burned a dried filefish fillet with a hair straightener. Comedian Lee Soo Ji, who appeared in the comedy skit as a bullying victim, cried when seeing the dried filefish fillet get burned.
Later, Internet users pointed out that the parody used school violence as a topic to draw laughter, reduced the seriousness of such an issue, and made the victim become a caricature. Moreover, some people also said that the “hair straightener scene” should not be parodied as it was based on an actual serious school bullying incident in Cheongju in 2006.
This is not the first time “SNL Korea” suffers controversies. Viewers have continuously criticized the program’s representative corner “MZ Office”, which comically depicts the MZ-generation office workers, for creating prejudice among young people.
● “It’s not a satire that encourages the development of comedies if it aims at the weak”
As the controversy intensifies, controversy over freedom of expression also continues. Online community users firmly commented, “Comedy should only be taken as a comedy “, “The use of materials that can hurt someone should be avoided”, etc.
A broadcasting official said, “Koreans’ moral standards for comedies are too high”, adding “In order to encourage various comedy contents, such as standup comedies, to develop further, freedom of expression must be guaranteed”.
On February 7th, pop culture critic Kim Heon Sik expressed a different opinion, saying “Comedies that only caricature the weak, such as school violence victims, young people who are new to society, etc., cannot be called satires”.
He continued, “It is absurd to emphasize ‘freedom of expression’ and target weak people, who have no freedom, instead of the powerful ones who prevent freedom of expression”, adding “Satire that goes against this essence will rather harm the long-term development and reputation of ‘SNL Korea’.”
Source: daum
