Viewers relate to shabby, realistic celebrities

Actress Nam Ji-hyun seen from SBS drama "Suspicious Partner" / Courtesy of SBS

By Park Jin-hai

Viewers relate more to pitiful but realistic characters than out-of-this-world characters in dramas and variety shows. Those "ordinary" characters in dire straits, working overtime and counting their few pennies have greatly appealed to viewers whose lives are hardly different to such characters.

In the ongoing SBS drama "Suspicious Partner," Eun Bong-hee, played by Nam Ji-hyun, is a lawyer who passes a tough national bar exam yet fails to land a job at a law firm. She opens her own office but it eventually goes bankrupt since she cannot get clients.

With shabby hair and thick glasses, she looks more like a student preparing for a bar exam than a professional lawyer. But she has a strong heart. She works a part-time job at a small taekwondo institute and shouts, "Good day will come after all, only if I keep going."

KBS drama "Fight for My Way" features Choi Ae-ra, played by Kim Ji-won, who dreams of becoming a newscaster but lands a job as a department store information desk clerk instead due to her meager background. At a job interview for a newscaster position, when the interviewer says, "One's passion should be proved by their background," she retorts, "When others went abroad to study and do volunteer jobs, I had to stay and earn a living."

The drama's highlights video trailer, showing the scene similar to a real interview at a major conglomerate, earned 220,000 hits on the broadcaster's video portal.

Meanwhile, variety shows also tap celebrities who are struggling financially as much as other ordinary people. TV personalities Yoon Jung-soo, 45, and Lee Sang-min, 44, established unique characters and have been nicknamed the "icons of bankruptcy" by openly talking about their bankruptcy on the shows.

As they are in the process of paying off debts, saving even the smallest things has become a part of their everyday lives in front of the camera. Actor Lee Si-eon, from MBC's reality show "I Live Alone," says he is used to buying things from online second-hand shopping malls.

"I feel more attached to celebrities whose life is no different from mine than those celebrities living a glitzy lifestyle," said a young job seeker.

Industry insiders say that the popularity of these close-to-life characters is closely related to the doomed situation of today's youth. The youth unemployment reached a whopping 11 percent, or 1.2 million lately. Korea's household debt amounts to 1,359.7 trillion won ($1.2 trillion) as of March, according to the Bank of Korea.

The average debt of a Korean citizen is 26 million won. Even if a person successfully lands a job, they would be spending a large chunk of their salary to pay off debts, making their everyday life a struggle.

"Viewers can receive some comfort by mirroring their situation with those struggling characters in dramas and reality shows," said culture critic Ha Jae-keun.

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