Chasing stars, sinking in life

Bloating showbiz industry tossing aside young dreams

By Kim Tong-hyung

An increasing number of young people are opting to fight tremendous odds to make their dreams come true as entertainers, official figures show.

While it’s understandable that the rapid growth of Korea’s music, television and film industries allows them to attract a greater wealth of talent, critics are concerned about school leavers sucked into a system ready to spit them out, disillusioned and uneducated, the minute their faces aren’t fresh enough.

The country had more than 170,000 people describing themselves as actors, singers or models at the end of last year, according to a recent National Tax Service (NTS) report. This represented a staggering 40 percent growth over the previous 365 days and nearly matched the 200,000 or so people who take civil service exams every year.

The country’s number of actors jumped from 19,000 in 2009 to 28,000 last year. Singers increased by more than 50 percent to 11,500, while the number of models grew by more than 70 percent to 14,000.

Life for the average entertainer isn’t all glitz and glamour. Actors reported an underwhelming 13.77 million won (about $12,000) in annual income last year, down 25 percent from 2009. Singers earned just 8.48 million won, while songwriters took home 6.6 million won.

Models were the worst off, averaging just 3.8 million won in yearly income, the tax agency said. At least they probably spend less on food than anybody else.

``While the NTS data is based on freelancers, there are also a large number of people under contract with entertainment agencies. It would be hard to say the figure paints the whole picture,’’ said a showbiz industry insider.

The journey of becoming a transcendent personality is undoubtedly a long, difficult and unpredictable process and there will be casualties on the way. But it’s hard to blame youngsters for shooting for the stars when Korea is becoming a place where people pay the premium for a life of mediocrity.

The job market has been as toxic as a Japanese nuclear power plant, with recent government figures showing more than four out of 10 working-age Koreans either do not have a job or have stopped looking for one. The situation is particularly bleak for graduates and school leavers, triggering fears of an entire generation lost to unemployment.

This hasn’t stop universities from raising tuition fees at a faster clip than that of inflation and degrees in their current form are increasingly unattractive in an economic sense.

It’s questionable whether star-struck teens should be left to dream their dreams without realizing the reality that most of them will struggle to make more than minimum wage.

Although Korea has been touting its entertainment industry as its next great export item to follow cheap cars, mobile phones and kimchi, poor work conditions and compensation of artists pose a problem that could eventually blow up in their faces.

Major music labels like SM Entertainment are still struggling to shake off the talk of ``slave contracts,’’ which tie their trainee-stars with long, exclusive contracts that offer scant financial reward, a system critics say isn’t sustainable. And while their singers are gaining international acceptance, it’s hard to say that their style of highly-manufactured music couldn’t be easily duplicated by others.

It’s debatable whether society, too busy patting itself in the back over ``hallyu’’ (the Korean culture boom), has allowed itself to be swept by a graceless form of pop-culture philistinism. ``Sexy’’ is perhaps the most overused term in daily conversations and media here, and plastic surgery is talked of as casually as beauty salon appointments.

``What bothers me most is that these entertainment companies are not encouraging young people to be individualistic, creative and realize their potential. They are rather looking for puppets to feed their machine for cookie-cutter music,’’ said Shin Min-chul, a teacher at a Seoul high school.

``As always, it’s all about hardware (appearance), rather than what’s inside.’’