‘The Glory’ and ‘I Am God’ OTT, the reason why the wave is stronger

Various social problems, from school violence to pseudo-religion issues, are being exposed through OTT platforms.

The Netflix series 'The Glory' (written by Kim Eun-sook, directed by Ahn Gil-ho) is the biggest hit this year. 'The Glory' is a record-breaking work in terms of the number of views and topicality, but it is also a significant work in that it played a major role in raising the issue of 'school violence' to the surface and raising awareness and awareness of the problem among members of society.

After the release of 'The Glory', the rigid psychology of victims who are hesitant to disclose the facts of school violence appears to have eased significantly. In fact, YouTubers Kwak Tube and Yu Catnip appeared on the air and confessed their experiences of being victims of school violence. At the same time, accusations and revelations against celebrities who are perpetrators of school violence are coming out frequently. Recently, Hwang Young-woong, who appeared in MBN's 'Burning Trotman', finally left the program due to a past assault conviction and suspicion of school violence. In addition, 'Physical 100' also suffered a blow when several of its cast members were implicated in school violence.

The Netflix documentary series 'I Am God: The People God Betrayed' (directed by Cho Sung-hyun) is also causing a stir. JMS (Christian Gospel Mission), the focus of 'I Am God', accused its leader Myung-seok Jeong of sexually assaulting and exploiting numerous female believers even after being imprisoned for sexual assault. In particular, it is shocking that the evidence, including audio and nude videos of the sexual assault, has been made public.

The person who has been in the news related to JMS is the group DKZ Kyungyoon. It was revealed that Kyung-yoon was a JMS believer and that his parents were running a JMS-related cafe. In response, DKZ withdrew, saying, "I didn't know" and "I left the school," but fans said they were not sure and demanded additional explanation. In addition, the informant who claimed to be a second-generation JMS raised his voice, saying that Kyung-yoon was also a second-generation JMS, and that there was no way he did not know that he was a JMS. In addition, the entertainment industry predicts that additional celebrities who are involved in pseudo-religion will be accused.

The issue of school bullying and pseudo-religion has been previously covered by many media outlets, including terrestrial broadcasters, but the distribution channel Netflix is cited as the reason why 'The Glory' and 'I Am God' are causing a bigger stir. OTT channels such as Netflix have a relatively wide range of expression and are free from deliberation because they can classify and specify their own video ratings.

This characteristic helped to capture the straightening iron scene in ‘The Glory’ and explicit evidence in ‘I Am God’ in the video. These works directly conveyed the seriousness of the problem by fully capturing the problematic facts that occurred in reality. The evaluation is that it was more effective because it pointed out what it wanted to say, rather than rounding it off. In addition, Netflix, which became popular during the COVID-19 era, has a large number of users and is also highly accessible.

In this way, OTT is attracting attention by reporting on society with content that reflects problems and reality and playing a role as an opinion leader.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr