'SNL' can't stand the strict standards

≪Choi Ji-ye’s Epilogue≫
Ten Asia reporter Choi Ji-ye objectively and keenly points out events that have occurred throughout the entertainment industry every Tuesday. We carefully analyze the ‘glitch’ you missed from a reporter’s perspective.

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On June 26, 2020, KBS 2TV's 'Gag Concert', which lasted for 21 years, ended with 1,050 copies. The end of 'Gag Concert', which was once KBS' flagship program and the gateway to the emergence of comedian stars. The trend of comedy changed rapidly, and public broadcaster KBS had great limitations in keeping up with the trend. Because the regulations were strict, the public no longer laughed at the obvious 'gag concert' that felt like déjà vu.

What filled the void of 'Gag Concert' was the rebooted 'Saturday Night Live Korea' (hereinafter 'SNL'). 'SNL' originally used the tvN channel, but from the rebooted season, OTT channel Coupang Play won exclusive streaming rights and became more free from regulations and deliberations.

'SNL', which changed channels, continued its legacy as a comedy program and played its role well. Ahead of the presidential election, the characteristics and political moves of the ruling and opposition party candidates were satirized, and, led by representative host Shin Dong-yeop, topics under the age of 19 were covered. In particular, in season 3, segments such as ‘Here Comes the Judicator’ and ‘MZ Office’ were huge hits and created a huge stir. Through this, Joo Hyun-young, Kim A-young, Uhm Ji-yoon, and Kim Won-hoon gained recognition and made a mark on the public.

However, the concerns of the production team and cast of 'SNL', which is currently on hiatus after the end of season 3, are deepening. This is because uncomfortable views and criticism surrounding ‘SNL’ continue. The one that received the most criticism was the 'The Calorie' shorts, a parody of the Netflix original series 'The Glory'.

In this video, the school violence scene in which 'The Glory' Park Yeon-jin burns Moon Dong-eun's body with a curling iron is depicted as a scene in which Joo Hyun-young stands up Lee Soo-ji and beats her with a curling iron. In the video, Joo Hyun-young presses the curling iron with a curling iron, saying, "Would you like to check the temperature of the curling iron?" and Lee Soo-ji complains of pain as the curling iron burns and screams, "I have to eat now," and "Please, just one bite."

It is understandable that some people find this parody uncomfortable to watch. The hair straightener scene in 'The Glory' is based on an actual school violence incident that occurred at a middle school in Cheongju in 2006, and there are clearly victims and people who are hurting along with it. Using someone's pain as a source of comedy and consuming it for laughter is an unavoidable problem. 'SNL' must realize its mistake and come up with a proper plan to avoid making this mistake again.

However, there are controversies over whether too strict standards have been applied to 'SNL'. 'MZ Office' depicts the characteristics of various generations working together in one office. A new employee of the MZ generation is shown not paying any attention to his superiors, saying, 'I need to work more efficiently when I wear wireless earphones,' and seeing them as the exclusive preserve of the youngest. He pointed out things like not paying attention to things like ‘taking coffee orders’ and ‘placing water or cutlery in a restaurant’. Also, the sight of women laughing and talking with each other on the outside but fighting on the inside during social life was also used as a subject for comedy.

Regarding this, the MZ generation expressed an uncomfortable view, saying that people who are new to society were generalized and ridiculed as being rude and lacking in adaptability. In addition, there were opinions that the women's fight scene was degrading to women.

In addition, in the case of Joo Hyun-young's character, Joo Joo-ja, who is active in 'The Joo-ja is Here', she made well-prepared comments with confidence, but was very embarrassed and gave a non-committal answer to surprise questions that came out of the blue, making viewers laugh. However, in scenes where the reporter opens her eyes wide or ends up shedding tears, there were people who wondered, 'Is it because she is a female reporter?'

However, 'MZ Office' and 'Here Comes the Judiciary' are nothing more or less than a gag depicting the characteristics of those who are new to society. It is important to understand that it has only expanded and reorganized the characteristics of the MZ generation that many people can see, sympathize with, and laugh at, and has no intention of generalizing and representing all MZ generations.

The target of satire is also not biased. In 'MZ Office', there is a manager-level office worker who pretends to be cool on the outside but is full of an old-fashioned mindset on the inside. While emptying the bone container of bone hangover soup, he boasts, ‘I’m a really cool boss,’ and gets angry at the MZ generation’s correct words, saying, ‘Did we have something like this back in our day?’ Also, Joo Hyun-young, who goes to Namcho's office, is forced to unify the lunch menu with stir-fried pork, and is embarrassed to see male office workers having fun talking only about soccer.

'SNL' does not selectively target and ridicule a specific generation or gender. They just aim to make people laugh by taking advantage of the characteristics of the MZ generation, the older generation, and men and women. Rather, I think it provided an opportunity for discourse to understand each other by dramatically contrasting the characteristics of generations and genders.

Criticism and condemnation are completely different. Criticism leads to development, but if criticism continues, it leads to contraction. The reason behind the abolition of ‘Gag Concert’ was that comedians were intimidated. No one laughs at a humorous joke. Moreover, the scope of expression is different between public broadcaster KBS's 'Gag Concert' and Coupang Play's 'SNL', which is for audiences aged 19 and older.

We need to think again about why Gagcon failed. 'SNL' should not be held to the same strict standards as 'Gag Concert'.

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