[Letters] A Korean take on comedy

A few days ago, I watched part of a Korean TV show. In the show, celebrities were starving for more than 12 hours. After that, they had to play a game where, if they won, they would be provided with lots of delicious food, and if they lost, they would be given a very small amount of food that would not even be enough for one person's meal.

I expressed disgust and pity for the people in the show, who were playing the game as if their life depended on it.

My friends, who were watching the show next to me said, “That’s why it's fun!” I was rather shocked to hear this.

Although I do not watch a lot of TV, I have seen other reality shows where winners of a game experience “heaven” and losers experience “hell,” such as walking for hours out in the cold and having ice water poured on them in the winter.

Nowadays, reality or comedy shows are competing against each other to make celebrities suffer more. The audience gets used to the old tricks, and keeps asking for more and more impulsive and violent things.

I cannot understand why these shows are supposed to be “comedy.” When was watching others suffer fun? Korean TV shows are turning entertainers into dolls, getting paid to suffer and have viewers laugh at them. It is time media changes its view of funny.

Park Ju-young,

Gimpo Foreign Language High School senior