[Journalism Internship] Korea’s school zombies take the genre to the next level

Character Lee Chung-san, played by Yoon Chan-young, tries to evade zombies by crawling on top of a bookshelf in the school library. [NETFLIX]

Netflix Korea's smash hit series "Squid Game" isn't the only Korean series to attain global fame. Another Netflix Korea's original series "All Of Us Are Dead" has kept its spot in the global Top 10 TV shows on Netflix for 11 consecutive days after its release on the streaming platform on Jan. 28.

Starting with a virus made by a science teacher in school, most students get infected and become zombies. The remaining human classmates fight desperately to evade the zombies and move on to the safe place to be rescued.

Rotten Tomatoes, a U.S.-based review site, gave 84 "Freshness" points to "All Of Us Are Dead," higher than what it gave to "The Walking Dead Season 10," a popular zombie series with the highest viewer ratings recorded among basic cable dramas in the U.S, which received 80 points. Foreign media is also taking notice of the Korean zombie series. The Guardian published a review of the series with the headline: "The zombie show of Korea will blow you away."

But there's always a new zombie flick or series. What makes this one so popular?

Culture critic Kim Seong-su said on his YouTube channel, "It is not an exaggeration to say that there has been no zombie series in which the background is set at a school."

As for Zombie series or films made in another countries, such as "Helix" or "The Walking Dead," the setting is usually a laboratory or a downtown city. Critics say this makes "All Of Us Are Dead" relatively refreshing for viewers.

Kim also said that "the emergence of zombies in school, which is pre-modern space, is symbolic in itself. It's normal for students to compete with each other to get to a higher position. It can be said that zombies biting others to survive resembles the school."

Kim also said it’s “a drama that combines zombies and student romance. It is different from existing zombie content. The majority of viewers are teenagers and people in their 20s. It's just right up their alley.”

Critics also point out that, similar to "Squid Game," Korean elements grabbed the attention of global viewers once again.

Culture critic Kim Heon-sik said in an interview with Monthly Joongang that "K-zombie series include Korean element like community action or social satire. Western zombie series are centered on usually individualistic survival and escape, but Korean zombie series are mainly focused on social and community values."

In episode two, for example, classmates cooperated with each other to enter the science room, which was safe from zombies. When the science room became dangerous, they helped each other make a rope using the string around a fire hydrant and escaped safely. In episode seven, the students worked together to make a barricade to protect themselves from the zombies and they used it to lure the zombies away and leave the classroom.

"That process reveals the social contradiction and the problem of the social system in which individuals suffer," said Kim. "'All Of Us Are Dead' shows how the young generation is shunned in society and how they seek self-rescue methods to solve it. In the series, adults didn't try anything to rescue students, and politicians used this situation to their political advantage, though students kept struggling to survive from zombies nevertheless."

As a type of social contradiction, the problems of school bullying and outcasts are described in this series. In episode one, a male student was bullied and hit by a school bully, and an insulting, sexual video of a female student was taken. The school principal did not tell the police even after the school bully had been reported to him.

BY KIM BEOM-SU, KIM TAE-YEONG, BACK JUN [kimbeomsu08@gmail.com]