An actress well on the way to the height of popularity has taken her own life. It has led to a media feeding frenzy. There are the newspapers and television broadcasters, but internet media, particularly portals, are covering themselves with stories about the incident. Only the woman herself can know the truth, and yet the news coverage is mainly entertainment, full of likely sounding assumptions and baseless analysis. At first it was about how she felt ashamed of recent acting which involved a lot of physical exposure, and then all of a sudden the diagnosis is that she went overboard getting "in character" over a role she had played. Our society is in a state of commotion over an actress' suicide.
Naturally it is reason enough for popular interest when a well-performing actress takes her life, and it is therefore an object of news reports. But when it all mixes with the media's commercialism it creates new problems. The sensationalism that has nothing to do with the truth is problems enough, but it makes society insensitive to the dignity of life and can misguide interest in the social climate and socio-pathological situation in which young people are committing suicide in rapidly increasing numbers. Portal sites exert enormous influence on the younger generation. For that reason those media should beware of the commercialism and sensationalism they are leading the way in.
Recently, a person in an irregular job committed suicide. He left a note expressing his pain and distress and demanding improved treatment for irregular workers. His actions were directly related to the problem of survival for numerous irregulars and yet the media did not show much interest. Some media did not even report the story at all, probably because it would not make them any money and it would not help the trivial expansion of their influence.
Korean civil society has matured remarkably. It has considerable democratic capacity, and it has considerable discernment about socio-cultural events and issues. It is time to demonstrate that civil society has the ability to weigh fairly suicide by an actress and suicide by a worker.
The Hankyoreh, 24 February 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] An Actress'' Suicide and the Maturity of Society |
