Police have arrested a popular comedian on charges of beating his junior comedian. The comedians of another famous comedy program also revealed the “slave contract” they signed with an agency run by a senior comedian. When you look at the two incidents, both began with an old practice built upon excessively hierarchical relations between juniors and seniors. As these incidents occurred between people whose job it was to make people laugh, they are all the more bitter.
There’s fairly little room for magnanimity in an incident of violence. To beat your junior because he failed to greet you properly, and then beat him even more severely because he squealed, is something you don’t even see in gangs. As this wasn’t the first time the comic in question gathered his juniors together and punished or assaulted them, it’s even more lamentable. Our culture of placing importance on age and workplace seniority has deep roots in our society. But the comedy-world practice of juniors greeting their seniors loudly while bowing at a 90-degree angle reminds one of an organized crime racket.
The bad comedy industry practice of new comedians signing unfair contracts of 10~15 years without signing bonuses is also connected with hierarchical relations between juniors and seniors. The junior comics claim, “We had no choice but to sign the contracts as the agency demanded we do so as a condition for continuous broadcast appearances." They said there were some who refused the contracts and couldn’t find broadcast work as a result. This is nothing other than an act of violence by seniors using the comedy world’s system of hierarchical relations that permit no disobedience.
Last month, the coach of a professional volleyball team was punished for beating his junior players. There are also occasional incidents of schoolyard violence in which seniors beat their juniors. Most say they are “enforcing discipline,” but it’s not the army, so what are they doing “enforcing discipline?” These are the dregs of our old militarized society. Authority enforced by force is nothing more than violence. True authority is born when you act in a way in which you earn respect. In other sectors of the entertainment industry, too, there were many problems owing to excessively hierarchical relations, but they’ve been corrected to a large extent. We hope these incidents become an opportunity for the comedy industry to be reborn.
The Hankyoreh, 12 May 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (EIP)]
[Editorial] Sad Reality of the Comedy Business |
