It’s refreshing to see a show go so in depth with the topic of social media. Most shows have a small element about it, but “Celebrity” zooms in and explores the various themes such as the lure of fame, the dangers of technology (e.g. deepfake, anonymity), the volatile nature of an influencer’s career, the manipulation that influencers exert on their viewers and the control that viewers have on the influencer’s career (in terms of viewership and comments). All of these are unpacked across 12 episodes with an overarching message that social media can create celebrities very quickly and easily, but fame comes with a price.
Trigger warning: suicide, bullying, vulgarities and drugs. NC16 rating.
I find that “Celebrity” and “The Glory” shared a similar “female lead returns for revenge” vibe. Dong Eun from “The Glory” swore vengeance against her bully perpetrators, while in “Celebrity”, Ari exposed the Gabin society and bbb_famous for all their dirty deeds. “The Glory” is definitely way more intense than “Celebrity” in my opinion. More people died. More vulgarities. There’s bullying happening in both shows, but I find the bullying in “The Glory” scarier because there’s no reason for it other than for entertainment. In comparison, the Gabin society members bullied Ari in “Celebrity” as they were insecure about her sudden increase in popularity and felt threatened. It was a mad “chase for Ks and Ms” as the show puts it.
Another similarity between the two shows is that the focus was mainly on the female leads. There really is just one main character of the show because the male leads’ characters seemed much less developed than the female leads’ and I would even consider them a little extra. Just look at the cringey hotel lobby scene in episode 6 where the male lead pushes the female lead against the turnstile/revolving door. Aiyo, is that really necessary? I burst out laughing there. Firstly, Min Hyuk. Secondly, in the freaking turnstile? How did he even stop the thing from turning? How does one even make that look cool? Wth.
It’s kinda hard to pinpoint the style that “Celebrity” has. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching crimewatch or listening to an audio book when Ari becomes the narrator sharing her inner thoughts. That being said, I think the editing team put in a lot of effort. They weaved and superimposed clips (e.g. fingers typing quickly on the keyboard or many people walking past each other but all using their phones) together to portray the power and magnitude of the Internet. Some scenes were created to intentionally induce a sense of uneasiness or anxiety. For instance, alleged screenshots of Ari’s mean texts to Min Hye generated many articles and forum discussions about her “true colours” in episode 10. I don’t know what the technique is called but the viewers are zoomed in and we follow the cursor as it clicks to open links or highlights key phrases. The editors also timed the clicks and scene transitions well with the ominous background music. This technique was used throughout the show. Oh and I love it when the actors are typing into their phones and we see the messaging interface superimposed at the side. BUT, WHERE’RE THE SUBTITLES!? I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING THAT BBB_FAMOUS SAID!!
Bbb-famous is the ultimate shit stirrer representative who can pop up anywhere in everybody’s lives. You may already know someone like that in school or at work. Gotta stay away from them yo. It was pretty suspicious and creepy when she had a 180 degree change in her texting tone with Ari. I wish Ari could have protected herself better by hiring a PI to find out bbb’s identity earlier. Don’t they always do that in Korean dramas? And, the moral of the story? It’s not safe to trust people from the Internet whom you’ve never met in real-life. Okay, so… WHO IS BBB?!
I love how the show casually “pranked” us with Wang Ro La at the peak of our curiosity in episode 9. It was such an intentional and clever move by the producers. They knew that we had all forgotten about her after her short appearance in episode 1 and now, she could actually be bbb_famous. This successfully emphasises the dangers of online anonymity. Can you really trust someone whom you don’t know much about? Then again, Ari’s closest friend, Jeong Sun, had an anti-Ari account. Ouch. Tbh, I suspected that Jeong Sun might be bbb-famous and if she was, “Celebrity” would have had such a sinister plot twist that’s way creepier than Wang Ro La’s psychotic-looking smile.
Some leftover notes that I have:
Reality = humans love drama.
We hate liars but we are okay with lying to others.
We don’t like to hear others tell us what we already know about ourselves - guilty pleasures or pathetic states.
Just like how there are bad people in the world, there’ll always be good guys too.
Not sure if you guys can tell but I tried to illustrate the iconic scene in episode 5.
The male lead's rebuttal makes sense. He was born in a wealthy family with such practices. We find it absurd that he hires people to remove his shoes for him, but this just proves that we don't belong in the same "world". If we don't get exposed to alternative practices beyond our sheltered environments and/or nobody questions the way things are done over a long time (usually as we grow up), it's natural for us to conclude that the practice we keep experiencing is "normal". The lack of awareness can lead to seriously undesirable situations such as the normalisation/desensitisation of inappropriate behaviours at home/workplace. It's extremely confusing when one's understanding of right and wrong is challenged. For instance, young victims of sexual abuse at home may "freak out" when they go through sex education at school. It's easy for us to wonder why did the victims not know, but how do you expect them to know better when the perpetrators are the parents/people whom they are supposed to be able to trust?
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