I came upon a news article from www.allkpop.com regarding an actor name Lee Ki Oh going through hard times in the Korean Entertainment Business. I read the article and began to explore, at first I was thinking: you know what, everyone goes through hard times, and there are always obstacles in which a person has to go through in order to achieve success. Well this article blew my mind, it stated the following:
Lee Ki Oh’s situation is similarly upsetting, as many companies demanded money from him in order to be in productions.
This was the line that blew my mind, paying money to gain fame? Almost as if you have to bribe companies and directors to earn your role. So it made me think, do famous people have to go through this corrupted system in order to achieve their fame, if so then can we not argue that their “fame” is actually fake and is based on how much money a person can bribe. But then again most of these actors and actresses are doing what they dream and have always wanted to do, only now there is a very huge and immoral obstacle. Well before I got into any deeper thoughts I saw this line again with the following links:
It has been revealed in the past that many entertainers resort to, or are forced into performing demeaning favors behind-the-scenes in order to get their names out there.
I was interested so I decided to ponder and take a look at where these links will lead me. I was in for one hell of a ride about the Korean Entertainment Industry. The “demeaning” link which leads to the death of a young actress Jang Ja Yun through sucide… why? It was because of depression, now what lead to her depression. After reading the article it was found that this beautiful actress was:
was beaten and forced to sleep with the Production Director (PD)
incidents at room saloons and bars, and being forced to sleep with the Dirty Ass PD
physically beaten with water bottles and receiving threatening text messages
went to the head of her company to ask for help from the harassment. But she was beaten and told to just endure it.
confessed in her letters that she was forced to do the dirty deeds, because she had no money
She was an upcoming actress and was currently in a role for the drama “Boys over Flower”! And “Boys over Flower” has its multiple dramas, a manga, and its own anime; to make my point it is something BIG, but this drama production took a wrong turn in events. This was not even the worst part, the second article, linked on “favors” is about a Taiwanese Singer name Estrella Lin wanting to enter the Korean Entertainment Industry. She stated:
According to Lin, actors, actresses, and singers are encouraged to sell their bodies, or are sometimes even forced, in order to obtain opportunities in Korea. The expectation is an unwritten rule in the entertainment industry of the country, said Lin.
This was not the only horrible part. There was a survey done with some statistic!
Out of 2,000 entertainers who were asked to participate, only 183 responded. Of the 183, however, 19.1% admitted to personally participating in or knowing of someone who took part in the “couch casting” calls. Shockingly, 62.3 percent revealed that they would face disadvantages if they refused.
NINETEEN POINT ONE PERCENT of 183 people ADMITTED or KNOWING of someone who took part in the “couch casting” that is about 35 people out of 183 people. Not only that but more than half of the people that answer the survey stated that they would face disadvantages if they were to refused couch casting! That is 114 people out of 183 people. Now this blew my mind, this was what made me go holy f*cking sh*t! How can such a wonderful community have things and people like this!
Oh no do not think that our own American Entertainment Industry would never ever do something like this. We all know who Transformer’s sexy heroine Megan Fox, well in 2009 an article was release stating:
insisting several leading film directors have tried to bed her since she found fame.
Of course these are not the only examples, you can find the definition of “Casting Couch” and more examples here.
Just knowing that this occurs in the entertainment industry makes me sick because of the power that these directors have over their actors and actress. Of course not all directors are horrible people, and that not all entertainers do this, but just knowing that this occurs makes me sad about how the entertainment industry is ran. The idea of talent being what brings people to fame is now less credible because of all of this.
