Maggi64

What actions? You think a man's life should be destroyed for hanging out at an escort bar? It was the escorts who were wrong and blackmailed him. Besides, he DID face consequences in seeing himself vilified and despised in the press. Moreover, he faced the ultimate consequence of death. When one considers all of this, you sound like an ass.

I'm rewatching too. I I agree that it's better on second viewing and LSK's acting is all the more impressive. But IU drives me even more bonkers because of how she reads her lines in a monotone, under her breath. I saw her in a movie called Broker (about baby brokers), and she played the exact same sullen character, as if that's all she knows how to do. She just mumbles her lines under her breath. She's also one of those actors who cannot cry. She sobs, but no tears come out. However, the rest of the cast is stellar. The brothers crack me up. I'd have given it a 10 if IU were not in it. Otherwise, I gave it a 9.

I left this for you in my message the night before last. My links won't show live on MDL for some reason. But here's the title and author. It has links to CNN articles embedded as well.

Hollywood Reporter
Could ‘Parasite’ Star Lee Sun-kyun Death Lead to a Social Reckoning in Korea?
By: REBECCA SUN
JANUARY 3, 2024

It's the author of this article, whose name appears at the top of it. She always writes on trashy topics which are full of innuendo and serve to further Korea's shame culture.

I went to the profile page for "lo_ve" and it's a female (she describes herself as an "introvert girl"). She not only writes on trashy topics, but her writing skills are abysmal as well. I know such people write for free but, really, MDL can do better even for free.

CNN did an article on how Korea's "Celeb Shame & Suicide Factory" has already caused Hollywood titans and Netflix to reconsider future deals. Sure, Netflix did Korea's bidding and canceled shows but Netflix wasn't happy about it. Remember, every time they must cancel a show/movie because an actor has been vilified (Yoo Ah In), or LITERALLY shamed to DEATH (Lee Sun Kyun), the production company hemorrhages money. The article said American production companies are now more leery about doing future entertainment deals with Korea.

Logic and compassion won't change Korea's shame culture, but money sure will.

American colleges play movies in their auditoriums on weekends, and when certain movies, like this one, are popular the movie will go around to all the campuses across the country. Going around to all the campuses is also called "playing the college circuit."

Exactly. When a character in "My Mister" says something philosophical, you see that philosophy exemplified in the show by a plot point and/or the characters' behaviors. But in "Lost" characters just toss out statements of fake philosophy and nothing in the show backs it up. "My Mister" was a masterpiece because it had a clear goal to explore what it means to be human and how to live a life of decency and honor, and then the show achieved that goal with plot points and characterization. "Lost" meanwhile, just implied to the audience that it was deep and then failed to reveal anything deep at all.

"My Mister" moved me because the characters' actions truly made me think about what it means to be a good person. Of course, it was mostly Lee Sun Kyun's character who exemplified this. His character was what I call a fully evolved human being. And it was Lee Sun Kyun's great acting that made the character so believable. I was kicked in the gut when I heard he killed himself. It just devastated me.

It's exceedingly dishonest for MDL's biography on this page to say that Lee Sun Kyun "passed away after being found unconscious in a vehicle." The fact is, he killed himself (they even found charcoal briquettes in his car, which are commonly used for suicide in Korea). The distinction between "suicide" and "passed away" is enormous. The term "passed away," implies a peaceful death from natural causes, while the term "suicide," is disturbing and begs the question: "Why?"

The Asian media sweeps suicide under the rug because it's unwilling to address the question, "Why?" Well, one obvious answer for why is the lack of mental health treatment. Seeking mental health treatment is still taboo in Korea, especially for celebrities who are supposed to be perfect. The netizens attack celebrities for the slightest imperfection -- and just about crucify them for suspected drug use, even if it' something as innocuous as marijuana (which is legal in most states in America). So celebs do not seek mental health treatment when they are going through an intensely traumatic experience, as LSK was. As a result, we see an inordinate number of celebrities killing themselves in Korea. The Guardian states there have been 40 Celeb Suicides in the course of one mere decade.

The Korean media needs to get honest about their country having a veritable epidemic of Celeb Suicides. Because only such honesty will raise public awareness about depression and the fact that it is not a "moral failure," but an illness just like any other illness, such as heart disease, asthma, or multiple sclerosis. LSK, however, likely thought his depression was a moral failure, and due to this misconception he was too ashamed to seek help.

It's impossible to raise public awareness and change misconceptions when the Korean media is in denial about depression and suicide. Which is why I was disappointed that the team at MDL carried on the tradition of denial when writing his bio, and attempted to gloss over his suicide with the dishonest terminology "passed away" instead of "killed himself."

First off, I am sorry to hear about your father. I'm glad that getting lost in Asian action dramas helped keep your mind off it.

As I'd said above, I also love Asian cinema, and it started in 2020 just like you. For me, the impetus was watching movies by Ang Lee, who's big in America. Then I began to look for other Asian movies less known in America. At this point, I watch both dramas and movies and I watch them from all the East Asian countries: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. It was like discovering this wonderful new world!

But I never expected that an Asian actor/actress or pop star killing themselves every couple of months would be part of this new world. And I can't help but notice that so many of the Celeb Suicides happen, specifically, in Korea. I wish their culture were more open to seeking mental health treatment. Alas, it's still taboo -- especially for celebs who are supposed to be perfect.

Wow, thank you for that link, even if the news was horrifying. It mentions online trolling as a factor in their suicides. I agree that the internet is definitely a factor in the rise of suicides among young people in Asia, and especially Korea. I am 55 and this was not happening in Asia before the internet was prevalent. But another factor is something psychiatrists call "The Werther Effect." It is when there are copycat suicides after seeing other high profile suicides in the media. The name is based on an 18th century German novel called "The Sorrows of Young Werther" wherein the character, Werther, killed himself over unrequited love. The novel was so popular that there was a rash of young German men killing themselves in the same way for the next couple of years.

So now, whenever we see a rash of suicides that follow a high profile suicide, psychiatrists call it "The Werther Effect." Young people are particularly prone to it. It's why we are seeing so many K-pop idols under 29 killing themselves. They are copying the prior K-pop idols' suicides. It's also why high schools promptly bring in teams of counselors whenever a teen at school kills themselves. In other words, they are worried that other teens will commit copycat suicides.

The instant you wrote "you just justified racism, sexism, and the eugenics movements" the conversation ended. Why not just call me Hitler? To equate my analogy with this is not only absurd, but offensive. You are also belittling serious things like racism, sexism and eugenics when you drag them into unrelated arguments. I did not bring up anything unrelated. Sure, the post was about Lee Sun Kyun, but he's a Celeb and it's a Suicide in Korea. So it clearly relates to the topic of Celeb Suicides in Korea in general. Hence, I brought up the suicides of K-pop idols. Celebs in general are killing themselves in Korea as a solution to their inner pain and the fact that there are so many doing it means the Werther Effect is in play. Google it.

I won't be replying anymore. For god's sake, you accused me of freaking eugenics! When the level of rhetoric sinks to that level insults, one must bow out.

It's not a conspiracy theory when the majority of members of a particular group (ie, celebs), die in the exact same particular way (ie, suicide). It is, rather, a rational conclusion. A scientist would tell you that when a phenomena recurs at the same rate (or at an increasing rate, as is happening with Celeb Suicides), then each time it happens again the scientist should look at the prior cause as the most likely reason it happened again. In other words, if 40 Korean Celebrities have killed themselves in the past decade, then when one dies under mysterious circumstances, we should look at all the prior cases that replicate this current case. Because that would be the most likely cause.

Let's say another K-pop idol dies tomorrow and it looks like suicide, but it is, to use your phrase, "unconfirmed." A scientist would look at all the factors that are similar to the vast number of deaths of other members of this same group (ie, other K-pop idols). They all share a shocking number of common denominators. They are all K-pop idols under 29 who are plucked from their homes as kids, put in dorms to train (ie, quasi work camps ), forced to go on grueling tours with no breaks in between and to do constant publicity such that they are exhausted and have no personal lives (in fact they are not allowed to have personal lives , like boyfriends or girlfriends cuz the netizens get jealous and angry). They are all owned by their talent agencies who control their careers, overwork them, and treat them like commodities. A scientist would put all these factors together and conclude that since all the prior celeb suicides shared the same common denominator, then the cause of the current death is likely the same -- ie, suicide.

And let's talk about those talent agencies. Because I think that you and I can agree on the fact that the talent agencies mistreat these K-Pop idols. We may not agree on the suicides, but most agree about this . To begin, the relationship between a celeb and their agency is very unlike the relationship between an American celeb and their agent. Here, your agent gets you a job and takes a commission. That's it. The agent has NO say in the life you lead. But in Asia, we actually see the celeb's agencies making public comments if a celeb is caught with drugs or something. An American agent would never do that because they have NO power over their celeb. They celeb treats the agent like an employee they boss around. In Asia, it's the other way around, and the agent treats the celeb like an employee they boss around.

Just look here on MDL and how all the celeb's bios list their agencies. No American celeb's bio would include the name of their agent, let alone the name of the whole agency that their agent works for. Nobody gives a crap if Tom Cruise has an agent and that his agent works at the William Morris Agency. Because we know that this agent would be Cruise's lackey. That agent would have no power and Cruise sure as hell would not be letting that agent's name appear on any of his bio's. But here on MDL the agency name is the 1st thing we see when we look up a celeb. I noticed this when I googled Asian celebs in other sources too. Their agencies have enormous power over them. In short, an Asian celeb defers to the agency, while an American agency defers to the celeb. That difference is crucial. It's why the majority of Korean suicides are kids under 29 -- ie, they feel powerless and trapped because their agencies own them. They are isolated from their families and friends and have nobody to talk to about their inner pain. And it's taboo to seek psychiatric help in Korea. When these kids are in a depression their agencies do not send them to a therapist as they should. Nope, they just send them out on another tour.

I love how the poster had inadvertently proved my point by saying that the Asian media is quiet about such things because of their "culture" when my whole point was, um, that the Asian media was quiet about such things because of their culture. Then all the fangirls of K-pop who are complicit in these Celeb Suicides by saying it's ok for the media to keep quiet, play it as if it's a "cultural thing" and Westerners have no say. Well, I might have continued a discussion if that poster were an actual Asian, but when I asked, of course, she was NOT. She did not even speak an Asian language fluently. She's just another fan who is complicit in Asian Celeb Suicides by making excuses for why the media there is silent about it.

But my fav is when she read a researched and fact checked article in The Mercury (link provided above) and said, "Oh, that headline is misleading, there were not 5 suicides this year, only 3. Because the other 2 were "just deaths." Yep, just deaths. How about just deaths about which we know nothing because the management companies gave no information, told all the fans to stop talking "out of respect," and pulled down an iron wall of secrecy. For instance, the K-pop idol Park Soo Ryun did not "fall" down a flight of steps, but based on the statistics and circumstances of her profession coupled with the fact that her management company pulled down the iron wall of secrecy rejecting questions and investigation, means she THREW herself down a flight of steps to kill herself. For christs sake, when a K-pop idol under 29 dies under mysterious circumstances, and their talent agencies pull down an iron wall of secrecy, it's not "just a death." It's SUICIDE.

The Western Press has been very active this week because Lee Sun Kyun is someone known well from the Oscar winning "Parasite." Americans don't really know all the K-Pop idols who've been killing themselves at a rate of 4 a year. But "Parasite" won an Oscar, so Lee Sun Kyun became known on a national level here. This meant the press touched on the Celeb Suicide epidemic in Korea a tad. Not enough, but at least a tad. And the articles stated that there were 5 Celeb Suicides this year. Yes, 5. Because there were. People on this thread who deny this are, quite literally in "denial." And their denial makes them complicit with the celeb's management companies who try to cover up the suicides. They overwork those K-pop idols like dogs and treat them like commodities until the poor kids kill themselves. Then they sweep the suicide under the rug and fans like the one on this thread are all to happy to help them do it.

You say:

"Identifying the root of suicide for Korean celebrities is a bit more difficult. You can ask various professionals in their fields and they will give various answers. But, personally, I reckon the root cause for the celebrities is the same as for its general populous."


I agree that the cause would be severe depression, despair and a troubled personal life, just like any member of the general populous who kills themselves. But 5 celebrities in Korea have killed themselves in 2023. Statistically, that must be a higher number within that group than the number of suicides within the general populous.

I don't speak any Asian language so I have to search for translations; read Asian periodicals written in English; or, as a last resort, do a google-translation.
And everything I read about Celebrity Suicides is, to use your word "reductionist"

For instance, all the articles I find are extremely short and contain only the barest information. I always think, well, it hardly matters that I'm reading a bad translation because it's not as if this is an in depth examination of the phenomena. To the contrary, these articles are so sparse as to feel like a state of denial. If you know of any Asian articles that actually examine this phenomena deeply, please send me a link .

Lastly, may I ask if you live in an Asian country? If so, how does the average person on the street talk about this? I imagine it's different than how the press talks about it. Does anyone hold those talent agencies responsible for overworking pop stars in their 20's and treating them like disposable commodities ? Because they should

I discovered Asian cinema 3 years ago and love it. But I never dreamed that my new found love would include news of celebrities killing themselves at a shocking rate in Asia – especially in Korea.. Nobody seems to be talking about it either. People’s comments on social media (which will phase out in one week) do not count. Nor do those short, 3 paragraph articles we see in the Asian press that report the story in the simplest terms the day after the celebrity's death and then that’s that. We don’t hear a word about it again.

The world beyond Asia doesn’t seem to care either. There’s very little on it, and only The Guardian discussed how it was a large-scale cultural problem; stating that 40 Asian celebrities have killed themselves in the past 10 years. Christ, celebrities are killing themselves at a rate of 4 a year. I open MDL and see news of an Asian Celebrity Suicide so often that I think of popcorn kernels bursting. Pop! – there goes another celebrity. Three months later – pop! pop!-- there’s the 2nd. Four months later - pop! pop! pop! – there goes the 3rd one this year. Five months later – pop! pop! pop! pop! -- there's the 4th, will there be another tomorrow? Since Celebrity Suicides are definitely increasing with each passing year, we can imagine a future sounding like a full bag of kernels exploding in the microwave. Only we are talking about human beings.

So, the question is, “What is it about the Asian entertainment industry – especially Korea’s – that makes all these celebrities want to kill themselves?” When an intensely serious phenomena is repeated at this rate year after year, the press would jump on it, right? Investigative journalists would deeply examine what it is about the Asian entertainment industry in conjunction with its overall culture that breeds celebrity suicides. After all, journalists are always looking for a good story so they would all be scrambling to cover the story whenever a big star kills themselves. Wait, I forgot, the exception is Asian journalists vis-a-vis Celebrity Suicides.

Compare their minimal coverage of the massive number of Celebrity Suicides to America's massive coverage of its incredibly rare occurrence when Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade killed themselves. They covered both the lives of these 2 celebrities and the phenomena of suicide itself. Periodicals that ran the story (which was basically all of them), included numbers for a Suicide Hotline as well as a description of telltale signs that someone may hurt themselves and what you should do if you know someone exhibiting these signs. Now, I’m not being a cheerleader for America, because I think our grotesque Monthly Gun Massacres are akin to Asia’s Monthly Celebrity Suicides, but, hey, at least we report on the Gun Massacres. Whenever one occurs, there are long, carefully researched, examinations of the gun culture in periodicals such as the NY Times, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and, well, every serious periodical in the country. Whenever a Celebrity Suicide occurs in Asia there is…… Silence.

The common term for it is "Micro Penis," because the man's penis is so small. The clinical term for it is, "Klinefelter Syndrome." According to Wikipedia the primary features are infertility, and small, poorly functioning testicles. Some men may also have less body hair, breast growth, and less interest in sex.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter_syndrome

Does anyone have a link for this with Eng Subs? I can only find the Korean version, and I'm more interested in the Japanese.

Do you have a link for this with Eng Subs? I can only find the Korean version, and I'm more interested in the Japanese.