Dear Korea #069

Dear Korea #069

I apologize if this comic is a little difficult to understand. You actually have to watch a fair amount of Korean television to really get it. I’ll try to explain.

Now, I understand that censorship exists to protect people (especially children) from seeing things that may come across as offensive and whatnot. While living in the states, I actually got used to watching R-rated movies that had been edited to be watchable on TV, making for some surprisingly funny lines to replace curse words (“SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!”). Because of those experiences, I never had a huge problem with that sort of censorship. As hilarious as it would be, it makes sense to not want to have kids running around screaming random obsceneties. That being said, censorship in South Korea is something I still have yet to get used to.

At first, I was a little surprised to see just how much blood and gore was censored, especially when it came to the programs that were rated 19. In Korea, at least during the late hours, showing topless women is totally okay as long as none of them have an open flesh wound. Though awkward, I’ve come to understand that the need to censor such violence that usually wouldn’t be censored back home is mostly a cultural difference. The aspect of Korean television that still leaves me scratching my head is when insanely obvious things are censored. I get that watching someone smoke on TV can lead to youngsters wanting to pick up bad habits, but the way it’s done is almost hilarious. It’s the same thing when it comes to knives. Guns are totally cool, but knives are a big no-no (even when they’re not hurting anyone).

The representation in the comic is a bit extreme (cooking shows are allowed to keep their knives), but I think it gets my point across. Yes, smoking is bad, and children shouldn’t be influenced to pick up such habits, but it surprises me to see TV networks going through the trouble of blurring out something so obvious when it’s something kids walk by every single day at their local convenient store. Maybe it’s something I’ll understand better whenever it comes time for me to pop out my own offspring, or maybe I’ll learn to appreciate these efforts when I get to an age where everything offends me (I hope that never happens). For now, think I’ll continue to giggle immaturely at how suggestive it looks when a character stabs his enemy with a long, blurred out weapon.

Jen Lee's Dear Korea

This is Jen Lee. She likes to draw.
She also likes green tea.

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