What Is the Story About?
Celebrity is a scary and closer look at the influencer culture. It depicts the desires and mysteries covering people who become social media influencers, living the sham of celebrity life, the pitfalls they face and the short-lived fame they enjoy. Celebrity focusses its story on Seo-ah-ri, one such overnight sensation.
Performances?
Park Gyu Young is sensational as Seo-ah-ri. A voice of conscience, a rarity in the fame hungry social media fever, a stubborn dreamer and achiever who gets caught in controversies and even life threats as she rises up the ladder of fame. She has a graceful screen presence and honest eyes, that makes the character worth rooting.
Analysis
The South Korean streaming series ‘Celebrity’,a mystery drama is written by Kim Yi-young and directed by Kim Cheol-kyu. A 12 episode show that features a tight-packed ensemble cast featuring Sweet Home star Park Gyu-young, Kang Min-hyuk, Lee Chung-ah, Lee Dong-gun and Jun Hyo-seong in well round and important roles.
Celebrity, to begin with deals a hot topic. The toxic influencer culture and its pitfalls in short. It glamorises the very culture it tries to critique in the initial episodes, where we see Seo-ah-ri, a debt-ridden saleswoman slowly trying to make her mark in the mean and rude world of the elite. She meets her high-school classmate who apparently has made it big as an influencer, and through her a lot more people she shouldn’t have met.
Celebrity opens with Seo-ah-ri who narrates her story through a live-stream. A sensational one at that, one that apparently would loosen a can of worms and expose the who’s who of the elite cream society. We see people panicking one by one and Seo-ah-ri takes us back to each one of them and the role they played in Seo-ah-ri’s story.
But, here’s the punch. Seo-ah-ri is in fact dead. And its a post-death stream through which she intends to expose her tormentors, including a hate account that apparently ruined everything for her. One of the most clever moves, writer Kim Yi-young has taken in Celebrity’s writing is the way it manages to engage its audience with the mystery of : what happened to Seo-ah-ri? Who did her wrong? And What exactly is her story.
The viewer easily gets engaged by all three questions, very much like the interest people today show for controversies and scandals. In a way, Celebrity exposes the hypocrisy of its audience too, sort of a mirroring thing, you know. Every single eye that’s glued to Celebrity is the villain in Seo-ah-ri’s story. Our inherent likeness towards content that’s malicious, sadistic and pathetic reflects in the kind of content that engages us. & what better a time to critique this than today’s times.
The pitfalls of celebrity culture, cyber bullying, desperation to make it big, pretentiousness, the ruthlessness of elite etc etc etc and a lot more, is rightly criticised by Celebrity. However, the way the show decides to end is quite uneasy. As long as it stayed in the mystery zone, it does make a lot of points. But, the moment it tries to come out of the loop, it just blames the wrong set of people for the looming toxicity. Some characters and conversations pop in, pop out and meet no befitting conclusions, either.
Nevertheless, with a strong cast, a very graceful lead performance and a concept this relevant, Celebrity deserves a watch. Also the show is undeniably entertaining.
Other Artists?
Celebrity’s biggest asset is its strong cast. Every single actor is believable, likeable characters are endearing and you root for them till the end and despicable characters are beyond any redemption.
However stand-out performances come from Lee Chung-ah as Yoon Shi-hyeon and an almost replica of Seo-ah-ri character wise, a template sophisticated,nice-rich woman and Lee Dong-gun as the despicable lawyer Jin Tae-jeon. Jun Hyo-seong as Oh Min-hye also churns out a career defining act.
Music and Other Departments?
Over the course of 12 episodes, the camera work of Celebrity effectively captures the glim and glamour of the elite and the toxic influencer culture. Kim Junseon & Jung Serin’s music also aids the narrative adequately. Whenever the show takes a turn from just another rags to riches story to a scintillating thriller, the background music came through.
Highlights?
Cast
Concept
Lead Actress’ performance
Engaging Screenplay
Drawbacks?
Too Illogical at times
Altruistic and self contradictory politics
plotlines that meet no end
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes.
Celebrity Series Review by Binged Bureau
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