Are Korean dramas and movies guilty of glamorizing iljins?

Article: 'School 2013', the line that took down the controversy of glamorizing iljins

Source: Mediaus via Nate

Editorial that discusses how the drama and other similar storylines were often put under controversy for glamorizing the actions of iljins. 'School 2013' managed to step off the chopping block by having Park Heung Soo submit to the consequences and self realize/admit to his wrong choices in life.

1. [+650, -10] I fully agree with this editorial... I always felt uncomfortable watching dramas or movies depict school life by glamorizing the 'cool iljin' as the protagonist. I think Heung Soo's words will at least make students who look up to iljins think twice about what it actually means.

2. [+613, -23] Another line that hit a cord with me was when Oh Jung Ho said that "kids like us, people assume things and swear at us just by the way we look. They tell us to go wash some dishes."

3. [+477, -15] This journalist has a good point

"If anything, I think dramas also need to consider that not all iljins come out of poor or dysfunctional families. These days, iljins act out because they know their parents are rich enough to have their backs. Iljins can beat a fellow student to the point of paralyzing a limb but all it takes is the breath of his parents for him to get off scot free. A lot of things need to be taken into consideration if dramas are choosing to portray an iljin character."

"It's all those internet fiction novels like Guiyeoni that started glamorizing iljins."

"That's right, these days, most iljins are the sons of doctors, lawyers, conglomerates, and mob leaders."

"People try to excuse the actions of iljins saying they'll grow up to deliver Chinese food and work other dead end jobs (TN: like Americans say with flipping burgers at McDonald's) but this just shows how our society still doesn't understand who an iljin actually is. Iljins these days are powerful, powerful young teens coddled by their rich parents for their entire lives. Dramas only depict the 'lower class iljins', those on the bottom that do the dirty work for the real guys."

"Heung Soo and Oh Jung Ho are not iljins. They wear their backpacks to school ^^."

"I don't think 'School 2013' is an exception to anything. Heung Soo and Nam Soon are iljins no matter how you look at it and they're being glamorized as kids with a painful past."

"I think girls are especially guilty of glamorizing iljins."

"This drama still glamorizes iljins. It's basically showing that a guy who did all these hateful, hurtful things can look cool and gain sympathy once he turns his life around. Who is going to glamorize their victims? Why are the lens always fixed on the iljins?"

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