Media Event 2: Merli: S1E8, Guy Debord

Unlike the usual film screening where White Hall is relatively empty besides FILM 208 students lounging around, the place was full of students. I wondered if there there were free food or Captain America was here (Emory White Hall was featured in the Captain America: Civil War). Apparently Organic Chemistry lab final exam was taking place in other classrooms and I casually walked into White Hall 205, leaving my friends who were doing last-minute cramming.

Professor showed us “Merlí: S1E8, Guy Debord” on Netflix, which was a Spanish drama. The overall story of this particular episode was about students obtaining a naked video of their classmate, Monica, which went viral throughout the school. It was interesting to see conflicts between students if they should or should not forward the video to others. The episode ended happily, with the culprit apologizing to Monica and everyone else stripping down to underwear in the classroom.

This film, however, reminded of the severe situation going on in Korea these days. Men are lured to strip or capture themselves naked on multiple mobile app such as dating, random video chat and so on. Such crimes are usually committed not by strangers but by a friend. Culprits usually use "cat-fishing" pictures or videos to lure the target. Once culprits obtain the wanted videos, they threaten the victim for ransom, in exchange for not revealing the video to public. If victims refuse to do so, the culprits usually create a large chat group with victim's mutual friends and share the video. I feel sorry for the victims but perhaps one should really not record or share too much of their private-selves on the phones just as the teacher asserted in Merli.