South Korea’s popularity and criticism of ‘Money Heist’
‘Resistance against capitalism and authoritarianism’. The Netflix series Money Heist suddenly shocked the entire world, including my home country, South Korea with this theme. However, the focus of interest seems to be different in my home country. While other countries focus on resistance against both capitalism and authoritarianism, the significant interest in Money Heist in South Korea is shifted to only the resistance against authoritarianism. While the increase in income inequality was already recognized by the Koreans, the enemy in the north, North Korea made South Koreans not think in a way of criticizing capitalism, but instead blame politicians and people in high authority for the growing income inequality, causing money heist to be a popular show. Thus, the success of the Netflix series Money Heist in South Korea is partially because of Koreans’ significant interest in the ‘resistance’ against authoritarianism and polarization of wealth. However, the special circumstance of South Korea draws rejection against the essential point of the show from Koreans: the redistribution of wealth and anti-capitalist values.
Starting season 1 in 2017, Money Heist is a crime thriller TV show in which a genius called the ‘professor’ gathers eight criminals to rob the Royal Mint of Spain. In fact, the original title of the show is ‘La Casa de Papel’, which directly translates to ‘the house of paper’. The meaning of paper is “money,” and in comparison to the expression “paper house” itself, it is not so difficult to be reminiscent of a mint. Mints are the basis of capitalism. It serves as a place to produce money that must be circulated like blood underlying capitalism and to control the amount of money. In other words, the choice of the Mint instead of the Bank for the background of the robbery shook the foundation of capitalism itself along with breaking the cliché of robbery in films. In particular, the direction in which a group of robbers seeks to commit a crime while looking at the model mint at the operation meeting is quite significant. A close look at the Mint means that they understand the basis of capitalism, and robbery means breaking the basis. Tutku Vatansever in the article “‘Money Heist’: From ‘Don Quixote’ to ‘Lazarillo de Tormes’” that the professor “justifies a criminal act as a reflection of the capitalist economy” (Vatansever 2022).
The idea of reflection on the capitalist economy became a major issue in Spain, the show’s origin country which was suffering from a significant economic crisis. The rising unemployment rate and the national default crisis since the 2012 economic crisis in Spain further heighten the current risks. This made it difficult for people as economically inevitably leads to increasing in unemployment. This crisis became the reason why the people are eager for an ideology of anti-capitalism. Author Molly Lipson depicts that the show Money Heist “proves the superficiality of wealth creation and the ease of redistribution in a world of class hierarchies,” (Lipson 2021) in the article “One Good Thing: Money Heist, a joyful TV series about fighting the system”. In fact, the ‘money rain’ scene, in which the robbers decide to drop €140 million from an inflatable hovercraft over Madrid’s most crowded shopping street, shows the ease and nihility of redistribution of wealth. Moreover, people who become enthusiastic about pouring money rain show the reality of the current day, where happiness and joy come from money which once again highlights the shadow behind capitalism. On the other hand, in my home country, South Korea, even though Koreans understand the polarization of wealth and income inequality, South Korea has North Korea directly above them. Therefore, while Koreans may feel the need for anti-authoritarianism, they are reluctant toward the ideology of anti-capitalism and the violence involved while pursuing anti-capitalism. Revolution is a matter of necessity, not of choice. Is the current capitalist system to an extent that needs revolution? When many global viewers may say ‘yes’, most Koreans will strongly state ‘no’, directly fronting arguably the most famous anti-capitalist country in the world, North Korea. However, the fact that the show Money Heist is still a popular show in Korea despite their sense of rejection of anti-capitalism shows that even though Koreans do not like the ideology, Koreans acknowledge the seriousness of income inequality and are eager for change. Consequently, therefore Koreans decided to shift their focus on another core ideology, anti-authoritarianism.
Fundamentally, the serial drama Money Heist is based on resistance to the ideology of capitalism and the discourse of good and evil. However, when defining capitalism as an ideology based on the logic of money, it can be seen as a definition that is too narrow. Capitalism is by no means intact. What is certain, however, is that capitalism is the ideology that absolutely adores the sublime of effort, and human society has always been operated in a way that respects effort. Countries on the other side, such as the Soviet Union, were at a loss about their “free riders,” which led to the collapse of the country’s system. Thus, The current dissatisfaction against modern capitalism may be thought of as a vulgarity oblivious to gratitude. The problem is that there is still nothing better than this, even if one can complain and be angry that capitalism is not perfect. The money rain scene, which was mentioned as symbolizing scene of the ease of redistribution of wealth was interpreted differently. In the scene, the ‘resistance group’ threw an unimaginable amount of money over the city. Therefore, by spraying money, those who picked it up to increase their income as a result. Then, could the robbers think that they have done an action that is fairly reasonable, saying that they have increased consumption economically and resolved even a little inequality caused by the polarization of wealth? This behavior ignores the basis of our society, ‘income from effort’, which is an essential concept that looks over the concept of capitalism. The professor asserts that in order to face a huge force, that is, to face a monster, they must have been monsters as well. However, no matter how grand the packaging paper is, the contents inside are more important so that anyone can accept the packaging. However, the content inside shows that they are simply robbers on a significantly larger scale than the other robbers. Moreover, The bloodshed that cannot be left out of this kind of ‘revolution’ is caused by the arrogance of the subject who believes they act as the spokesperson of the public.
Compared to the idea of anti-capitalism that was ignored, the ideology signified by the Koreans is ‘anti-authoritarianism’. What is emphasized repeatedly in the show is that the professor refers to themselves as “resistance against the system” rather than simply robbers. They say they are the forces that resist authorities. They are revolutionaries who identify and subvert the wrongs of society. They sing the Resistance’s military song (Bella Ciao) against the Nazi fascism in World War II. Especially, in the scene where the robbers sing Bella Ciao on the verge of the success of their plan, the characters embrace the ideals of resistance and freedom in “Bella Ciao,” while also blinding themselves from the fact that it is a song about death (Shaw-Williams 2021). Moreover, the red jumpsuit and Salvador Dalí masks they wear symbolize resistance and anti-authoritarianism. Red is a color that is often associated with resistance. Red is the color of blood, which is why it has symbolic connotations with violence, as well as passion. The Salvador Dalí masks similarly serve as a symbol of resistance and national pride in Money Heist (Milner 2020). Dalí was an artist who aligned with anarchism and anti-capitalist ideas. In Money Heist, there is also a flow of plots against authoritarianism represented by the police or capitalism represented by the Royal Mint. In addition, they ridicule the existing order with a funny-looking mask with a long mustache. The aspect that can be understood through actions such as singing Bella Ciao and wearing uniforms of red costumes and Salvador Dalí masks is that elevate their intention of crime is that the robbers are not treating themselves as rebellious. They assert that they are resisting the ideologies of capitalism and authoritarianism. Furthermore, these three elements form a strange atmosphere unique to Money Heist, while also representing the spirit of resistance held by robbers.
The Money Heist became popular in Korea due to its interesting plots and the sense of anti-authoritarianism. The year 2017 was a symbolic year for South Korea. In 2017, president Park Geun-Hye was impeached, and the anti-authoritarianism sense of Koreans reached its peak. Thus, when the first and second season of Money Heist was released in 2017, main characters who resisted authorities and people in power gained popularity. However, while the theme of anti-authoritarianism helped the show to gain popularity, anti-capitalism ideologies were negatively issued due to the extraordinary circumstances of South Korea which has a communist dictatorship country, North Korea directly above them. Moreover, the ceasefire state of the Korean peninsula causes people to be sensitive and feel a sense of rejection towards their ‘resistance’, which is in fact robbery including gunfire.
Despite an extent of criticism towards the show, Money Heist actually was a successful Netflix show in Korea. The red jumpsuit and Salvador Dalí masks are now served as a symbol of revolution and resistance, contributing to the globalization of culture. Money rain, despite the negative views, became a humorous scene excluding the anti-capitalism values, which was a reinterpretation of the scene in Korean pro-capitalist cultural values. The popularity of the show affected Netflix Korea, as now they are scripting a remake of the Money Heist in the Korean version “Money Heist: Korea — Economic Joint Area”. Therefore, while the theme of the show is only partially accepted, or even criticized by Korean cultural values, the reinterpretation of the scene and globalization of culture contributed to the success of the show in Korea.
Bibliography
Vatansever, Tutku. “‘Money Heist’: From ‘Don Quixote’ to ‘Lazarillo De Tormes’.” Flip Screen, 27 Jan. 2022, https://flipscreened.com/2022/01/27/money-heist-from-don-quixote-to-lazarillo-de-tormes/.
Lipson, Molly. “One Good Thing: Money Heist, a Joyful TV Series about Fighting the System.” Vox, Vox, 4 Dec. 2021, https://www.vox.com/22757375/money-heist-casa-de-papel-protests.
Shaw-Williams, Hannah. “Money Heist Song Explained: The Real Meaning of ‘Bella Ciao’.” News Nation USA, 28 Oct. 2021, https://newsnationusa.com/news/entertainment/movie-tv-news/money-heist-song-explained-the-real-meaning-of-bella-ciao/.
Milner, Sarah Bea. “Money Heist: Why They Really Wear Salvador Dalí Masks & Red Jumpsuits.” ScreenRant, 14 Apr. 2020, https://screenrant.com/money-heist-salvador-dali-mask-red-jumpsuit-explained-2/.
Lee, Bam. “넷플릭스 연재 드라마 ‘종이의 집’에 대한 냉소 (Criticism towards Netflix Serial Drama ‘Money Heist’).” Brunch, 17 Dec. 2019, https://brunch.co.kr/@bamszone/120.
