Netflix’s The Glory was inspired by Korean school violence stories

The Glory, a popular Korean drama about a lady seeking vengeance on her high school classmates. Who badly abused her as a youngster, returns to Netflix today with its last eight episodes. Song Hye-kyo stars as Moon Dong-eun. Who has spent her whole adult life devising a precise plot to take down her past abusers. The series remained in the streamer’s Global Top Ten list for five weeks after its initial set of episodes dropped in December. The Glory primarily follows Dong-eun’s implementation of that plan, which occurs 20 years after the abuse. It is the latest in a long line of Korean dramas that exploit school bullying as a plot device. The inspiration for the story originates from real-life occurrences of school violence in Korea.

If you’re a fan of Korean dramas or webcomics, you’ve almost probably seen a storyline about school bullying before. The zombie virus that takes over Hyosan High in Netflix’s 11th most-streamed TV series of all time. All of Us Are Dead, is manufactured in an attempt by a father to shield his son from school bullying. The action begins in last year’s school drama Weak Hero Class 1 when protagonist Yeon Shi-eun (Park Ji-hoon). A quiet model student, brutally strikes back against his attacker.

The King of Pigs, a 2022 drama, depicts two survivors of childhood bullying. One of whom grows up to become a serial killer and the other a police detective. Kim Eun-sook, author of some of hallyu’s most popular dramas such as Goblin, Descendants of the Sun, and Mr. Sunshine, was inspired to write. The Glory after her teen daughter asked her a startling question. “Mom, would you be more heartbroken if I beat someone nearly to death. If I got beat nearly to death by someone else?” Kim set out to answer that question with The Glory.

Part 1 of the tale begins by detailing Dong-eun’s psychological and physical anguish in graphic detail. Part 2 will reveal if Dong-eun receives the justice that society so stubbornly refuses to grant.

Kim examined the systemic school violence that has influenced Korean society for decades while producing The Glory. Bullying is a widespread issue in Korea, where suicide has been the leading cause of death among adolescents since 2007. It has also become a hotly debated topic in recent decades, as the government seeks to tackle the issue. Following the suicides of several youths who had been tormented, Korea established the Special Act on School Violence Prevention in 2004. The legislation resulted in the development of school committees to monitor bullying, yet bullying remains a serious issue, according to a recent Korea Times article.

Dong-eun, the fictional character in The Glory, is mercilessly bullied by a group of classmates. They use a hair-curling iron to burn her flesh, pins to scratch her, then beat and kick her. Many of these upsetting details are based on a true story that happened in 2006 at a girls’ school in Cheongju, Korea. In that case, three ninth-grade girls tormented their classmate for 20 days, including using a curling wand to burn her skin. The abuse led to a six-week hospitalization for injuries, including a protruding tailbone.

Of course, this is only the physical cost. Bullying victims have psychological stress that can last into adulthood. Though Dong-eun’s burn scars serve as a visible symbol of the torture she has endured, The Glory is far more concerned in exploring how being bullied as a teen—and the people in her life’s failure to protect her—have influenced her mental health and life choices. Dong-eun, the series’ generally stoic protagonist, had a panic attack on the floor of a mechanic shop in Episode 6. It is triggered by the sound of meat cooking on a grill, which reminds her of her maltreatment.

Bullying is defined by frequent, damaging behavior and a power imbalance between the perpetrator and the victim. This power balance is typically depicted in K-dramas as occurring along social class lines. Bullying happens across and within all socioeconomic levels, according to research, albeit victims are slightly more likely to come from low socioeconomic origins. There is a more definite link between bullying and income inequality in a country. The Conversation conducted an analysis into the links between social class and bullying in 2014. Which discovering that bullying is more widespread in hierarchical social structures with higher financial or social disparity. In the words of the authors, “The more unequal a social setting, the more likely it is that using any means of getting ahead is endorsed.”

Wealth disparity in Korea is only slightly better than in the United States, where it is relatively high and expanding. While school violence stories are typically isolated to a specific town or institution, they serve as narrative microcosms for greater socioeconomic injustices to which teens and adults alike may relate—both in Korea and the United States. Moon Dong-eun, the protagonist of The Glory, is destitute and has parents who are unable to care for her. Park Yeon-jin, her primary abuser, is from a rich household. When Dong-eun reports Yeon-jin’s physical abuse to her teacher, who then reports it to the police, she is not only ignored, but also punished for accusing someone from an affluent family.
Dong-eun’s homeroom teacher repeatedly strikes her in the middle of the staff lounge for reporting the bullying in a particularly frightening scenario.

In the real-life “hair curler bullying” event, one of the bullies was punished for her behavior. She was arrested, according to the Korea Herald, and the school and teachers were subjected to “administrative measures.” On a broader societal level, it is becoming increasingly usual for Korean celebrities to face genuine career penalties when accused of past bullying. Lee Jae-yeong and Lee Da-yeong (both 24 at the time) were kicked out of their Korean clubs in 2021. After admitting to verbally harassing teammates in middle school. HYBE withdrew 16-year-old Kim Ga-ram from girl group Le Sserafim last year. After reports surfaced that the vocalist had verbally harassed classmates.

Despite the fact that the solution to her daughter’s query is not a beautiful one. Kim claimed to have discovered it while penning The Glory. During a press conference for Part 2, Kim stated, “If my daughter is beaten to death, there might be a solution. That solution would be pulling all the perpetrators to hell because I have the money to do so.” So I came to the conclusion that I would benefit more if you were defeated. But in The Glory, the main character lacks both the financial resources and the social status necessary to obtain safety or justice. Years later, Dong-eun must seek her own justice because crooked social institutions won’t do anything to hold her powerful, callous oppressors accountable.
“In The Glory, this can’t happen to Dong-eun, right?” questioned Kim. “And I believe that the majority of the victims are unable to resolve the issue in this way because their parents are not affluent. They don’t reside in a setting similar to the one in which my daughter was reared. I wanted to support them because I knew how cruel reality was. And I’m hoping Dong-eun’s retaliation is effective. I tried to steer my tale in that direction. You should see it yourself to find out how it finishes.