Children on Korean Shows

          

Chu Sarang on the show "Superman is Back" - source: www.ytn.co.kr

          I haven't consciously noticed it, but I knew that children of a celebrity on reality shows was the trend these days. On social media, Koreans have been showing their affection for these kids, and I've been hearing some of the names of these kids but I didn't know who they were. By the way the Koreans were expressing their love, I thought it was some singer, but turns out, Yoon hoo is in fact just a son of Yoon Minsu, a singer.

Yoon hoo with dad, Yoon Minsu - source: news.zum.com

          I don't watch these shows featuring the celebrity parent and their child(ren), except for one, Star Junior Show Bungeobbang (스타주니어쇼 붕어빵), which includes a celebrity parent and their kids, but are different from the trending shows because those are reality shows - so they'll go camping or the dad and the kid would do something interactive - while Bungeobbang is actually on a set stage and they do quizzes together. But even though there's still significant difference, while watching Bungeobbang, I've always wondered whether there are negative effects on the children who are on the T.V. show. What do their classmates think of them and how do their classmates treat them at school? Does the negative influence of being in front of the camera ever get to them? According to this article, there are negative effects on children on T.V. 

         The article introduced to me some surprising elements that I've never really thought of before. As far as I know, I've only seen fans of these cute children, never antis, but it looks like they do exist. Man, having haters at the age of 5? That's gotta be rough. Plus going to an uninhibited island for "training"? It does smell fishy - maybe the broadcasters are exploiting the cuteness of these adorable kids.

        Personally, I enjoy watching Bungeobbang, the children really are adorable in their bluntness and innocence. It really is a unique emerging genre of shows, but here's another thing I've always pondered: These children are not technically celebrities, though their parent(s) may be, they're only considered as "a person of topic". I mean, if a little child is a celebrity, then he/she is a celebrity, they embrace their stardom, but what about if they're only dubbed as "a person of topic"? When you're only young, there are many things that can affect a child's developing mentality and this all makes me question whether using a child's adorableness on T.V. for viewer ratings, seem to be in the end, unhealthy for the child.


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