Celebrity (2023)

Good message but frustrating to watch.

This is another hard to rate drama for me.

In terms of enjoyment, probably 6 stars. In terms of the message that I think the drama was trying to show, probably 8 stars.

Heres why:

Enjoyment - I didn’t like the FL. I found her to be a bit of a hypocritical character. She came across as pretentious, on one hand carrying herself like she's above the instagram girls and standing proud/not being ashamed of the fact that she's not rich or doesn't care about being famous (which I loved), but then on the other hand, she found her own online success by lowkey mooching off of the instagram girls' popularity and making decisions that keep putting her in that circle of "friends" despite the fact that she oh so wasn't interested in being famous ?. Idk, her actions just didn't align with her words and personality so she just rubbed me the wrong way. Also I just found it hard to believe the amount of hold the influencers in this drama had over the entire public. Like come on...

Message - For all the reasons above and more, I feel like this captures exactly what message the drama is trying to send. Regular people like A-Ri can all of a sudden find themselves in a similar situation and be swept away by the money, pretty clothes, popular "insider" cliques, sponsorships, fancy parties etcetera and lose themselves to chasing internet fame. I liked how it showed a normal person's fall into the internet fame ecosystem and how people can get so obsessed with seeking likes and the thin rope these influencers walk with their "fans"/followers.

So I'm a bit torn about this because I didn't enjoy the drama cos it was fruatrating to watch, but I also saw the message it was trying to send which made it easier to understand why the FL was written the way she was. And at the end, she does come back to her senses and serves her revenge well which was good to see.

The acting from FL was a bit stiff at times, and I wasn't a big fan of the couple pairing between A-Ri and JunKyung (but they looked pretty together, so my eyes were happy ?). But if you're looking to escape and watch something that's far from the reality you might be living then you can give this a try.

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?????

The drama was stressing me out but the cast was chef’s kiss ;’) Just not enough romance for me…
It was nice to finally see FL standing up for herself tho, that’s rare in k dramas :’D Also I wasn’t expecting ML’s ex gf to be the greenest flag in the show ?!?! I love her :>>
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Some quotes from “Celebrity”:

“What we eat, wear, and buy. Our hobbies and the houses we live in. Who we meet and what we enjoy. Nowadays, we take a lot of selfies, too, don’t we? We all live in a world like this. Me, me, me!” – Seo Ari

“Connecting with each other. What do you think all that is? The act of sharing thoughts and feelings in order to understand another human being or something like that? Nope, that’s wrong. A human can never understand another human being. One can only misunderstand each other.” – Seo Ari

“Sadly, as we continue to watch all those things overflowing in our lives, we will find ourselves pondering like this, ‘Everyone is buying it. Maybe I should buy one for myself as well. Everyone is doing it. Maybe I should try it myself at least once.’ We will compare ourselves with others thinking, ‘What if I fall behind alone?'” – Seo Ari

“Since this is the world we live in. A world where the smallest can be abused, and with it, someone can be brutally crushed. Power through authority, power through name, or power through anonymity.” – Seo Ari

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A drama of hypocrisy

- It has a good story and the plot is pretty consistent as well as the acting.
- The romance is like a side plot course the main focus is about influencers which honestly made the whole story even better than cliche kdramas.
- There are some pretty annoying characters and sometimes that annoying character can be the FL but I found this to be more relatable.
- i love how the characters prove you wrong of your expectations
- the FL can be so naive sometimes but then her payback really is just as big lol. She doesn’t hold back.
- it’s a good binge

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A critique of social media with a cinderella spin on it with glitz and glamour

Following an highly popular influencer's path rising to complete stardom status is a good storyline. We get the cinderella type of feeling towards the main character who builds an career out of nothing but sheer willpower and struggles. Yet, when I think back on the story, it felt lacking in various aspects where it could have benefitted from fleshing out of the competetive hostile influencer-storyline.

As we follow two different timelines (the past and the present, which can be distinguished by the changing format on the screen) each time that the present seems somewhat stagnant, they slam something highly dramatic to get the story moving forward. The writers truly went all in on the dramatics and I did enjoy that alot! In the 12 episodes released, we get an fast paced story with some truly drama-worthy plotpoints and interesting directions.

The most lacking part in all honesty is the romance. It feels like the writers and the director had the vision for a "chic" main couple with intense chemistry that would show the love between the main leads so much that there would be no need to flesh out their dialogue and scenes. Maybe the romance scenes got chopped in the editing process and therefore feels lacking? We get the gist that there is romance, but I never felt an genuine romance that would spark the drama needed for the big plotpoints that are presented towards the latter part of the show. Male lead is smitten with the female lead, but I felt like we missed seeing them on actual dates and enjoying each others company.

The ending was...special. It does feel like the drama tried to convey a message about social media presence and the negative impact hateful comments can have on individuals as well as society in general. I was fine with the ending UNTIL the very last minutes when we get an out of the blue cameo by actor Lee Junho. Is it forshadowing a possible second season? Is it just Netflix trying to put an easter egg surprise since his highly anticipated drama King the Land was gonna be released soon after this drama? WHY was that cameo necessary for the story?

This is a drama that I really recommend to watch if you're in the mood for something that looks really nice and centers around social media/fashion, an almost detective-style storyline that fastpacingly goes back and forth in time to reveal more details and context to what is going on. I binged this in 2 days when I just wanted to watch something without expectations, and overall had a good time!

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SO WORTH IT!!

Really, I just finished this drama.
And the taste is very different from the lives of celebrities and ordinary people where this drama presents the lives of celebrities or influencers who are very obsessed with luxury brands At first I didn't really expect and thought that this was mostly an endorsement of a famous luxury brand but I was wrong there were many plot twists that you wouldn't expect if the closest person to seo ari was someone who could have been an enemy but I'm grateful that ari's best friend finally changed after realizing what he did to ari was wrong.
And I am very happy that there are many who envy Ari for her life so there are still han jun kyung and yoon si hyeon who want to help Ari in her difficult time to reveal the truth The story is very good and the acting of the actors and actresses is extraordinary and illustrates how many people are jealous and spiteful of the achievements of others.

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a mistery that will keep you on your toes until the end

i’ve never watched a kdrama with such an intriguing plot. the scenes were cured in the minimum details, such as the screen going from a 16:10 to a 16:9 for the flashbacks.
the catharsis during the whole 12 episodes intensified during the last three and nearly kept my breathing.
the actors surely knew what they were portraying and maybe felt a little bit personified by their own characters, since it was their own world that was being pictured.
the ost was so so, it was only one song that stayed in my memory even after finishing the series.
i really recommend it to those who don’t want the basic melomance that 70% of kdramas have but a thrilling storyline with a lot of questioning.
all in all, a beautiful heart breaking story that will make you think about your beliefs on social media and make your “fake eyes open” on the real aspects of an influencer’s life.

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What would you do in her shoes?

Although the drama provided us with decent entertainment, it failed for me to go into the very darkness of human desires, falling flat in it's execution.

?Through the whole story I wanted to see what made Seo Ari moving despite her unwillingness to step into the glamour world at first. She was born in a rich household, so it doesn't make her look "not like the other girls" when she says to her non-rich friend that "the (Burberry) backpack was made to be worn". There are 3 types of people in this drama: "good" rich who doesn't bargain over a ruined limited collection dress, "cheap" rich who charge for every scratch on their bag, and "cheap" non-rich who want to live the lives of celebrities. Seo Ari essentially is the only visible representative of the "non-cheap" non-rich group (later transferring to the "good" rich), and making her look better this way feels problematic.

?I wish the origins and implications of human greed and desire for money and power were researched, how would it sweep Seo Ari and what would be the outcomes. However we only see that the "bad" rich fail and the "good" rich win, and Seo Ari gaining power uses it to punish the guilty. It is a very predictable plot and doesn't challenge her internally.

?Another issue that I feel is important is the intro. It's just bad. It is long (1 min), repetitive, lacks distinct rhythm and design. I don't have to explain how important an intro is for a show, and this one is too similar to the infamous "corporate style". Just compare it to The Glory and Little Women.

The drama isn't bad. It has good actors, luxurious interiors, it receives a lot of love from the viewers, but there could be so much more than that, and it disappoints me.

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