Netflix series 'Celebrity' shines light on dark side of social media

Imagine seeing how many friends you have every hour on a screen. Imagine that for whatever reason, one person decided not to like you anymore and you notice it immediately. Then imagine that number being not just a dozen or two...

From left, actors Lee Chung-ah, Kang Min-hyuk, Park Gyu-young, Lee Dong-gun, Jun Hyo-seong and director Kim Cheol-kyu pose for a photo during a press conference for new Netflix series ″Celebrity″ at Hotel Naru Seoul MGallery Ambassador in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Monday. [NETFLIX]

Imagine seeing how many friends you have every hour on a screen. Imagine that for whatever reason, one person decided not to like you anymore and you notice it immediately. Then imagine that number being not just a dozen or two, but millions of people who like and dislike you and you constantly obsessing with the number.

Such is the life of an influencer, who regularly has to check and obsess over the number of their followers and worry over their online image. The glitzy life of celebrity status has a dark duality, and this is what is dealt with in the new Netflix series "Celebrity."

Starring Park Gyu-young, Lee Chung-ah, Kang Min-hyuk, Jun Hyo-seong and Lee Dong-gun, “Celebrity” surrounds an ordinary office worker Seo A-ri, played by Park, who becomes famous on social media overnight, entering the world of influencers and celebrities. A-ri soon finds out that not everything is bright in this world of likes, followers and subscribers, and she has to choose her own path.

Main poster for ″Celebrity″ [NETFLIX]

“'Celebrity' is about the duality of social media and how deep it is in our lives,” said Park during a press conference for the series at Hotel Naru Seoul MGallery Ambassador in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Monday. “I think social media is now considered as something that we cannot live without, something that we would be uncomfortable about if it disappeared."

"Celebrity" deals with the detrimental effects of this onset of social media and how the fact that we have allowed social media to so deeply become a part of our everyday has affected the way we interact.

"Constantly checking how many followers you have, competing for likes with other influencers — what effect this would have on an individual's mental health is the key theme of 'Celebrity,'" said Park.

Park Gyu-young plays Seo A-ri, an ordinary office worker who becomes a million-follower influencer, in the Netflix series ″Celebrity″ [NETFLIX]

To make a series on social media, director Kim Cheol-kyu made social media accounts himself and researched various platforms. Kim is a seasoned director who made a number of hit television series including “Flower of Evil” (2020), “Mother” (2018), “Chicago Typewriter” (2017) and “Hwang Jin-yi” (2006).

“I didn’t have a social media account before filming ‘Celebrity,’” said Kim. “I made an account to study the platforms for filming and studied a lot about what the influencers wear, eat, what their conflicts are, and their relationships. Jun especially was very active as an influencer so she coached me very hard on these things.”

“Celebrity” features not only the actors in the main cast but also many real-life influencers — a list of up to thirty actual YouTubers and Instagram users with millions of followers.

“We spent a lot on appearance fees to have the real-life influencers on ‘Celebrity,’” said Kim. “I am grateful to the production company and Netflix for their limitless support in this manner.”

A scene from Netflix series ″Celebrity″ [NETFLIX]

A key point for “Celebrity” was the reality for the events that happen in the series, according to the cast and director.

“I was at first unconvinced about the lengths to which the influencers in our story go to in order to get followers and compete with each other, but while we were filming, similar things were reported to have happened in real life,” said Lee Chung-ah during the press conference. “Dishing out information on competing influencers, issues related to advertisements, influencers becoming CEOs of companies — these things all happened. So I thought that I should act with more realism.”

Watching the main character A-ri going through drastic changes from being an ordinary office worker to becoming an influencer will be entertaining for viewers, promised Park.

“There is a three-step change that A-ri goes through in ‘Celebrity,’” said Park. “First is the change to a million-follower influencer, then is the change she goes through when she learns of the dark secrets of the glitzy celebrities’ world, then comes the final climax. It will be fun for viewers to see the emotional shifts that A-ri faces and the style changes for my character too.”

“Celebrity” is set for release on Netflix on Friday.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]