By Park Jin-hai
After the hugely successful
Upon the premiere of Mnet's "Idol School," Thursday, concerns for lookism, provocative editing and objectifying women had all been revisited. These were the same criticisms brought on by the idol survival programs of the "Produce 101" series.
However, reflecting overheated public attention on idol survival shows, "Idol School" premiered with a 2.3 percent viewership, higher than the second season of "Produce 101," which premiered with a viewership of 1.6 percent.
The show recruited 41 talented girls aged between 12 to their early 20s, currently not belonging to any entertainment agencies, and put them into classes such as "introduction of idol study," "synchronized dancing in a group" and "idol mental management class." After an 11-week training program, nine selected trainees who receive the most votes from viewers will debut as a new girl group right after the show ends.
"Idol School" says it is "more reality than survival," trying to differentiate it from "Produce 101."
"Produce 101 trained and debuted trainees, while Idol School aims to train ordinary people and show their growth," said Shin Yoo-sun, co-producer of the program.
But its premiere gives the impression it is rather a spinoff of the earlier idol survival program.
Except small changes _ viewers can only vote while the show is broadcasting, rankings of trainees are disclosed at the end of the program, and not all participants are trainees of entertainment agencies _ it is hard to find further differences. It takes basically the same format of grading and short-listing trainees through public votes to become the finalists who will debut in the girl group.
More worrisome is the show's purpose. The school's teaser shows lined-up young girls wearing high school uniforms, posing in a pink-plastered classroom setting and singing the theme song: "Trust me. It's okay, because I'm pretty … Dream on, because I'm pretty, we are all pretty." This scene fanned public concern that the show may further instigate the already widespread lookism in society.
Although the show says it is looking for talented singers among untrained ordinary girls and nurture their "girl group skills," the word "pretty" is emphasized everywhere and it feels more like it is looking for the prettiest faces that the public wants rather than ones who can sing or dance.
The show's co-producer Jeon Kyung-nam said that while preparing the show, they "expected concerns for lookism would arise. Pretty could be controversial, but we didn't make the single standard for our recruitment pretty faces. We used it in a wider meaning, for instance, one's passion could look pretty. We put potential ahead of pretty faces."
Another controversy is the uneven starting points for all participants. Although it selected participants not signed to talent agencies, it included former trainees of big name entertainment companies who already participated in similar idol survival programs and already have some fandom. At the end of the show, all such participants with some recognition ranked high, widening the gap with other competitors.
