If you know the podcast, and if you have downloaded any of podcast and saw the ranking, I guess that this podcast I'm going to review about isn't totally new. It is "I Am a Ggomsu(나는 꼼수다)", which is no.1 podcast in the whole world.
For people who don't know the podcast, I feel necessity of telling what a podcast is. According to the definition of Wikipedia, a podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. So, basically it's homemade video or sound file that is uploaded and downloaded on the Internet.
To understand the boom of "I Am a Ggomsu", you have to understand what is going on Korea and what this podcast is about. "I Am a Ggomsu" is a podcast made by four lampooning leaders who want to praise the highness of Mr. President of Korea. They say that this podcast is dedicated to President Lee of Korea. Of course, all of these are sarcastically said. "Ggomsu" in their title means a trick in Korea, so its name can be translated as "I Am a Trick". What they do in their podcast is that they reveal tricks and allegations President Lee Myung Bak had committed for his well-being. The four members of this podcast is composed of Kim Ou-Joon, a journalist, Chung Bong-ju, an ex-member of the Congress, Choo Chin-woo, a muckraking reporter who is often called "Satan's reporter" (He got this name after muckraking the corrupted churches), and Kim Yong-min, a critic and a formal radio commentator. Other than criticizing Mr. President, they criticize corruptions happening in Korean politics. So beneath the boom of "I Am a Ggomsu", there lies people's anger in nowadays' politics.
For the past few years, citizens of Korea had suffered from economic and social problems. And people now realized that all of those problems had came from the corruption of politics. But President Lee had controlled mass-media including major TV stations(KBS, SBS, MBC) and major newspapers(Chosun, Joongang, Donga) in order to hide his commitments and to cool down critical voices towards him. When people posted or uploaded a writing that criticized about certain people or certain issue (usually related to them), they were accused of spreading rumors. So people slowly became intimidated about the government and hid their voices and angers inside.
To those people, "I Am a Ggomsu" was a revolutionary voice speaking for them. "I Am a Ggomsu" revealed Mr. Lee's commitments which allowed people who only had general hatred without specific reasons to be enlightened. By watching them speaking imprecations of politics, people relieved stress. Many young citizens are now turning their eyes towards politics and feeling anger about the corruptions of the politics. It now became the symbol of bravery and truth.
They use phrases such as It is possible to conjecture ... ,” “There is enough circumstantial evidence to suggest ... ” and their favorite: “Of course, we don’t believe that His Highness would have committed such a nefarious deed.” People laugh at those phrases but at the same time feel sad since those phrases are one of their techniques to avoid accusations. It seems that their phrases are saying "Yes, Korea is rotten like this. When it's not an assumption, they get accused."
For this podcast, I will give my scores like below:
Even this podcast contains very heavy issue to talk, four members of "I Am a Ggomsu" explains about problems well and make fun of those problems well. They sublimate even the very deepest and most bitter parts of Korea with a bunch of big laughter. Their format is just banal, four member talking to each other. However, they sometimes invites politicians to have debates or light talks about issues, and they seem to carry well considering the fact that there aren't any professional PDs or MCs.
(All out of 5)
What I have discontent in length is that it is too long. Of course, political issues are not the issues that can be said quickly, but I want this podcast to be shorter. It is about 2-3hours per one episode now, and my opinion is that it is too long for common man like me to listen to.
However, because of long length, it contains quite profound information. Some issues like BBK are really hard to understand for people since it is quite complicated, but "I Am a Ggomsu" carries those issues well since it has enough hours to talk about it very deeply.
I gave the lowest grade to manner. This is because this podcast contains a lot of slangs and imprecations. In the aspect of manner in the speech, this podcast has very low quality. However, those imprecations and tough expressions make listeners to feel sympathy well and grasp the gravity of the case. It also relieves people's stress since people's anger was accumulated inside their heart because of harsh conditions. Educational value was degrade with same reason as manner.
For social value, I couldn't grade the value of this podcast, so I gave as many as I could. This podcast contains a lot of meanings: symbol of light in the dark, bravery, righteousness, freedom of speech, etc. When people were scared and freedom of speech was limited by government, this podcast came out like a light in the dark. People were enlightened, not afraid of the government anymore to speak out loud his/her own voice, and showed the power of common man. It led a political enlightenment for Koreans. It showed by the by-election of the mayor of Seoul in 2011 that it was citizens that politicians should be afraid of, not the opposite. Considering the boom of "I Am a Ggomsu", I'd say I couldn't grade this with limited maximum; its social value in my opinion is infinite.
"I Am a Ggomsu" has now became itself a myth, a symbol, and a power of common man. It raised people's spirit and enlightened people to act in politics. The result of the "I Am a Ggomsu" boom will occur next year, in general election of the Congress and presidential election. I'd like to end this review with Kim Ou-Joon's favorite phrase: "Let's not be intimidated!"
I like this podcast, too! But I didn't read the book yet. I want to read it!
답글삭제This is your best assignment I've read today. I love learning new things about Korea through these blogs, and I bet they could make a movie out of these guys. I hope they don't get killed (accidentally?).
답글삭제I take it you don't like 2MB. I like your rating system. Very creative.