Pinnochio is a Korean TV series (2014-2015) about the lives of two lovers who are affected by a news reporter. Gi Ha-Myung’s father, who was a firefighter, passed away from attempting a rescue mission. But he is accused of being the cause of the accident and fleeing the scene, leaving many others for dead. This resulted in having the public discriminate and treat his family with contempt, this was the citizen’s way of getting “justice.” One compassionless news reporter named Song Cha-ok made their lives very hard, and ultimately bringing Ha-Myung’s mother to commit suicide. This heavily impacted Ha-Myung’s older brother, who has a hatred for news reporters and the media for not only slandering and discrediting his late father but also bringing their mother to end her life. This news reporter is the mother of his lover, Choi In-ha, who admires her mother and wants to become a respectable news reporter just like her.
I was reminded of injustice because for many years people always sided with the news reporters because they are known for being credible and take pride in the news they report. In this drama, people strongly believe that the news channels are the most credible sources, with 100% truth and accuracy to the reports that they make. They carry the power to influence what the citizens think and feel. A lot of people made the family feel outcast which affected the two brothers’ identities. Ha-Myung later changed his name and lived with a different family after surviving the fall from the cliff that his mother jumped off of. And his older brother carried hatred and lived his life with revenge constantly in his mind, which was incredibly draining and unhealthy for him.
What the brothers went through from childhood carried into how they lived as adults. Their late father was seen as a cowardly criminal on the run, belittling him as a person and man of virtue who lived his life selflessly. This unjustified hatred that the public had for his whole family. The stories of the two brothers also reminded me of the discussion that we had about subalterns. They and their mother weren’t heard in the past. But Gi Ma-Hyung had to become a person that had the authority that made people listen to him, he became a reporter. Subalterns speak but they aren’t heard. They have to become something, someone different in order to tell their story and have it be deemed valid.
The writers, directors, and actors did a great job telling a story of how the media can take a toll on a person(s) life. Not everything that we hear is true. Justice in the eyes of another could be seen as injustice for another. And that the people in power, who have authority are not always the most morally correct and we should not be easily influenced by one source. It encourages us to research and seek the truth before jumping to conclusions.