Comedian Lee Suji's Pungja is receiving strong empathy. Attention is focusing on whether change will occur now that it has scratched society's itchy spots.
On the 28th, the YouTube channel 'HotIssueJi' released a 'Human Docu: Real Extreme Job' content video titled 'Kindergarten teacher Lee Min Ji's spring (feat. mosquito)'.
Earlier, Lee Suji had depicted a kindergarten teacher's day starting at 4 a.m., creating a sense of empathy. This video is the second installment, showing Lee Min Ji rolling on the bare floor to get a single life shot of the children and running so hard to catch a mosquito that the soles of her feet feel like they're on fire. Lee Suji, portraying kindergarten teacher Lee Min Ji, poked at parents' excessive "complaints".
One parent asked for medication saying the child was sick while at the same time raising an issue saying "the teacher won at rock-paper-scissors," and a situation was staged where a child being bitten by a mosquito led to calls to "call an ambulance." The setting included teachers unable to use the restroom on time because of caring for children and parents' "complaint hell," leading to cystitis and irritable bowel syndrome, a nap time created at parents' request, and having to worry about media exposure, creating a bitter feeling.
Reactions to the video are hot. Especially reactions from former and current teachers poured in. Netizens who said they are current teachers wrote, "It is honestly much worse than this. This is the mild version," "Watching it really brings up all kinds of thoughts," "The reality is parents send kids even if they have COVID and then go to cafes," "Crazy parents everywhere," "There are really many parents who lie and send children even when they have an infectious disease," "The reality is really worse," and "They go to the police and file emotional abuse reports because the child couldn't adapt because they are young," among other realistic responses.
Netizens who said they were former teachers reacted, "I quit because I was scalded," "I remember mothers who asked us to feed their child breakfast and even brush their teeth, and mothers who put a recorder in a doll and sent it," "Mosquito complaints are basic, my colleague once had a complaint because a child had long sleeves rolled up," and strongly empathized with Lee Suji's video.
General viewers also reacted, "You can see it scraping mom cafes," "It feels refreshing," "Lee Suji doesn't back down," "This isn't comedy, it's a documentary," "It's chilling that they grow up like that and eventually enter society," and "I've worked at a steel mill for 16 years with pride in it being an Extreme Job, but after watching this I lost that pride," among various responses.
This is not the first time Lee Suji's Pungja has done this. Previously, with the 'Daechi mom' content that critiqued the private education craze, she targeted social issues; in this piece she depicted a day in the life of kindergarten teachers and took aim at parents' excessive "complaints." Lee Suji's Pungja, which provokes laughter while leaving a bitter aftertaste, is being watched to see whether it will spur social movement.
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