How The Reality Of School Bullying Has Changed From What Is Depicted In "The Glory"

Netflix‘s recent hit K-Drama, The Glory, brought more attention to South Korea’s issue of school bullying. Although the K-Drama focuses on a woman seeking revenge on her high school tormentors, who had, in addition to psychological and sexual assault, burned her body with a hair curler and iron…

The bullying scene in “The Glory” | *Netflix*

The real-life story The Glory was based on was even more appalling.

Another scene from “The Glory” | *Netflix*

Although students may get away with bullying in their childhood, their actions could affect their futures, like how numerous Korean celebrities have been affected by bullying accusations.

Lee Jae Yeong and Lee Da Yeong were accused of being bullies at the height of their careers and eventually taken off the Korean national volleyball team | *Yonhap News*

Yet even still, bullying is rampant in schools, which seems to be because of some ineffective prevention measures, like bullying prevention committees that only intervene in certain circumstances and are run by members with no legal expertise.

But in a recent video from Asian Boss, several Korean adults shared their experiences with school bullies. They explained that although bullying is still an extreme issue, the manner of bullying has changed somewhat from incidents like the one told in The Glory. Generally, they agreed that the bullying shown in the drama was accurate, except that the reality can be far more severe.

One more common thing in school bullying now is the focus on “psychological bullying,” although, notably, there are still too many cases of physical violence.

Because student bullies know that what they get in trouble for might affect their futures, many are more careful “to avoid leaving any evidence.”

So rather than bullying someone by fighting them, bullies would be more likely to “ostracize [their] victim.” This could include talking about a group chat or plans that exclude the victim near the victim, which is a more “subtle” way of causing them psychological distress.

This “subtle” method could even be more isolating for the victim, especially if bystanders and the victim themselves aren’t sure whether or not bullying is occurring.

Similarly, as technology advances, bullying occurs more frequently online, like group chats that victims might be excluded from or, in some cases, forced to participate in as they are bullied.