An establishment parody

Rarely does an institution parody itself as has the South Korean military in creating a video entitled "Les Militaribles."

I am guessing that the authorities who made this video didn't intend it to be a parody, but a brave borrowing of form and content of the immensely successful film version of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserable". 

Instead of advertising the sacrifice and hard work that the conscripts of the South Korean army undergo "Gangam style," the "Les Miz" style is a more appropriate choice. It celebrates virtues of nobleness and community, while the Gangam culture is a bit on the undignified, lampoon side of things.

"Les Militaribles" has gone viral.

Korean Pig Sty

The King of Pigs (2011) is a South Korean animated drama film, directed by Yeun Sang-Ho.

The film is about violence in South Korean schools and about ways in which the male victims of middle school violence and humiliation grow up to become damaged/dysfunctional adults.

The plot revolves around two young Korean men. One is a disappointed writer and the other is a failed businessman who has murdered his wife out of anger and despair. The two meet and trace the seeds of their dysfunctionality to their days in middle school.

While the film has been compared to The Lord of the Flies, I was reminded of George Orwell's description of brutality and the prevalence of totalitarian authority in English boarding schools. Orwell makes interesting connections between the violence boys were subjected to in the name of discipline (bordering on the sadistic), and the violence the very same boys later inflicted as grown up officers of the British Empire serving abroad in British colonies.