South Korean Cartoonists Cry Foul Over Edgy Simpsons Intro 299
theodp writes "When asked to animate a dark commentary about labor practices in Asia's cartoon industry — the edgy title sequence for the Simpsons' episode 'MoneyBART' — staff from the South Korean production company Akom raised a rare protest. Even after being toned down, the sequence created by British graffiti artist Banksy depicted a dungeon-like complex where droning Asian animators worked in sweatshops, rats scurried around with human bones, kittens were spliced up into Bart Simpson dolls, and a gaunt unicorn punched holes into DVDs. The satire, Akom founder and president Nelson Shin argued, gave the impression that Asian artists slave away in subpar sweatshops when they actually animate much of The Simpsons every week in high-tech workshops in downtown Seoul. Still, South Korean animators make one-third the salaries of their American counterparts, and Shin declined to comment on the full extent of the work his company has outsourced to SEK, a state-run animation studio of North Korea. Some argue that the Banksy sequence's gray and forlorn atmosphere more accurately depicts the sweatshop-like conditions in North Korea."
Youtube link (Score:5, Informative)
Moneybart intro [youtube.com]
Re:Truth hurts. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Youtube link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Banksy is right and you know it. (Score:2, Informative)
I am genuinely sorry that I read your post.
Come on now - we don't know either (Score:3, Informative)
While the older generations know that Kim is not a God the penalties for saying so appear to be severe, so it looks like we've got a couple of generations of highly xenophobic worshippers of Kim the God King that blame all problems on the USA, Japan etc.
So to sum up we don't really know either so even the above is thrown together from what journalists tried to find out on escorted visits or from refugees that only got to see a small portion of the picture (which is very scary on it's own - not being permitted to talk to relatives in other parts of the country etc.). We can only guess at what is inside from what effects it has on the outside, so we know something horrible is within but we really don't know how bad.
Re:Modern South Korea (Score:4, Informative)
As a expat resident of Seoul who has been coming to Korea since 1976, I'll second this. The ROK has made huge strides over the past generations, from desperate poverty to relative wealth. South Korea is a member of the OECD and will host the G20 summit next month. There is a large and vibrant middle class, the economy is growing at a nice clip (~6%) and Korean companies are kicking Japan's corporate ass. Americans largely aren't tuned into Korean popular culture, but much of the rest of Asia is, with 1000s of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Taiwanese, HKer, etc. arriving daily to shop and hang out in places made famous in Korean TV soaps and films. Essentially life is very good here (as a university professor) and a welcome relief from the insane political rhetoric in the U.S. There is universal literacy here, with a majority of South Korean high school grads going to university, although admittedly unemployment post-graduation can be daunting. The big problem in South Korea is the high cost of real estate, with an average 2-bedroom apartment in Seoul going for between $500K - $750K and 3-bedrooms, often over $1m in nicer neighborhood. For those not already in the real estate market, it's almost impossible to buy in without support from relatives.
North Korea is another story, but even there a nascent market economy has arisen in the past decade, joint ventures with the South, show long-term promise, new universities have been founded with foreign support, and likely gains substantial economic support from NK refugees abroad. The NK workers lucky enough to work on animation likely enjoy a privileged status and consider themselves fortunate. It's the famers who have the hardest lot, as the north has never been all that productive given the harsh climate, and the small scale of production together with lack of advanced machinery and fertilizer put them at a major disadvantage.
Re:Asians (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.citymayors.com/features/cost_survey.html [citymayors.com]
I really wish we could have seen the full unbridled version of the opening. Maybe some storyboards will surface eventually. I'll bet you almost anything that the North Korean animation operations are pretty substantial given they didn't want to talk about it for good reason, and their conditions I'd bet are pretty horrid. Watch the Simpsons? Support North Korea! Wooooooo what a publicity campaign!
Re:Banksy is right and you know it. (Score:5, Informative)
WTF? Are you seriously lumping together North and South Korea in terms of living standards?
Did I miss something? When did South Korea cease to be a first-world democracy?
You don't need to be 'well-connected' to buy something in South Korea. You go to the store, and you buy it. It's a friggin market-economy.
Making 1/3 of a US wage does not mean you're a developing nation. People in Portugal make 1/3 of the average US salary,
if you make a raw dollar comparsion, and they aren't starving. They have homes, cars, computers, phones, etc. Same in South Korea.
Maybe not two cars, and maybe not the latest computer, and maybe a smaller home, etc. But they're by no means poor.
By all means, speak up on behalf of the North Koreans, who have no say in their government or situation, but talking that way about South Korea is just condescending.
They're one of the richest nations in the world, and the second-richest nation in Asia.
Re:Asians (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Asians (Score:0, Informative)
Re:Banksy is right and you know it. (Score:4, Informative)
South Korea is actually a more advanced country both technologically and economically than either the UK or the US. Given the unemployment rate in the latter countries, I think it's places like London and New York that are the Potemkin Villages. Take a trip to Glasgow or Detroit the next time you're in these places and see the Banksky intro behind the screen.
Re:Asians (Score:3, Informative)
It was USA who divided the country in half in the first place.
No, it was USA and USSR. And the alternative would be having the Korean War several years earlier.
Re:Asians (Score:4, Informative)
Banksy is quite well travelled e.g the West Bank. He has a great talent for producing funny and thought provoking work. Tongue in cheek, yes he does that, Do you really think he was aiming at south Korea with that intro or at Fox or Rupert Murdoch?
http://www.hmss.com/films/carver/ [hmss.com] you might like to read this, in tomorrow never dies Elliot Carver , is often viewed as being based on Rupert Murdoch taken to an extreme. Banksy has started with the premise if Rupert Murdoch was an evil megalomaniac, determined to be as evil as possible how would he produce the Simpsons (if he could get away with it)?
The whole situation is actually pretty funny. Murdoch paid for Banksy to produce the intro , Fox executives thought great we are being cool and trendy having banksy do this intro, obviously no one really thinks the simpsons is produced like that.
The show gets broadcast and there is a bit of a panic as the realisation comes that people do think Murdochs evil empire works that way. Clips get pulled from youtube according to http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/819130/Banksy-produces-seething-social-commentary-on-The-Simpsons [sheknows.com]
and now we get the story well the show is outsourced but the Korean animators do live quite well by Korean standards and its not made in a sweatshop. Damage control?
Now as for Korean history, why would people in other countries be taught about that? You probably know nothing of British, Irish or Icelandic history either, no reason for you to know either. Even in the UK for example there is limited teaching of British history and the bad bits are hardly mentioned.
There is a massive disconnect between reality and how actual people live their lives. There are rich and poor all over the world. Come to any western country in any city and you will see that there are people getting by, people making millions, and people begging in the streets.
Apparently there are less homeless people on the streets in the centre of London these days due to the use of Asbo's - Londons getting cleaned up ready for the 2012 Olympics, my source a Lawyer representing some of these people.
You see just to live our own lives we have to largely ignore the plight of people in our own countries, let alone worry about people on the other side of the planet.
You know even the guys who go serve in places like Afghanistan and Iraq most had a choice of unemployment and poverty or joining up.
It's a messed up world we live in, and most of us are just doing the best we can.
Re:Asians (Score:5, Informative)
Yes do a little research. Those cost of living indexes are garbage. I've lived in Korea for nearly 3 years now, after having spent most of my adult life paying for things in big city Canada, and Korea is ridiculously cheap compared to North American cities.
That last one of these I read claimed a dozen eggs in Seoul cost something like $4. I don't know where they found those eggs, but I can get a dozen, regular price, for about $1.45 USD with exchange at the local megamart, and I've never seen a dozen for $4 anywhere. Even at 7-11.
They also claimed a can of beer was $3, when I can walk to the 7-11 and get a can of domestic for about 90 cents.
The fact of the matter is that the cost of living in South Korea is very low compared to any major city back home.
The only thing that is truly expensive is getting into real-estate, but it works out better. Korea works on a Key money system. Want a western sized apartment,2 bedrooms? Probably cost you 100,000$ in deposit. But you'll likely pay no rent with that, and you'll get that $100,000.
This is where people get confused.
They ignore the fact that a great deal of daily living costs are tiny compared to other cities.
you want to have a quality meal at a sit down restaurant with lots of vegetables, and unlimited side dishes? about $4.50.
Prime time movies are only around $8, with assigned seating and a couple's combo that only costs $5. Internet, cheaper, faster, better.
The utilities on my 1 bedroom place are so cheap it's laughable. $6 a month in water, $8 in gas, $20 in electricity.
Transit?
$0.83 gets you on the subway/bus and unless you're going a really long distance that's it. Over something like 12-15 km, starts to add 9 cents per few kms.
Some local buses are only about 40 cents to get on.
If you buy things that aren't part of the local taste, it's expensive. A local shop might be $5 for a good meal, but you go to Outback steakhouse here, and the prices are high, but that's not a good comparison.
As for computers, since I just bought a new one here, I priced it online to compare the online retailer here and newegg in the US. on a $1600 machine, buying identical parts between the countries, the price difference was only $80.
once you started adding in neweggs high shipping prices, the price differences became almost nothing.
local shipping and even international shipping here is ridiculously cheap. I can send anything anywhere in the country for peanuts.
packages I've sent to Canada have costed like 1/3 of what my parents paid for an equal package there to send here.
inter-city transportation is very cheap here as well. Buses/trains cost 1/2 to 1/3 what you'd pay in Canada for similar distances.
These cost of living indexes are clearly made by people who don't have a clue, and once you've actually lived in some of these places you'll realize how out to lunch they are.
More than likely they're not shopping like a local. If you want to make those kinds of comparisons its 17x more expensive to live in any western city since a bottle of soju is like $17 in any bar there, but you can get it for about 90 cents here.
Re:Asians (Score:2, Informative)
It was USA who divided the country in half in the first place.
You're welcome yet again. If it wasn't for the US demands for the division in the first place, Korea would already have been united........by the Russians who were invading Japanese territory during the last days of World War 2 and in a rush to occupy as much land as possible. The division saved the southern half of the country from the fate of their grass-and-tree-bark-eating northern neighbors.