Reality shows on Netflix are bizarre. They come in different forms and shapes, with a winner in the end based on who was able to endure the rules of the game. Squid Game: The Challenge, Physical 100, Surviving Paradise, Selling Sunset, Love is Blind, and Indian Matchmaking are some examples of reality shows that have appeared on Netflix for the world to watch. Despite its mediocre content, a percentage of the audience from around the world consumes these shows, which encourages Netflix to come up with newer forms of entertainment.
Meanwhile, Super Rich in Korea is a brand-new Netflix original from Korea that explores the lives of foreigners who have been an expat turned citizen of Korea. One of them is a foreigner settled in this country and one of them is just plain visiting. The people featured in this show are from the above categories, and the common factor between them is that they are all rich. All of them swim in luxurious clothes, makeup, bags, and real estate. They all meet to get to know each other and catch up on the lifestyle they lead in a country like Korea. Watching them from the studio are three hosts who offer reality checks to the audiences about how these contestants may not have remained grounded all their lives since they are surrounded only by opulence. Jo Se-ho, BamBam, and Mimi are famous artists themselves who offer commentary on how the ultra-rich talk and what their daily routine involves.
Aren Yoo is the client ambassador for many luxury brands and a social media influencer who lives to buy clothes. Noor Naim is a Dubai-based Iraqi YouTuber-turned-entrepreneur who loves to shop for bags. David Yong is one of the richest men in Singapore, looking for investment opportunities in Korea. Anna Kim, a Pakistani Korean woman married to nobility who misses her life in Korea, and Teodara Marani, an heir to an Italian luxury brand who lives in Korea, want to understand their culture and start something on his own to be independent. There is a lot about the show that could be categorized as satirical. These rich men and women have not stepped outside their bubble. Only Noor Naim’s story has a sense of reality to it as she talks about being raised by a single mother in Dubai after having to leave Iraq during the war. She is a self-made woman, and it is very evident in the way she presents herself.
The rest of them are legacy children who have not seen an ounce of real life. There are glimpses of struggles shown in the life of Teodoro, who seemed to be having arguments with his father about wanting to lead a life outside of the luxury chain of shops established by his parents. Living in Korea is one of his steps towards building something of his own. The sad part of the show must be that it never has an end goal. Every reality show has a story running in the background, but Super Rich in Korea comes across as a show with bad production and not enough of a budget keeping in mind the people they are covering.
The camera work is extremely tacky, which does not cover the opulence as it is supposed to. The only classy portion of the show is when the makers take the show to Pakistan, introducing the audience to Anna Kim’s husband, who is a noble. The elegance with which it showcases the cultural aspects of their home and the history of the family is interesting without any cultural appropriation tactics. The whole point of this reality show is to take normal people, like the audience, to a world that they have no access to otherwise, but unfortunately, this show could be categorized as ‘so bad that it is good’ kind of content.
The best part about Super Rich in Korea is that the flaws of the subjects are on display for people to look at, but they remain unhinged about them. Teodoro’s impeccable cooking and flirtatious skills come easily to him, as he is a good-looking Italian man. David Yong, on the other hand, believes himself to be the most stylish person, but others have the opposite opinion. It is bizarre to watch them talk about the money they make and spend unceremoniously. The hosts of the show read the audience’s mind and offer opinions that are hilarious most of the time. Otherwise, Super Rich in Korea is a pretty random show. All five of them are doing their things in groups of two, while there is a montage of Anna Kim in Pakistan. There is no connection between any of the plotlines, which makes the show even more bizarre. The editing is the most jarring element. The makers jump from one plotline to another suddenly as there is nothing that connects the two of them.
The episodes are hardly twenty-nine to thirty minutes long, but all of them end abruptly and move on to the next one. There needed to be synchronicity between episodes to get a better sense of flow. The Netflix makers also should have focused on the message they were trying to convey through this show, as there are things that needed to be addressed. One of the super-rich people featured in the show seemed anorexic. The audience who watches the show may include young women of impressionable age, but not having any issues addressed is a cause for concern.
Meanwhile, the Korean woman of Pakistani origin, Kim Anna, began to speak about launching skin-whitening Korean products in her home country. The fact that the conversation about colorism has been a hot topic in the last decade and Netflix chooses to promote the mindset of brown women obsessing over wanting white skin is just plain wrong. A streaming giant cannot be seen promoting this kind of thinking. These are the ideological issues, and apart from that, all five of them randomly meet each other for a birthday party and make Kimchi for the underprivileged, which happens suddenly, as there was never any impression created about the five of them knowing each other at all. The makers should have included a couple of group activities from the start to establish the fact that they all know each other while doing their own thing in the richest neighborhood.
Super Rich in Korea‘s ending made no sense because of the above-mentioned issue with how the makers projected all of the. Sadly, there was a lack of connection or chemistry between the people featured in the show. Just like in any other reality show, there seems to be a lot of artificiality in the manner in which all of them speak to each other. The awkwardness, the fake laughter, the forced conversations—audiences can pierce through all of this to establish the fact that the direction is just not up to par. Super Rich in Korea is just a voyeuristic view of the lives of the rich, and just like the hosts, the audiences like to comment on them as well.
