‘Les Militaribles,’ South Korean spoof, goes viral
SEOUL, South Korea—The “Gangnam Style” video has spawned seemingly endless remakes; there are even sites that allow viewers to insert photos of themselves onto the animated bodies of people performing the famous horse dance.
Now the viral video has inspired another South Korean blockbuster, a parody of the movie musical “Les Miserables” featuring members of the Air Force. After just five days on YouTube, the video had been viewed almost 3 million times. (It probably did not hurt that one of the stars of the Hollywood movie, Russell Crowe, included a link in a Twitter post.)
The video, “Les Militaribles,” opens by spoofing the dramatic first scene of the movie version of Victor Hugo’s epic novel, set in a jail where men live under the tyranny of the guards.
In the 13-minute South Korean version, the nemesis is a taskmaster officer who keeps his exhausted conscripts clearing snow—a chore that many young South Korean men face while serving mandatory time in a military on guard against a militaristic North Korea.
“Dig down, dig down, raise your shovels high. Dig down, dig down, and clear the snow below,” the airmen chant as they struggle to clear a runway. “There is no end to this accursed snow. Dig down, dig down, you still have two service years to go.”
At first glance, the video—based on a novel about an often unfeeling bureaucracy—would appear to be the work of young men unhappy with their lot, serving in a hierarchical military that has been accused of sometimes brutal treatment of conscripts in the past.
But “Les Militaribles” was produced by the South Korean Air Force’s official blog team and is a celebration of sorts of airmen’s shared sacrifice during two years of service.
“Clearing snow is especially important for the Air Force,” said 1st Lt. Chung Dahoon, 26, who directed the video. “Wemust keep our runways free of snow so our jets can take off any time to deal with North Korean threats.”
“Through this parody,” he said, “we wanted to tell our families, our girlfriends and the people that what we do in the military is hard work, but is necessary for national defense.”