1. Introduction

Bullying and acts of youth violence have been emerging as hot topics for building awareness amongst all to eradicate incidents of harassment, intimidation, self-harm, health disorders, mental illness, bad behaviour, feelings of isolation and suicidal tendencies [1]. A Netflix drama series, The Glory has hit Korean Drama like Squid Game [2]. However, The Glory misses marks on featuring interventions for mental health of victims, which this analysis will convey.

The first section of the analysis defines bullying and correlates its presentation with the Netflix series. By emphasising emotional trauma, Glory portrays scars on the victims of bullying. The second section determines the factors leading to bullying and how it’s covered in Glory. The third section focuses on the impact that bullying can have on the mental and emotional health of the victim and illustrates the missed marks in the Netflix series. By conducting a case analysis on the Netflix drama series The Glory, analysis has presented school bullying and youth violence, factors influencing the mental health of adolescents.

This paper intends to draw focus on the need for preventative and intervention efforts for the mental well-being of victims, and by referring to the Netflix series The Glory on bullying and youth violence, awareness toward the mental well-being of adolescents is highlighted.

2. Bullying inflicts indelible scars

Bullying is an aggressive, ongoing and deliberate power misuse to dominate the weaker person [3]. Bullying is a global issue and a systemic issue that leads the victim to feel depressed, anxious, and overwhelmed. Being bullied as a child can have a deep impact on the individual and can leave a permanent scar on the trauma that the individual had undergone as a child. The media channels have spread their reach through internet access and beautiful means of portraying social concerns through well-casted narratives. The Glory illustrates how bullying exists as a form of youth violence by narrating the story of a child experiencing school bullying and planning revenge as an adult by plotting against the bullies. The character leads of this drama series are Song Hye-Kyo, Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-Yeon, Yeom Hye-ran, Park Sung-hoon, and Jung Sung-il. These characters are interconnected by past experiences that bind them together in the series and depict a complex relationship between them. The connections between these characters trace back to instances of bullying that frame the central theme of the Netflix Korean drama series. Bullying creates emotional scars leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), damaged self-esteem, suicidal ideation and depression [4].

This drama series is most likely to appeal to adults who are seeking to indulge in binge-watching an intense, dramatic, psychological thriller that has an essence of revenge narrative. This Netflix series illustrates themes of violence and revenge in a school setting, and each of the characters conveys intense psychological depths to their respective characters and does justice to the serious narration of the series. Narrating the story of a woman who takes vengeance against her childhood bullies depicts the psychological perspective on certain facets of bullying and youth violence by focusing on ever-lasting emotional trauma. The Glory’s narration keeps reminding the viewers of the physical abuse and mental torment that the lead protagonist has endured. The repeated show of marks and bodily scars emphasises the long-term emotional hurt that the victim dealt with as a child. Extensive research reveals that bullied victims face difficulty adjusting and are most likely to develop mental illness. As chronic exposure to bullying can lead to physical ailments, psychological imbalances, and emotional distress, the severity of emotional and cognitive impairments is well reflected through The Glory series.

3. Reasons behind the prevalence of bullying in schools

3.1. Adults problem

Often, bullying tends to occur because of the adults failing to take charge and intervene in the situation. Bullying incidents can be direct or indirect and tend to be a common issue among children of school age and adolescents because of a lack of parental guidance and adult monitoring. As impacts associated with bullying can have both short and long-term impacts on the victims of bullying, taking quick and necessary actions to address the physical, psychological, emotional and mental distress of the individuals being bullied can help control the situation and limit it from getting worse over time because of the negligence of the victim's distress and unease. Missing incidents of bullying and failing to take immediate and appropriate steps to file a complaint can not only worsen the situation but also give scope to the bullies to continue with their act [5]. The series illustrates how teachers failed to intervene in the most horrendous and infuriating acts in the series by turning a blind eye to the act despite being aware of it [6]. Humbly treating the victim and easing their pain is what victims need to recover from the physical and emotional trauma. By addressing the early signs of bullying, adults could prevent the impact from worsening and foster a caring and safe environment for schoolchildren.

3.2. Power and status differentials

Bullying happens because of the dynamic shift of power and status between the victim and the perpetrators [7]. Social preferences, perceived popularity, acceptance and rejection from peers and perceived popularity also regard the social status building of individuals. As social status tends to be a significant measurable entity of the visibility, reputation and impact of an individual within a peer group, maintaining popularity and being appreciated by the crowd are among the several boosters catalysing bullying behaviour among school-going children. Persistent acts of bullying and harassment can lead to emotional distress and worsening impacts of rejection, despair, depression, anxiety, exclusion and isolation. Youths who bully tend to be potentially vulnerable in indulging in substance misuse, facing troubles in completing academics and are likely to experience and behave violently. As bullies are often perceived to be cool, the perpetration of bullying acts can yield greater visibility and a sense of admiration among others. The series clearly depicted how bullying occurred because of a discrepancy in status between students. This socioeconomic status difference between the two is what led to such terrifying happenings. Upbringing methods, harsh parenting style, negligence and rejection of lads are what lead to bullies being born. This lack of stability and structure at home can, therefore, create situations that give birth to youth violence in the future.

4. Addressing the Unseen Scars: Online Bullying, Mental Health, and the Inadequacy of Revenge in 'The Glory’

4.1. Online bullying and minimal engagement in mental health interventions

The Glory showcased bullying incidents occurring in person. Bullies are omnipresent and can also bully victims online. Online bullying is easy to commit as there is no fear of the need for confrontation of targets in person. Being aware of bullying can create awareness among people regarding bullying and help identify children who fall victim to acts of bullying. Consequently, by taking immediate and necessary steps to voice out on acts of bullying, prevention of both short-term and long-term impacts of bullying can be effectively avoided. The Glory, however, fails to elicit this side of bullying to be of concern. Bullying can have a severe impact on the mental and emotional well-being of individuals. Children falling victim to bullying over time tend to experience feelings pertaining to anxiety, lowered self-esteem, shrunken confidence and high levels of anxiety. In an uncontrolled situation, the impact of bullying can adversely reflect on the social bonding of the individual and result in bad behaviour. Consequently, as cyberbullying leads to a rise in several health issues, it poses children with unhealed trauma and poses them a higher risk of anxiety and depression, leading to acts of social exclusion, isolation and even suicidal ideation. These impacts on the victim have not been well captured in the The Glory, as the outcomes of bullying can be wide-ranging. Substance use and challenges to being academically sound are among the most preventable concerns facing victims of bullying [8]. Although the series The Glory does emphasise the emotional angst and outburst of the lead protagonist, it fails to give equal weight to other potential impacts of bullying on her cognitive, psychomotor, and emotional stability.

4.2. Revenge

The act of bullying can be a result of improper upbringing, the influence of home settings, acts of chaos at home, and even reflections of personal insecurities, the need for desirable power and authority, and unrectified behaviour. Bullied victims require proper professional counselling and adult attention to get over the trauma experience associated with bullying incidents. Bullied victims often build a desire to seek vengeance after being bullied and experiencing abuse [9]. There are many aspects that let bullies continue to bully and do not keep up with the need to rectify their behaviour and treatment of others. Behaviours as bullying should not be reinforced by adults, and the only way it can be corrected is through mindful recognition of such acts of bullying, calling out individuals bullying and rectifying them before making it a common practice for individuals. As a result, victims often tend to become bullies themselves because of a lack of intervention from the adults during their state of vulnerability. There is an urgent need to consider biological, social, and environmental factors to come up with the best solutions for recognising and controlling bullying behaviour. Bullying behaviours can be harmful and can come up as a certain form of physical aggression or verbal abuse that threatens and relents the victim of bullying. Consulting a professional to help the victim realise their struggle and come through their emotional despair and mental trauma of their physical abuse is necessary for helping them lead a normal life, holding no vengeance against their bullies. Similarly, the bullies must be identified for their acts and must be tackled professionally to help them understand and validate the emotional distress of others and make them empathetic to others' pain. Glory missed opportunities to plant seeds for professional intervention and preventative efforts. The series sides with the protagonist and her lonesomeness to cope with bullying. Glory engages the protagonist in violent and aggressive behaviour, holding against the bullies and master planning the revenge against them. It might fall into perpetuating stereotypical beliefs among viewers that bullied victims often naturally tend to become violent and overly aggressive because of their experiences.

5. Conclusion

Bullying in school and youth violence are often correlated in terms of prevalence and impact on the mental and emotional health of the victim and the perpetrators. Bullying and youth violence, when neglected, lead to troubled behaviour among children in terms of self-harm, suicidal tendencies and prevalence of emotional, mental and physical distress among school-going children. Being based on the concept of bullying and narrating the traumatic experiences of the lead female protagonist, this drama series, with some of the most infuriating scenes, shows the vulnerability of the victim and the emotional, mental and physical trauma endured by a child and how the pain is carried onto their childhood. The analysis of the drama series determines how factors such as status and power differentials, the blind eye of the adults and the incapability to professionally respond to the emotional discomfort of the victims create ever-lasting scars, emotional hurt, agony and vengeance among victims of bullying.

The present research, however, is limited on certain grounds, such as deploying multiple case studies to illustrate the prevalence of bullying and youth violence and highlighting the mental trauma that impacts the basic functionality of victims of bullying. The selected case fails to highlight the interventions taken professionally to address the emotional hurt of the victims. As bullied victims require proper professional counselling and adult attention to get over the trauma experience associated with bullying incidents, the chosen case Netflix drama series, The Glory, has failed to address this domain. By involving other cases that particularly address the benefits of professional clinical interventions and covering broad dimensions associated with bullying, such as online bullying, the study could have facilitated the necessity of preventative measures against cyberbullying.