Source: Global Times
[Global Times Special Correspondent Kim Hye-jin] In Korean costume dramas, even if the characters and storylines are fictional, only the background of the times is a certain dynasty in history, it is difficult to escape the accusation of "distorting history", which in turn triggers the debate about "is it necessary for a costume drama with fictional plot to match historical facts". What has caused this controversy again recently is the popular Korean drama "Under the Queen's Umbrella" with ratings rising steadily.
"Under the Queen's Umbrella" video screenshot
is accused of "strong Chinese style"
According to the Korean Daily, "Under the Queen's Umbrella" tells the story of a "tiger mom"-level queen in the Joseon Dynasty who tried her best to give her children the best and best education. Since the topic of "child education craze" is also talked about, and the background of the times is moved to ancient times, Korean media compared "Under the Queen's Umbrella" to the costume drama version of " Sky City ".
The drama will be aired in South Korea on October 15. The ratings of the first episode were 7.6%, and in the recent episode 8 airing, it rose to 11.8%, becoming another hit Korean drama on TVN TV this year. However, since the second episode of the show, Korean audiences have been complaining that it is "too Chinese style". For example, in the second episode, Huang Guiren used the word "return to the original owner" during the conversation with his son. In order to facilitate the audience's understanding, the crew typed the Chinese character "return to the original owner" and the Korean explanation below the screen. However, the crew used simplified Chinese characters, not traditional Chinese characters commonly used in Korean society. In addition, there are palaces with the words " Taihe Hall " written in the play. Some Korean scholars pointed out that the "Taihe Hall" was the main hall in the Forbidden City in the Qing Dynasty in China. In episode 5, the queen called herself "I am the palace" when facing the ministers, and Korean audiences who have watched Chinese court dramas questioned, "This title is too Chinese. This word is not in the Korean dictionary, and the queen of the Korean period would not call herself that." In response to the above questions, the crew explained: "'Taihe' is a word that often appears in Silla . The word "I am the Confucian scriptures of the Goryeo period. The word "I am the other name for 'I am the one who has been consulted with the experts, and the other party said there is no problem." The crew admitted that it was a mistake and apologized for the simplified Chinese characters appearing in the play.
What standard is used to measure costume dramas?
"Is it necessary for a fictional costume drama to be able to match every detail with the historical background?" Korean scholars and media have different opinions on the relevant controversy surrounding "Under the Queen's Umbrella". Historian Kim Jae-won (sound) said in an interview with the Korean CBS Broadcasting Company website that although he supports cultural creators to flexibly use historical materials, if there is extremely inconsistent content in the work, it means a lack of respect for history, which has nothing to do with "is it Chinese style." Korean Integrity Women's University Visiting Professor Xu Dide believes that even fictional costume dramas need to carefully verify history to avoid misunderstandings about history when streaming users around the world watch "Under the Queen's Umbrella".
Some Korean scholars also believe that "fictional plots must ensure freedom of creation." Yoon Seo-jin (sound), a professor at the Department of Chinese Language at Chungnam University in South Korea, said in an interview with South Korea's "Sports East Asia" that "Under the Queen's Umbrella" is just a borrowing of the background of the "Joint Dynasty" and all the other plots are fiction. If the "historical verification" standards are used to measure the drama, it is indeed too much, which may cause adverse consequences of "over-interference in creative freedom". The Korean entertainment and sports website "OSEN" said that the many speechless attacks on "Under the Queen's Umbrella" may cause the consequences of "no one dares to shoot costume dramas in the future". "'Lack of historical verification' and 'making a fictional plot for fun' are two different things, and the creation of costume dramas cannot be required by the standards of documentaries."
"Road Out" under the dispute
Last year, the costume magic drama "North Korea Exorcist" produced by South Korea's SBS TV was forced to stop broadcasting and withdraw the broadcast after only two episodes of the broadcast. The reason is that it is suspected of distorting the history of North Korea's founding, and many props, costumes and food related to China appeared in the drama, which aroused the audience's strong resistance.South Korean media said that after the "North Korea Exorcist" incident, Korean costume dramas began to take a different approach in order to avoid causing controversy in historical verification, that is, to create a fictional era background and national dynasty. South Korea's Edaily News Network recently said that SBS TV, which suffered from "historical verification" due to "Korean Exorcist", then broadcasted the costume drama "Red Tianji", simply used the fictional dynasty background "Dan Dynasty" to avoid unnecessary historical verification disputes. The ancient costume fantasy drama "Resurrection" aired on TVN in June 2022 has a story background that is also the fictional country "Great Country".
Korean popular culture critic Zheng Dexian said that the creation of mixed and alternative costume dramas is generally based on fiction and imagination. If you are nitpicking about such dramas, the future such dramas that the audience will see can only be all "imagined" countries and dynasties, becoming costume dramas that have nothing to do with history.
