‘Joseon Exorcist’ Receives Criticism from Korean Viewers Due to History Distortion
In the March 22nd premiere of ‘Joseon Exorcist’, intense criticism from Korean viewers arose due to history distortion.
Viewers point out the distortion of the nation’s history. Despite being a fantasy historical drama with added fiction, majority of the respondents say that it is likely to create false historical awareness among domestic and foreign viewers by pulling distorted characters.
In the scene where Prince Chungnyeong (played by Jang Dong-yoon) served Western exorcist John (played by Darcy Parkett) and interpreter Marco (played by Seo Dong-won) with Chinese mooncakes and century eggs on a dining table along with a Chinese style liquor bottle with the Chinese character for liquor on it. According to the Korean viewers, the props and the scene can cause distortion of their history.
SBS explained the controversial scene stating “We set the location as the vicinity Uiju County (Ming Dynasty’s border) to emphasize Prince Chungnyeong’s long travel to the Chinese borders in place of the Crown Prince in order to bring back the western exorcist, in which we added subtitles for this. It was a location in which the Western exorcist’s party could rest after traveling through the Ming Dynasty and just about to enter Joseon. Since it is a place near the border of the Ming Dynasty, we opted to get the props while thinking that there would be frequent traffic of Chinese people.
This was intended to describe the area of these characters who were in a secluded region far from Hanyang (Seoul) in the story, and there were no special aims behind this at all.
We are sorry for causing discomfort to the viewers by a scene that could be misunderstood during this sensitive time. We will pay more attention to the upcoming episodes.”
Despite the production team’s explanation, viewers are continuing to ask for a suspension of the show. On the 23rd, a petition was posted on the Cheong Wa Dae national bulletin board titled “We request the immediate suspension of the broadcasting of the Northeast Project Drama Joseon Exorcist.”
Brands supporting “Joseon Exorcist” and brands that carried out advertisements have also concluded and are considering suspending advertisements in light of the drama’s controversy.
