When Historical Dramas Twist The Facts
History can make for compelling drama but how accurate should it be? That question was raised by viewers of historical dramas such as "Jang Ok Jung" and "Goddess of Fire: Jeonji" and is now being asked by "Empress Ki."
Those dramas used real life historical figures as the central characters in the drama but changed the facts to create a compelling storyline. All of these figures are women and the reason there are not a lot of facts to go on may be that women's achievements rarely made the history books.
The drama "Jang Ok Jung" took the story of a royal concubine that history has described as the villain responsible for deposing and murdering Queen Inhyun. But the drama, starring Kim Tae Hee, looked at Jang Ok Jung's story in a fresh way and suggested that history has portrayed her unfairly. She may have been a victim of jealousy and court intrigues. But the retelling of that story did not deliver the best ratings.
"Goddess of Fire: Jeonji" used the historical figure of Korea's first female ceramic artist, Baek Pa Sun. In real life, Baek Pa Sun achieved recognition, only to be kidnapped by the Japanese invaders who were envious of Korea's ceramic art. The drama added characters and a lot of back-story. "Goddess of Fire:Jeonji," which starred Moon Geun Young, only reached the interesting point of the Japanese invasion at the very end of the series. It also did not achieve high ratings.
"Empress Ki," which aired its first episode this week, has already been accused of historical inaccuracy but history does not provide a lot of conclusive facts. There really was an Empress Ki, a Korean woman who began her court career as a concubine and eventually rose to become an influential empress in the Yuan Empire. Ha Ji Won, the actress who is best known for her roles in "Secret Garden" and "The King 2 Hearts," plays the empress in this series. Since much of Empress Ki's life is shrouded in mystery, a few fictional characters have been added to round out the story. A love interest has been provided with the creation of a fictional king Wang Yoo, played by Joo Jin Mo. According to Nielsen Korea, "Empress Ki" ranked first in its time slot double-digit rating with 11.1 percent. That beat the 9.6 percent ratings that "Goddess of Fire" achieved for its final episode.
Should dramas be allowed to play with historical life? Historians might say no but drama lovers would say yes. A historical drama with no drama is a documentary. And yet the previous two examples of historical drama that were fictionalized did not do well in the ratings.
How do you feel about this issue? You may have to tune into "Empress Ki" to find out if this 50-episode series delivers both a satisfying dose of history and drama.
