[Desk Column] Broadcasting Traditional Historical Dramas Is the Duty of Public Broadcasters

[Asia Economy Senior Reporter Jinsoo Lee] A comedy of events that occur when the soul of Jang Bonghwan, the chief chef of the Blue House in the Republic of Korea, inhabits the body of Queen Cheorin, the official queen consort of King Cheoljong during the Joseon Dynasty. A thrilling and heroic comedy about secret royal inspectors and their teams in the Joseon era who eradicate corruption, fight against wrongdoing, and clear the unjust accusations of the people. These are the stories of the currently high-rating tvN weekend drama "Cheorinwanghu" and KBS 2TV Monday-Tuesday drama "Amhaeng-eosa: Joseon Secret Investigation Team."

Both fusion historical dramas are gaining popularity on home screens with their clever charm, which is a welcome development. The attempt to view history from various perspectives and interpret it in multiple ways, as fusion historical dramas do, is a positive trend for the development of dramas. However, the problem is that history can be reduced to mere entertainment material. In the pursuit of making it entertaining, history can be distorted.

Fusion historical dramas borrow the historical background but premise fictional elements or strongly reflect contemporary logic. This provides the enjoyment of seeing reflections of the real world. On the other hand, traditional historical dramas adhere closely to official history (jeongsa) or add some unofficial history (yasa) to it. However, they rarely distort or alter the facts themselves. In other words, they faithfully portray the lives of ancestors.

In the case of traditional historical dramas, history is used to learn from the good past and take lessons from the wrong past. They instill pride and self-esteem in the people as descendants of their ancestors and also present visions of unity and reconciliation. They greatly influence the public’s historical consciousness. However, since the 2016 KBS drama "Jang Yeongsil," traditional historical dramas, which can be considered the roots of fusion historical dramas, have disappeared from home screens.

Neighboring Japan and China continue to produce epic traditional historical dramas. Taking Japan as an example, the public broadcaster NHK has been airing the epic historical drama "Kirin ga Kuru" since January 19 last year. It is already the 59th historical drama. This year, "Seiten wo Tsukiro" is scheduled, and next year, "Kamakura-dono no 13-nin" has already been confirmed for production.

Production and broadcasting of historical dramas by Japan’s public broadcaster are sometimes exploited for historical revisionist propaganda. A representative example is "Seiten wo Tsukiro," which depicts the life of Eiichi Shibusawa (1840?1931), an entrepreneur during Japan’s modernization period. It was confirmed and announced as the subject of this year’s epic drama back in September 2019.

Shibusawa, known as the "father of modern Japanese economy," was also a leading figure in Japan’s economic invasion of the Korean Peninsula during the colonial period. He was a close friend of Hirobumi Ito (1841?1909) and appeared on the first modern banknotes circulated in Korea, bringing humiliation to us.

Producing historical dramas requires considerable production costs. Unlike contemporary dramas, it is not easy to cover part of the production costs through product placement (PPL) within the drama. Moreover, nowadays, most viewers do not prefer long-form dramas due to the trend of quickly consuming and enjoying cultural content.

Nevertheless, even public broadcasters should not neglect traditional historical dramas that embody the "spirit" of ancestors. Broadcasting traditional historical dramas is not a matter to be judged by commercial logic. Regardless of high or low ratings, public broadcasters have the duty to consistently produce historical dramas.

It is necessary to heed the words of the late writer Shin Bongseung, who created MBC’s long-term project "500 Years of the Joseon Dynasty" series in the 1980s with a strong historical consciousness: "The expression of the spirit of the times in historical dramas must contain the great meaning of leading the people."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.