7 Dramas that Have Been Criticized by Netizens for Historical Distortion, Both in Korea and Other Countries

Kapanlagi.com - Korean dramas often take history to create a more interesting story. Although sometimes, the historical story in Korea adds fictional elements, if it goes too far, it will be called historical distortion. Thus, it becomes a drama that has been criticized by netizens.

What is historical distortion? Historical distortion is the reversal or deviation from historical facts. Usually, it can be considered distortion if one character or moment changes into something different from what it should be. And eventually, it becomes a drama that has been criticized by netizens.

Now, there are several Korean dramas that have distorted history. What are they? Here is a list of dramas that have been criticized by netizens for distorting history. Let's check it out, KLovers.

 

1. EMPRESS KI (2013)

(credit: imdb.com)

Rating	8.4 IMDB
Durasi	65 minutes
Episode	51 episodes
Aired on	Vidio, VIU, Netflix, VIKI, Prime Video, Apple TV
Cast	Ha Ji Won, Ji Chang Wook, Joo Jin Mo

Drama EMPRESS KI is considered to distort history by historians. This relates to the character of Empress Ki in the drama, who is portrayed as a kind-hearted female warrior. However, in actual history, she was not like that.

She once attacked her homeland and killed many people. Historians are afraid that the drama EMPRESS KI will give a positive image of the actual Empress Ki, who was not very good in the real world.

 

2. MR. SUNSHINE (2018)

(credit: imdb.com)

Rating	8.00 IMDB
Duration	80 minutes
Episode	24 episodes
Airing	Netflix
Cast	Lee Byung Hun, Kim Tae Ri, Byun Ho Han

This drama indeed has an interesting story and is one of the Korean dramas with high ratings. However, unfortunately, it became a drama that was criticized by netizens. Some historians criticize that the scriptwriting is considered not in line with history, from the chronological story to the formation of characters.

In addition, this story is also considered to highlight that Japan is the villain, and America is the hero. Of course, this has sparked controversy and led to the creation of a petition for the government to review historical inaccuracies in this drama. And the production team eventually apologized and made changes to the script of the drama MR. SUNSHINE.

 

3. HWARANG (2016)

(credit: imdb.com)

Rating	8.00 IMDB
Durasi	60 minutes
Episode	20 episodes
Tayang	Netflix, WeTV, VIKI, Apple TV, Vidio, VIU, iQIYI
Pemain	Park Seo Joon, Park Hyung Sik, Go Ah Ra

Then there is the drama HWARANG which also became a drama that was criticized by netizens. This drama is considered to have committed historical abuse by several Korean historians. The abuse lies in the portrayal of the Hwarang group, which is considered to underestimate the original Hwarang forces in history.

This is because in the drama story, the Hwarang forces are seen not taking their training seriously and more often having fun. So this is considered not depicting the true elite Hwarang forces. In addition, the bromance between the Hwarang youths is also considered not in accordance with history.

 

4. THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH (2020)

(credit: imdb.com)

Rating	8.1 IMDB
Durasi	70 minutes
Episode	16 episodes
Tayang	Netflix
Pemain	Lee Min Ho, Kim Go Eun, Woo Do Hwan

Drama THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH is said to be a drama that has been criticized by netizens. There are many criticisms in this drama, from historical distortion to the silhouette of a Japanese temple in the opening video of THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH. As KLovers know, the relationship between Korea and Japan is quite sensitive even today.

It's no wonder that the silhouette of the temple became an issue. Because of this, many South Korean citizens demanded that the image be removed. And due to the pressure, the production team finally decided to remove the silhouette of the temple and apologize to the viewers.

 

5. MR. QUEEN (2020)

(credit: imdb.com)

Rating	9.3 IMDB
Durasi	75 minutes
Episode	20 episodes
Airing	Hulu, VIKI, Netflix, Prime Video
Cast	Shin Hye Sun, Kim Jung Hyun, Bae Jong Ok

Comedy drama MR. QUEEN is also included in the dramas that have been criticized by netizens. This drama has sparked debates in South Korea, KLovers. Yes, MR. QUEEN itself is an adaptation of a novel by Xian Chen.

Many people know that the novelist Xian Chen has made negative comments about Korea in his other works. Of course, this has sparked a lot of debate among the Korean people. Until finally, the production team of the drama MR. QUEEN admitted that they only referred to the web drama GO PRINCESS GO which had previously aired.

Because of this, the production team also apologized for not realizing the negative comments about Korea in Xian Chen's other works. Not only that, in this drama, there are also scenes that insult the history of the Joseon Dynasty. Although this is a comedy drama, viewers say that some jokes seem inappropriate.

 

6. JOSEON EXORCIST (2021)

(credit: imdb.com)

Rating	6.8 IMDB
Durasi	70 minutes
Episode	2 episodes
Tayang	WeTV
Pemain	Kam Woo Sung, Jang Dong Yoon, Park Sung Hoon

Drama that has been criticized by other netizens is a drama titled JOSEON EXORCIST. This drama is also one of the dramas that distorts history. From the story to the props used, many of them use props from China instead of Korea, even though this drama is set in the Joseon era.

Although JOSEON EXORCIST is a fantasy drama, the characters in the drama are real. There have been many petitions requesting that JOSEON EXORCIST be banned from airing. JOSEON EXORCIST itself has 16 episodes, but only 2 episodes were aired.

 

7. LITTLE WOMEN (2022)

(credit: imdb.com)

Rating	7.8 IMDB
Durasi	75 minutes
Episode	12 episodes
Tayang	Netflix
Pemain	Kim Go Eun, Nam Ji Hyun, Park Ji Hoo

In the midst of the popularity of the drama LITTLE WOMEN, it turns out that the storyline of this drama has a distortion of history. Quoted from soompi media, the distortion of history began to be realized when the fictional hero character, General Won Ki Sun, became the Chairman of the Jeongran Community.

The Chairman of the Jeongran Community revealed that he brought back the blue ghost orchid during his honorable military service. And every Korean soldier killed 20 Vietnamese soldiers. This distorted historical illustration caused the drama LITTLE WOMEN to be stopped from airing on Netflix Vietnam.

 

(kpl/gen/dhm)