: a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (such as cruel kindness )broadly : something (such as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements
Example: Broadcaster cancelled a Joseon Dynasty zombie drama because of “historical inaccuracies”
I kinda understand the sentiment though, since China-Korea relations are pretty strained…for us, if Pakistan ever created a zombie fantasy drama with them lording it over India or distorting India-Pakistan history, Indians would be yelling in no time, “creative freedom” can go down the drain.
Fantasy and creative freedom have a limit. Especially when it’s between two countries that don’t really like each other much.
If I worried over every single movie Germans are portrait in a way I might like to disagree …
But I watched movies like Inlgoriuos Basterd by Quentin Tarantino and though some might think this is how it was and how Germans are in general. You are mistaken.
My personal view might not be the majority sees it. I take every movie as a product - fiction - even documentaries rarely can make a picture with every aspect considered, so like every other fictional product there is some truth and there are some things untold. Of course, I am tired of how most American production portray the German Nazi, will I go against it for that reason, no.
But there are still many conflicts in Asia, many things from the past still hurting. I wished for the Asian region that they could work it out, but I guess it will take decades because first there must be the intention on both sides.
It is saddening though that it comes down to what we witness now.
How weird that Viki hasn’t removed the clips from the canceled drama on its official YouTube channel…
I am against any bullying behavior, and perhaps Koreans are overly sensitive. However, as @sa11 has mentioned, South Korea is in a unique situation where it is not only sandwiched between two countries that are constantly trying to rewrite Korea’s history, but it is also the only country that is technically still at war. For K-drama fans, actors and idols being absent for 18 months for mandatory military service may simply be an annoyance, but for Koreans it is a reality check that we are still at war. My daughter’s friend who had been studying in the USA and got accepted to UC Berkeley had to postpone his college education to go back to Korea for his 18 months of service. So, while I may not agree with everything that is going on with JE and Mr. Queen, I can at least understand the heightened sensitivity of Koreans.
Yes, Koreans are kind of reminded of that history every day because their country is split in 2 and families are torn apart. Maybe that also happened if some things in the past didn’t happen but nobody knows.
I think they forgot to remove it fron all its social medias. Just a matter of time. I didn’t even get a chance of watching it 
I find it funny (well, not so much) that I watch k-dramas to escape political crap. And then political crap interferes with my drama watching.
I mentioned China already, as a bad example of politics interfering with art. Korea is beginning to follow China’s footsteps to a tee, it seems.
If it was just a matter of censorship, the number of available K-dramas would drastically be reduced since corrupt government is a very popular theme in many K-dramas.
Well, if it’s not entirely (but somewhat) a matter of censorship and also a matter of public opinion, was there a public poll to see what the majority really wants? Or is it again the handful of those righteous who are being 10x louder than your majority made of average blokes? “Public opinion” can be easily swayed by the media.
This spontaneous decision sets far too many serious precedents than I wish to think of.
Public opinion poll would have taken too long. However, more than 127,000 Koreans signed a petition to the Blue House to stop airing JE, in just one day. There is a petition circulating on change.org among international fans to bring JE back, and as of 16 hours ago, it has gathered approximately 25,000 signatures. I am not taking sides, just providing information.
Sure, let’s be objective.
The population of South Korea counted 51.9 million in 2019. Let’s say that half of the people are not watching TV at all. That leaves us at approx. 25 million Korean viewers. There were 127.000 signatures in that petition in one day. Signatures, not people. But, let’s assume that every one of these is one person.
That would make 0.5% of viewing audience sign that petition in one day. Yes, maybe in the next few days that number would have climbed up. But as someone already mentioned here, they didn’t even have time to watch the first two episodes before the decision was made to retract them. So, on what basis are the people to judge? Word of mouth, unfortunately.
Since you mentioned international audience. In order for them to sign a petition, any petition (pro or con), they have to:
As to the first, international audiences regularly watch the shows at least one or two days later, if not a whole week (case with Netflix where I live).
As to the second, how many international k-drama viewers are following daily news in Korea? Well, not many, obviously.
Again we see that those who complain loud and early enough get what they want.
There are so many flaws in your argument, but I don’t want to, and will not, quarrel with you.
I grew up watching TV all throughout the 90s. As most of you probably know, some of the stuff shown was utterly nonsensical and insensitive too, like sitcoms that had an all-white cast and promoted disgusting jokes. Nobody cancelled those. So, to hear that a drama was cancelled due to “historical reasons” is just messed up. That’s CENSORSHIP plain and simple.
Imagine someone writing a story about George Washington being evil and destroying the United States instead of leading it to freedom and prosperity, only for it to be cancelled out because it’s promoting a bad image of America… You know what? Someone actually wrote such a story. It was very successful commercially. That’s FREEDOM. That’s DEMOCRACY. South Korea, on the other hand, is a faux Democracy. We enjoy their music and dramas and pretty actors. But that’s just an illusion, obviously!
I wouldn’t necessarily call their democracy faux. No one has a perfect democracy. The US, for example, isn’t even first on the democracy index. I think we’re 25th. And the US has only been a true democracy since 1965 when civil rights (on paper) were finally granted to all citizens.
Really, I think the difference is that South Korea is a collectivist society, meaning they put the community above the individual, even, in this instance, at the expense of capitalism ($$$). I think its one of the reasons we always see actors/artists issuing apologies to the public at large. Its something we in the US dont truly understand because we don’t have the same mindset.
With JE: Public outrage and 167,000 signatures of citizens is greater than a few hundred citizens experiencing the consequences of a canceled show. This reality is what makes social media so lethal, though. We can assume that the online cancel culture movement is amplified even more because of this collectivist aspect.
You’re right. I can attest to that. Imperfect as it may be, the U.S. was created as a free country. That was the whole reason American colonies fought for their independence. But then you have a country like Korea, which is no different than mine actually. When you’ve been ruled by one king or another for thousands of years, Democracy, Capitalism… they don’t mean much. Sure, it’s a good way to profit if you know what you’re doing, but most people in such places ultimately act no different from a hive. What others are doing, they want to do it as well. And for their hard work, they expect the state to offer them compensation and protection. The free-for-all market has bewildered many because we don’t understand how it operates, not really. Working and thinking collectively, as you’ve mentioned, is the only way we know how to be productive.
@adrianmorales, it saddens me to think that after 100 comments on just this thread alone, this is how you view Korea and Koreans in general.
Let’s just go by the guidelines - don’t go down the rabbit hole for politics, religion, …
I saw both episodes and was quickly of the opinion that the plot should not have been tied to real characters. Or has anyone been bothered by series “Scholar who walks the night” to the same extent? I don’t think so, so - why?
On the other hand, we have all seen scenes from script reading, and the script must be submitted and accepted beforehand. I am therefore very surprised that no one noticed the problem in time. Did they even have to let it get that far? Questions after questions.
Why are most of you comparing Korea to America? Did your people ever collectively fight for freedom from a dominating empire?
Your examples of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington don’t hold good because everything and everyone is American. It’s just a matter within America.
This is China and Korea, two separate countries with separate cultures but since one was ruled by the other, there is an overlap.