"There is no excuse; I bear the greatest responsibility." Perfect Crown, a drama that ended its run amid high public attention, has been marred by controversy over historical distortion. In response, director Park Jun-hwa, who directed the work, expressed an apology in tears.
Park Jun-hwa, who directed MBC's Friday-Saturday drama Perfect Crown (abbreviated Perfect Crown), gave an interview on the morning of the 19th at a café in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. At that meeting he spoke with domestic reporters about the recently concluded drama Perfect Crown.
Perfect Crown is a drama set in a 21st-century constitutional monarchy Korea that depicts a class-breaking romance about a woman born into a chaebol family who is officially of commoner status and is annoyingly treated as such, and a prince who is sad because he can have nothing. Originally, the drama raised expectations with Byeon Woo-seok, who caused a sensation with Lovely Runner, cast as the male lead Grand Prince Ian, and singer-actor IU, who was praised for When Life Gives You Tangerines, cast as the female lead Seong Hee-joo. In response, episode 12 (the final episode), broadcast on the 16th, ended with a series-high rating of 13.8% (Nielsen Korea nationwide households).
However, controversy over historical distortion erupted in episode 11, aired on the 15th as the finale approached. Grand Prince Ian wore the gu-ryu myeonryugwan, the court headdress of a vassal state, at his enthronement, and the shouting of "cheonse" at the ceremony provided the pretext. As part of China's Northeast Project, which claims Joseon as one of its vassal states, the enthronement scene in Perfect Crown was borrowed and sparked controversy over historical distortion.
At the start of the interview, Park Jun-hwa bowed to the assembled reporters and expressed his apology. He first said, "After all the filming for this drama was over, I once did an interview at MBC. I said I hoped the drama would remain a pleasant, happy, healing show for viewers, but I realize we created an uncomfortable situation for you instead of healing, and on behalf of the production I have no excuse and bear the greatest responsibility. I apologize to the viewers." He added, "Also, personally, I feel sorry and apologize because I think I caused difficulties for the actors who have worked hard to create this drama rather than giving them the compensation they deserve for their efforts."
Toward the end of the interview he even shed tears and said, "This is not so much an explanation as that I saw an elderly person watching our drama in an Instagram video. When we were filming I actually said, 'Isn't this too cheesy? The ball scene is so difficult.' A writer's intent should come through when someone watches a person's fantasy, but is this a setting that doesn't exist in Korea? I worried that viewers might feel uncomfortable with the dancing and the reaching out. But the elderly person watched that video and was so happy and pleased. Their son next to them asked, 'Did you like it, Dad?' and he said, 'It was so fun.' When Grand Prince Ian proposed to Seong Hee-joo, that episode was hard for me when we were filming it. An elderly viewer said the proposal was moving, so rather than an explanation, I felt sorry for causing discomfort to those who found healing in it. I'm sorry."
On the 18th, the two leads, Byeon Woo-seok and IU, each issued apology statements. Park Jun-hwa said, "I have nothing but apologies to the actors. We wanted to give viewers excitement, pleasure and brightness, so we thought a lot about that. They were colleagues who worked so hard. We worried together. In that process, regarding the historical interpretation issues, I feel sorry that misunderstandings and hurts they did not cause arose. Honestly, at the moment of the final broadcast when we should have said 'well done,' all I felt was apology. With these controversies and our inability to hide shortcomings, I, as the most experienced person on this drama, should have thought more and checked more rigorously; I wonder why I made that decision at the time. Maybe I was stuck in the initial setting."
Moreover, the two leads had been caught up in debates over their acting from early on. Viewers criticized IU for overly artificial emotional expression, while Byeon Woo-seok was criticized for being too restrained and robotic. Park Jun-hwa said, "At first, reading the script, I thought Hee-joo seemed very villainous. I thought of it as a shojo manga, and in the shojo manga I used to read the female lead was often submissive and dependent, but in this drama her assertive side was extreme. In some ways, the pursuit of desire and the insistence on getting what she wants made the female character very strong. Early Hee-joo seemed to pass by the grand prince, but when someone like that tries to enter into a contract marriage, I thought the desire should be expressed extremely."
He added, "Even so, because the palace setting and the contract marriage were dramatic elements, I thought those parts might feel uncomfortable or too strong to viewers. I discussed direction with IU. I wanted this character, even as a villain, to show a quirky vulnerability and a fidelity to desire. I asked for more emphasis on moments of expressed emotion. That way, when watching the drama, the protagonist could be somewhat lampooned; otherwise it would feel stifling."
He said, "In some ways my tendencies and personality changed into forms other than desire, and ultimately those cravings were an expression of wanting to be loved, and because you are there, I didn't care. In the beginning, Ji-eun's acting provided a lot of strength. I think her efforts may have lessened situations where her intensity could be felt as excessive." He added, "On set I laughed a lot. I laughed and enjoyed it. In that sense, IU's acting was more three-dimensional than I had pictured. When I worked on other romance dramas in the past, the lead's tendencies were very strong. Strong traits can initially feel uncomfortable, but as the process of change is detailed, the viewer's emotional shifts are maximized. I think she delivered layered acting well."
Park Jun-hwa also said, "Byeon Woo-seok worked very hard as the grand prince. Watching the drama I felt his effort. I often talked about that during filming. The higher one's position, the less one reveals one's emotions. Because of his relationships and circumstances, revealing too much emotion would diminish the weight. I thought the assistant chief of staff Choi Hyun (played by Yu Su-bin)'s reactions could represent the lack of three-dimensionality early on as part of unfolding the character."
He went on, "Early on, Hee-joo expresses a variety of feelings, and I thought it would be better for the grand prince to show rational moments rather than be swayed by Hee-joo. And when a person who never showed emotions meets Hee-joo and begins to worry, fret and feel anxious, I wondered whether such moments would create more mutual excitement in their relationship."
Above all he said, "Ultimately, when I imagined a moment when I would give up my position for Hee-joo, emotions would explode and it might better express the grand prince. Watching Woo-seok I saw he really tried hard. In fact, there were some times I blocked attempts to add more diverse aspects. I hoped the colors he has, the depth in his eyes, the sadness when he looks at someone — while not a perfect depiction of the grand prince — would be recognized for trying to convey much sadness."
Added to this were various setting errors that surfaced early on, and criticism grew as intense as the ratings and buzz. Among them, criticism toward the silent writer was substantial. Park Jun-hwa said, "The drama began because the writer has a great affection for the Joseon dynasty and wanted to write a royal romance. Looking at our history, if the painful memories of the Japanese colonial period and those moments had not occurred and the Joseon dynasty had continued for 600 years, what might it have been like? That thought started the drama. The settings and situations were aligned with the Joseon dynasty, and within that the writer wanted to portray a romance between a royal grand prince and a common woman. In that context, it seems the intended message to viewers was that beyond desire for status, ordinary daily life might be the greatest happiness."
He continued, "He wanted to make a drama about beautiful relationships, so the drama began that way. But from the viewer's perspective, I think our production team's information about the settings may have been insufficient. I wish we had provided kinder, more detailed information. Also, initially the drama aimed to express painful times and happy periods, but because of the production team's shortcomings we failed to portray moments of autonomy and memory, which I regret."
Regarding the setting errors that strain belief, such as the grand prince confining the queen dowager, Park Jun-hwa said, "Initially the writer may have considered the motif of Prince Suyang. When I first read the script I was ignorant about those relational aspects. The writer's script portrayed the 21st-century constitutional monarchy as a fictional reality and sought to focus on fantasy romance. I understood the writer set dramatic situations within that framework, and we proceeded to unfold the story accordingly."
So how was factual verification for Perfect Crown conducted? Park Jun-hwa said, "Since the start was rooted in the Joseon dynasty's appearance, the verification was oriented toward the royal family's history, art and relations in the Joseon dynasty. We worked while listening to that verification, and I remember the writer also received verification while writing the script. But our thoughts and reality differ. In reality there was the Korean Empire, the Japanese colonial period and the Korean War, but in this drama the Joseon dynasty's 600-year continuation is a setting, so in some ways current perceptions and the drama's derived portrayals appeared different. Because overall consultation was focused only on Joseon royal rituals, that seems to have caused some of the issues."
Yet despite the production's efforts, many pointed out similarities between the drama's royal family and the Japanese imperial family. Park Jun-hwa said, "We did not reference the Japanese imperial family at all. The writer also referenced some European country, and what the drama wanted to express included something like Bridgerton. When I first read the script I felt it resembled the shojo manga I read as a child. The portrayals there seemed to include settings not found in Korea, like balls. Even the relationships could resemble sad situations from some European country. When portraying the ball I thought it was Western and cheesy — it seemed focused more on feminine aspects."
Above all, Park Jun-hwa said, "The writer is also having a hard time. We both feel regret. She is suffering from producing this result and from not having worried enough. I too regret why we created a situation that made so many people uncomfortable. She is having a hard time."
Criticism related to the Northeast Project grew so intense that some alleged Perfect Crown was influenced by Chinese capital. Park Jun-hwa said, "Putting aside those parts, the idea that the Joseon dynasty remains and that Korea remains over 600 years, I wonder whether I failed to project in the subtext that those moments were ultimately autonomous even though the story starts with a king. My ignorance about those historical moments seems to have been the problem. I still feel sorry and regret it."
In reality, the Joseon dynasty, though it used tributary rhetoric toward China for diplomatic reasons, was a sovereign state rather than a simple vassal. Yet some Chinese netizens have exploited scenes from Perfect Crown for the Northeast Project, using the etiquette of the enthronement scene as a pretext. The fictional constitutional monarchy setting and the production's insufficient emphasis on Korea's sovereignty provoked backlash due to careless setting errors.
When asked whether historical experts were consulted about the gu-ryu myeonryugwan and the "cheonse" shout, Park Jun-hwa said, "There was a consultant present. I don't know why something so unusual happened. I asked the consultant, since the drama's premise is that the Joseon dynasty remains, to tell us how to portray the features of such a dynasty. The enthronement scene is the result. In some ways we were trapped by the situation," he regretted.
He said, "If you look at the lines, it starts with 'jaesanho.' We were unfamiliar with things like 'cheonse' and other rituals, and it feels like we've fallen into a swamp. Although fictional, the thought that we must portray the Joseon royal family in a certain way — the consultant informed us about the gu-ryu myeonryugwan form used in Joseon's enthronements, but that does not mean we intended to portray Joseon as oppressed by China in the drama. When I said 'ignorance' I meant that beyond faithfully verifying the form of Joseon's enthronements, I regret not expressing the appearance of a sovereign state's monarch more fully."
Furthermore, Park Jun-hwa explained regarding the portrayal of Chinese-style tea ceremony and Seong Hee-joo's rejection of hanbok, "It wasn't a Chinese tea set but a modern tea set; we were not following Chinese tea ceremony, we were simply following the functional result of teacups." And, "It wasn't that Seong Hee-joo hated hanbok; we only meant to express a character gap between the queen dowager representing the royal family and Seong Hee-joo representing modern culture at opposite extremes."
He said, "It's not really my decision to make, but many external parties are discussing it," adding, "To the viewers who loved and enjoyed many parts of this drama, and to those who reproach us, we will put more deep thought and a cautious attitude into efforts to present a better drama and one in which the actors can be happier. I am grateful to those who loved it and I am also sorry. If there is an opportunity to adjust moments that may have made people uncomfortable, I hope we can take it."
[Photo] Provided by MBC.
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