(Continued from interview ②) Director Park Jun-hwa, who directed 'Perfect Crown,' explained criticisms about the drama's factual inaccuracies and setting errors and mentioned the writer who wrote the script.
Park Jun-hwa, who directed the MBC Friday-Saturday drama 'Perfect Crown' (abbreviated Perfect Crown), gave an interview on the morning of the 19th at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. At the event, 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 tells a status-breaking romance about a woman who is a chaebol with everything but frustratingly has the status of a commoner, and a prince who is the king's son but is sad because he can have nothing. Initially, the drama raised expectations by casting Byeon Woo-seok, who caused a sensation with Lovely Runner, as the male lead, Grand Prince Ian, and singer-actor IU, who was praised for When Life Gives You Tangerines, as the female lead Seong Hee-joo. In response, episode 12 (the finale), which aired on the 16th, concluded with a personal best rating of 13.8% (Nielsen Korea nationwide households).
However, controversy over historical distortion erupted in episode 11, which aired on the 15th just before the finale. The scene in which Grand Prince Ian wore the gu-ryu men-ryu crown, a headdress of a vassal state, at his enthronement and the chanting of "cheonse" became the trigger. As part of China's Northeast Project, which claims that Joseon was one of its vassal states, the enthronement scene of 'Perfect Crown' was appropriated, sparking controversy over historical distortion. Added to this were various setting errors that had surfaced from the early episodes, bringing criticism as intense as the ratings and public interest.
Meanwhile, public criticism toward the writer, who remained silent, was considerable. Park Jun-hwa said, "The origin of this drama was that the writer has a lot of affection for the country called Joseon. And within that, they tried to write the royal romance they wanted to write. When we look at our history, if the painful memories and moments under Japanese colonial rule had not existed and the Joseon dynasty had continued to the present, if Joseon had been maintained within 600 years of history, what would it have been like? That was how this drama began," and added, "The settings and situations shown so far were aligned with the Joseon dynasty. Within that, the writer wanted to depict a romance between a royal grand prince and a common girl. In that process, it seems the message the writer wanted to give viewers was that, beyond desires about status, ordinary daily life may be the happiest enjoyment."
He continued, "They wanted to create a drama about that beautiful relationship, which is why they made this drama in the first place. But from the viewers' perspective, I think our production team lacked information about some of the settings. I also thought it would have been better to provide information in a slightly more considerate way. Also, in some ways the drama was created to express painful parts or happy times early on, but because of the production team's shortcomings, we should have expressed memories of autonomous moments, and it's regrettable that we failed to do so."
Regarding setting errors that are hard to accept as borrowed from the Joseon dynasty, such as the grand prince confining the queen dowager, Park Jun-hwa said cautiously, "Initially the writer seems to have considered the motif of Prince Suyang. When I first read the script, I was ignorant about those relational aspects. And within the script the writer wrote, the 21st-century constitutional monarchy itself was a fictional reality focused on romance in fantasy. I understood that the writer set certain things to create more dramatic situations. We tried to unfold the story from that perspective."
So how was the actual research for 'Perfect Crown' conducted? Park Jun-hwa said, "Since the start itself began with the appearance of the Joseon dynasty, the factual research was also aligned with the Joseon royal history, art, and relations. We worked while listening to that research, and I remember the writer also received verification while writing the script. But our thinking and reality differ. In reality there were the Korean Empire, the Japanese colonial period, and the June 25 (Korean War), but in this drama the setting is that the Joseon dynasty has been maintained for 600 years, so it may have appeared somewhat different from our current perceptions and how it was portrayed in the drama. It seems to have arisen because overall consultation was tailored only to Joseon royal rituals."
Despite the production team's efforts, many pointed out that the royal court in 'Perfect Crown' resembled the Japanese imperial family. Director Park Jun-hwa said, "We did not reference the Japanese imperial family at all. The writer referenced some European country and wanted to express something like 'Bridgerton' in this drama. When I first read the script, the story felt like the pure romance comics I read as a child. I thought many of the things shown were settings we don't have in Korea, such as balls. The relationships also, in some ways, resembled the sorrowful situations of some European country. When expressing the ball, it felt western and cringeworthy to the point that the focus seemed to be on feminine aspects."
Above all, Park Jun-hwa said, "The writer is also having a hard time. We both feel regret. The writer himself regrets producing these results and not having been able to reflect enough, and I also have regret-tinged thoughts about why we created a situation that made so many people uncomfortable. He is struggling."
(Continued in interview ④)
[Photo] Provided by MBC.
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