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Post by ukfan on Apr 11, 2008 4:57:40 GMT -5
Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin" and four other historical dramas to launch in Japan KBS is planning to launch " Tears of the Dragon", " King and Rain", " The Age of Warriors", and " Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin" to Japan, and is having talks at a fair in Cannes in France, MIPTV 2008. The usual dramas that launch in Japan have famous stars or are in the present times, so this is an unusual result. It broke the view that historical dramas are hard to export because of differing interpretations of the past. The team leader of KBS Global Strategies said, "This proves that Japan is becoming more interested in Korea's historical dramas and our history. We expect the four dramas to continue the flow of Hallyu (Korean Wave) after "Winter Sonata"." KBS also sold the documentary "Asian Corridor in Heaven" and the Insight Asia series "The Land of Man" to an Arab satellite TV station. Source : news.empas.com/show.t... ( Korean ) Hmm! I wonder how the Japanese audience is going to react to the IYYS drama  
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Post by tinkerbell on Apr 11, 2008 15:45:59 GMT -5
Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin" and four other historical dramas to launch in Japan Hmm! I wonder how the Japanese audience is going to react to the IYYS drama Unless they are open-minded and believe that's what their ancestors did, they won't love it like us.  Lucky Japanese, they're getting some good dramas to watch. ;D  |
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Post by moreshige2 on Apr 17, 2008 13:52:07 GMT -5
I just hope they (Japanese) live up to their own international reputation as being "open-minded".
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Post by ajk on Apr 18, 2008 13:20:20 GMT -5
Yeah, you're right, moreshige2--that's going to be a test for them. As much as I loved the series, the one thing that I didn't care for was that the Japanese generals were a little bit over-the-top sometimes. Evil laughing almost like cartoon villains. Certainly they won't care for that, but it will be interesting to see how they react to the rest of it.
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Post by ukfan on Apr 20, 2008 4:55:59 GMT -5
Thank you all for sharing your views. Im sure Japan's Sankei Shimbun will voice their opinion again.  Below, is the original news clip which I am sure you guys have already read. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Seoul bureau chief of Japan's Sankei Shimbun has thrown down the gauntlet to Korea's famously fierce patriots by pointing to historical distortions in the hit TV drama "Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin". According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, the KBS drama about the national hero who repulsed the Japanese invasion of 1592-98 recorded viewer ratings of 28.5 percent on July 31. In his column in the July 30 edition of the Sankei Shimbun, Katsuhiro Kuroda writes, "Although it gives a fairly serious account of Yi's anguish at being caught up in the power struggles of the Chosun court, the depiction of Japan or the Japanese is ridiculous, and that reduces the impact of the drama as a whole". He said famous commanders from the Sengoku Period like Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Konishi Yukinaga are rendered cartoon-style and given to hollow laughter. More, "Despite the fact that the period is the late Sengoku Period, in back of Hideyoshi's throne is a ukiyo-e (a genre of the later Edo Period... To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Post by tinkerbell on Apr 20, 2008 11:22:43 GMT -5
Thanks ukfan,
Is that the entire article or is there more? The writers tend to do that in most of the dramas they produce when it comes to portraying the enemy.
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Post by ukfan on Apr 20, 2008 16:58:12 GMT -5
Thanks ukfan, Is that the entire article or is there more? The writers tend to do that in most of the dramas they produce when it comes to portraying the enemy. Hi tinkerbell, This was the original article in its entirety. Source Chosun.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan Journalist Takes Issue With Yi Sun-shin DramaThe Seoul bureau chief of Japan's Sankei Shimbun has thrown down the gauntlet to Korea’s famously fierce patriots by pointing to historical distortions in the hit TV drama "Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin." According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, the KBS drama about the national hero who repulsed the Japanese invasion of 1592-98 recorded viewer ratings of 28.5 percent on July 31.  Katsuhiro Kuroda In his column in the July 30 edition of the Sankei Shimbun, Katsuhiro Kuroda writes, "Although it gives a fairly serious account of Yi's anguish at being caught up in the power struggles of the Chosun court, the depiction of Japan or the Japanese is ridiculous, and that reduces the impact of the drama as a whole." He said famous commanders from the Sengoku Period like Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Konishi Yukinaga are rendered cartoon-style and given to hollow laughter. More, "Despite the fact that the period is the late Sengoku Period, in back of Hideyoshi's throne is a ukiyo-e (a genre of the later Edo Period) by Katsushika Hokusai." While most of the troops dispatched to Korea by Hideyoshi were from Nagoya in Saga Prefecture, another Nagoya, in Aichi Prefecture, keeps being shown. Artistic license or not, Kuroda says, a historical drama should be based on proper historical research.  Neither does the show seriously consider why the foolish scholarly elites ignore Yi Yul-gok's advice to train a 100,000-man army, or why Yi Sun-shin met his death while “needlessly pursuing retreating Japanese troops." Then comes the clincher: "Perhaps to a people who have had a warped understanding of Korea's history with Japan, these points may be difficult to understand." Kuroda in no stranger to controversy. In April, when Seoul-Tokyo ties grew tense, he said during a briefing by Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, "Korea asks for an apology every time there's a change in administration, and that makes it questionable whether Korea is pursuing normal diplomacy and whether it's a normal nation." (englishnews@chosun.com ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Katsuhiro Kuroda wasn't a happy bunny was he? Or to put it another way, sometimes the truth hurts doesn't it? ;D |
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Post by kathleen34 on Apr 20, 2008 22:24:54 GMT -5
Katsuhiro Kuroda wasn't a happy bunny was he? Or to put it another way, sometimes the truth hurts doesn't it?
Well stated ukfan!
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Post by tinkerbell on Apr 21, 2008 12:09:50 GMT -5
Katsuhiro Kuroda wasn't a happy bunny was he? Or to put it another way, sometimes the truth hurts doesn't it? ;D Thanks for the article, ukfan.  OUCH!!!  |
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Post by TheBo on Apr 23, 2008 10:36:48 GMT -5
Well, UKFan, even though this Sankei obviously has some "issues" with Korea, I happen to think he made some good points, at least relative to the Japanese characters--cartoonish throughout, flat and overblown simultaneously. I felt the same thing at the time I watched it the first time, and I feel it as I am now watching a (sadly crunched) "shortened" version of IYSS. I thought the portrayal of the Japanese was much, much better in, say, DJG (although brief). These IYSS "Japanese" were monstrous caricatures, not actual human beings doing evil things. I always find that disturbing, disappointing and counterproductive. Perhaps it can be accounted for by the grueling production schedule, but overall, I was disappointed by IYSS on this point. It could have been much more powerful with some realistic motivation, something other than, "evil because they were."
Bo
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Post by ukfan on Apr 24, 2008 9:08:33 GMT -5
Well, UKFan, even though this Sankei obviously has some "issues" with Korea, I happen to think he made some good points, at least relative to the Japanese characters--cartoonish throughout, flat and overblown simultaneously. I felt the same thing at the time I watched it the first time, and I feel it as I am now watching a (sadly crunched) "shortened" version of IYSS. I thought the portrayal of the Japanese was much, much better in, say, DJG (although brief). These IYSS "Japanese" were monstrous caricatures, not actual human beings doing evil things. I always find that disturbing, disappointing and counterproductive. Perhaps it can be accounted for by the grueling production schedule, but overall, I was disappointed by IYSS on this point. It could have been much more powerful with some realistic motivation, something other than, "evil because they were." Bo Hi Bo, how are you? ;D Well, I am not too sure that things could be seen in such simplistic terms. No offense intended. We are all different; be it culture, what we know or what we are accustomed to, etc and therefore how we individuals perceive things would be different. Personally, I don't think the Japanese characters were portrayed in any unusual manner other than what the characters would have behaved when they were trying to conquer a country. The fact of the matter is, the real behaviour of the Japanese soldiers might have been a great deal worst than what was portrayed. One simply has to look at how the Japanese soldiers behaved when they "raped" Nanking over 60 years ago when some 300,000 Chinese children, adults of all ages were slaughtered. I am sure you must have at least heard of some of the crimes they committed. Incidently, a film also called, "Nanking" was released last year and I recommend you watch it - see www.nankingthefilm.com/Please don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against the Japanese or hold any grudges against them. I am merely pointing out facts. Anyway, as for the director of IYSS, my guess is, he must have had a difficult task to perform bearing in mind this drama was for family viewing and he had to somehow portray the Japanese characters in this historical event but without trivializing them. Having said that, perhaps that was what Katsuhiro Kuroda-san had felt when he made the comment. Aaaaah - it is so difficult to please everyone isn't it? ;D Peace and Prosper ukfan |
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Post by TheBo on Apr 24, 2008 10:41:14 GMT -5
I am very familiar with the atrocities at Nanjing. I did not say the Japanese did not do bad things; I did not say they do not seem to have some trouble admitting it. What I said was, the Japanese characters in IYSS were simplistically evil. They were stiff and inhuman. They stroked their beards and laughed hollowly before they trampled underfoot; they squinted when they "thought." As a consequence, they seemed less like evil beings and more like propaganda posters. If the director was trying to portray the Japanese characters without trivializing them, he failed.
Bo
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Post by ukfan on Apr 24, 2008 11:50:57 GMT -5
I am very familiar with the atrocities at Nanjing. I did not say the Japanese did not do bad things; I did not say they do not seem to have some trouble admitting it. What I said was, the Japanese characters in IYSS were simplistically evil. They were stiff and inhuman. They stroked their beards and laughed hollowly before they trampled underfoot; they squinted when they "thought." As a consequence, they seemed less like evil beings and more like propaganda posters. If the director was trying to portray the Japanese characters without trivializing them, he failed. Bo Well, I think we all mustn't read too much into things like that, afterall, the producers had a limited budget. By S.Korean standard IYSS drama was a large budget production but it is still very tiny by US or UK standards. The most expensive K-drama was The Four Gods and if memory serves me right, they spent US$40 million in this 24 episodes drama. We could also blame bad directorship, even bad acting but no one really know the characters in question, the mannerism of Japanese or Koreans hundred of years ago. So, the bottom line is, it is a drama!!!! ;D ;D |
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Post by kathleen34 on Apr 24, 2008 12:31:23 GMT -5
YES! it is indeed a drama ... if I want history I'll watch the History Channel. At the end of a day at work... filled with major deadlines, interruptions and 'little' requests... I'm really up for a bit of fantasy. IYSS served that purpose ... as did DJY and GKS - All better and cheaper than Prozac or Johnny Walker  I love what is posted as far as additional history ... REAL history, but also appreciate the production. Right now I'm listening to the OST for Lovers in Prague. It helps neutralize deadlines and little requests |
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Post by tinkerbell on Apr 24, 2008 15:13:33 GMT -5
I agree somewhat and understand what you are saying about the Japanese, but it was not one sided. Korean dramas whether historical or modern always have people who are silly, clownish, dim-witted, or cartoonish. This is not criticism but observation. I compare some of the acting to be on the level of silent films where people over-acted to compensate for the lack of sound. King Sunjo had an exaggerated, phony laugh too. Lt. Na acted like he had ADD and was in another world except when it came to his extraordinary shipbuilding abilities. Commander Kim was in a class all by himself but was a very skilled leader when pushed. Many of the soldiers of Chosun acted like clowns but we loved them. Chunsu and Mujik were the town idiots before Chunsu became so evil. Commander Bae , the guy who ran away from battle and hid his remaining ships when Won Gyun was Supreme Commander of the Navy, looked and acted like a weasel, not a brave man at all. The list goes on and on. Fear was shown on both sides as well. Apparently the Koreans didn't take offense to how these characters were portrayed. I don't think the portrayal of the Japanese was done to reduce them to the level of evil idiots. Much was said and shown how skilled they were at hand to hand combat. The boys began fighting when they were very young and had kills by the age of 12. Hideyoshi took power after 100 years of civil war. The Japanese were shown as very brave, relentless, skilled warriors. Chosun needed 10 to 12 well trained warriors to contend with 1 Japanese. They were invaders who killed, raped, kidnapped and destroyed everything in their path. They certainly could have been portrayed much worse. Some of the characters on Dae Jo Young are shown the same way. Emperor Wu's phony laugh, Chulin's rolling eyes, Li Kaigu's sneer, Xue Rengui's flamboyance, Gulsabiwu's startled expression,  Sudol, Gaepil and Tungso the three stooges etc.. It's just the way they make dramas, but we keep watching don't we?
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Sudol, Gaepil and Tungso the three stooges etc..