jTBC is on the defensive but not backing down to the netizen furor over its upcoming drama Snowdrop, which let us all agree on hasn’t aired yet so what the drama is fully about no one knows other than the production. After Joseon Exorcist was excoriated for demeaning King Taejong by fictionally portraying him as slaughtering citizens after hallucinating they were all zombies and also for using Chinese food and clothing style props in Joseon Korea, the netizen mob have targeted Snowdrop with complaints and a Blue House petition to make sure it doesn’t air. The complaints are: (1) Jung Hae In’s character is reportedly a real spy who is first seen as a university student in the drama and that’s problematic because during the student protests in the late 80’s the government crackdown on the student activists was predicated on the claim that the protests were infiltrated by North Korean spies pushing the movement to destabilize the government, (2) Jisoo’s female lead character Young Cho is too similar a name and must be based on real student protester Chun Young Cho who was tortured by the government as a student protester and whose husband was accused of being a spy and died during his imprisonment by the government, and (3) the drama has Young Cho in a love triangle with the spy male lead and the second male lead who is a government security agency agent and that’s also problematic since all those agents did was falsely accuse, torture, and imprison student activists at the behest of the government. All of this has been gleaned from the short synopsis alone. jTBC responded that the drama is a black comedy, satire, romance and is NOT about the student democracy movement and will instead cover the election of that year. It will not promote the government position on the protests or demean the memory of the student activists, but just to err on the side of caution the drama will now change the name of Jisoo’s female lead so she’s not sharing the same name as a real student activist. I’m still 50/50 on whether this drama will end up airing, it depends on how much the netizens will continue to insist their perception of what the drama will be about is right and force jTBC to cancel it prior airing.
Pingback: jTBC Releases New Statement Denying Snowdrop is Pro-Conservative Regime Crackdown on Student Democracy Protests of 1987, Says its About Election But Will Change Female Lead’s Name - Kpopnchill - All About K-pop News
Sounds like YG productions are under attack in Korea.
This is not under YG Studioplex though, it’s under Drama House of JTBC Studios… what makes you think of that, because Jisoo is the lead? That being said, the root of all this was knetz suspecting this is also being funded by Chinese money because Tencent invested in JTBC Studios.
Do Koreans even want dramas anymore ?
I’m gonna say it. Koreans need to stop trying to censor art. fictional portrayals of historical events/figures aren’t going to be 100% accurate and it doesn’t need to be. off the top of my head, tarantino is infamous for making movies that rewrite certain historical events.
Thank God Queen Seon-deok didn’t air right now! Thinking how Knetz would cancel it because the drama portrayed a sympathetic Bidam even had a love line with Deok-man! Urggh, the horror!
Yes true, glad empress ki also air a long time ago
True hahaha or Gaksital would’ve the same fate as Joseon Exorcist because it started with the male lead as a Japanese sympathizer.
JTBC should be given some slack, the production still has time to change anything deemed problematic. Give the drama a chance. Petitioning for something that’s not even aired is just unreasonable. The writer aside from Sky Castle also wrote Bridal Mask.
JTBC is a cable channel not public like SBS. I hope to be able to watch Snowdrop.
Tbh …i found the JE case to be exaggerated but in Snowdrop i get why people are being sensitive … because it was recent history..
The problem is not with Hae in’s character being just a North Korean spy.It’s the time period…If anyone remembers, there was this drama called Spy Myungwool starring Han Ye Sul and Eric where a NK spy tries to kidnap a south korean..This drama was also inspired by the rumours of NK genuinely sending their people to abduct SK artists..But I don’t think people signed petitions to get it cancelled.
If only snowdrop didn’t include that controversial political background and romanticised , it wouldn’t have been in trouble..
We may whine here all we want but we are fans of Korean artists and enjoy their work.Thus we have to respect their history and try to refrain from speaking over koreans..Also, many things may get lost in translation so it’s possible to miss some important points..
Anyways, it’s good that JTBC clarified… and now i hope everything settles down.
@hhh i remember the drama , it aired in 2O11 , i’m an international viewer and i watched the drama without knowing the story behind . At that time the netizens were more interested about Han ye Seul’s flying to US and leaving the set without warning !
For the time being makers should stay away from controversial topics and time periods and just stick to cotton candy romcoms set in modern times.
Cant believe that synopsis alone can make this chaos. I hope yhey give thia drama a chance and I think i have a good feeling that this will become a hit drama.