China's investment in movies and dramas comes with strings attached

A scene from the short-lived SBS fantasy thriller "Joseon Exorcist" / Courtesy of SBS

Short-lived "Joseon Exorcist" is a wake-up call against threat of cultural infiltration by heavy-handed China

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Disney's 2020 live-action remake "Mulan" and the short-lived Korean fantasy thriller "Joseon Exorcist" have delivered a shared, almost identical message that every content creator needs to know: Don't get too excited about Chinese investments.

The box office disaster last year and the doomed fate of the latest Korean drama, which was canceled shortly after the first two episodes aired triggering incensed viewers to boycott the drama, clearly shows that China's investments come with strings attached and this could pit content creators against viewers in the post-production stage. It is no surprise that content creators would lose out as their short-sighted decision to allow Chinese investors to have a greater say in their products will backfire with domestic viewers.

Driven by the temptation of the vast Chinese market, studios often have made too many concessions to curry favors with Chinese investors, letting scripts to be altered significantly. This, in turn, makes their products deviate considerably from the initially planned stories while overly emphasizing China's "charm offensive," a factor that distresses viewers and chases them away.

Last week, SBS made the unprecedentedly swift decision to cancel the TV series "Joseon Exorcist," which was mired in controversy over history distortions, announcing decisively that it won't broadcast the rest of the episodes, even though about 80 percent of the entire series had been filmed.

Allegations of Chinese propaganda was the key driver behind the angry reactions of viewers to the fantasy drama.

Although the drama is set early in the 1392-1910 Joseon era with historical figures who actually existed, its characters eat Chinese food, wear Chinese costumes and use Chinese swords. Such an awkward display of Chinese propaganda disturbed Korean viewers and some began to harbor suspicions about the motives of the drama's writer Park Gye-ok in creating the story that belittled Korean culture and Joseon kings.

This image shows a scene from tvN's hit drama "Mr. Queen." Having aired from December last year till this February, the TV series is also accused of distorting history. Courtesy of tvN

Park is no stranger to controversy.

His previous work, tvN's hit TV series "Mr. Queen," was also mired in controversy over distortions of history. In the script for "Mr. Queen," the annals of the Joseon Dynasty were depicted as a collection of worthless portrayals of Joseon kings. Park came under fire for distorting history during the airing of the entire TV series, but tvN managed to contain the criticisms and the popular drama became even more viral until its final episode aired in February.

But this time, accusations against the writer have continued, even after SBS announced it would stop airing "Joseon Exorcist." Rumor-mongers alleged that Park's allegiance lies with China, an allegation he and his agency deny.

The so-called Park-bashing intensified when some "keyboard warriors" found and shared "a lesser-known fact" about the drama writer which they insist provides evidence of his links with China. Park belongs to a Chinese motion picture company and its representative at the Seoul office is a Korean-Chinese woman who also works for China's state-controlled media, the China Daily, according to the allegations.

Amid rampant rumors, Park released a statement on Saturday through his agency offering an apology.

"My deepest apologies for those who were distressed for the past few days by my careless writing," he wrote. "I know my writing has caused viewers to feel angry and weary. I offer my sincerest apology once again for my fault. I should have been more careful when describing the founding heroes of Joseon, but I didn't, partly because I thought I was working on a fantasy thriller, not a fact-based historical drama."

But he did not comment on the veracity of rumors that he works for a Chinese motion picture company and that this relationship had impacted how he chooses and writes stories.

In Korea, the "Joseon Exorcist" disaster has become a wake-up call regarding China's growing influence in Korean entertainment.

In Ji-woong, a YouTuber who shares his years of experience at a Chinese entertainment agency as an idol trainer, said the SBS drama is an example showing risks lurking in Chinese investments in Korean entertainment.

"Dramas or movies which were produced based on funding from China will be more likely to face a doomed fate, mainly because the intrusive Chinese investors will make them lose their direction," he said.

To back his claim, he shared his experience in an unnamed Chinese band's concert held in 2018. According to him, his Chinese agency prepared the concert to celebrate the band's comeback which was sponsored by a wealthy Chinese investor. For the grandiose concert, the agency hired In and two other Koreans ― one was a renowned Korean concert director and the other was a BTS producer whose names he did not disclose for privacy reasons.

"The concert ended up being a disaster because of the heavy-handed Chinese tycoon. His presence was felt everywhere, from the opening to the closing stage," In said on his YouTube channel. "He was a huge fan of Michael Jackson and pushed the concert organizers to use the late American musician's music for the opening stage, which didn't make sense because the concert was a comeback stage for the Chinese idol group. But the late Michael Jackson stole the show as his voice was heard. No one, not even my boss, who was the founder and owner of the agency, could have deterred the investor."

A scene from 2020 Disney movie "Mulan" / Courtesy of Walt Disney Korea

Last year "Mulan" ignited a similar controversy in the United States with Disney allegedly turning a blind eye to Beijing's human rights violations in return for Chinese investments. Besides the pro-China actors who openly supported the Hong Kong police's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, a scene was filmed in the ethnic minority region of Xinjiang which has drawn international attention due to China's human rights violations for persecuting ethnic minorities.

The movie's "thank-you China" ending credit included the Chinese government's publicity department of the Xinjang Uyghur autonomous region committee.