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[Drama 2013/2014] ♚ Empress Ki (기황후) ♚


cherkell

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8 minutes ago, Jillia said:

Where international viewers are more forgiving, Korean viewers might be not.

it also might be because international viewers are not aware of the history? it is not like we studied this in school and have an opinion on it one way or the other... so let me give you an example -- you know the live action movie aladdin? I had a strong bit of anti-reaction to it! LOL. not because of the acting but because of the sets and costumes which drove me nuts. I was like "what kind of princess has one jewelry set?" LOL. :lol::lol: ...but yea, maybe we as international viewers are lot more forgiving because we just see it as a story. so we don't catch the mistakes or differences in story perspective.

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1 hour ago, Lmangla said:

so empress ki is based/inspired from a real life historical queen. what are your expectations? do you expect some amount of accuracy? do you expect lots of drama writing liberties? how close do you think historical based dramas should be?

 

Empress Ki sticks to the basic outlines, but isn't accurate, they have changed a lot. I normally prefer it this way as long as it's very clear that they are taking artistic liberties. 

I do like dramas that are very historically accurate too, but need to be in the mood for all the darkness. Wouldn't want to live during those times. Wouldn't mind a short time travelling trip though :P

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As a history teacher I usually read about the dramas history before I watch it if it id based on true characters.

I find it intresting to know and then see how much the writers changes stuff.

 

I think only documentarys are true to the history. The dramas where ever they are made are about real stuff but also  stuff  are changed because it appeals to audience more. ANd it makes people talk more about the drama.

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2 minutes ago, ailanthus said:

@partyon goodness, I've rewatched The Moon Embracing the Sun a few days ago haha

I haven't watched this drama yet, recently I've been watching The Bad Kids so I'd love to join. Hope I can enjoy and be active, thank you for the invitation :D


Yay! Welcome onboard @ailanthus !!!! :kiss_wink:
 

Have you watched many sageuks? 


I have never watched one, despite having an almost 10 year love affair with k-dramas. :joy:
I am really looking forward to this drama, as I am a big fan of Ha Ji Won and Ji Chang Wook.

 

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11 minutes ago, MVM said:

 

Empress Ki sticks to the basic outlines, but isn't accurate, they have changed a lot. I normally prefer it this way as long as it's very clear that they are taking artistic liberties. 

I do like dramas that are very historically accurate too, but need to be in the mood for all the darkness. Wouldn't want to live during those times. Wouldn't mind a short time travelling trip though :P

true; am a lot more forgiving when they say directly there are basic outlines. sometimes dramas or movies claim to have great accuracy and then it becomes like a hunting ground for viewers to show many mistakes were there. LOL.

but yea, really historical accurate dramas tend to be quite depressing -- wonder why that is... is it not possible to have cheery dramas that are accurate? kekekek....

even with a short time traveling trip into history, I would worry about the most modern of necessities -- the bathroom! LOL. :lol:

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8 minutes ago, Jillia said:

I mean in the end who knows what the history is? Only the people who wrote them down. I think I'm used to the dramas mixing historical facts with fictional elements. It's okay with me as long as it makes sense.

 

I also like when dramas try to see the history from a different point of view. But I remember that Korean viewers don't think like me sometimes. I remember how many people didn't like how the drama "Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love" humanized Jang Ok Jung and tried to explain how she became the way she was. For most people in Korea, she is a scheming concubine who wanted to become queen at all cost. The drama was making her look like the victim and Korean viewers hated it and there were protests. So I think it really depends. Where international viewers are more forgiving, Korean viewers might be not. :)

I am fine with it when they already state that "This is a work of fiction based on historical facts". If they do this I sort of make up my mind that what I am watching is actually a fiction. Like they did in "Haechi" or even in "Royal Gambler". Then I don't see that drama as historical one rather see it as a drama based in a certain era like Joseon or Goryeo. If they include a fictional King like they did in Crowned Clown or Master of the Mask, then also I find it acceptable. But if they use a historical figure and somewhat change how he has been remembered, then an extremely good writing is required to excite, else I don't really like it. 

 

There are some historical figures like Crown Prince Sado and Prince Gwanghae who are quite popular in terms of being shown in movies or dramas. Reasons being there are contradictory facts in history regarding both of them and so I usually look forward to how they'll be portraying them. 

 

But as @Lmangla also mentioned, clothing and setting is very important too.  

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1 minute ago, partyon said:


Yay! Welcome onboard @ailanthus !!!! :kiss_wink:
 

Have you watched many sageuks? 


I have never watched one, despite having an almost 10 year love affair with k-dramas. :joy:
I am really looking forward to this drama, as I am a big fan of Ha Ji Won and Ji Chang Wook.

 

thank you :kiss_wink:

I haven't watched many sageuks but I love watching historical drama even tho I'm bad at history lol

my first sageuk is jewel in the palace and I really love it. what I love from historical drama are the sets, the costumes, and exploring different historical periods so I'm looking forward to this drama.

 

@Jillia thank you, I miss sageuk so I'm happy to join

talk about Hwang Jin Yi, excellently portrayed by HJW

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25 minutes ago, joccu said:

As a history teacher I usually read about the dramas history before I watch it if it id based on true characters.

I find it intresting to know and then see how much the writers changes stuff.

 

I think only documentarys are true to the history. The dramas where ever they are about real stuff but also  stuff  are changes because it appeals to audience more. ANd it makes people talk more about the drama.

thats' true -- as a student, i found it easier to remember the history lesson when I watched a movie. when it was just in the textbook, it seemed so boring but to watch it as a movie made you realize that this was a real period with real people. and while we have all these technological advancements, our emotional responses are very much the same. they haven't changed with time. we all get angry, fall in love, fight, kill, backstab for ambition etc. so in that sense, historical dramas are still very accessible when they concentrate on the emotions -- so from that perspective, perhaps those type of changes are needed for the audience. one of the struggles with saeguks for me is when it is highly political -- so I tend to get confused trying to figure out which minister is in which camp and clan and why it matters etc... so perhaps, simplification means you have a wider audience and with a wider audience, there is more chance for history to feel alive even if it is only a diluted version of it....

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3 hours ago, Lmangla said:

so empress ki is based/inspired from a real life historical queen. what are your expectations? do you expect some amount of accuracy? do you expect lots of drama writing liberties? how close do you think historical based dramas should be?

 

Accuracy - definitely yes in the settings and costumes. Though I do not mind much how the dialogues are written, it should still be a close enough narration to what was recorded in history books. 

 

IMO, if it's life based historical, there shouldn't be much freedom in the scripts. If what happened during a certain period is really bad, show how bad it was. If there are joyful occasions, by all means show the happy moments. There's enough drama there already, there's no real need to add more spice.

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My favorite dramas are sageuks so I'm excited for this! For a long time I hadn't planned on watching Empress Ki due to what I'd heard about the ending, but people keep saying it's worth it so I'm going to give it a shot. 

 

5 hours ago, Lmangla said:

a question for the re-watch party to get started on -- @partyon @Jillia @MVM @Fandomized Q @joccu @MayanEcho @Night_Owl @Ameera Ali  -- so empress ki is based/inspired from a real life historical queen. what are your expectations? do you expect some amount of accuracy? do you expect lots of drama writing liberties? how close do you think historical based dramas should be?

I've always been a fan of historical movies/shows, even before getting into kdramas, and I'm used to Western period pieces being pretty accurate (maybe not to the most nitpicky history buffs, but in general the plot doesn't stray wildly from history.) I can appreciate how kdramas often take some liberties. Depicting historical events is great, but it's also nice to use the setting to tell a story rather than having to invent some alternate universe, if that makes sense, or awkwardly shoehorn your story into the reality.

 

5 hours ago, Jillia said:

It looks like Ji Chang Wook is wearing a wig. Or at least a extensive hairpiece. Maybe the front hair is his hair. :D

 

These days hair department is pretty lazy/convenient when it comes to male sageuk hair. Usually the bun and top hair on top of their head is attached to the hairband the men wore during Joseon era.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Let's have a look at another rewatch drama Moon Embracing The Sun as an example - everything on top of Kim Soo Hyun's head is a wig:

Meanwhile as you can see at the back of Kim Soo Hyun... it's his natural hairline which is not accurate since men back then had long hair pulled up in the bun.

But it's too time-consuming and expensive to make several full wigs. So they choose the easy half-wig. :D

 

 

I adore long hair on men and while I've gotten used to the "topknot + headband" combo, I'm always secretly hoping for a hair down scene (which is probably part of why I'm often drawn to Goreyo/Three Kingdoms sageuks rather than Joseon, because the men's hair is usually down!) I've wondered before if the men really did sleep in their headbands or if that's just easier for the wig department! One of these days I'll get the glorious sleep-tousled mane I'm dreaming of...

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8 hours ago, Lmangla said:

omo!! @backstreetboysfan, how do you manage to watch so many? I am watching 4 and even those I am some days behind. hahahah... but yea, feel free to pop in and join and of the re-watch parties once your schedule is a little lighter.

 

 

posting some stills of the drama -- will there be sword fights? looks like this will be an action packed saeguk!

 

 

 

 

They are all airing ones right now. A lot of them air Monday-Friday, plus I have some old ones I am watching as well already I forget to say that. I just don't put them on my list until I finish them. I don't mind spoilers so I will pop in to read :).

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@partyon @Jillia @MVM @Fandomized Q @joccu @MayanEcho @Night_Owl @Ameera Ali  @ailanthus @Lmangla @Berou @MinLyn @kehrite

 

First Empress Ki Poll is up!

 

You can choose several answers. Feel free to elaborate your answer in the thread, or add your suggestion!

 

We still have to wait until Wednesday until we can start writing our thoughts about ep 1 and ep 2. Let's have some fun until then!

 

:happydance:

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