mieuxqtoi

read the original webnovel. It's much better, lots of the dumb things FL does are not in the webnovel (or at least in the webnovel she's not that annoying)

I read the original webnovel and watched the entire 36 eps and I agree that FL is worse in drama. I think it's fine to make a decision to drop, after watching half of a show and then skipping through the end. lol I wish I'd done that instead of watching all the way through.
For anyone who needs a smart, strong FL to watch a drama, I recommend skipping this one.

Thanks for taking the time to read! There was already a controversy boiling after the script was leaked earlier this year, so they had time to re-work the drama to avoid such sensitive issues. The screenwriter and director are very well-renowned so in a way it makes sense that actors want to work in their dramas, but I can't speak for them tbh

https://n.news.naver.com/article/079/0003587836

For non-Koreans who genuinely don't understand

1) Why Koreans are pissed off (even after just 2 episodes):

JTBC claim the drama has nothing to do with the pro-democracy movement but literally used a real student protest song as BGM, they used actual NAMES of real people (FL's name slightly changed after huge uproar). They based characters on real people.
There are still survivors of torture and abuse alive today, and families of students & activists who were murdered for protesting for democracy. These innocent students were falsely accused of being North Korean spies so that the dictatorship could freely torture and kill them.

So having the ML as a North Korean hiding among students is insulting to the victims and their families.
Having the SML as an NIS agent who is a "good person trying to do his best" is insulting.
Having FL's dad who is the head of NIS shown as a father who likes literature and poetry is beyond insulting when the real man had so much blood on his hands.
Showing the NIS as respecting warrants (lolol they would have killed anyone who got in their way) is a huge distortion of the truth, not to mention insulting.
That's why sponsors are pulling out.
That's why people are mad as hell. They don't want money being made off of something that glosses over real cruelty.

2) For those whining **but it's ancient historyyyy**

The truth is that there are still pro-dictatorship supporters today who DENY what happened to students. They deny the sexual assault, the torture, the deaths...and they claim that the ANSP/NIS were just doing their job correctly in catching NK spies, and that the dictatorship was needed! The perpetrators of these crimes mainly got off scot-free, many are still alive and well and have never shown any remorse...they still argue that the ANSP/NIS were just doing their job!So this is not ancient history it's a live and current issue for us that impacts S Korean politics right now.

3) Should/can it be cancelled?

I'm not for censorship so in my opinion if the broadcaster wants to continue to air that is of course their right. However, if you believe in freedom of speech/expression and want to keep the drama on air, you should also believe in Koreans having the freedom to be mad and disgusted and air their views. I did not personally sign the petition as S Korea is thankfully now a democracy so the blue house just can't yank dramas off the air, no matter how many petitions are made. Koreans should (& have been) putting pressure on the broadcasting company to act, which is their right. However, the broadcaster also has the legal right to air the drama, no matter how poor in taste and offensive the plotline is.

4) Who's protesting and who's defending the drama's plotline IN KOREA?

As the events only occurred +30 years ago, there are many survivors and families still alive today. Park Jong Cheol was a student pro-democracy activist at SNU in 1987, he was captured by ANSP/NIS and tortured with waterboarding. His cruel death went on to spark the '87 June Democratic Struggle and nation-wide protests. The Park Jong Cheol Memorial Foundation (headed by his surviving family) spoke out against the drama's plotline "It is a distortion and an offense....this is an issue that everyone involved in this drama should reflect on." So actual victims &/or their families have been posting on sns and forums in Korea, discussing how this drama is in very bad taste.
source: https://n.news.naver.com/article/079/0003587836

Lee Han Yeol was a Yonsei student during the '87 demonstrations. A tear gas grenade went into his skull and he was in critical condition. While he was on the brink of death he became one of the national symbols of the pro-democracy resistance struggle. When he died of his injuries a few weeks later, his funeral was attended by over 1 million people. The Director of the Lee Han Yeol Memorial Hall spoke out against the drama's plotline saying " If a drama like this was made without a level of historical and social awareness, it should stop airing even if it makes a loss in profit." After those remarks, the Lee Han Yeol Memorial Hall has had people calling them angrily to defend the drama. Literally verbally harassing the family of a victim.
source : https://news.v.daum.net/v/20211221151702014

In Korea, the only people actually vocally defending the drama aside from rabid blinks are super right-wingers who are anti-LGBTQ etc. The kind of right-wing scum who said Olympian archer An San should have her gold medals taken away for having a pixie cut! Right-wingers posting that finally the supposed truth of those times is being shown (gross).

5) What do Knetz think of international Kdrama/Kpop fans via this incident?

I have to be honest, there is a lot of anger here at international fans because of this issue. On forums they posted twitter screenshots of foreigners who showed that they signed the national petition. What right do foreigners have to sign our national petition?? was the general opinion. However, a reddit thread posted by a Korean explaining the controversy in English was applauded as Knetz want international viewers to understand why there is so much anger over the drama's plotline. Kpop fans have not been making themselves look good. Many crazed blinks in particular have been claiming this whole controversy is all just a plot to take Ji Soo down (omg the world doesn't revolve around your idol) and have been posting really vicious things on sns.

TLDR: Victims and their families feel hugely disrespected. The false narrative that there were actually NK spies hiding in the pro-democracy movement and so the ANSP/NIS were actually doing their job correctly is a key part of right-wing propaganda that the dictatorship used to torture and kill innocent students and activists. We have a presidential election here right around the corner, and there are right-wingers applauding the drama's plotline.

My personal opinion: You can watch or not watch whatever you want, but you also have a responsibility to understand the wider issues. Freedom of expression doesn't mean freedom from criticism.

** for the people whining it's just fiiiiction c'mon wahh wahhh**
They literally used a real student protest song, they used actual NAMES of real people (FL's name slightly changed after huge uproar). They based characters on real people who died.
There are still survivors of torture and abuse alive today, and families of students & activists who were murdered for protesting for democracy. These innocent students were falsely accused of being North Korean spies so that the dictatorship could freely torture and kill them. So having the ML as a North Korean hiding among students is so insulting to the victims and their families. Having the SML as an NIS agent who is a "good person trying to do his best" is insulting. That's why sponsors are pulling out. That's why people are mad as hell. They don't want money being made off of something that glosses over real cruelty. okayyyyyy?

The truth is that there are still pro-dictatorship supporters today who DENY what happened to students. They deny the sexual assault, the torture, the deaths...and they claim that the NSP/NIS were just doing their job correctly in catching NK spies, and that the dictatorship was needed! So this is not ancient history okayyy it's a live and current issue for us that impacts S Korean politics right now.

I'm not for censorship but if you believe in freedom of speech/expression and want to keep the drama on air, you should also believe in Koreans having the freedom to be mad and disgusted and air their views. S Korea is now a democracy so the blue house just can't yank dramas off the air, no matter how many petitions are made. Koreans should (& have been) putting pressure on the broadcasting company to act.

Victims and their families are being hugely disrespected. The false narrative that there were actually NK spies hiding in the pro-democracy movement is a key part of right-wing propaganda that the dictatorship used to torture and kill innocent students and activists.

But the non-Koreans feverishly defending the drama don't even care they just wanna watch their idols have skinship on screen. gross

Youth of May literally showed how students and protestors and those helping them were targeted and killed in cold blood, just like what happened in real life.
Snowdrop, instead, distorts the truth. You can scroll down and see people have left links to a reddit thread that explains why Koreans are mad, and an article where victim's memorial foundation has spoken out against the drama.

Victims and their families are being hugely disrespected. The false narrative that there were actually NK spies hiding in the pro-democracy movement is a key part of right-wing propaganda that the dictatorship used to torture and kill innocent students and activists.
But the non-Koreans feverishly defending the drama don't even care they just wanna watch their idols on screen. gross

you're a disgusting sheeet

like maybe listen to koreans who are criticising it after watching it

hah don't worry there are many people who call out Cdramas for their propaganda too. you can check the pages of Cdramas.

** for the people whining it's just fiiiiction c'mon wahh wahhh**
They literally used a real student protest song, they used actual NAMES of real people (FL's name slightly changed after huge uproar).
There are still survivors of torture and abuse alive today, and families of students & activists who were murdered for protesting for democracy. These innocent students were falsely accused of being North Korean spies so that the dictatorship could freely torture and kill them. So having the ML as a North Korean spy hiding among students is so insulting to the victims and their families. Having the SML as an NIS agent who is a "good person trying to do his best" is insulting. That's why sponsors are pulling out. That's why people are mad as hell. They don't want money being made off of something that glosses over real cruelty. okayyyyyy?

you were replying to someone who simply put a link explaining the issues. you can watch or not watch whatever you want.

S Korea is now a democracy, the blue house doesn't have the right to ban or block dramas.

This is such a dumb comparison. The correct comparison is a show where the nazis actually had some good people, also they were trying to do the right thing so were justified in their actions ....aka dangerous historical distortion.

ML can't be an NK soldier because the dictatorship was lying and saying that students protesting for democracy were NK spies so they used that as an excuse to torture and kill many innocent people. In fact there were NO NK spies, it was just an excuse to kill anyone who disagreed with dictatorship. so the concept that they made the ML a NK spy is completely bullshit and is in line with the lies and propaganda that the dictatorship used. make sense now?

lol why are you defending a drama so hard. they just put a link to a post explaining the controversy. nobody demanded you stop watching anything