Published on November 14, 2005

The king of Korea has a woman doctor in TV’s ‘Daejanggeum’, and her healing recipes make for compelling period drama

With their sentimental story lines and sexy stars, South Korean TV series have captured the hearts of Thai viewers over the last few years.

Tearjerker “Autumn in My Heart” was followed by the schmaltzy but even more successful “Winter Love Song” starring young heartthrob Bae Yong-jun, and now there’s the romantic comedy “Full House”, featuring Korean pop idol Rain.

But since Thai viewers aren’t familiar with Korean history, can a Korean period drama whip up the same kind of enthusiasm?

The historical series “Daejanggeum” set records when it aired on South Korea’s MBC channel in the 2003-04 season, with nearly 60 per cent of the country watching the final episode.

It met the same success in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.

The story, which deals as much with traditional food and medicine as it does with love, debuted on Thailand’s Channel 3 last month, and the ratings have quickly risen, to the point where sponsors’ names are already crowding the closing credits.

Channel 3 is boosting the series with clips on Korean culture and food ahead of each episode, and during the programme, confusion over who’s who (they wear similar costumes) is allayed with pop-up cue cards giving the characters’ names.

The show is based on the life of an actual person - the first and only woman to serve as head physician to a monarch in the male-dominated Joseon dynasty. Director Lee

Byeong-hun came across Janggeum’s name while researching his

earlier period medical drama “Huh Joon”.

“The whole subject of female medical practitioners is a fascinating topic, because in the late 15th century they were unique to Korea,” he explained during a recent Korean National Tourism Organisation press junket to the filming locations.

“There must have been some drama in her life that allowed her to reach her court position, but there were no details in the books, so I had room to build her personal life and her struggle.”

Script in hand, Lee was ready to cast, but surprisingly had problems filling the lead role. Movie star Lee Yong-ae agreed to the television role after a slew of other actresses turned it down.

“We were lucky because she worked hard and was happy to learn how to cook the court food and administer medical treatment,” co-producer Kim Keun Hong said during a tour of the Daejanggeum theme park that opened late last year, to the delight of the series’ legions of fans.

The 34-year-old actress, best known for “One Fine Spring Day”, has confirmed the common wisdom that a historical drama teaches actors more about their craft.

“Lee Yong-ae was perfect - she was able to successfully express all the hardships and different situations that appear in the drama,” said director Lee. “Drama is fiction, but the viewers perceive it as genuine history. If I made a drama using falsehoods, viewers would still take it as historical fact.”

“Daejanggeum” has been hailed a successful drama focused on food, but that was never Lee’s intention.

“In those days, medicine was used to control one’s diet, so much of the food prepared was a tonic. We assumed Janggeum cooked well - that’s not written anywhere, but it was on that assumption that we added food to the drama. “It was the first time I’d worked so closely with food. We had to make sure it looked delicious and to show how it was cooked at the same time. It took a lot of time.”

The 54 episodes cost 6.75 billion won (Bt265 million) to make, 500 million won of that on the food scenes alone. Real ingredients were prepared under the supervision of Hwang Bok-ryeo, a specialist in foods of the ancient court.

“We wanted to show our tradition and culture to the world, so it was important to pay attention to detail,” Lee said. “Viewers can buy CDs of the show and watch the cooking scenes in slow motion to learn more, but making too big a deal of it on television would have been boring.”

Lee admitted he was surprised at the show’s success. His goal in making period dramas is merely to please young people.

“History is complex and boring, but we should know history because that’s how we can have pride in our culture. By watching it on television, we can begin to understand it.”

With its popularity spreading overseas, “Daejanggeum” is not just entertaining Thais, it’s the first chapter in their book on Korean history.

Parinyaporn Pajee

The Nation

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