So I'm diving into Korean culture, history, and am teaching myself the language since I'll be moving there in November. I loaded up my Netflix with K-dramas and I've started with the historical films. Now, based on what I've seen of American historical fiction, I don't expect Korean historical fiction to be any more accurate, but I can't seem to find historical accuracy corrections online, so I was hoping r/askhistorians could help me out.
tl;dr, don't trust K-historical dramas, can someone on here clear stuff up for me?
Just finished watching "The Servant: The Untold Story of Bang-ja." Basic premise of the movie is an inter-class romance. Chunhyang is the daughter of a nobleman (not present) and a geisha. Bang-ja (a.k.a. In Dong) is the son of a noblewoman and his concubine. Thanks to the workings of a jealous servant girl who manipulates Bang-ja's half-brother, but fully noble-born Li Mongyong, Chunhyang and Bang-ja are charged with inter-class adultery. Apparently their relationship wouldn't have been a problem if Bang-ja was noble, and no one would have cared if Chunhyang was low born. Or if the gender's were switched, no one would care either. Mongyong takes the manipulative servant girl as his concubine. So here are my questions since I have to take all of this with a grain of salt:
Were there really geishas in medieval Korea? Did the custom arrive from Japan or is this just a complete fabrication?
Were inter-class relationships really illegal and punishable by death? Presumably, it only went one direction (a highborn female sleeping with a lowborn male). What's the story here?
Why was Bang-ja (the product of a nobleman and a concubine) lowborn, but Chunhyang (the product of a nobleman and a geisha) highborn? In the film, they specifically say that Chunhyang is noble, "because her father is noble." But so is Bang-ja's!
What's with those hats? Are they just a status symbol? Should I trust the costume and architecture of the K-historical dramas as accurate?
Thanks in advance!
It has been a while but...
Korea Old and New: A History by Eckert while I was doing business in R.o.K. and a few things specific to your question really stood out to me.
1.The Inter Class Issue... In the classical Three Kingdoms stage Korean kingdoms were shamanistic with a heavy influence of Chinese Buddhism. These societies had a feudal caste system, in particular Silla, which they called Bone Rank. Like historical Hindu Caste Systems there were large caste groups with many complex sub castes, and a number of written and unwritten rules of interaction between people of different ranks. These rule certainly included prohibitions on sexual relations and marriage and also carried harsh punishments including death. This is far from my area of expertise but as I read it, it had significant relations to the Hindu caste system in character and Bone Rank at the highest levels of society were often derived from one's familial connections to the royal family.
Later on in Joseon ~1300-~1900 Neo Confucianism was by far the dominant religion in political terms. Women within the aristocracy continued to practice many elements of Buddhism, and shamanism continued as well, but in terms of ideology Confucianism was center stage. In fact Eckert and others have argued that Korea in this period was more Confucian that any other society in world history. Confucianism places an extremely high value on study and wisdom, over things such as family background. This resulted in a legitimate meritocratic system and emphasized the value of a 'best man for the job' attitude. So in this period older notions of familial rank were significantly less important.
There are many iterations of premodern aristocratic Korean hats, and they are cool. I assume you are talking about the kind coming up in that search: ornate and made from thin delicate black fabric. They are very often depicted in Korean dramas and there are many examples of them in museums across the country.
춘향 is a popular story in Korean history; this drama is a variant of the story, which revolves around the romance of Chunhyang and Li Mongyong. The original story is that a corrupt local governor wants Chunhyang for himself and has her imprisoned on false grounds, but Mongyong in the meantime has obtained a royal position as an anti-corruption investigator and eventually rescues her. This story is one of the best known Pansori, and has been made into films over a dozen times.
This version apparently inverts several points, for whatever reason, including the status of Chunhyang. I don't fully understand the plot, but it sounds like some plot elements were made up to contradict historical roles.