Why do Korean and Chinese historical films still maintain their enduring appeal?

“Hot customers” thanks to diversified exploitation methods, with investment

Following the flow of historical films in Korea and China, it is easy to see that this is a “mainstream” genre in the film development and cultural promotion of these two countries. In addition to films that follow history, Korean and Chinese filmmakers are not limited in creativity when they continuously release many works of the form of legend, history or simply emotion.

China is a leading country in making historical and historical films of great stature, leaving a mark in the hearts of many generations of Asian audiences. Not only fascinate viewers The Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Vo Tac Thien, The Last Emperor…,The harem story is also set up as an addictive arcade movie “universe”. Notable examples include: The story of Chan Hoan’s harem, Nhu Y story’s harem, My Nguyet story’s story, The heart of the heart’s palace, Dien Hy’s gong…

In the film industry, China also has a series of outstanding historical works of great scale, earning huge profits such as:: Great War of Red Bich, Great Earthquake Tangshan, Hero, Bat Bach, Great Career in National Construction or most recently Man Jiang Hong. Many works have also become classic films, praised by international academia such as Concubine Farewell, Red lantern hanging high, Must live…

In the early 2000s, the wave of Korean dramas began to “land” in Vietnam, followed by a series of historical films directly inspired by real historical events and characters. audiences. In there Lady Dae Jang Gumcan be seen as a movie that stimulates the Vietnamese audience’s passion and interest in Korean historical-historical films. To this day, it is still a “monument” deep in the memory of many movie lovers.

The audience also once had a crush on historical dramas Korean like Jumong Legend, Queen Seon Deok, Dong Yi, Joseon Gunman nice Empress Ki… Up to now, when television has a decline and online movies take the throne, Korean historical and historical films are still popular as usual, with the “hot” of: Moonlight lover, My queen, Sunshine gentleman…

Movies with historical themes are also “gold mines” of Korea. Typical is the success of epic works Roaring currents (Great naval battle). Many other Korean historical dramas such as The Great Battle of Ansi, Super Archer, Tai Chi flag raised…It was also very successful commercially.

It can be seen that the common point in many popular and popular historical films of Korea and China lies in the fact that they are stories based on real people, true events in history but highly novelized and dramatic. . History is the material, the backbone for filmmakers to develop, expressing a personal perspective, not a “cage” to limit creativity.

Accept “strong chi” and confront the controversy

It is difficult to deny that historical and historical films are an extremely expensive film. It would be tough to make a good historical film on a low budget. Because this series of films “consumes” a lot of money in the stage of restoring the scene, making props, and costumes. In addition, to draw audiences to historical stories that seem far-fetched, the film needs star faces. Not to mention the expensive cost of effects if re-enacting large-scale battles.

For example: 150 million yuan (nearly 500 billion dong) is the total cost of New Three Kingdomswhile The story of Nhu Y’s harem with an investment capital of up to 43.3 million USD (about more than 1 trillion dong). Legendary Martial Arts Pham Bang Bang also has a budget of about 1 trillion dong. In 2008, movies Red Bich Great Warby Ngo Vu Sam also cost 80 million USD to make. Recently, Man Giang Hong by Zhang Yimou with a budget of 72.7 million USD…

Some cases come from Korea: Great naval war with a budget of 18.6 million USD, a rather large number in 2014; The flag of tai chi is raised The cost is 12.8 million USD. On the television side, The legend of Jumong(2006) was invested more than 70 billion VND, Gentleman Sunshinecosts 642 billion dong… Thus, once they want to make historical films, filmmakers need to mobilize strong capital and make films with a willingness to pay. In addition, they need to be confident and willing to take responsibility for their choices, facing controversies related to historical “false” issues.

For example, in the case of The story of Nhu Y’s harem and The strategy of Dien Hy, exploiting the context of the Qianlong dynasty with his concubines and concubines, but the perspective on the characters is different. Successor to Ola Na La Thi in Like a story played by Chau Tan is the central character of the “righteous” faction, but she is portrayed as a woman with many heart, with a bit of malice in Charmaine’s version. The strategy of Dien Hy. In Red Bich Great War By Ngo Vu Sam, many viewers also booed when the director for Tieu Kieu personally went to the enemy side to seduce Cao Cao, the princess of the Dong Ngo Dynasty became a warrior and directly participated in the battle.

Or as with The legend of Jumong, elements of fantasy surround Ko Jumong or Dong Minh Thanh Vuong, the first king of the Koguryo dynasty and the founding hero of ancient Korea. It is that creativity that attracts viewers to follow the film from beginning to end, even though they are not authentic.

The purpose and direction of making a historical and historical film must be determined from the very beginning. Will the film be used to teach, propagate or entertain, stick to history, follow myths or just get inspired? Clear with the audience, honest communication is essential. And creativity is not synonymous with perversion. On the other hand, the audience also needs to clearly see the nature of the art product they are receiving. Openness but respect is the spirit that historical filmmakers and the audience need to create a good “atmosphere” for historical and historical films to have a chance to develop.

“It is true that Vietnamese history has no shortage of heroic history pages, great heroes and geniuses but still very limited appearances in both television series and movies to honor history – culture. the reasons that many people have mentioned in the past time: limited budget, no studio, very limited costumes and props, and especially the “referral” judgments between historical and political history. , director Dinh Thai Thuy expressed his thoughts when comparing films about Vietnamese history with countries such as China and Korea…