BLACKPINK's Jisoo and Jung Hae-in's new K-drama, "Snowdrop," may have only started, but viewers have now signed a petition to cancel the show due to its historical narrative. The appeal now has about more than 200,000 signatures and it may continue to grow.
Many are concerned about "Snowdrop" because of its story. Some claim it has distorted the historical facts and though JTBC and director Jo Hyun-tak already addressed this issue, it looks like the audience are yet to accept it.
The new Blue House petition claimed the series' premiere episode featured the female lead (BLACKPINK's Jisoo) saving a spy against the "pro-democracy movement," AllKpop noted. In addition, it also played a historically significant song that symbolized the pro-democracy movement when the male sub-lead from the Agency for National Security Planning looked for the said spy, played by the male lead (Jung Hae-in).
Viewers who saw the debut episode on Saturday, Dec. 18, expressed their discomforts and revealed their sentiments on social media. Some said it was inappropriate to use a significant song for a scene that featured the Agency for National Security Planning and the spy.
Some also claimed that depicting a male lead as a spy, who was mistaken as a pro-democratic figure distorted history. They even pointed out that there were a lot of innocent people tortured by the government for being mistaken as a spy.
With that said, they saw "Snowdrop" for presenting a story that caused damage to the pro-democracy movement's historical value. So far, the petition now has over 200,000 signatures and will close on Jan. 18, 2022.
For starters, "Snowdrop" has been facing criticisms even before it hit the small screens since parts of its synopsis started to circulate online, per Soompi. The show has been criticized for allegedly distorting historical facts.
JTBC already addressed these concerns and Jo Hyun-tak cleared in a press conference that its story was made by the writer Yoo Hyun-min. It was inspired by the writing of a North Korean defector who escaped the concentration camp in 2008.
Yoo Hyun-min added some of her personal experience in a university dormitory to the story and putting these details together gave birth to the new drama. It was neither political nor ideological but about someone from North Korea.
Instead of focusing on the said country, it went deeply to that person's story. Jo Hyun-tak stressed the show was a project created with "responsibility and a sense of duty," so he asked the viewers to see BLACKPINK's Jisoo and Jung Hae-in's "Snowdrop" to confirm this.
