I enjoy a lot of Korean Historical Based TV shows and movies. Most recent show I have been watching has been the Great Queen Seon Deok. Which is based off the First Queen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Seondeok_of_Silla) ever to rule the South East part of Korean during the Three Kingdoms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms_of_Korea) Period (58BC - 668). I have also enjoyed Jumong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumong_(TV_series)) which is the story for the guy who united the Northern part of Korea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Dongmyeong_of_Goguryeo). What these shows have in common is they are both drama's about the uniting of different parts of Korea. They also both had to overcome from nothing to being ruler of a nation. Both had the King try and take them out, and in both cases the king was their father or adopted father. They also both had a major female character that was the main source of grief fighting for power.
I think that’s what makes these so interesting is the intrigue and power struggle. The adventure is pretty cool and full of action but the part I want to make note of is how a lot of the show focuses on people sitting around a table plotting. They love throwing wired and interesting twists and drawing them out. It can be so annoying sometimes to have to watch long drawn out facial shots when you want them to reveal some truth that you know but the characters don't. Another thing about these two drama’s in particular is that both have love stories that have to be sacrificed for the greater good of the nation they are trying to unite.
Watching these shows along with Iljimae makes me wonder if it would be possible to write a tv show that is based around a situation rather than a character. Where the characters are just there to support the story rather than be the focus of the story. This would allow for characters to be killed and evolved without a death to the story. But can it be done? Has anyone done this before? I don’t know, it’s something to explore.
