Park Seo-joon Praised For Choosing ‘Gyeongseong Creature’ Despite His Popularity In Japan With ‘Itaewon Class’
Starring Park Seo-joon, “Gyeongseong Creature” is an original Netflix series telling the story of two young people confronting the monster born out of greed in the Spring of 1945, the darkest era in history. The drama was based on the motif of “Unit 731”, a period drama set in the Japanese colonial era.
“Unit 731” is a biochemical unit of the Japanese Army that conducted experiments on humans. The subjects of the experiments included independent activities and Chinese war prisoners. “Gyeongseong Creatures” is highly praised for dealing with historical facts in a meaningful way by making Unit 731’s human experiments into an inspiration for creature drama.
The actors, especially Park Seo-joon, played an important role in raising interest in such a meaningful project. As much as the global popularity he gained through “Itaewon Class”, interest and expectations from viewers worldwide for “Gyeongseong Creature” were high just because it was known as Park Seo-joon’s comeback work. Park Seo-joon’s choice of this drama is considered a meaningful decision as it not only raised keen interest but also informed many viewers of the historical facts.
“Itaewon Class” was especially popular in Japan. It topped the Netflix Japan chart, stayed in TOP 10 for two years, and even had a Japanese remake called “Roppongi Class”. Considering the “Itaewon Class” craze, it wouldn’t have been easy for Park Seo-joon to decide on appearing in “Gyeongseong Creature”. Japanese netizens poured criticism against him on SNS as soon as it was released. Amid the confusion, he expressed his strong belief through his performance in the drama, which clearly points out Japan’s shameful history. Since Park Seo-joon is an influential actor, the fact that he chose the drama based on the meaning of the story rather than focusing on popularity is highly appreciated.
On Park Seo-joon’s SNS, some Japanese fans left comments, such as “It was hard for me to watch ‘Gyeongseong Creature’ because I’m Japanese, but it’s a memorable work”, adding that they learned about the painful history of Korea through this drama.
Drama critic Gong Hee-jung said, “He’s a popular actor in Japan so it would not have been easy for him to agree to join a project set in such a historical period”, adding “Japanese viewers won’t be happy to see the past they want to hide be revealed like this. Park Seo-joon’s participation in the project and his portrayal of the character in this work might have prompted people to consider and understand what defines him.”
Sungshin Women’s University professor Seo Kyung-deok also shared, “There are many reactions of viewers realizing the historical facts about Unit 731 on SNS, such as ‘I got to know about Unit 731 for the first time’, ‘So Unit 731 was real?’, etc.”, adding “It is important that Japanese netizens have an approach to historical facts, such as Unit 731 and biometric experiments, which were not well-covered in Japanese education, thanks to ‘Gyeongseong Creature’. K Content is proving its power and great contribution to correct historical events in Japan’s wartime through its airing on global OTT platforms.”
Source: Daum
