Even Song Joong-ki appeared as a cameo… “Little Women” shows flaws due to the plagiarism controversy
tvN’s “Little Women”, which started off well with not only high viewer ratings, hot topics and favorable reviews, recently faced controversy over its teaser poster plagiarizing another work.
While the design of the teaser poster is being pointed out to look similar to the poster of a Japanese cosmetics brand, the production team of the drama shows an ambiguous attitude of neither denying nor affirming it. The viewers expressed greater disappointment in the work since it was even supported by the appearances of amazing actors like Song Joong-ki, Choo Ja-hyun and Oh Jung-se.
Right after the first episode of “Little Women” aired, a netizen made an online community post claiming that the teaser of the drama plagiarized the poster of a Japanese cosmetics brand. The released reference photo shares many similarities with the teaser poster of “Little Women”, from the overall color, the details composition, to the layout of the design.
Accordingly, “Little Women” production team said on September 5th, “This teaser poster shows the concept of three sisters walking toward a bright place and their shadows. It’s a product created by the company in charge of designing after reviewing various works”, adding “In the future, we will pay more attention by carrying out more thorough preliminary reviews.”
The attitude in the apology of the production team is not clear. They seem to be passing on the responsibility to the subcontractor. Their reply makes netizens wonder if they’re aware of the seriousness of plagiarizing issues properly. Even if they haven’t figured out the similarities between the productions, their action, which makes the public understand the issue as true plagiarism, can affect the drama negatively.
“Little Women”, which tells the story of three sisters, who are poor but affectionate to each other, getting involved in a case of 70 billion won and confidently facing the most powerful family in Korea, surpassed 7% after airing only two episodes. With the highest real-time peak soaring to 9.9%, the drama is aiming for double-digit ratings. In the first week of its broadcast, “Little Women” ranked 2nd, following “Big Mouse” with a close gap.
The drama is receiving continuous compliments for the performances of the director, screenwriter and actors. The completeness of the work was enhanced by the delicate lines written by Chung Seo-kyung, who worked with director Park Chang-wook in the movies “The Handmaiden” and “Decision to Leave”, and also the detailed directing of art director Ryu Seung-hee, who joined Park Chan-wook’s “Old Boy”, “The Handmaiden”, Bong Joon-ho’s “Memories of Murder” and “Mother”. In addition, director Kim Hee-won, who was behind the success of “Vincenzo” and “The Crowned Clown”, also proved his unique sensuous directing.
Above all, the special appearances of Choo Ja-hyun, Oh Jung-se, and Song Joong-ki also left a strong impression. In particular, Choo Ja-hyun and Oh Jung-se appeared as the main characters leading the play in the first and second episodes, respectively, and their intense death in the ending scenes made the viewers could not keep their eyes off the screen. Song Joong-ki, who formed a relationship with director Kim Hee-won through “Vincenzo”, appeared for a short screen time as an employee of a luxury store but he still caught the eyes of the audience.
In other words, the controversy over poster plagiarism has become a scratch in the face of “Little Women”, which is raising the viewers’ expectations for future developments in the next episodes. This controversy may not have a significant impact on the rise in “Little Women” popularity, but it will prevent the work from being considered a flawless work.
Source: daum
