Empress Ki (2013)

Where are my anti-colonial babes at??

Given there are already 100+ reviews of Empress Ki, I'll focus on the colonial power politics of the show, as that's what drew me in. But like, did no one else watch this show because of it's anti-colonial themes??

This Kdrama is the first historical one I've watched in a long time. Usually, I watch Chinese palace dramas, but dealing with Chinese censorship rules limits the exploration of history and I don't enjoy analysing propaganda that much. In contrast, Empress Ki is unfettered.

toxicbybritneyspears's review mentioned "national identity" as a key theme of Empress Ki. I agree but would extend that further by arguing that the drama examines the complexities of national identity as it intersects with colonial politics. While watching Empress Ki, I automatically started comparing it to Mr. Sunshine (South Korea, 2018), which features anti-colonial resistance during Japan's colonisation of Korea. Mr. Sunshine attempts to grapple with classism clashing with resistance efforts led by nobility and aristocracy, but ultimately fails. Empress Ki, despite also falling short in a similar grappling, does provide a wider range of characters portraying the difficulties of unified anti-colonial resistance.

For context, the drama is set during the 1300s when Korea (then known as Goryeo) is under Yuan dynasty rule (Mongol empire). From the drama's start, Goryean characters have starkly different experiences of colonization. There's a king (Wang Yoo) dealing with powerlessness. A surviving daughter (Seung Nyang) navigating the death of her mother at Yuan hands. An ambitious man of poor background (Byung Soo) betraying Goryeo for survival. Other Goryeo citizens live in Yuan, either in the Goryeo ghetto or in the Yuan Imperial Palace as staff. These experiences result in a wide range of actions, from outright defiance of Yuan rule to willing collusion with the Yuan regime.

Circumstances suggest there's no hope for Goryeo to achieve complete autonomy from the Yuan empire (or so the drama implies). Wang Yoo's ambition is to reclaim his throne, implying that under his control, collusion with the Yuan dynasty can end, and he will strengthen the country for the sake of his people. Seung Nyang takes a different approach: high-level infiltration. Climbing the ranks, she eventually becomes Yuan Empress with considerable political influence, claiming to use it for the benefit of the Yuan people and those from Goryeo living in Yuan. They both execute these strategies better than expected given the stakes.

However, my main frustration is that while these characters make grandiose statements about improving the lives of ordinary citizens, these everyday folks are given meagre screen time. We don't see much of everyday Goryeo people beyond Seung Nyang's early gang days. The people in the Goryeo ghetto seem to lack agency, relying on the whims of Seung Nyang or Wang Yoo. The drama even depicts the villagers as ungrateful when Wang Yoo visits the town (for his own political aims). Palace staff who won't support Seung Nyang's schemes receive similar dismissive treatment.

And that brings me to Byung Soo. Early on, he explains his betrayal of Goryeo, stating Goryeo did nothing to protect him as his family struggled to survive in a poverty-stricken country. Someone, perhaps one of Wang Yoo's men (or Wang Yoo himself, I can't remember), remarks that the Yuan dynasty is to blame. True, but not the whole story. Byung Soo articulates the struggle of the working class and poor who can't afford to think beyond day-to-day survival. What's the point in fighting for a kingdom that forces its people to serve another nation and rejects those who manage to return to Goryeo soil?

For me, that should have been the crux of the drama. Yet, it's not until the final few episodes that Empress Ki turns its attention in that direction. Seung Nyang and Eunuch Dok Man express their internal conflict of national identity, suspended between Yuan and Goryeo. Seung Nyang, focused on personal revenge, hasn't grappled with this conflict until then. Dok Man must choose who to back, his choice bound up in which nation he wants to support. Yet, his character isn't fleshed out to bring that discussion to the fore, and he is seemingly rewarded for choosing to back Seung Nyang, while Byung Soo is killed for betraying her.

I wonder whether Byung Soo's character represents some laziness from the writers, perhaps due to the drama biting off more than it can chew. When Seung Nyang looks down on Byung Soo's corpse and expresses remorse for how Goryeo's abandonment of him led to his actions, one wonders why he was condemned for actions seemingly deterministic.

And on a similar note, why aren't the villagers given their own chance to contribute to resistance? Surely, they have the ability to organise collectively and take some power, even if small, into their own hands?

In the end, I think Empress Ki was onto something by drawing out ambiguities. Initially, I worried it might end up oversimplified like Mr. Sunshine or with a Stockholm syndrome-y assimilationist tale, as in The King's Woman (Chinese, 2017). However, given the extensive screen-time, there was a missed opportunity to delve into the trickier elements of colonial power politics.

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