'Kingdom' creator Kim Eun-hee reveals creative process during special lecture at National Folk Museum

Star screenwriter Kim Eun-hee, known for her genre-bending works, shared insights into her creative process and use of Korean folklore during a special lecture at the National Folk Museum of Korea in central Seoul on Wednesday.

Star screenwriter Kim Eun-hee speaks during a special lecture at the National Folk Museum in Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Star screenwriter Kim Eun-hee, known for her genre-bending works, shared insights into her creative process and use of Korean folklore during a special lecture at the National Folk Museum of Korea in central Seoul on Wednesday.

Kim, the creator of genre dramas like the Netflix series "Kingdom" (2019) and tvN's "Signal" (2016), discussed her latest series "Revenant" (2023), which blends the occult genre with the struggles of today's young people.

"I wanted to create a ghost that tempts young people," Kim said, explaining the inspiration behind the drama's Korean-style supernatural being.

"Revenant" follows a young jobless woman possessed by an evil spirit after receiving her late father's belongings. The series garnered attention for its incorporation of traditional folklore elements.

Kim visited the National Folk Museum for inspiration before writing the script.

"Looking at the exhibited artifacts, I thought about how the people who used these items were also once young," she recalled.

After meticulous research into Korean superstitions and shamanistic beliefs, she used a red daenggi (traditional ribbon), a jade binyeo (an ornamental hairpin) and geumjul (sacred straw ropes used to ward off evil spirits) as plot devices in the drama. She also discovered the ritual of yeommae, which traps a child's soul and turns it into a ghost, after research.

"I used them as material because they are records that show an era (from the distant past)," Kim explained. "I wanted to find the most Korean-like stories, ones that could have existed near us."

Kim stressed that the field of folklore studies is ultimately about "our lives."

"When I was working on the drama 'Kingdom,' finding materials that depicted the lives of ordinary people was challenging, while there was abundant information about palaces and dynasties," she said.

"When I pondered what would remain if someone were to document our lives after we're gone, I realized it would be folklore," Kim said, describing folklore as essentially "life" and "stories."

During the lecture, she also addressed the recent challenges facing Korean TV series and films.

"Overall, the industry is in crisis," she said. "The film industry is struggling, and the situation with the drama scene is no different, with the number of drama productions significantly decreasing from around 200 to about 100 per year."

Production costs are steadily on the rise, which may lead to narrowing opportunities for new writers, she pointed out.

Emphasizing the power of "new and fresh" storytelling, she suggested, "If we strive to create an environment where new perspectives are given more opportunities, we might see a promising future."

Yonhap