Lee Min Ho’s ‘Legend Of The Blue Sea’ Hit By New ‘Plagiarism’ Scandal But Still Dominates Ratings
Lee Min Ho’s The Legend of the Blue Sea Korean drama has been hit by yet another plagiarism scandal.
@MinoZFunClub Legend of the Blue sea episode 5.. He give a flower????#??????? #leeminho pic.twitter.com/64jAtowGBZ
—??????????????? #L (@MinoZFunClub) November 30, 2016
All Kpop reports that there is a Korean screenwriter who is currently insisting that the SBS drama is very similar to the plot of a movie she came up with 10 years ago.
The screenwriter, whose name is Park, made this accusation on the official website for The Legend of the Blue Sea. She says that the name of her movie was The Legend of Hae Wol Sea: Pearly Shells and that it includes some of the elements that ended up in the Lee Min Ho/Jun Ji-Hyun drama.
“Not only did it include mermaids, but the situations in the drama and the portrayals are very similar,” she wrote.
Although she’s essentially implying that her original work was plagiarized, Park was hesitant to officially call it that. But that is because she’s afraid of getting sued.
“I want to emphasize once again that I’m not here to say that they have plagiarized my writing. Why? Because I am a poor citizen,” she said.
“If they deny and try to demolish me, I will just go die. This is an analysis of the similar parts, but I’ve never said it was plagiarism. I heard you get sued if you talk big and claim that it’s plagiarized, ” she added.
“A very good person, a person that i cherished the most..he’s the one that i love~” #LeeMinHo “Legend of the Blue Sea Art cr: ??_Lillian pic.twitter.com/EddZ3AdQ85
— Monika Setiono ( 2 ) (@monika_leeminho) December 8, 2016
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This isn’t the first time that The Legend of the Blue Sea has been slammed by plagiarism accusations.
When the drama premiered in November, there were claims that the show may have derived some of its material from Sherlock, the British TV series that stars Benedict Cumberbatch.
According to Asian Star News, during the premiere, viewers noticed that The Legend of the Blue Sea flashed words in white text in the same way that Sherlock does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1t4J6ptjm8
In addition, according to Asian Star News, the writer of Legend of the Blue Sea, Park Ji Eun, faced plagiarism accusations on another K-drama she worked on called You Came From The Stars. At the time, Korean drama fans claimed that the plot was way too similar to American TV series New Amsterdam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHDAsG6yhus
There have also been claims that The Legend of the Blue Sea, with its focus on the life of a mermaid living in a modern city, is too close to the movie Splash.
But despite all of these claims of plagiarism, Legend is still doing well in the ratings, at least among the other Korean dramas in its time slot.
As Soompi reports, the Lee Min Ho drama has garnered up to 21.3 percent of audience viewership on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The episode, which was broadcast on December 14, got 16 percent of the audience in Korea, based on stats by Nielsen Korea.
The show is also leaving an impression on viewers outside of Asia. Viewers in regions like Europe and the Americas are also enjoying the show, Soompi noted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59MQ0_S16co
[Featured Image by Seoul Broadcasting System]
