Netflix’s The Scandal has sparked plenty of debate, but one topic appears again and again in Korean viewer reactions:
NANA’s casting as Hee-yeon.
Some viewers felt she looked too modern for a Joseon-era widow. Others compared her with Jeon Do-yeon in the 2003 film Untold Scandal.
But the controversy raises a more interesting question.
What exactly is a “historical face”?
Why Did Some Korean Viewers Feel NANA Didn’t Fit?
Hee-yeon lives inside a highly restrictive Joseon society.
Because of that setting, some viewers expected a smaller, softer and more traditionally delicate image for the character.
NANA is tall and striking, with an appearance many viewers associate with contemporary fashion and modern dramas.
Some Korean comments therefore described her not necessarily as unattractive or incapable, but simply as visually out of place.
For those viewers, the problem was immersion.
They looked at Hee-yeon and saw NANA.
The 2003 Movie Makes the Comparison Even Harder
NANA also inherited another problem:
Jeon Do-yeon.
Jeon played the corresponding widow character in the 2003 movie Untold Scandal, and her performance remains memorable for many Korean viewers.
That means NANA did not enter the role with a blank slate.
Viewers already had an image of what this character should look and feel like.
Some inevitably compared NANA’s expressions, appearance and romantic scenes with Jeon’s performance.
But perhaps that comparison tells us as much about the audience as it does about NANA.
What Does a “Historical Face” Actually Look Like?
This is where the debate becomes much more interesting.
When viewers say an actor has a “historical drama face,” what exactly do they mean?
People living hundreds of years ago did not all share one type of face, body or beauty.
Today, we still meet people who seem to have a classical appearance.
So why couldn’t the opposite also have been true?
Surely there were people in the past whose features would look surprisingly modern to us today.
Calling someone “too modern-looking” for history may therefore say more about our expectations than about history itself.
Perhaps what we imagine as a Joseon face has partly been created by decades of movies and television dramas repeatedly showing us similar types of actors in similar roles.
We have seen those images so often that they begin to feel historically correct.
But familiarity is not necessarily historical reality.
Historical Dramas Already Mix the Past and Present
There is another way to think about it.
Does a historical drama have to use only music that actually existed during that period?
Of course not.
A Joseon-era story can use a modern ballad, an orchestral score or even contemporary sounds if the music successfully communicates the characters’ emotions.
Audiences usually accept this because historical drama is not a museum reconstruction.
It is storytelling.
Costumes can be stylized.
Lighting can be modern.
Cinematography certainly is.
Music can cross centuries.
So why should an actor’s face be required to satisfy a much stricter idea of historical authenticity?
Maybe the Better Question Is Whether We Believe Hee-yeon
That does not mean viewers are wrong when they say NANA broke their immersion.
Immersion is subjective.
If an actor constantly reminds a viewer of the present, that feeling is real.
But perhaps the better question is not:
“Does NANA look like a Joseon woman?”
It is:
“Did the performance, costume, makeup, direction and cinematography make us believe that Hee-yeon belonged in this world?”
Those are very different questions.
The first judges an actor largely by appearance.
The second examines how an entire production creates a character.
And Not Everyone Thought NANA Was a Mistake
The Korean reaction was not completely one-sided.
Some viewers enjoyed the drama, while others specifically watched because NANA was in it.
Others felt the series had strengths that were being overshadowed by the casting debate.
That matters because there is no objective measurement for whether someone “looks historical enough.”
One viewer may see a distracting modern image.
Another may simply see Hee-yeon.
Maybe NANA Exposed Our Own Idea of History
Ironically, Hee-yeon herself is a woman who does not fit comfortably into the world surrounding her.
Joseon society has already decided how a widow should behave, what she should desire and what kind of life she should live.
NANA’s casting has now created another argument about what someone inside that world is supposed to look like.
Perhaps that is why this debate is more interesting than simply asking whether she was miscast.
NANA may have broken the illusion for some viewers.
But the reaction also exposes something about us.
When we say someone does not “look historical,” are we remembering history—or are we remembering other historical dramas?
Maybe there was never just one face that belonged in the past.