Most historical drama films focus on bloody wars and power struggles, but The King’s Letters refuses to follow suit. Lavishly produced with picturesque scenery and excellent cinematography, it tells a historical topic that we easily overlook—the history of writing.
★★★★✰
Set in the early Joseon Dynasty in the mid-15th century, The King’s Letters depicts how the emperor Sejong the Great initiated a nationwide language reform and created Hangul, the Korean alphabet as it is known today. A story of how a writing system was invented, many scenes beautifully show how the protagonists turn sounds into letters, rolling miles of sheets on the floor and brainstorming possible alphabets. We write without thinking every day, but we seldom consider how difficult it was for people in the past to invent such a seemingly simple alphabet. The passion and dedication of the characters pull at the audience’s heartstrings.
Before the reform, the Joseon Kingdom used Chinese characters as written language. Korea was once a subordinate country of China, so its society was heavily influenced by Chinese culture. Chinese characters are too difficult and disconnected from the Korean spoken language to function effectively, so the general public could not write. The educated class thus maintained political, social and economic powers through the privilege of writing. Inspired by Buddhist phonetic writing systems, Sejong the Great created a distinctive Korean writing system with Buddhist monks. Hangul directly corresponds to the Korean spoken sound. As a result, everyone who knows how to speak the language can write it.
Although there are no shocking betrayals or great battles, it is also a movie full of tension. There is conflict between Buddhism and Confucianism as Confucianism honours traditional Chinese culture and opposes the language reform. Most officials are discontent with the emperor because they think the alphabet reform is pointless. The ideological and political conflicts situate the language reform in its wider historical context, when Korea sought to get rid of the Chinese influence and develop its own culture.
Nevertheless, The King’s Letters has been criticised as a distortion of history. It presents the Buddhist monk, Shinmi, as the major inventor of the Korean character, but some historical findings tell the opposite. Despite the inaccurate portrayal of the character of Shinmi, the alphabet reform and the political tension did exist in Korean history. The film not only offers the audience a window into Korean ancient history, but draws attention to the power struggles involved in the development of languages in general.
In fact, there are similar episodes about language reform and literacy in western history. In the early 11th century, Old English was a dialect continuum rather than a single unified language. After the Normans conquered England in 1066, William the Conqueror ruled over England and used French in administration and court. Thousands of words now used in day-to-day English vocabularies, like ‘money’ and ‘beef’, originate from French. While they may be commonplace now, use of the French language was once a clear mark of social class in England. By the 15th century, the upper class usually used French while the lower class used English. Between the 16th and 20th centuries the English language underwent numerous reforms, triggering clashes between spoken and written forms, and reformists and conservatives—just as the alphabet reform does in The King’s Letters.
The King’s Letters demonstrates the universal pattern of language reform in history. Most languages are not purely derived from local culture, but are products of foreign conquest and influence. Literacy was usually a tool of domination used by the upper classes, so reforming, simplifying or unifying languages would spark controversies between different social, cultural and political groups. There are many different forms of written language in the world. Some are phonetic, like Korean and English; some are hieroglyphic, with drawing-like symbols denoting words; and others are a mixture, like Chinese. They are all used nowadays, but what makes a good written language?
The King’s Letters answers this question with many exquisitely touching scenes. When a young maid servant in the palace sees her name written for the first time, her eyes are alight with excitement and surprise. The new Korean alphabet not only allows her name to be written down, but also proves that her identity is worth being recorded with pen and paper in history. A written language, or simply words, should not be used as political tools to serve the privileged classes. Everyone deserves the right to record their lives and existence with language. At the same time, language should not be oversimplified and must be able to accurately reflect human emotions. When this is achieved, language can be the carrier of human culture, recording thoughts and feelings from all walks of life.
The Verdict
There are still many debates about written language nowadays. For instance, simplified Chinese has been constantly criticised for oversimplifying Chinese characters and killing the beauty of traditional Chinese literacy. Indigenous languages are also disappearing at an alarming rate of one every two weeks, according to the United Nations. The King’s Letters is a thought-provoking film reminding the audience of the difficulty of the invention of an universal writing system. If you feel that you can express yourselves by writing, please cherish the right to do so. Never take it for granted.
Words by Angel Sun
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