In the mid-13th century, the conquest of Eurasia, begun by Genghis Khan, reached its peak during the reign of his grandson Kublai Khan. The Mongol Empire conquered Korea to the east and plundered Poland, reaching the Mediterranean to the west.

When the Mongol Empire began to influence Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire, the Pope of the Vatican felt threatened. He sent a message to Kublai, asking him to kneel before God, and Kublai retorted, “Since I am winning continuously, this is the will of God.”

However, the Polo family, a Venetian merchant family, seems to have seen this as an opportunity. Niccolò Polo took his son Marco with him to visit Qanbaliq, the capital of the Mongol Empire during this period. Marco later became a servant of Kublai and lived as a Mongol official for 17 years. After returning to Venice after summarizing his life in Mongolia, Marco published a best-selling book called “The Travels of Marco Polo.”

This original series, released by Netflix in 2014, is based on Marco Polo's “The Travels of Marco Polo.” This series received a low rating of 30% on Rotten Tomatoes (audiences gave it a positive review), and Netflix ended it after season 2. This seems to be due to the fact that the huge amount of production costs did not lead to the desired number of views.

However, Asian viewers may find it interesting to see medieval East Asia recreated by Westerners. This piece depicts the most important events that occurred in 13th-century East Asia. In the play, Marco Polo builds siege weapons with Muslim mathematicians, and Kublai uses them to destroy the Song Dynasty of China.

The collapse of the Song Dynasty, a legitimate Chinese dynasty, was a symbolic event signifying that the international order in Asia had been completely reorganized around Mongolia. Asian viewers will naturally recall events that occurred in their own countries during this period. The Goryeo Dynasty of Korea joined Kublai Khan, and Kublai invaded Japan. He also attempted to invade Vietnam to the south.

The visual presentation is also excellent from the perspective of Asian viewers. This series faithfully recreated 13th-century East Asian civilization. The Southern Song Dynasty features officials wearing the traditional robe and cap worn in the actual Song Dynasty, and the Mongols have their unique braided hairstyles and nomadic customs. You can also see scenes of the Jurchen people, a people who existed in Asia at the time, paying tribute to the Mongol Empire.

However, the series also reveals a serious level of Orientalism. The series features several martial arts masters, and they always perform acts that are unrelated to real 13th-century Asia. In particular, “Gasa-do,” a high-ranking official of the Southern Song Dynasty in this piece, is a martial arts master. This is a very absurd setting for anyone who knows what the nobles and Confucian scholars of medieval East Asian civilization were like.

Nevertheless, the series is likely to pique the curiosity of East Asian viewers. In particular, Korean and Japanese TV series do not effectively depict medieval or ancient cities due to budget constraints. Korean TV series even feature 18th-century traditional houses in TV series set in the 4th to 7th centuries. From the perspective of these Asian viewers, it would be quite valuable to see medieval Confucian civilization recreated with Hollywood money and technology.