Fans want 22-year-old Harvard student Julia Riew’s viral, Disney-style film about a Korean princess to make it to the silver screen.
Riew, who grew up in St Louis, Missouri, had been writing musicals since she was 15 before her seventh full musical to date, Shimcheong: A Folktale, attracted widespread attention.
An adaptation of Korean folktale The Blind Man’s Daughter, the one-act musical follows courageous protagonist Shimcheong’s fantastical journey after she falls into the ocean trying to save her father.
With all the components of a Disney fairytale, Riew’s movie includes an unfamiliar dragon kingdom, a plucky escape plan, a Prince Charming, and a villainous dragon queen. But it is the first Disney-style movie to feature a Korean princess.
A third generation Korean-American, Riew began working on Shimcheong for her senior year thesis project at Harvard but never expected it to became an internet sensation, after she began posting snippets of the story and songs on TikTok.
The first song that attracted users to Riew’s project was “Dive”. The track has earned nearly one million views since she posted a 41-second clip of herself, animated as a Disney princess, singing the uplifting song.
Its lyrics read: “Now all of the fish in the sea can’t stop me // All of the waves in the world can’t rock me // I’m on a mission and gee // just watch me go!”
Riew said she drew inspiration for her ambitious project “from a lot of different places” including her grandparents and her experiences in college.
During her freshman year at Harvard, Riew realised there was a lack of Asian representation within the school’s theatre community.