1. Review – Till the End of the Moon

Youku on YouTube, Viki coming to Netflix

trailer

Till the End of The Moon, promo poster featuring Luo Yunxi as Tantai Jin, the Devil God and Bai Lu as Li Susu, the Lady of Spirituality, from Youku website – I regards this as fair use as it essentially helps identify the production that I am reviewing.

Spoilers – Alert

I have just finished watching ‘Till the End of the Moon’ and I just have to, have to, have to, talk about it. It’s my first Xianxia fantasy and it spirited me away to many different planes of reality that were uncircumscribed by eastern cosmology, mythology and philosophy for these theatrically portrayed realms live on in the realms of my own imagination and contemplation, beyond the small screen. There were so many ideas and cultural elements to immerse myself in. And it was structured like a progression through levels of a video game with the same level of excitement – read- cliff-hanging drama but remove the stats.

This narrative epic – 40 episodes – brought in aspects of Chinese mythology, Indian cosmology, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and ideas of cultivating enlightenment through a series of quests crouched in the development of a romantic relationship. No, not a romance- not in the American sense that there has to be a happily-ever-after – but an incredibly romantic story where the omnipotent Devil God – and the Universe he is about to dominate – is saved from himself by the love of the enlightened Lady of Spirituality.

And it was thoroughly enjoyable!

Xianxia fantasy is a Chinese genre of fantasy that incorporates Chinese history in the same nebulous way Game of Thrones is set in Medieval Europe. Here we have Medieval China but not necessarily in a Dark Ages experienced in the West. Xianxia is also set in a mythical world of fairies and demons where power is cultivated with enlightenment. Xianxia narratives are often referred to as Cultivation dramas referring to the quest for personal power/enlightenment. These beings experience their quest, powers intact, in the human world and in many other mythical worlds e.g., in Till the End of the Moon the quest moves from a Cosmic outer-space realm filled with asteroids, to historic China, to the dream-state of a dragon who was once a humanoid God of War living in a heavenly palace, back to China, through the sea of reposed souls, and a heavenly monks retreat, and down the Barren Abyss to the Devil Gods nether-worldly palace and a cosy wishful fantasy world conjured from the memory of family long-deceased.

Xianxia narratives can also be called Wuxia, which is more appropriate to martial arts focussed stories, however, martial arts and special effects are integral to the storytelling. The main actors in this Xianxia at least, can’t be afraid of heights as they seem to have spent a lot of time in aerial harnesses.

Martial arts are employed in executing the quest that is central to the story – finding or accruing talismen that deliver untold powers on their own or when used in conjunction with each other. The quest – journey – is also one of personal development e.g., in Till the End of the Moon, the quest embodies the question, will Tantai Jin overturn his destiny to become the Demon God by cultivating enough goodness and spiritual enlightenment to fend off the previous Demon-God’s agenda?

Xianxia on film offers sumptuous costumes with flowing fabrics, jewelled and studded robes and tunics, elaborate headdresses and make-up. Make up is used a lot in Asia for both men and women in film. I don’t mean the kind of make-up that drops the sheen of the skin to film better. I mean theatrical make up, more subtle than in their traditional theatre forms but nevertheless obvious. Faces are whitened, eyes are enhanced and lips are coloured. In the case of Tantai Jin, the heaviness of his make-up and the colour of his robes help us identify him in when he is vulnerable as opposed to when power is in his hands (if we have missed the fireball he’s holding).

The sets are many, imaginative, gorgeous and various. This series is ambitious with the number of environments that had to be created to signify different world environments. What has been achieved isn’t uniform in terms of being realistic. The urban environments of historic China are most believable. The heavenly kingdom of the Hengyang Sect harmonises with this level of reality and even the Devil-God’s Palace meshes well, however, a couple of the other sets would have benefited from either CGI touch ups/overlays or filming on location. These are the Mohr River underwater Clam Kingdom which although enchanting, needed some CGI love; and the Barren Abyss which would benefit from location shooting e.g., if the Barren Abyss were filmed in Australia, the MacDonnell Ranges outside Alice Springs would be where I would do it – China must have an equivalent. The Clam Kingdom and the Barren Abyss looked theatrical and would be fine on stage but film demands a deeper level of reality – these two environments looked very staged and didn’t mesh with the level of reality created everywhere else.

Ultimately, if the actors stay true to character the meshing of styles of set doesn’t diminish the storytelling and that’s the case with Till the End of the Moon. I must talk about the performances, as well as the subtitles and ideas of free will vs predestination, yin-yang etc. in this wonderful drama but…

… this post is getting long, so I’ll be back with Part 2 soon.

K-drama index and – my final word

So, what did you think of my Top 10 K-drama Romances? Agree? Disagree? The more I see the more I want to add to that list, or edit it.

If you’re looking for a good binge but are scared of the 16-20+ episode commitment and have a Netflix account, my best advice to you is to look at the three word descriptors beneath the series image and then the year of production. If the series has been online for a few years it’s because it’s popular and therefore probably really, really good. Many new series are premiered throughout the year, if they last on the Netflix menu for a couple of years they are a safe bet.

I have another 4 that was just wonderful but before I gush on about them, as this will be my final post on K-drama, I thought I’d include an index to all of my previous posts – in case you might be interested.

• K-Drama Crush
• Seen Squid Game? Think you Know K-drama? Really?
• Anatomy of a K-drama
• 1- Elements of a K-drama Romance
• 1- cont – Elements of a K-drama Romance
• 2. Elements of a K-drama Romance – Characterization and Technique
• Confucius in K-Drama
• 1.Classic Hollywood – Gone with the Wind? Or Left with the Seoul!
• 2.Classic Hollywood – Gone with the Wind? Or Left with the Seoul!
• Top 10 Best K-drama Romances
• Top 21 Ways to Know You’ve Over-binged K-drama

Here are 4 that I’ve seen since making my Top 10 list that are worth editing it for:

Flower of Evil (2020)

The brain child of writer Yoo Jung Hee, Flower of Evil blew me away. Described as a suspense melodrama, I would argue that it’s a grittier sort of romance. In a Edward Norton ala Primal Fear/ Fight Club style juxtaposition, Baek Hee-sung (Lee Joon-gi) is the perfect husband and father – loving, sensitive, aware and responsive to the needs of his wife and adoring daughter; no one would believe that he is actually the dutiful son of a long-dead serial killer.

To escape the stigma of being his father’s son he has assumed the identity of another person– and insinuated himself into that missing person’s family. His wife, Cha Ji-won (Moon Chae-Won) has no idea that he has been lying to her for their entire relationship. She is a detective – a role in which he has supported her to achieve.

Decades after his father’s death, copycat killings begin occurring and Cha Ji-won has been assigned the case. As evidence mounts to signal the existence of an accomplice serial killer, the seemingly perfect marriage is threatened. Just how much has been covered up? Is Baek Hee-sung the serial killer’s accomplice? How can the parents of a missing person play along with a stranger assuming their son’s identity? Does Baek Hee-sung really love his wife and daughter or is it all the perfect cover?

Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth (2016)

With a young, sexy and talented, all-star cast Hwarang was expected to be a knock out hit in Korea when it was first broadcast – not so. Speculation on the internet has cast the blame on the story or the competition it was up against in its airing slot – The Legend of the Blue Sea with its megastars, Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji Hyun.

Its international success has earned it a sleeper hit status – think Eddie and the Cruisers – an 80’s video rental sensation that was missed at the box office.

This series is brilliant and a step away from the Confucian principles that underscore many, if not all historical k-dramas. Thematically, it’s the most Western of all historical K-dramas that I have watched.

Although criticism from Korea aimed at the plot focussing on the older generation’s feud underpinning the drama as well as its musical editing and perceived sudden plot development, these criticisms can be made of many K-drama series. For the K-Pop Herald these criticisms may reflect the feelings of its young readership. For its more mature audience I would hazard a guess that it’s actually the portrayal of the older generation behaving in a way that doesn’t deserve respect.

The plot revolves around a boy-king, Sammaekjong (Park Hyung-Sik) who isn’t allowed to show his face, ostensibly for his personal well-being. He is the unknown/absent/ invisible king. In his place, his mother controls the realm until he comes of age. He appears before her at this time as a weak-willed, philosophical individual who cannot wrest power away from her. We watch his spiritual growth from the sidelines as we follow the pursuit of a young peasant without a name, calling himself Dog-Bird (Park Seo-joon) who stays in the city to avenge the murder of his best friend, Seon-u. Seon-u was killed for accidentally seeing the boy-king’s face. Both Dog-Bird and Sammaekjong assume other identities and become inductees to a training academy to become unknown boy-king’s bodyguard. And, of course, there’s plenty of romance and sub-plots in the stories of some of the other trainees.

What makes this a very Western storytelling is that it is a coming of age story that’s actualised when the 2 main male leads learn to discern when to follow parental authority and when to flout it for their own well-being and that of the best interests of the kingdom – thereby keeping Confucius well in sight. When young characters blindly listen to authority of their elders and community leaders they suffer.

With comedy, romance, action, history and a wonderful ensemble cast this is one not to miss.

W – Two Worlds Apart (2016)

Ever seen Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo or that Charmed episode when Rose is sucked into the pages of someone’s unfinished noir detective novel and writes the ending by living it? Were you captivated in a vortex of reality that is a story within a story where the characters traverse each other’s universe and pose existential questions that you could ask of your own state of being alive?

Too deep? Well, this is K-drama so you can enjoy the ride without plunging beneath the surface and enjoy the beautiful scenery, or you can ponder the reason for existence and whether our world began in the imagination of a virally adored webtoon author/illustrator in another world.

Down-and-out webtoon artist/illustrator, Oh Sung-moo (Kim Eui-sung) creates a character Kang Chul (Lee Jong-Suk), who possesses heroic character traits that he lacks himself – foremost is a strong self-will but Kang Chul is also intelligent, athletic, altruistic, talented, handsome, and quickly amasses enormous personal wealth. He has so much appeal that fans of the webtoon are hooked on his plight- he is wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of his family in the first episode.

He is, in fact (or our imagination) so head strong that when he doesn’t like the way his storyline is headed – he changes it. At first his creator, Oh Sung-moo, believes that he makes the changes himself in his oft drunken state – until he notices them when he is sober. The realisation terrifies him and he decides to end the series by killing off his main character. Then he disappears.

When Oh Sung-moo’s daughter, Oh Yeon-joo (Han Hyo-joo) comes to check on her missing father and sees a bleeding-out Kang Chul on the computer screen she is devastated until the desperate Kang Chul pulls her into the webtoon through the screen to save him. She, of course, is in love with the charismatic Kang Chul and so begins a romance and race for survival where Kang Chul and Oh Yeon-joo try to overwrite the destiny that Oh Sung-moo has set into motion at the outset of his webtoon by moving between both worlds using the rules and writing techniques of writers of serials and soap operas.

This is a very clever story that works on three levels – the surface plot – an investigation into genre and series writing – and a philosophical questioning of what is reality, who we are and why we are. Not all of the questions are clearly answers but the ride is fast paced, slick and addictive.

You are my Destiny (2014) or Fated to Love You

This series, like Boys Over Flowers has such strong universal appeal that its story has been retold several times across Asian TV. Unlike Boys Over Flowers, it doesn’t devolve into hyperbolic plot twists that prolong the ending. In fact, the version of You Are My Destiny I’m referring to is the 2014 Korean remake starring Jang Nara, Jang Hyuk and Choi Jin-hyuk. On Viki it’s called Fated to Love You.

If you like the comedy of Jim Carrey you will love the outrageous antics of Jang Hyuk as the CEO, Lee Gun. Lee Gun heads a chemical company that is closing down a factory on Kim Mi-young’s (Jang Nara’s) home-island. With negotiations falling apart and out of desperation, Kim Mi-young’s brother-in-law and his friend follow Lee Gun to Macau where he plans to propose to his long-time girlfriend. There they plot to drug him, and film him in a compromising position with a prostitute to give them leverage to force him to change his mind and keep the factory open.

Meanwhile, a mousy, accommodating and altruistic, Kim Mi-Young wins a holiday at the same resort in a work raffle and is duped by her co-worker, and love rat, to take him along as her date. Lee Gun’s girlfriend doesn’t show up and unknowingly both Lee Gun and Kim Mi-Young imbibe the drug. Mistaking the room number on Lee Gun’s door for her own, Kim Mi-Young spends the night with him where she is found by her brother-in-law in the morning. Soon after, Kim Mi-Young discovers she is pregnant.

The story then follows a marriage of convenience/enforced togetherness trope where the added pressures of this cross class relationship begin to shape the personalities of both characters. The journey is funny, the romantic elements at times hilarious, and we have the satisfaction of seeing Kim Mi-Young blossom into a self-determined, confident individual by the end of the series.

Since seeing this series it’s become my favourite contemporary romance.

Oops! This was supposed to be my final word – so I shouldn’t do another K-drama post but… What was I thinking? How could I have left out the dazzling historic rom-com with a message, Love in The Moonlight and the charming, bet-you-can’t-see-it-just-once, enemies-to-lovers mod classic, One Percent of Something?

2.Classic Hollywood – Gone with the Wind? Or Left with the Seoul!

Elements of Historical K-drama Romances

Read 1. Classic Hollywood- Gone with the Wind? Or Left with the Seoul here.

To criticize the romance genre as being predictable is missing the point. Romance by its very nature has to be predictable – there must be a happily ever after, life and hope must be affirmed or it’s just not romance. The HEA is the reward for coming along on the ride: the journey is the point. Because we know the ending and the stations the plot will pull in at, the writer has to be very, very good to keep us along on the ride. These stories are replete with comedy, suspense, injustice, deception, hopes built and dashed, and at least one love story.

Ahn Hyo-seop/ Clark Gable and Kim Yoo-jung / Vivien Leigh in a hash up of Lovers of the Red Sky and Gone with the Wind

When setting a period piece in the palace district of the Joseon Era, there are added restraints prescribed by the historical realities of the period. It’s a much prescribed world. Setting it up and then defying it makes for great comedy and easy suspense. Imagine the scope for mischief when you have a sprawling palace complex inhabited by legions of court maids who are the exclusive property of the king; a myriad of neutered male servants to serve the royal inhabitants; a private palace for every royal concubine; an army of guards to maintain the peace; and oppressive rules – no resident is allowed to leave the complex without the consent of the king if at all. Rules were made to be broken, of course, and so much the better if one has a disguise handy!

Princess Hours (2006) is a good introduction to the Joseon Era. It places a modern day high school girl from a working class background in a situation where she is impelled by family obligation to marry the Crown Prince. As she adjusts to life in the palace walls in the 21^st Century, the social mores of the bygone era are imposed upon her. As she learns palace etiquette, so do we. Princess Hours (2006) is an enemies-to-lovers, cross-class-barriers romance starring the always effervescent Yoon Eun-hye and fittingly, imperious Joo Ji Hoon. It’s a modern K-drama classic.

What else can you expect from A K-drama period romance?

• Big acting – not ham acting
• Soliloquies that can be overheard, and often are
• Martial arts experts – where the one (or few) overcome the many
• The kingly sport of archery
• The royal hunt where the monarch becomes the prey
• Evil government ministers controlling an impotent monarch
• Loan sharks acting as tools or throwing a spanner into the works
• Conspiring Queen or Dowager Queen
• Or a benevolent Dowager Queen
• An emasculated, figurehead king
• Crown Prince seeking virtue and wisdom through the teachings of Confucius
• A HEA can’t be achieved until the Crown Prince rises to the challenge of good leadership and steers the ship of state
• Ambitious rival prince
• Broken family relationships between father and son and sibling princes
• Virtuous scholars and police commissioners/personal guards
• Loyal eunuchs and court maids
• Class clashes and peasant revolts
• superstition
• Cross dressing and disguise – often the Crown Prince
• Crown Prince / Monarch is very lonely – cannot trust anyone
• The truism that it’s better to live a simple life outside the splendour of the palace rather than survive within the walls of a palace riddled with greed, overreaching ambition and loneliness
• The belief that until the kingdom is in equilibrium there can be no happily ever after for its ruler
• The love of a good woman has the power to heal and transform her man – or in the case of The King’s Affection, it’s the love of a good man.

There is a lot that can be said about historical romances – from what they owe traditional theatre forms in terms of performance and character types to what they draw from Confucius and Christianity. If you haven’t seen one yet I can highly recommend these single season series:

100 Days My Prince – a classically well-made historic romance

The Red Sleeve Cuff – a historical fiction that engenders feminist rhetoric in a really fun way

The Crowned Clown – a brooding dark romance that is epic in scope, drama and presentation

Lovers of the Red Sky – a historical fairy tale blending fantasy, art and fiction. In a refreshing change, this one doesn’t centre around a Crown Prince but a female artist and a royal advisor hell-bent on revenge. Will love redeem him?

Love in the Moonlight – a cross dressing, artful ingenue catches the ire and attention of the Crown Prince who must navigate his coming of age and coming into his own as a worthy leader in the palace.

My Sassy Girl – an incognito drunken princess encounters a loyal scholar during a moonlit escape from the palace. Lightweight fun.

Happy binging!

2. Elements of a K-drama Romance – Characterization and Technique

This analysis began with storylines in Part One – Elements of a K-Drama and continued over another post and will conclude this overview. I hope to bring you more on historicals in detail soon.

Crash Landing on You, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, The Red Sleeve Cuff, 100 Days My Prince, Guardian-The Great and Lonely God, Coffee Prince, Princess Hours, The Legend of the Blue Sea, Lie to Me, Secret Garden, Secret Romance, King’s Affection, Lovers of the Red Sky, Empress Ki, Full House, Boys Over Flowers, The King – Eternal Monarch, Sassy Girl, The Crowned Clown, Lovers in the Moonlight, Tale of the Nine-Tailed, Rooftop Prince

Characters

1. The Naïve/Altruistic and Idealistic Heroine

The main, female protagonist is pure of heart. She sees the good in people and doesn’t suspect their motives. On the occasion where she sees the weaknesses of those she loves she is forgiving and rarely, if ever, vengeful. In this way she draws us to her and our empathy is offended when she is treated unfairly, is misunderstood, or is abused.

It’s no wonder that the Cinderella trope blankets K-drama storytelling.

Virginity may be tied to ideas of purity in the West, however, it isn’t set in stone in K-drama. There is a much stronger connection between ideas of purity and altruism, and the working classes than anything else.

• The Sexually Naïve and Overworked Hero – CEO /Celebrity/Prince

Particularly with contemporary romances, the usually, male protagonist is an overworked CEO or aspiring CEO who has no time for romance. He is socially inept with women and gets away with impolite behaviour due to his high social standing in Korea’s class/wealth focused world. Often he receives dodgy advice from an almost as inept PA/flunky. E.g., Lie to Me, Secret Romance

• The Worthy/ More-than-Worthy Opponent vs the Flawed Hero

As mentioned in part one – this pertains to the love triangle especially, where rivals are equally worthy in looks and personality. Often the love rival who loses out is a more considerate person, treating the heroine with greater care. He isn’t the one that goes on the transformational journey and so he isn’t rewarded with the girl in the end.

The arrogant protagonist is assailed by his uncontrollable passion for the altruistic working class girl, as she is equally smitten by him and he has to transform to be worthy of her .The measure of her passion for him is the difference in the way she is treated by the worthy rival, e.g., Princess Hours, Secret Garden

• The Evil Adversary

The innocence and altruism of the heroine (usually) is contrasted with the selfish, greedy, nefarious intent of a grasping relative. In between is the hero/prince who does battle with one and seeks refuge with the other.

The evil adversary provides the exterior crisis that gains momentum as the second peak resolution for the series (see Part One for two peak resolutions). The couple must overcome the threat this adversary poses to maintain the happily-ever-after state and for the hero it is a test of his new found character, e.g., The Red Sleeve Cuff

• The Crown Prince Chasing Virtue

If there is a Crown Prince he is always reading Confucian principles that he has to attain to prove his worthiness of the crown. In seeking to become benevolent he is aided by a relationship with a member of the underclasses e.g., a court maid, a scholar, a court painter etc. e.g., The Lovers of the Red Sky, The King’s Affection

• The Evil Rich Aunt/Uncle

This grasping relative will do anything to elevate their progeny over the main protagonists. They overstep their station in life and will be put down or at least put in their place.

In historicals this is often the supposedly sage adviser in the guise of the Left State Minister or Dowager Queen. E.g., The Crowned Clown

• The Benevolent Grandmother and/or the Austere and Powerful Patriarch

If Shakespeare were to be interpreted as a K-drama then the Duke would he rendered as an altruistic but austere and powerful matriarch or patriarch. These figures can issue a challenge and also be referred to as a kind of referee figure in extreme circumstances. They may be tough nuts to crack but their seeming indifference is a calculated stoicism to aid the hero in his transformation. E.g., Coffee Prince, One Percent of Something

• The Loyal Second in Command/PA

Often comic characters who are loyal supporters of their monarch, boss, leader. They balance the levity of the drama. E.g., Rooftop Prince, Secret Romance

2. Acting and Presentation

Symbolic motifs

Pivotal moments in the plot that are highlighted by a close up, repeated presentation from different angles and a dramatic overlay of the musical score

• The falling embrace – when she missteps and is caught by the hero- the main protagonists fall in love
• Holding hands as a deep and honest expression of burgeoning love
• The eyes – a mutual understanding
• The tear – a moment of sentimentality that is indicative of a highly charged emotional experience in a very reserved culture
• The clinched fist – with or without fabric – to indicate anger or agitation when restraint is required
• The mechanical back pat – an expression of comfort
• The mouth to mouth kiss – often a euphemism for sex.

• Critical Moment Flashback

At a crisis point e.g., when the brave soldier is about to slay his rival and former comrade in arms or when the main protagonists have to part we see a montage of their life to this point – especially the good times. This increases the pathos of the crisis point.

• Critical Moment Replay

This could be the repeat of a symbolic motif but it could be from another character’s point of view and within the spectating character’s own story arc. What is of benefit to one character could be detrimental to another and the important to all vested interested parties is explored.

Missed Part One of Elements of a K-drama? Then click here! Or how ’bout where I ran outta space and into the next post, here?

1- cont – Elements of a K-drama Romance

Just a few more points to round off Part One of Elements of a K-Drama…

K-drama collage, Collage featuring: One Percent of Something, Crash Landing on You, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, The Red Sleeve Cuff, 100 Days My Prince, Guardian-The Great and Lonely God, Coffee Prince, Princess Hours, The Legend of the Blue Sea, Lie to Me, Secret Garden, Secret Romance, King’s Affection, Lovers of the Red Sky, Empress Ki, Full House, Boys Over Flowers, The King – Eternal Monarch, Sassy Girl, The Crowned Clown, Lovers in the Moonlight, Tale of the Nine-Tailed, Rooftop Prince

Storyline cont…

• Class Conflict / Knowing One’s Station

So many CEOs, celebrities and Crowned Princes vs waged earners and court maids! Today’s CEO is yesterday’s Crown Prince. It’s the upper classes who have a lesson to learn about modesty and empathy and it’s taught to them through their uncontrollable passion for a member of the working class.

Connected to this is the idea of knowing your place in society and behaving with respect for your station in life – whether it’s determined between classes or within them via the cadetship of different branches of a family e.g., the family of the eldest son can expect more from the family inheritance than those of a step-brother, half-brother, sister, or younger brother.

e.g., the chaos that ensues when the daughter of the household is handed the CEO’s reigns over her brothers in Crash Landing on You; or the expectation that the disinterested grandson of a CEO should succeed over the committed company man, who is the grandson from an illegitimate affair in Rooftop Prince.

• Arranged Marriage

K-drama champions the idea of falling in love without the transactional imperatives of calculating relatives – parents, grandparents, step-parents, aunts, uncles.

The arranged marriage is an impediment that is often used as a crisis in the story where the hero/heroine is on the point of overcoming his/her prejudice regarding his/her love-interest’s social standing. It’s an emotional cliff hanger moment and may have to be suffered through under the observing eyes of his/her true love.

There is also the championing of the virtue of perseverance in marriage and the idea that love can blossom from enforced togetherness, e.g., the arranged marriage of the supercool, teen prince with the super-dorky misfit in Princess Hours or the arranged marriage of the arrogant, chaebol heir with the virtuous, school teacher in One Percent of Something. Both of these marriages are to repay debts of honour/gratitude and are enforced by the greatest power holders in the social hierarchy.

• Serendipity

These are the big coincidences, full of dramatic irony and pathos that are a staple of melodrama across the world e.g., in Secret Garden where the wimpy CEO unwittingly falls in love with the stuntwoman who just happens to be the daughter of the man who lost his life rescuing him as a child.

• Balance

Generally K-drama doesn’t get too dark without balancing the sad moments with comedy or an uplifting message. If the main protagonist dies early, we may see them living a happily-ever-after in the after-life with their earthly love interest. e.g., The Red Sleeve, or in the case of the immortal Goblin, he waits for his love to reincarnate so that they can be together in Guardian, the Lonely and Great God.

Another form of balance is seen particularly in the historicals where action/drama/suspense balances the romance/drama/suspense presumably to appeal to both male and female audiences.

Missed Part One of Elements of a K-drama? Then click here!

Coming up: 2. Elements of a K-drama Romance …. techniques and characterizations

If, like me, you love K-drama Romances, you might like reading:

Not quite K-drama, but …Contemporary Romance – travel- feel good – New Adult – coming of age – college student

Available for Kindle

In Australia

On Amazon

1- Elements of a K-drama Romance

Ideas about a well-made play, tropes, stereotypes, structural rules and expectations all contribute to the success of a K-drama. These tried and true techniques are most easily recognized in the one-season, generally 16 episode, epic stories told in K-drama romances – both historical and contemporary. A lot can be said of the choice of trope, the political/philosophical moral espoused, the blend of traditional eastern theatrical techniques and modern cinematography that make up the production values of a K-drama.

What are some of these elements and how do they contribute to the storytelling?

K-drama collage, Collage featuring: One Percent of Something, Crash Landing on You, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, The Red Sleeve Cuff, 100 Days My Prince, Guardian-The Great and Lonely God, Coffee Prince, Princess Hours, The Legend of the Blue Sea, Lie to Me, Secret Garden, Secret Romance, King’s Affection, Lovers of the Red Sky, Empress Ki, Full House, Boys Over Flowers, The King – Eternal Monarch, Sassy Girl, The Crowned Clown, Lovers in the Moonlight, Tale of the Nine-Tailed, Rooftop Prince

Storyline

1. Two Peak Resolution

–slow-burn internalization and fast pace external conflict

The story has an overarching aim – to reach a Happily Ever After (HEA) and deliver a moral lesson or reinforce the quest for virtuous behaviour or a set of values that will ensure a happy end-state beyond the credits.

The shape of this journey is not a skewed bell curve but a two peak progression. The first episode will set up the parameters of the drama in the form of a past history, establish the pecking order and the dynamic between characters. We are not dropped into the crisis of the first half of the drama in the first episode and so it can seem to be a little slower than a western audience is used to. However, by the end of the first episode the main problem to be resolved is established e.g., we are told that the two protagonists who despise each other will be forced to be together to pacify an authority figure e.g., parent, grandparent, boss, manager to achieve their personal aim which may be career related.

Their interactions and emotional journey leading to their joyful acceptance of each other occupy the concerns of just over the first half of the series, so boy meets girl, girl and boy clash, couple come together for the first peak resolution. This is a tentative resolution which is then tested in the remaining episodes. Will the union hold and establish permanence despite external influences assailing them from their personal goals e.g., career goals, family or civic responsibilities.

By overcoming the challenge of conflicts they face as a team they reach a HEA state, and we are assured that they are worthy and able to make the relationship succeed indefinitely.

E.g., Secret Garden, Lie to Me, Coffee Prince, Full House, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha

• The Making of Character

The main protagonist, usually an alpha-male, feels himself entitled due to his wealth and social standing and behaves accordingly when he comes up against the resistance of his family and his own prejudices towards his lower class love interest who also resists him. By dealing with conflict in his personal life he gains character and becomes worthy of his love interest whose personal virtue had outstripped his. By the time the two protagonists engage in a relationship, he is worthy of her. She benefits not only from a rise in social standing and wealth but in the love-bond with a virtuous partner.

E.g., Secret Garden, Lie to Me, Princess Hours, Full House, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha

• Secondary couple/storyline/comic relief

There is often a second romance that is given almost as much weight as the primary couple. These characters are often, but not always, comic characters and reduce the weightiness that may creep into the story.

Often the look of these characters is ostentatious – the clothes are colourful and the acting is big. In a western rom-com, the character played would be the gay side-kick but here he is not. The presentation is calling on older theatrical conventions of how a comic character/clown should appear. He is a clown of sorts and dresses and acts accordingly.

K-drama does feature LGBTQ characters and stories but LGBTQ characters are not so type cast as in the West.

E.g., Secret Romance, Park Shin-woon as Jang Woo-jin, Jin-wook’s secretary, steals the show on his own and aided by his ladylove.

• Love Triangle

The love triangle is used to increase the desirability and worthiness of one of the protagonists. E.g., in the case of one woman with two love interests, each love interest will be a tough rival in terms of looks, empathy, class, wealth and emotional connection to the heroine. When she chooses between them, she is making a tough decision because they are both worthy. If one of the competitors was a bit of a dud, the winner would look like the escape option, not the best option and a prize.

We are made to feel empathy for both competitors. We celebrate the winner but cry with the loser also. The drama is heightened while the concept of seeing matters from different perspectives is driven home.

• Class Conflict

So many CEOs, celebrities, Crown Princes vs waged earners and court maids. Today’s CEO is yesterday’s Crown Prince.

• Intergenerational Conflict – the evil elder – the strict disciplinarian

Many retiring CEO’s, matriarchal, demanding grandmothers and Dowager Empresses pressing their progeny to do their will.

e.g., One Percent of Something; Coffee Prince

• The moral

The attaining of virtue is taught around cultivating: perseverance, empathy, tolerance, honouring of family and society, emotional equanimity, hard work, affection and modesty. Confucian thought is said to be a big influence here.

A concept

By contrasting the relationships between the main couple and the secondary couple ideas about relationships have been discussed.

e.g., in the farcical comedy, Full House the idea of loving someone vs wanting someone is discussed, where romantic love is an entity of its own . In Coffee Prince ideas of gender are explored. With the main couple the attraction is between an androgynous woman and a man who has to come to terms with the erroneous belief that his love interest is another man. The idea is that inside we are not determined by our gender. However, in the triangle challenging the secondary couple that same concept is turned on its head when the question posed is whether a man and a woman can truly be friends without sex getting involved.

Mistaken Identity

Cross dressing and masking identity is used regularly, particularly in historicals. When a woman in the Joseon dynasty crossdresses she is given equal freedoms as her male counterparts and is easier to relate to by modern female audiences. Crossdressing is also used to explore gay relationships in a form that may be more comfortable for some viewers.

Masking identity can also be used for comedy.

Eg., The King’s Affection, Coffee Prince, Personal Taste, The Crowned Clown, 100 Days My Prince, Sassy Girl

• Sentimentality

So many single tears well up and trickle down cheeks in perfectly curated streams. Sentimentality and pathos are heightened wherever possible.

• Fated relationship

Often slated in childhood or at birth, these individuals are fated to be together. Their love is an entity of its own and sacred. Fate may have been given a hand by a deceased fore-parent.

e.g., Lovers of the Red Sky, The Red Sleeve, The Secret Garden, Guardian the Great and Lonely God

• Supernatural

This can take the form of a timeslip; fortune tellers; the appearance/interference of the gods, spirit animals, ghosts, sprites/goblins; the benevolence of deceased family members.

E.g., Guardian the Great and Lonely God (Goblin),The King Eternal Monarch, Legend of the Blue Sea, Rooftop Prince, Tale of the Nine-Tailed…

• An appropriation of fairy tales

Fairy Tales are often appropriated but their source is often mentioned in the story

eg Crash Landing on You/ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Legend of the Blue Sea / The Little Mermaid

Secret Garden/ The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland

Princess Hours; Secret Romance/ Cinderella

One Percent of Something / Beauty and the Beast

Cliffhangers

Being a series broadcast over several months, each episode ends with an emotional hook.

A ploy that’s delighted in is showing an incomplete scene or visually alluding to a crucial circumstance or tool that will be needed to overcome the cliffhanger much earlier than the moment of crisis without following its significance or revealing exactly what it is.When the protagonist is driven to the edge of the cliff and there is no way forward (or back) something or someone arrives to save the day. For what we have been shown thus far, the sudden appearance of the saving grace is illogical but then the story harks back to the incomplete scene and follows the consequences of what was put in place earlier to give our hero the hand up and out of the crisis.

This technique builds suspense and dramatic tension where they wouldn’t have existed but not for the omitted element. It’s handy when you have 16 or more episodes to yoke the audience to,

E.g, Crash Landing on You, Legend of the Blue Sea, 100 Days My Prince

All of these elements may not feature in all K-drama romances at once but many will be noticed per series.

This post is continued at 1-Cont- Elements of a K-drama

Coming up: 2. Elements of a K-drama Romance …. techniques and characterizations

Anatomy of a K-drama

K-drama is so good, so popular, and so reliable in terms of quality that you can trust a k-drama to deliver in terms of writing, acting, cinematography and musical direction. Knowing it’s made in Korea eases the plunge into a 16-plus episode commitment like a satisfaction guarantee. Few Korean series airing internationally err in any great degree.

Is there a formula to this success? Why, yes there is!

In fact, the formula is almost carved in stone. There is a general structure to their one season long dramas that can be followed like the old “well-made play”. For a western audience, when first coming to K-drama we may find the placement of their climaxes and resolution out of our rhythm as we have been indoctrinated into the Meet-cute-girl-meets-boy; Boy-loses-girl; Girl-and-boy-resolve-for-a-happily-ever-after way of story-telling.

K-drama TV series aren’t that simplistic. The stories don’t just focus on the main characters but direct considerable emotional energy at side characters and the consequences to these characters of the main characters achieving their resolution. The love triangle is used again and again. Intergenerational relationships are given great importance and also ideas of worth based on contribution to society and personal virtue. There is an inordinate amount of weight (from a western perspective) on social standing and the subsequent dilemmas breaking social custom incurs.

More obvious than this is the way that certain acting motifs – or stage business, if you like- is used to communicate emotion. A kiss may be filmed from different angles and presented as a montage of repeating motions from beginning to end – not only kisses but critical actions that the viewer is made to understand are pivotal moments in the story.

There is also an honesty regarding the inspiration behind the stories. Do you see Hans Christian Andersen in The Legend of the Blue Sea – the Little Mermaid is featured in the library scene, does Alice in Wonderland come to mind in the Secret Garden? It’s referred to. Cinderella, a favourite retelling source is mentioned through many series e.g., My Secret Romance The historical epics refer to Confucius often and messages they convey are often revolving around ideas of maintaining personal virtue.

Spoiler alert – Crash Landing on You and The Red Sleeve

Importantly, when a story concludes they try to offer a happily-ever-after even if the main protagonist can’t be together in the sense that we would have them together e.g., Crash Landing on You gives us a Happily-For-Now as it drives home the point that there can’t be a Happily-Ever-After with a divided Korea; and in the historical epic The Red Sleeve which deals with real, historical figures the early death of Deok-Im is experienced but the audience is then given a glimpse into her afterlife where she is reunited with I-San.

In the next post I will breakdown the Elements of a K-drama

.

K-Drama Crush

Visiting my elderly Mum has been all about binge watching Korean Rom-Coms for a while now – ever since she brought herself up to date with every movie Hallmark ever made. Now when I go over there all she wants to do is make me sit down with her – for hours – reading subtitles on a screen. It’s been her greatest joy through lockdown. It’s all she’d talk about. She’s seen so much K-drama that she’s picking Korean.

No way, was I going to do that. There’s enough going on in my life without “relaxing” like that in front of a screen. But it was impossible not to take a bit in – the TV is always on and tuned into some Korean stage of history – Joseon, Goryeon or Contemporary. A parachuter hanging from a tree in the Korean demilitarized zone, a woman sneaking out a lobby behind an upright promo flag, a medieval doctor tending to a patient in the modern streets of Seoul – the drama was intriguing – but subtitles, really? For 16 episodes plus? Better not get hooked. Little by little, scene over scene, I did.

And which series got me in the end?

Huron Ki-joon (Kang Ji-hwan) and Gong Ah-jeong (Yoon Eun-hye) in Lie to Me

Lie to Me

I don’t know how many times mum watched the scene in the corporate lobby but it got me each time.  Civil servant, Gong Ah-jeong, (Yoon Eun-hye) trying to avoid the uber-alpha protagonist and hotel exec, Hyeon Ki-joon (Kang Ji-hwan) while they are both in the proceeds of exiting the same office foyer, runs between vertical banners all the way out. Exposed outside, she ingratiates herself into his group of business associates in front of whom he can’t lose face, and ends up bumming a ride with them. It got me hooked. I had to see more. I had to see it from the start and I had to see more of Yoon Eun-hye. So, Princess Hours and the Coffee Prince followed, and then I was hooked.

Spoiler Alert!!!!

Lie to Me is a refreshing rom-com in its writing. It uses all the expected K-Drama Rom-Com tropes which I will blog about shortly, however, the story is built around recognizable tensions of flawed real life characters. Gong Ah-jeong has been trumped in the marriage race by her close friend who has stolen her love interest and married him while she has closeted herself away trying to pass her final exams.

Feeling belittled, betrayed and the loss of her personal dignity before her close friends and community she pretends that she is getting married, too. She doesn’t have a fiancé, boyfriend or love interest, so she claims to be marrying an untouchable hotel exec, Hyeon Ki-joon. Through a series of interrelated events and with the help of his practical joker brother, the exec agrees to pretend to be her boyfriend for the sake of her friends only. With the further intervention of said, practical joking brother, who introduces her to a Chinese diplomat and his wife as Ki-joon’s fiancé, the secret starts to spread and the fake couple get to know each other better.

Soon he begins using his wealth to help her in her career as a tourism industry official. She in turn is tempted to use her position to confer upon his hotel chain the contract for a mammoth international business deal. What will she do for love and how they handle the scandal afterwards progresses the plot. In an interesting twist towards the end of the series we see the heroine grappling with the idea of losing her identity to their relationship and the demands of his world.

K-Drama rom-coms are so much fun – full of comic set-ups, clownish supporting characters, lots of drama, scheming older relatives, class differences and usually have an underlying message. They aren’t sexually explicit – refreshing – but they are very romantic, and like I’ve said, a lot of fun.

A Romance for Mr Flanagan

Have you ever looked forward to a book soooooo much that when it’s finally released you can’t bring yourself to read it? Have you coveted that book to the degree where you’ve squirrelled it away for just the right circumstances to come together to allow you the luxury of time and the indulgence of space to maximise the enjoyment you know it will provide you? And when you finally embarked on that torrent of words did their passage augur more than you even expected? And at the end of the journey when you reached Ithaca, having endured emotional travails and survived, did you experience that redemption – that revelation – that homecoming – that happily ever after?

Well, I didn’t. Not fully. Not exactly. Not quite with Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North and boy, did I sit on that book- waiting for the perfect moment to begin reading it – since 2014!

The problem is, Mr Flanagan built up my expectations for a romantic journey out of existential spiritual darkness into the light of reunion and the righting of deeply entrenched wrongs with a happily ever after… but there wasn’t one.

Why?

His main character’s story had the hallmarks of romance: melodrama- beautiful moments-charismatic heroine- brooding hero – all-consuming attraction, but not the carry through. It was almost a romance but just didn’t get there.

How? Why? What happened?

Richard Flanagan’s Man Booker prize winning historical fiction, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Hmm… it begs another question, maybe he doesn’t know how to write a romance? What if he tried his best and all he could manage was that much?

How disappointing for him! To put down such a sweeping story and not manage to cross the finish line for the main protagonist!

Flawed? He must have been floored when he finished it. Luckily for him, he was handed a consolation prize to encourage him to keep on – the Man Booker Prize.

Clockwise from top left: The Narrow Riad to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan; A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught; How to Love a Duke in Ten Days by Kerrigan Byrne; Mr Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn; Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas ; central illustration – inside cover art by Morgan Kane for A Kingdom of Dreams

Poor darling….

However, I believe a piddling prize like that alone won’t aid him achieve the perfect historical romance. I think he will greatly benefit from the following reading list. I’ve put it together for him keeping in mind the themes he exercises: melodrama; redemption; pathos; flawed characters; catharsis after struggle; love ethereal, undeniable and uncontrollable; self knowledge/ identity; and a strong sense of mateship.

1. Sarah Maclean’s Daring and the Duke (2020)

Cover’ of Sarah Maclean’s Daring and the Duke

Redemption, redemption, redemption! Flawed character healed by love after years of suffering and searching for his lost love.

The fanciful world building in this one makes it potentially more of an enjoyable book for women than men. Ewan, Duke of Marwick and Doriego Evans have a lot of suffering in common.

Cover: Kerigan Byrne’s How to Love a Duke in Ten Days

2. Kerrigan Byrne’s How to Love a Duke in 10 Days (2019)

Melodrama-flawed characters healed by love – abuse of power by person of responsibility leading to years of disempowerment and grief – healed by love – mateship between the three friends

Classic blend of historical romance and old fashioned melodrama.

Cover: Julia Quinn’s Mr Cavendish, I Presume

3.Julia Quinn’s Mr Cavendish, I Presume (2008)

Crippling self doubts over loss of identity, a long suffering fiancé- love bolstering and healing- humour – Julia Quinn’s light touch

This is not typical of historical romance due to the time spent with the identity crisis of the male protagonist – which is absolutely engaging. To get the full on fun elements from the melodrama the companion story The Lost Duke of Wyndham has to be read. These two books should have been published as one as there is unnecessary overlap between them. To appreciate both, leave a time gap between them when reading.

Cover: Lisa Kleypas’ Dreaming of You

4. Lisa Kleypas’ Dreaming of You (1994)

Irrational love, a power unto itself – melodrama – a strong sense of mateship among the club workers that’s sentimental and sweet in its own way – suffering, brooding hero – pathos- forgiveness.

Another classic blend of historical romance and old fashioned melodrama.

Inside cover art by Morgan Kane for Judith McNaught’s A Kingdom of Dreams

5. Judith McNaught’s A Kingdom of Dreams (1989)

A warrior trying to relax into civilian life- an irrational attraction that can’t be controlled- melodrama – forgiveness and redemption – loyalties challenged – humour – pathos – dramatic tension

This one has all the charm and humour of a Golden Years of Hollywood adventure tale – think Errol Flynn or Clark Gable in rom-com mode. Sentimentality, loyalty and humour not only through the heroine’s antics but through the secondary characters supporting her.

All with HEAs. Happy reading!

3. Narrow Road to the Deep North vs Romance Genre

Book Review – Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Before I read this book, I knew what my Goodreads review would be – 5 stars with the comment, “It’s by Flanagan, what more is there to say?” Having read it, I now know there is a lot more to say…

***Spoiler Alert***

So if you haven’t realized over the course of the last two posts where I discuss this book, I’ll tell you now, Flanagan’s book was a tease. It’s a literary, historic fiction that won the Man Booker Prize in 2014 and was lauded by the chair of judges, A.C. Grayling with the following words:

“Some years very good books win the Man Booker Prize, but this year a masterpiece has won it.”

Hmmm….my quandary – 4 stars on Goodreads or 5? Four – he built my expectations for a romance with a HEA and didn’t deliver – or Five – surely one of the most acclaimed texts of the 21^st Century, studied in schools etc, how dare I even consider less than 5 stars?

The thing is, when he went there, he out-romanced romance novels. He gives us romantic melodrama and its mores – the love interest’s husband is blown up in an explosion freeing her to be with him – the jilted fiancé lies about her rival’s death – the young POW he befriends, admires, and ultimately fails to heal is revealed as his long-lost nephew – at the eleventh hour, a mere 40 pages or so before the ending, a whim of fate presents a situation to both lovers whereby they can alter their life path with a touch, but through a lack of communication, with a reliance on presumption, they don’t.

And then there is THAT moment in the bookstore where Doriego and Amy meet. It’s a rare moment in literature these days- even romance genre fiction. You see, that moment doesn’t depend on a physical attraction. The love interest isn’t sparked by fame, or talent or individual preferences for boobs or brawn. It’s sparked by a chemistry that’s almost other worldly and that moment is teased out over paragraphs.

You know the chemistry I mean: when the orchestra comes in just before the closing credits of a movie, when the hero and heroine finally kiss, when you’re made to feel what they feel? When love hits. That moment when you realise the space between you and him/her as an electrified field of resistance, highly agitated yet ineluctable and debilitating in its yearning need for equilibrium. Just a sound, a look, a touch, may send you into frenzy or dissipate the emotion in a folly of fantasy incapable of fulfilment and you rue the fatality of an attraction you cannot contain.

Find me a romance novel where the attraction isn’t about physical appearance. There are a few, but not many. You may find it in fantasy romance but in a novel featuring mere humans it’s a little rare.

Besides THAT moment that anticipates romance early-ish in the novel there is that stretch walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge at the close of the novel – the antithesis of THAT moment and the antithesis of the romance ride. Flanagan inverts an expected, tried-and-tested romance technique in another Brechtian lesson served complete with broken expectations and denied complacency.

In a romance novel it would be at this point in the plot where the couple have reconciled and begin their life-journey together and while the reader awaits the finality of hearing either one proclaim aloud their love. It is at this point that one or other will be physically and/or emotionally taken away e.g., the heroine is kidnapped by a rival for her love. It’s the final hurdle to the HEA. Instead of giving us a hurdle to leap, in a strange coincidence Flanagan brings these lovers into close contact. They pass each other on the bridge. Silently. They recognise each other after decades. A word, a brush of a gently swinging hand, a stall in their tread, could bring them together. We watch in slow motion, incapable of prodding them out of the trajectory of their hollow lives.

Finally, there is no HEA. Not even for a war hero. Not even for a woman alone again and childless after decades presumably grieving that short lived wartime fling.

Does Flanagan convince that love existing between a couple can uplift each individual – make each person good – and make life fulfilling?

Hmmm….perhaps he needs to read a few romances.

Previous Posts in this series are:

1.The Narrow Road to the Deep North vs Tolstoy

2. The Narrow Road to the Deep North vs The Illiad