Beans of Wisdom of the week

by HeadsNo2

This week in Beans of Wisdom…

Lee Jun-ki’s mask and accompanying hairstyle in “Black-and-white couple for fantasy-romance Scarlet Heart: Goryeo” drew some hilarious responses, like Sol’s in comment #10:

The Pirate of Goryeo

YY replied:

The Cyclops of Goryeo

And Cherkell contributed:

Phantom of the Goryeo

Okay, stop right there. I’d watch the stuffing out of all those shows.

In “Jackpot: Episode 16,” Mag Mag asked totally legitimate questions in #5::

What? How come Injwa doesn’t even chip a nail when he is in prison?? Most people when they are tied on the torture chair would have blood stains all over them?? Remember Six Flying Dragons prison scenes??

And Reba Wechoki laid down some truth in reply:

And the hair is still in place! Who gets a good hair day in a Joseon Prison?

On the discussion of women’s fashion in “Chungmuro puts in solid showing at 69th Cannes Film Festival,” kuromitsu contributed his thoughts in comment #19:

I’m a guy, so I’m probably missing the point here, but it’s unfair that the females are put into too high of standards of clothing for events like these.

I mean, a guy just has to wear a well-fitted tux, and bam, good job. A female has to too much criteria for what they wear. They shouldn’t wear something too unique, but being safe is a no-no either. You don’t hear anyone ragging on the males for wearing a safe tux.

canxi replied:

No, it’s true. I guess (besides the obvious double standards) it’s because women have more variety when it comes to big event fashion. No one expects anything from the guys except to show up. But there are designers just for big/fancy/crazy gowns to wear to events like this. I dunno if the same can be said for the tux. So, when the ladies don’t show up (in the fashion sense) it seems to be a time of major disappointment.

However, I’ll be glad if a lady wears something plain as long as she WEARS it, lol.

In “Ha Suk-jin in talks to headline 1% of Anything remake,” Knewbie said in comment #14:

If I remember correctly, 1% of Anything is actually far more enlightened than a lot of recent romantic dramas, with both the chaebol and the middle-class families presented as real people with real jobs and lives and concerns. E.g. the Kang Dong-won character was grouchy but not at all spoilt; he worked hard and didn’t expect handouts from his grandfather – though of course he objected to all the money going to a total stranger. Much as I adored Marriage Contract, it’s weird that the Lee Seo-jin character could have his credit cards cancelled by his dad in 2016, when the rich young men in 1% of Anything seemed pretty independent in 2003.

It was also nice to have a heroine who had absolutely no desire or need for a dashing rich guy to sweep her off her feet. Actually, the highlight of the show for me was not the romance but the heroine’s family, an uncommonly open-hearted lot who thought nothing of picking up waifs and strays from all over the place and giving them a loving home. Anyway, my hopes for this remake aren’t high – I just hope it doesn’t regress TOO much.

On the failings everyone wishes weren’t so evident in “Vampire Detective: Episode 8,” Am offered a theory in #13:

Sadly, I think Vampire Detective would have been better suited for the American format of shorter episodes with multi-seasons. Like most American crime shows, the narration tend to be episodic and the main story arc is stretched out throughout the entire length of the show. Usually I like the kdrama format better because it is more concise… but this time it is just not working. It is unfortunate because I can see how great the show would have been otherwise. The characters and the universe of the show have so much potential and the actors, individually and as an ensemble, are great…it just failed to bring together the American crime shows mode of storytelling effectively with the Korean drama format.

Yesindeed wasn’t alone with the Tangled comparisons in “Mirror of the Witch: Episode 2” at #1:

This episode reminded me of Tangled: trapped girl with special powers dying to see the world. The scene were she hit him with the pan on the head and then tied him up was similar, and of course, there will be a festival with lanterns.

Niyati replied:

Hell yes! SO MANY TANGLED FLASHBACKS! Please can we get a Maximus and Pascal too? Pretty please show?

If only.

Over in “Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 5,” ExpatB said in comment #64:

Best part of the show for me (and I’m a little surprised it’s not getting more attention): “You are you, and I am me”. I pretty much stood up and cheered. That is the whole premise of the show for me. You do you. And yes, I do realize the Our Hae Young forgets this from time to time, but it’s important that she knows this.

Then in “Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 6,” knighty kicked things off with comment #1:

I want to slap his mom.

Oshi:

Forget slap. If I could I’d rip her head off and beat her to death with it.

Chandler:

DUDE. Not fair.

Then everyone else lined up to slap her wouldn’t get to! Let’s not be selfish here.

Miranda noted at #5:

I kind of love that his mother is a vicious narcissist. I mean, she’s a terrible person and I’d hate to have her anywhere near me, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen this character on a K-drama before and that’s worth noting. She’s manipulative and horrible and seems frivolous, but the way she went after [her] was actually quite scary, not silly at all. It’s also interesting that Soo Kyung is BEYOND over her mom, so I wonder what that backstory is.

pogo agreed:

oh yes, I love that this drama is refusing to couch Mom’s essential nastiness as being motivated by love of her son even as she herself insists that it is. And I love that Soo-kyung is the one to call her on it and stand up for Do-kyung, and even defend other Hae-young a little.

Mom is like a kdrama version of Dolores Umbridge – all frivolous on the outside, but completely poisonous just under the surface. I really don’t think there’s any wiggle room for her, she’s just a straight-up selfish narcissist like you said.

There was some discussion of tropes and trope-subversion; Oshi said at #7.1.2:

Here’s the thing that makes a difference for me though. The reaction that Our Hae-Young and DK have when tropes like the wrist grabbing come up show that the writer is saying the tropes aren’t acceptable. Look at DK he refuses to accept anything less than death as an excuse for running away. The tropes/cartoonish behavior that we see on the surface level are like the candy coating for a much deeper filling of melancholy/real human emotion.

Zoe added at #13:

What I absolutely love about this drama is that the male lead goes out of his way to not embarrass the female lead. Because I’m so used to the opposite- male leads going completely out of their way to humiliate female leads in all ways possible. Constantly reiterating to them that they’re not rich, pretty, etc., and therefore somehow not “worthy”. Of course it’s usually when the male leads are trying to convince themselves of this and are already attracted to the female leads, but still, it’s absolutely refreshing to have a character who understands that it feels awful to constantly be humiliated, looked down upon and made to feel small, and avoids all those pitfalls. […]

A drama where the leads are genuinely respectful of each other’s feelings is a gem. Like Do Kyung takes cognizance of Hae Young’s feelings in all their scenes […]

To say there were mixed reactions in “Auditions draw over 700 hopefuls in search for Joo-won’s Sassy Girl” would be an understatement, but Beanfan seemed optimistic in comment #3.1.3:

I’m likewise really excited about this open audition. Sure, there is a lot of acting talent in Korea already, but I’m positive there are potential gems out there that for some reason or other didn’t go into acting, and now might have a chance to break into the industry.

I figure this would be the makings of another (melo)drama Cinderella-story, wouldn’t it? Unknown, girl-next-door, possibly down-trodden, possibly an orphan, possibly with a future terminal disease, gets noticed by a famous director and stars in the most popular cracktastic drama or movie of the year, and within a blink is at the very top of the industry with everyone wondering who-in-the-world she is, where did she pop out from…and when she might fall on her face. *fingers crossed*

I believe Chang Zhi-Yi, the famous Chinese actress in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Heroes, 2047, Grand Master, and many other Chinese movies, was similarly discovered by the director Zhang Yi-Mo. She was previously a no-name with only (I think) one shampoo commercial under her belt. And while I think she was still working things out in her very first break-out role, in The Way Home (?), she definitely kept improving with each succeeding movie.

I don’t envy the people conducting the auditions, as they probably will have to sift through a lot of dross to discover the jewel(s), but who wouldn’t want to be the one who discovers that the glass slipper fits?

And this week, we end with some fun theories like Dwarf’s in “Goodbye Mr. Black: Episode 19” with comment #1:

Annnddd…. that’s the whack his head really needs to rid it of his condition and voila! He gets to live happily ever after with swan!

Saner:

Now, now, let’s be sensible about this.

It dislodges the shrapnel fragment in his brain.

Come on now! Any scientific person can see that it’s probably floating out on that river of blood.

Still better than a brain fetus, is all I’m sayin’.

And last but not least, we sent off the show in “Goodbye Mr. Black: Episode 20 (Final),” where Beanfan wondered (at #4):

Ok, I feel I should already know this by now, for enough mentions have been made in passing by each of the Dramabeans editors at some point or other, but..

…sometimes I can’t really differentiate between poor directing and poor production, and poor directing vs poor writing. What constitutes what? Poor writing seems self-explanatory, but I could be wrong. I assume the writing/writer is responsible for how the entire story is told, plot development, the dialogue, but when, say, one of you (DB editors) says of Goodbye, Mr. Black, that is was/is “written poorly,” is that usually in response to the (unnatural?) dialogue, the fact that Y happened after Z and not vice versa, or a poorly timed reveal (or none at all), or an unfunny funny moment, or…does it all depend on which scene, etc., we’re referring to?

What’s an example of good writing paired with poor directing? Things flow in the order one feels they should, but the actors look funny, or are made to do illogical things? HeadsNo2 commented on an ending shot of General Lee Seong-gye at the end of one of Six Flying Dragon’s episodes, on how the actor looked directly into the camera, as if looking at the viewers. It was a disruptive shot, but that would’ve been the director’s call, or the writer’s call?

Odessa Jones replied:

I’d love to hear GF’s take on this, but in a nutshell: the writer is responsible for the words the characters say. The director (and production team) is responsible for almost everything else. Camera angles, lighting, the editing of scenes (the order in which we see images and hear sounds), even the style of performance the actors give.

The writer produces dialogue. The director takes the writer’s dialogue and decides what to emphasize. The same script could feel like horror or comedy depending on how the director films it. So in your example from Six Flying Dragons, that was a director’s choice.

Because the director has so much power, there’s a lot of overlap between poor writing and poor directing. The director usually edits scenes and sequences so they aren’t in their original order. (You can see this if you compare the shooting script of a Hollywood movie to the finished product.) The director also makes choices about what lines or scenes to cut, or whether to ask the writer for another scene to clarify something. Good directors will also find ways to clarify things without adding dialogue–inserting a shot of the hero/heroine seeing something significant, for instance.

Video and film is visual. Even though it seems like the “story” is made of words, the visual stuff creates most of the mood and meaning. A great director can work with a poor script and still keep it interesting. But a great script can be ruined by poor directing.

Good writing with poor directing results in interesting characters and conflicts, but a slow pace (boring) or an overly fast pace (confusing), or a mess (too many interesting characters competing with each other for attention). It’s hard for me to think of examples off hand, since no one wants to watch shows with poor directing!

And Daydee said at #5.1:

When I saw the recap for episode 15, I was relieved that the next week, I’d have a new drama to look forward. Then I saw the recap for episode 16 had no (final) in the title.
Then the next week I saw episode 17 and was relieved once again that GMB would end. Except episode 18 also had no (final). Thank god though, that GMB was only 20 episodes and not 24.

We’ll drink to that!

 
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