A random ramble on Fashion 70s
Apr. 5th, 2010 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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alexandral actually made me think about Fashion 70s again and what a great drama it was.
One of the things that I loved the most about it was that it had four main characters (not the usual hero/heroine and 2 third wheels) who were all equally important and complex. In fact, while I loved Dumi, who was the closest the drama had to the main character among the four, she was the least interesting among them because she was the least damaged. Even if (because F70 is so very good) the reason she escaped all of that was because she actually sustained the greatest damage of all - the trauma was so severe that she forgot/supressed her childhood and all the horrors of war that it contained.
In a way, she is like Candide, or (to make a drama comparison), Taro of Utahime - she can only stay pure and joyous in the world because she has no memories of her past and knowledge of the ugly truths it contains for most of the drama.
I also find it so interesting that I think it's, in part, that impulsive joyousness that both Dong Young and Bin both get drawn to - because it's such a rare commodity in their world.
Actually, I think my favorite character may be the tragic, doomed Kang Hee - I just want to weep for her. I found her and Dong Young's relationship one of the most moving in the drama even if it was not a romantic one - certainly not on his part and, not really, not even on hers. That last assertion may sound odd because she certainly goes through the drama acting in love with him but that's the thing - it's not really truly love. It's something much sadder than that - her sense of identity, of self, is so fractured that she needs him as external validation. Because Dong Young is so good and so kind and so steady - if he loves her than must mean she is good and kind and steady too. Because Kang Hee has all this inferiority and guilt - daughter of a thieving servant, someone who feels such guilt for Dumi's death (or so she believes) even though they were both children and it was not her fault at all. Not to mention the horrific psychic damage inflicted on her by having to live Dumi's life. I can't even hate Dumi's father - he is grieving for the loss of his wife and daughter. But to raise a little girl and call her by his dead daughter's name, to celebrate her birthday on his dead daughter's birthday, to shut down every time she tries to assert her own past and identity - that is horrific. No wonder Kang Hee has no sense of her own identity - in a way, for her, Dong Young gives her a place in the world and allows her to feel real because he's known her as both Kang Hee before she had to live this masquerade and after. I think that is why she falls apart so when he falls in love with Dumi - she actually only truly is devastated once she finds out it's Dumi. Before, when it was some random islander girl, she wasn't happy but she was OK. It's only when she realizes who that is that she is truly lost - because in a way it's like losing her identity and her claim on the world all over again.
Part of the reason I ultimately shipped Dumi with Dong Young (despite loving Bin/Dumi like burning and seeing the potential in Kang hee/Dong Young) is that I think both Kang Hee and Bin truly needed something else - not an OTP - to fix them. But while I don't think Kang Hee was truly fixable, Bin is. I adore him so much and I thought he and Dumi had amazing, scorching chemistry, but what he really needed wasn't Dumi's love - because that would have only been a bandaid over his true huge issue - the tortured relationship with his mother. I really really loved that story strand because I felt for them both - Bin's mother did some horrific things when he was a child and I can completely understand why he is so angry and won't give even a millimeter, but she has also genuinely changed and repented, only to be confronted with an angry, shut-off adult son who lashes out even as he desperately craves her affection.
I think it's no coincidence that Dong Young and Dumi are the least damaged of the four (though DY is pretty screwed up - all that control and self-abnegation and huge walls and so tightly wound he may snap at any second) because they have the healthiest parental relationships - Dumi with her adopted mother and DY with his military father who doesn't talk much but is fiercely proud of his capable son.
alexandral actually made me think about Fashion 70s again and what a great drama it was. One of the things that I loved the most about it was that it had four main characters (not the usual hero/heroine and 2 third wheels) who were all equally important and complex. In fact, while I loved Dumi, who was the closest the drama had to the main character among the four, she was the least interesting among them because she was the least damaged. Even if (because F70 is so very good) the reason she escaped all of that was because she actually sustained the greatest damage of all - the trauma was so severe that she forgot/supressed her childhood and all the horrors of war that it contained.
In a way, she is like Candide, or (to make a drama comparison), Taro of Utahime - she can only stay pure and joyous in the world because she has no memories of her past and knowledge of the ugly truths it contains for most of the drama.
I also find it so interesting that I think it's, in part, that impulsive joyousness that both Dong Young and Bin both get drawn to - because it's such a rare commodity in their world.
Actually, I think my favorite character may be the tragic, doomed Kang Hee - I just want to weep for her. I found her and Dong Young's relationship one of the most moving in the drama even if it was not a romantic one - certainly not on his part and, not really, not even on hers. That last assertion may sound odd because she certainly goes through the drama acting in love with him but that's the thing - it's not really truly love. It's something much sadder than that - her sense of identity, of self, is so fractured that she needs him as external validation. Because Dong Young is so good and so kind and so steady - if he loves her than must mean she is good and kind and steady too. Because Kang Hee has all this inferiority and guilt - daughter of a thieving servant, someone who feels such guilt for Dumi's death (or so she believes) even though they were both children and it was not her fault at all. Not to mention the horrific psychic damage inflicted on her by having to live Dumi's life. I can't even hate Dumi's father - he is grieving for the loss of his wife and daughter. But to raise a little girl and call her by his dead daughter's name, to celebrate her birthday on his dead daughter's birthday, to shut down every time she tries to assert her own past and identity - that is horrific. No wonder Kang Hee has no sense of her own identity - in a way, for her, Dong Young gives her a place in the world and allows her to feel real because he's known her as both Kang Hee before she had to live this masquerade and after. I think that is why she falls apart so when he falls in love with Dumi - she actually only truly is devastated once she finds out it's Dumi. Before, when it was some random islander girl, she wasn't happy but she was OK. It's only when she realizes who that is that she is truly lost - because in a way it's like losing her identity and her claim on the world all over again.
Part of the reason I ultimately shipped Dumi with Dong Young (despite loving Bin/Dumi like burning and seeing the potential in Kang hee/Dong Young) is that I think both Kang Hee and Bin truly needed something else - not an OTP - to fix them. But while I don't think Kang Hee was truly fixable, Bin is. I adore him so much and I thought he and Dumi had amazing, scorching chemistry, but what he really needed wasn't Dumi's love - because that would have only been a bandaid over his true huge issue - the tortured relationship with his mother. I really really loved that story strand because I felt for them both - Bin's mother did some horrific things when he was a child and I can completely understand why he is so angry and won't give even a millimeter, but she has also genuinely changed and repented, only to be confronted with an angry, shut-off adult son who lashes out even as he desperately craves her affection.
I think it's no coincidence that Dong Young and Dumi are the least damaged of the four (though DY is pretty screwed up - all that control and self-abnegation and huge walls and so tightly wound he may snap at any second) because they have the healthiest parental relationships - Dumi with her adopted mother and DY with his military father who doesn't talk much but is fiercely proud of his capable son.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 03:34 pm (UTC)I really don't know that many people who watched it though, I think it was just that one thing I read and it was at a time when I wanted to jump into something right away, without having to worry about backstory.
I have way way way too many dramas downloaded that haven't been watched yet. Resurrection is calling my name, that and about 25 others. This season of currently airing dramas are going to keep me super busy though, so those dramas will just have to stay in their folders.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 03:40 pm (UTC)After that it's pretty straightforward with occasional flashbacks. It's a long drama though - 28 eps I think - it was a big hit so they extended it.
ETA: resurrection. I love love LOVE that drama.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 05:42 pm (UTC)I confess Dumi was my least favorite character of the mains - I liked her just fine but not the way I did the rest of them - in part because I always found Lee Yo Won beautiful but a bit lacking as an actress - she is perfectly competent, she just sort of fades in comparison with the other 3 actors (she was Seon Duk in Queen Seon Duk and there Mishil and Bidam stole the drama from her - it's a trend).
I loooooved her child actress though - though since I had a baby myself shortly before I watched F70, those childhood scenes were really hard to watch. And she does get hit by an angst/messed-upness train once she gets her memories back. Just not as bad as the rest of them.
ETA: The prison scene was my favorite because he goes totally insane because Dumi is going to be charged/convicted too, and basically confesses to everything, telling them to pin whatever open cases they have on him, so Dumi won't be in trouble. And he basically goes totally insane - he really is a mess. Mmmmm. (Luckily other main guy character gets him out of this).