魔女18號 (Witch
18)
개와 늑대의 시간 (Time between Dog and
Wolf)
愛情風暴美麗99 (Beauty 99)
After
a nine month journey, AP Lit blogs have finally come to an end. And so I’ve
decided to end with something fun (at least for me): DRAMAS! (Can you see the
excitement?) Of course, I’m not just going to write a whole blog on random
dramas and what I think of them (though I could, believe me). Rather, I’ve
decided to address certain peculiarities that I’ve encountered while watching
dramas. Watching various dramas (Japanese, Tiawanese, Korean, etc.), I’ve
always noticed that a lot of the symbols are not all that subtle. They’re
usually either VERY obvious, like an hourglass symbolizing time running out
(Niini no Koto wo Wasuranaide), or outright explained by the characters, like
dolphins symbolizing communication (1 Litre of Tears). There are, of course,
other symbols that are slightly more subtle. But what I always wonder about is
another category: those symbols and situations that are so out of place that
they must have some meaning but so out of place that it almost seems like they
can’t. I can’t address every single one of them that I’ve encountered, so I
chose a few that still have me scratching my head.
[By the way, spoilers ahead]
魔女18號
Witch 18 follows the story of three sisters that are all witches.
The main character, Fan Jia Jia, is killed but then brought back to life with a
new body and a new name, Fan Xiao Ling. When the guy she likes, Zhu Yao Wen,
finally finds out who she is, he begins calling her by her original name, which
makes sense considering the girl he fell in love with was named Jia Jia, not Xiao
Ling. What was very unusual was a scene in the last episode, when Yao Wen
thought that Jia Jia was about to die. Thinking that he’d never get a chance
otherwise, he decides to propose to Jia Jia. However, in this very emotional
and personal moment, he proposes using the name Xiao Ling. Now, as part of the
audience, hearing “Xiao Ling” was very disconcerting. After hearing “Jia Jia”
for 60 episodes before the name change, the name I associated with the
character was still the same. “Xiao Ling” was simply a disguise she used to hide
her true identity. So of course I had to find my own reason why he would call
her that, especially when he had been calling her Jia Jia even after the name
change. So I came up with several explanations. The one I personally think
makes the most sense is that his use of her other name represents his
acceptance of every aspect of her, whether it means accepting two physically
different people (Jia Jia and Xiao Ling) or even just accepting all sides of
her personality. My other hypothesis is that his use of Xiao Ling shows Jia Jia’s
growth into a new person. Although Yao Wen isn’t rejecting Jia Jia’s original
existence, he’s acknowledging that, during her time as Xiao Ling, she has grown
and changed and isn’t the same Jia Jia he once knew. And so, regardless of motivation
or meaning, Yao Wen proposes to Xiao Ling.
개와 늑대의 시간
In Time between Dog and Wolf, protagonist Lee Soo Hyun is sent on an
undercover mission to infiltrate a gang. He loses his memories during the
operation and legitimately believes himself to be a gang member until another
traumatic situation brings his memories back and causes him to cooperate with
the police again. However, when Soo Hyun’s boss sees Soo Hyun after he regains
his memory, his boss comments that he’s chewing gum, a habit Soo Hyun didn’t
have before he lost his memory. Soo Hyun responds by popping a bubble in his
boss’s face and smiles. …And that’s it. That topic never came up again
afterwards or before. Ever. I even checked twice, so unless the subtitles weren’t
working… Regardless, this gum chewing is clearly a very important habit if it
has to be randomly called out in the middle of a scene. My best guess at this little bit of symbolism
is that it shows Soo Hyun’s transformation. After regaining his memories, he
struggles between the gangster he was and the police officer he is, which warps
his character. He is no longer the determined, justice-centered man that he
went into the mission as. He’s become more jaded and distrustful of those
around him. His new habit shows that transformation while his use of this new
habit to mock his superior officer shows how the transformation has created a
determination not to be used by others. Another thought I had was that the gum,
being sticky, could be seen as sealing his mouth. Considering that Soo Hyun ultimately
functions an informant, flaunting his refusal to speak in front of his superior
is clearly indicating a change in character from the obedient subordinate to an
independent officer.
愛情風暴美麗99
And once again we have gum!
What is it with gum?
Beauty 99 is about many complicated things, one of which is an illness. Near the end
of the drama, the protagonist, Gao Fei, finds out that he has a disease that is
most likely incurable. He decides to fly to America for treatment without
telling an of his family or friends, and right before leaving for the airport
he shares a moment with everyone, saying goodbye (though they don’t realize it)
and chewing gum. When I first saw this scene with the gum, I was almost
convinced that the actor had simply forgotten to spit out his gum before
filming and the director just went with it. I half expected the gum to just
disappear as the scene continued. But it stayed. They even decided to spare a few
moments to show Gao Fei throwing out his gum. Oh, the symbolism! (Unless it
really was an accident and they didn’t have time to reshoot it…) My first
thought after seeing this was that it probably signified him moving on. He had
accepted the fact that he was going to die, so he gathered up all his precious
memories (by chewing sticky gum while talking to his friends and family to stick
the memories together in one piece of gum) and put them behind him (by throwing
out the gum right after he left the last person behind). Then I thought that
maybe he was actually saving the memories. He gathered them up with the gum and
then, while throwing away the physical gum with the physical presence of his
family and friends, he savors the taste of the gum with the memories of the
people he cares about. Gum is just so meaningful.
Anyway, that ends my long
rant on random drama happenings, and with it ends my final AP Lit blog.
