Nalbal
Senior Addict
Yi Young-Nam is mine... live with it.
Posts: 297
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Post by Nalbal on May 8, 2007 17:24:19 GMT -5
I was somewhat surprised at Dae Jungsang's reaction to Joyoung being paralyzed. He hasn't seen his son for who-knows-how-long (for all Junsang knew, DJY was dead), and he just starts yelling at him--somehow, I didn't expect such a cold reaction toward his own son ... DJY is lying on the cot (in their hut, I guess) and Jungsang just walks in there, angrily telling him he has no business laying there, and that he's got work to do. Then he says he can do whatever he wants to himself, even kill himself. I mean, come on...he got injured in battle while in the act of defending his men, and his country. Can't the guy give him a break? And then toward the end of the episode, he tiptoes into DJY's room when he's sleeping, and while he clutches his son's hand Jungsang breaks down crying because he can't help him. A sad, tender scene, but it was an abrupt change of attitude, wasn't it?
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Post by gpaul on May 9, 2007 7:38:14 GMT -5
I don't think it was a change of attitude, his reaction was to make DJY want to get out of bed and continue his work. Remember the King did the same thing with his letter and it worked. I wish in real life paralyzed people could get up and walk just by wanting it bad enough.
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Post by JP Paulus on May 9, 2007 8:06:43 GMT -5
Yeah, that's what i don't like about DJY -- this false drama & sense of accomplishment.
We knowDae Jo Young won't die, or be permanently paralyzed...it would be far more interesting if it happened to one of his fictional friends -- so we will not know what will happen!
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Nalbal
Senior Addict
Yi Young-Nam is mine... live with it.
Posts: 297
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Post by Nalbal on May 9, 2007 8:22:42 GMT -5
And actually, the whole thing about DJY becoming paralyzed was kinda spoiled for me--some time ago a new member made a thread (not in the spoiler section) that gave the whole plot away. Oh, well...
But seriously--we know DJY has to live for about 50 more episodes!!
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Post by ajk on May 9, 2007 12:04:41 GMT -5
I had the same reaction at first, Nalbal, but as the story progressed it turned into a terrific bit of writing. Because DJS was going through the classic stages of grief. We saw denial--You are not my son, my son is not paralyzed, why won’t you get up. We saw anger--How dare you lie there while the kingdom is in tatters! Then we saw depression, in the scene you mentioned where he breaks down. We even saw a kind of bargaining--I’ll consider you well again when you can shoot with Yang Manchun’s bow. (Really as much of a challenge as a bargain, although he did GIVE the bow to DJY.) The only thing we didn’t see is acceptance, which we never had to see because DJY recovered.
There are different “models” of the grieving process but the five-stage model is well-known. I don’t know if it was deliberately used in writing the story, but either way the episode did a great job of capturing how a father might react to a son’s paralysis.
What I did NOT like was the idea that the king’s letter would instantly cause DJY to regain mobility. Give me a break. Wasn’t he trying hard before? It was ridiculously melodramatic. They could have written a beautiful storyline by showing much more of the princess tending to him and gradually helping him recover, getting his mobility back a little at a time. Not only would it have been much more satisfying, but it would have really zinged up the whole who’s-he-going-to-end-up-with angle. It’s a shame they tried to go for the one big moment instead.
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Post by gpaul on May 9, 2007 13:11:37 GMT -5
I also wanted to see the princess taking care of DJY and gradually having him regain his mobility, but that would have taken up too much time in the drama, maybe a whole 10 minutes.
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Post by truth on May 9, 2007 19:09:16 GMT -5
And actually, the whole thing about DJY becoming paralyzed was kinda spoiled for me--some time ago a new member made a thread (not in the spoiler section) that gave the whole plot away. Oh, well... But seriously--we know DJY has to live for about 50 more episodes!! actually.. more like 72 more episdoes because KBS has recently announced that they have extended the amount of episodes for DJY. The last episode is going to be like Episode 125 or 132.
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Post by truth on May 9, 2007 19:13:36 GMT -5
I had the same reaction at first, Nalbal, but as the story progressed it turned into a terrific bit of writing. Because DJS was going through the classic stages of grief. We saw denial--You are not my son, my son is not paralyzed, why won’t you get up. We saw anger--How dare you lie there while the kingdom is in tatters! Then we saw depression, in the scene you mentioned where he breaks down. We even saw a kind of bargaining--I’ll consider you well again when you can shoot with Yang Manchun’s bow. (Really as much of a challenge as a bargain, although he did GIVE the bow to DJY.) The only thing we didn’t see is acceptance, which we never had to see because DJY recovered. There are different “models?of the grieving process but the five-stage model is well-known. I don’t know if it was deliberately used in writing the story, but either way the episode did a great job of capturing how a father might react to a son’s paralysis. What I did NOT like was the idea that the king’s letter would instantly cause DJY to regain mobility. Give me a break. Wasn’t he trying hard before? It was ridiculously melodramatic. They could have written a beautiful storyline by showing much more of the princess tending to him and gradually helping him recover, getting his mobility back a little at a time. Not only would it have been much more satisfying, but it would have really zinged up the whole who’s-he-going-to-end-up-with angle. It’s a shame they tried to go for the one big moment instead. i guess this is the difference between Korean and American culture. The Korean people, including myself, thought this was one of the best part of the drama so far and it was very emotional, it made me cry. Recovering quickly just because of his love for the country and obedience for the king touched many people's heart in Korea.
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Post by JP Paulus on May 10, 2007 11:04:44 GMT -5
i have to look at the episode again, but didn't the King's letter trigger flashbacks for DJY, so that the sum total of all his experiences, and thinking about it, motivated DJY to fight for his life?
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aosy
New Addict
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Post by aosy on May 11, 2007 7:08:21 GMT -5
Yes, I agree. DJY would have given up all hopes of reviving the country especially after waking up, he had his worst fears confirmed that Go Anseung had betrayed them and Gom Mojam and generals have all died unfair deaths.
Now with King Bojang's message, it acted as a catalyst for him to rethink. Now knowing that King Bojang is also working towards reviving Goguryeo, DJY had to put up all his energy to get well.
Dae Jung Sang may appeared to be cold but he just want to motivate DJY to get better albeit the fact that he could have shown a little bit more tender mercies.
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Post by ajk on May 11, 2007 12:44:42 GMT -5
Truth, wow that is fascinating, and just the opposite of what I expected. I thought Koreans might be angry about it. Maybe it is a cultural thing. I can’t speak for all Americans but I’m pretty sure that such a scene in an American show would not be well received at all.
You’re right, the symbolism was very powerful and certainly the king’s message would be a strong inspiration for him to work on his recovery. What I didn’t like about the scene was that he didn’t just recover quickly; he hadn’t even moved a finger for weeks and then instantly he’s up and starting to walk. It would be like if he had cancer and the tumors just suddenly vanished. I know it’s a fictional show, but if they’re going to write stuff like that then why not give him x-ray vision and let him fly around like Superman. That’s why I thought Korean viewers might be angry--for portraying DJY as more than human. But if many people were so moved by the symbolism and not bothered by the other stuff...very interesting to learn that many people saw it differently. I guess they gave many Korean viewers a great scene for them.
The thing that I found very moving and emotional was in the previous episode (#51) when Heuk Sedol took DJY to the village. The images of that lonely, distraught soldier pulling his injured friend for hundreds of miles over tough terrain, just hoping that he might be able to save his life...for me that may have been the most emotional moment of the series so far. I wish they had spent more time on it. They could have written a whole episode about the journey and it would have been great.
Anyway, thanks for sharing that.
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Post by BAE on May 11, 2007 13:02:23 GMT -5
I agree, ajk! The scene where Suldol tries to desperately find "shelter" for DJY I thought was more touching than DJY regaining his mobility. But, yes. Thanks for providing that insight!
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Post by BungalowDweller on May 12, 2007 0:31:54 GMT -5
i guess this is the difference between Korean and American culture. The Korean people, including myself, thought this was one of the best part of the drama so far and it was very emotional, it made me cry. Recovering quickly just because of his love for the country and obedience for the king touched many people's heart in Korea. I thought so too, Truth. In fact, the scene reminded me of the 1938 Russian film masterpiece, "Aleksandr Nevskiy" directed by the great Sergei Einsenstein (also directed Ivan the Terrible) and Pyotr Pavlenko. The "great call to nationalism" is a cinematic theme that the Soviet-era Russians perfected. Like Dae Jo Young, Nevskiy was a real person. In the 13th century, the young prince of Novgorod gathered together a rag-tag group of warriors to hold off and defeat an invasion of Russia by Germans and Swedes in 1240. He was only 19 years old and was given the name, Nevskiy, or Nevsky, meaning "from Neva"-- the location of the battle. He went on to be victorious in other battles as well against the Livonian Knights (similar to the Knights Templar) in 1242. This victory was significant in Russian (and medieval) military history as it was the first time that foot soldiers defeated an army of knights, and it was a considerable time before the Western Europeans knew how to do so. This battle came a year after the failed invasion of Russia led by Batu Khan of the Mongols. The Mongols had invaded Rus and burned Moscow to the ground before being defeated. Nevskiy is seen as a great medieval warrior and a saint in the Russian Orthodox church.
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Post by Alexa on May 12, 2007 21:38:18 GMT -5
So was DJY ever paralyzed in real life?
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Post by truth on May 13, 2007 9:25:35 GMT -5
So was DJY ever paralyzed in real life? no
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