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Post by mikey on Aug 29, 2006 20:49:27 GMT -5
I just finished episode #35 last night (I'm watching on "The Asia Network").
"Seoul 1945" is turning out to be a lot better than I expected, and I'm delighted to say that I'm learning a lot of modern Korean history that I'd somehow missed back in my college days. The romantic storyline still dominates, of course, but the historical aspect of this drama really picked up after the surrender of the Japanese.
For Chicago fans, I think the time spent in Leningrad (where you seem to be now) were among my least-favorite episodes - not awful, but nothing there that really excited me. It wasn't until the defeat of the Japanese that I really got enthused about this show (that was a wonderful episode, by the way; one that even left me a little teary-eyed) .
So, if you've gotten into it this far, don't quit now. ;D
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Post by florel on Aug 30, 2006 13:06:30 GMT -5
I'm far ahead of you. I'll pay attention not to reveal spoilers. To me, as like Mikey, the Leningrad episodes are also least-favorite ones. After their return, the drama will become more interesting. The drama contains long love triangle or quadriangle scenes. But I'm not bored as I was in modern soaps. Love stories in this drama have symbolic meanings. ... the silly girl is only going to make things worse. I wish she would leave him alone. Baron Moon has told Officer Kimura to bring back Sukyoung, and Kimura (Park Chang-ju) has sworn to kill Oon-hyuk, too, even though no one asked him to. Yeah, Suk-kyung is a trouble maker. Kimura wants to eliminate his rival of love. But he is hopeless. Oon-hyuk is much more handsome and gentle than him. And we aldready saw Oon-hyuk in Episodes 1 and 2. So he cannot die. ;D
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Post by kathleen34 on Aug 30, 2006 13:06:42 GMT -5
SOMETHING I MUST ASK ... As this drama is titled Seoul 1945, does that mean this story is actually set in 1945? Or is the timeframe the years leading up to 1945? ... or is it the year 1945 and the events that follow? ::)I'm going on the premise here that there's no such thing as a stupid question... but I'm afraid that these questions indeed reflect a measure of stupidity on my part. Thanks to anyone who can help me out here.
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Post by florel on Aug 30, 2006 13:29:09 GMT -5
Oh, Kathleen, it's not a stupid question. On the contrary, it's very good question. The year of 1945 is marked by the liberation of Korea from the Japanese and the separation of two Koreas. So it's very important historical date. The title of the drama is Seoul 1945, so it's about what happend around 1945 in Seoul. But, in fact, the timelines of the whole drama cover between 1933 and 1953. The years between 1945 and 1953 are the most dramatic and tragedic period in Korean history. I guess you are now in 1941 if the heroes are leaving for Leningrad. Also, the geography doesn't limit on Seoul. The earlier parts of the drama is located in Ham-heung, actual North Korea. And the heroes even went to (or will go to) Japan, URSS or America. ;D I hope it's not a spoiler. But who knows ? So I write following phrases in black letters. What I don't like is that the dramatists skipped years between 1947 (or 48?) and 1949. And suddenly we find ourselves in 1950. They kept silent what happened during this period to our heroes and in real history.
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Post by kathleen34 on Aug 30, 2006 17:17:35 GMT -5
Thanks so much florel! See, I just received this book from AMAZON [glow=red,2,300] The Politics of Anti-Japanese Sentiment in Korea: Japanese-South Korean --- [/glow] And in just glancing at it it seems to center mostly on 1945 onward. Based on what you shared, this should be a pretty informative book to muddle through. Again, these dramas really make you want to learn more and so here's another book that would never have found its way to my home. Your response to my questions help tremendously. Thanks so much
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Post by florel on Aug 31, 2006 13:01:20 GMT -5
kathleen, you'll become a great expert of Korean contemporary history. ;D
The drama doesn't treat in depth many important political issues at that time. Only some short narrations give light to background history. I think the book will help you to understand better the historical context.
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Post by florel on Sept 1, 2006 7:52:46 GMT -5
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