#an kyung ja | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dangermousie · 3 months

Text

Pusher post for Ja Myung Go (2009) - best period kdrama you've never heard of

It got zero votes on my poll probably because nobody has watched it, and it must be remedied.

In 2009, during the ratings reign of legendary Queen Seon Deok, another woman-centric period drama made its debut - Ja Myung Go starring Jung Ryo Won, Jung Kyung Ho, and Park Min Young back before she was a leading lady. Unlike QSD which became a huge success and extended its run, JMG had abysmal ratings throughout and ended up being only 39 episodes (a large number in abstract but a cut from the originally planned 50). Ja Myung Go took a traditional narrative - the forbidden and doomed love of Prince Hodong and Princess La Hee, heirs to enemy kingdoms, and disassembled it supposing what the story would have been like if Hodong had been in love with La Hee's sister Ja Myung instead.

Even though JMG is one of my favorites, its single-digit ratings (back when single digit ratings were baaaaad!) were no surprise - it took most period drama conventions of the time and even now and upended them. Proper royalty-based sageuks at the time after all centered around the progress and triumph of its protagonist - he or she may pay a great personal price but will triumph over rival factions/own shortcomings/bad background and emerge politically victorious - a great ruler to be remembered by future generations. JMG's rival Queen Seon Deok expemplifies that kind of narrative - Deokman is an outcast who, at the end, has lost the man she loved, but is a great ruler to be remembered forever and full of achievements. Yi San, Kingdom of the Winds, Jumong, etc - all follow this formula more or less. This is still the case when they make them nowadays, sadly rarer than they used to - GK War comes to mind. (Fusion-style sageuks which usually deal with 'common' people sometimes choose hopelessness as a theme - see Damo - but they have a different narrative thrust and vibe and we are not even getting into fluffiness of youth sageuks. People of JMG are miles away from that.)

But this is not the story of JMG. From the first episode it is clear that there will be no triumphant narrative. This is a story of the defeated - defeated Kingdom of Nakrang, defeated people. And, except for Ja Myung herself (cast in a traditionally heroic mold even if with enough flaws to make her interesting), her mother (a very minor character) and a few other other characters, most of the characters are not heroic either. They are either fascinating monsters (Muhyul, Wang Jashi (Ja Myung's stepmother), Muhyul's Queen) or people damaged beyond repair by their surroundings (Hodong, La Hee).

(Man is known as God of Battles, and not for no reason)

And even though I like Ja Myung, I confess that for me the drama is made by the clever, fascinating, monstrous Wang Jashi and Muhyul. Wang Jashi is a Korean Lady Macbeth - she is someone who is capable of poisoning her brother in order to protect her husband and her own power, but she is also someone who genuinely grieves over him. She is a wicked woman, but she is strong and irresistable. Muhyul (or King Daemushin, if we go by his throne name) is a counterpart for her (he rules a different kingdom, but I confess throughout the drama, I kept wondering what it would be like if they were married - they would rule the world). He is a capable, fierce ruler who has traded his humanity for success and rule - you see any remaining feelings leach out of him slowly during the course of the drama.

And so much of the drama is shaped by those two irresistible monsters - all the younger characters except Ja Myung are trapped and shaped and deformed by them. Princess La Hee, Wang Jashi's daughter, is not capable of truly functionally expressing her feelings - even though she likes Hodong, throughout their early meetings, she lashes at him over and over because brought up the way she was, she has no idea how express herself. And Hodong, Muhyul's son, is even worse off - at least La Hee had her saintly stepmother to love her growing up. Hodong has had his poisonous stepmother who desires his death (yet another amazing character - she is a horrible person but you understand and even sympathize with her) and Muhyul as a father (there is a scene later on where Muhyul gives an order that if Nakrang does not fall, Hodong is to be executed. Father of the year he is not).

In a way, that is why if it wasn't for his seduction-to-victory plan, Hodong would have never gotten together with La Hee even if Ja Myung did not exist - they are both emotional cripples and Hodong, at least, is smart enough to recognize that. I think that is a huge part of his attraction to Ja Myung - she is a breath of sane air (significantly she has been brought up outside palace environment). When I think of Hodong, it's the same emotion I get when I think of Jang Jae Min from Bali - he is twisted and deeply flawed but the wonder and the tragedy of it is that for his family he is not flawed and twisted enough. One of the last things Ja Myung tells him is that in their next life she wishes she would be his mother. I remember people thinking WTF but it made perfect sense to me - the thing Hodong lacked most and needed most was a loving parent - it is something he never got. (And of course it's also a show of love towards her sister - this way La Hee can have Hodong as a lover).

And this brings me to gender dynamics. Except for Muhyul, all the true movers and shakers in the story, every catalyst is a woman. Nowhere it is as evident as with Ja Myung and Hodong. I remember reading that Jung Kyung Ho was cast as Hodong and being genuinely puzzled. He has since gone on to be one of my favorite leading men and certainly terrifying and violent and feral enough in Cruel City to play the scariest warlord of them all if necessary but that wasn't the case at the time. I thought of him as the spoiled little brother to the angsty vengeance seeker of Sorry I Love You, or as a smart little brother to the amnesiac mob assassin in Time Between Dog and Wolf. Or, more likely, in his big break-out role as the male lead of Smile You. The thing is, in all of these, even Smile You, he is the quintessential nice guy (or as the term is in certain circles, "beta male.") He was about the last person I'd normally envision as a male lead in a period drama about war. But once I saw the drama, it all made sense and not because he was bringing his later Cruel City persona.

Because despite his undoubted ability to fight in battle, Ja Myung and Hodong are all about gender reversal - at one point she even becomes his bodyguard! If you think about it, they take gender roles usually reserved for the opposite gender - she is the proactive one, who sets the story in motion, the rebel leader. He is the one who conquered Nakrang through seduction of La Hee, something seen as a typically female method. His seducing La Hee into destroying the protective drum is a far cry from Jumong fighting through hordes single-handed or Dam Duk in The Legend taking on an army with a small unit armed with nothing but grit or even the Prince in Haechi or King in GK War outwitting his court enemies with balls and brains. And, as a typically female method, his way of victory gets him nothing but scorn - in the first episode, his stepmother calls him a whore to his face. It's the same with the relationship - Ja Myung can let go of him, but he cannot let go of her.

The women are uniformly fascinating and complex in this - even someone like La Hee does not just give in to Hodong's false sweet words - she genuinely believes surrender would save her country. The drama's respect for its female characters is summed up in a single scene - one of the characters is a widow of Wang Jashi's brother (the one she poisoned). Her 10-year-old brother-in-law marries her to save her from execution. 10 years later, they are still married and when she is doing the proper thing and helping him bathe, you see her experience and suppress her desire - because her husband is now a gorgeous gorgeous man. It could be a ludicrous situation - she changed the guy's diapers and she is not what you'd consider traditionally good-looking. But instead drama treats her feeling with respect and understanding. I loved it for that.

Oh, and I am just gonna leave this little father-son convo here:

Hodong: Your Majesty, what did you tell me before? You said if only you gain Nakrang without any blood being spilt, you would bestow leniency on them. Take pity on them. The other way there will be no end to rebellion and we will all die. Daemushin: Your own grandfather, King Yuri, killed his own two sons. I was young and I could not understand that. How could he? How can a father kill his own child. Unless he was crazy, how could he kill his sons? I finally understand him today. For a King, a son with other intentions is nothing but a political enemy. A political enemy that must be killed and gotten rid of. Hodong: Do you wish to kill me? Daemushin: [throws down a puppet of a woman] You must know who this wench is. Who is she? Hodong: It is Emperor Choi Ri's unknown daughter, Princess Ja Myung. Daemushin: Find her and kill her. Hodong: Father, I cannot do that! I...I...that woman... Daemushin: When you chop off the head of that woman Jae Myung, I will make you the Crown Prince. If your father is King Daemushin, who has expanded his kingdom, then you must survive and show all other nations how to rule that kingdom. Hodong: Your subject Hodong accepts Your Highness' command.

Parent of the Year indeed!

PS If you've watched enough sageuks, you will recognize that wily old monster Daemushin is actually the protag of The Kingdom of the Winds where he looked like this:

(I did a pusher post for TKotW before so won't repeat.) The funny thing is much as I adored the ML of TKotW, I can totally see him progress into that monster here. It would be logical.

Anyway, digression over, go watch JMG!

#kdrama #ja myung go #jung kyung ho #park min young #Jung ryo won

17 notes · View notes

penrose-quinn · 9 months

Text

I'm gonna be hated on for this but I love Kyung-ja, despite everything. She's the most complex (and entertaining) character of this show for me. She wasn't a very good mother, but she did try to be there for him in her own way. She did love her son, but her revenge seemed more like it was for her than him. She's giving me the kind of mother that sees her child as an extension of herself, even though he didn't turn out like what she wanted him to be. She didn't want to see all the wrong in her son because she didn't want to see all the wrong in herself. Oh-nam was a bleak reflection of her failures. It was all laid out for her when she saw his apartment, the dead body, and even being aware but in denial of Mo-mi's sexual assault in her trial on the news. She refused to see the truth like how she refused to see her son's trauma, seeing him as weak. But because of this, she also sees him as something that needs to be protected because he's the only thing that's left in her life, the one good thing that kept her going. There's so much resentment in her but so much grief too so where does she place all of that but to the woman who killed him?

Also she's really funny and crazy af. I'm scared of her lol.

#mask girl #kim kyung ja #kyung-ja is also a good foil to mo-mi's mother who'd been cold and detached of her daughter #like to the point she's making sure mi-mo doesn't turn out like mo-mi as if she's fixing a mistake #it's ironic how oh-nam and mo-mi who have diff mothers still grow up as emotionally scarred ppl longing to be loved for who they are #istg i love love love the mother child relationships of this show

53 notes · View notes

yourann · 4 months

Text

"Don't resent Mi-ja."

Welcome to Samdal-ri (2023) | 웰컴투 삼달리 Episode 15

#welcome to samdalri #kdrama #cho sang tae #ko mi ja #kim mi kyung #yoo oh sung #bu mi ja

20 notes · View notes

deadangelos · 2 years

Note

Hey Drew and Will! If you don't mind me asking, how did you guys become friends?

#pjo #percy jackson #drew tanaka #will solace #clarisse la rue #charles beckendorf #silena beauregard #mitchell pjo #atticus locke #raymond bond #mi kyung-ja #< ooooh new ocs ooooh #ask #drawn response #well minus atticus he's not new lmao #also woah wow charles and silena cameo

358 notes · View notes

gacougnol · 11 months

Text

kyung Ja JEONG

Nevertheless 03, 2021

#kyung ja jeong #korean photographer

62 notes · View notes

arinewman7 · 1 month

Text

The 22nd Page of My Sad Legend

Chun Kyung-ja

1977

#Chun Kyung-ja #art #artist #painter #painting #The 22nd Page of My Sad Legend

12 notes · View notes

eveneechan · 1 year

Text

The Color Concept on Little Women (2022)

Part 1: Princess of Thieves

The Princess of Thieves Orchid have 2 colors: Pink and Purple

Which is the color of dress that Injoo and Hwayoung wear during Singapore climax scene

Injoo: Pink

Hwayoung: Purple

Pink as Injoo's color

Pink orchid have meaning: Romance, Love, Friendship

Injoo's main plot always not far from her sisters and Hwayoung. Her love for them is driving force that keep made Injoo move foward

Purple as Hwayoung's color

Purple orchid have meaning: Wisdom, Intellegence, MYSTERY

Wisdom: Hwayoung is Injoo's senior at workplace. Injoo saw Hwayoung as someone who teach her many things

Intellegence: Hwayoung had planned things very further and details, and outsmarting Sangah's manipulation

Mystery: Hwayoung is central mystery of the story

Hwayoung's Apartment

Hwayoung have small purple orchid on her apartment at Singapore

Hwayoung's apartment wallpaper at South Korea have purple as main color. The wallpaper also used as background for one of main poster

***

Purple and Pink on title of Little Women

In opening sequence, the title Little Women have purple with pink shade as background color

In each ending of episode, the title Little Women appear before credits, usually appear in white text and black screen, before the text got painted. The first color of paint in text is Pink and Purple

Which is color of Injoo and Hwayoung

It's like indicating how Little Women's plot story, beside the Oh Sisters, mostly will be around Injoo and Hwayoung

***

A glimpse of Pink and Purple color on Injoo and Hwayoung's clothes at South Korea

At South Korea, Injoo mostly wear earth color pallete clothes and Hwayoung mostly wear colorless (black/white) clothes

(more explaination on Part 2: Earthenspoon & Nospoon)

But in 1st episode, there's small purple part in Hwayoung clothes. And when Injoo "playing rich", she wear pink clothes.

It's like hinting how they are part of Princess of Thieves later in story

***

Cinderella and Fairygodmother

Hwayoung and Injoo in restaurant scene heavily referenced from Cinderella

Hwayoung is like Fairygodmother who dressing Injoo, the Cinderella, to "playing rich"

The Purple color on Hwayoung and Pink color on Injoo is similar with purple color on Cinderella's Pink dress and Fairygodmother's Purple cloak

***

Color Mood of Princess of Thieves

In each scene when Injoo had thinking or talking about Hwayoung, the color mood around her change into combination of Pink and Purple; the color of Princess of Thieves

Quoting from Choo Jahyun (Hwayoung's actress)'s interview:

"It felt like Goeun (Injoo's actress) was living as both Injoo and Hwayoung at the same time in Little Women"

The combination of pink and purple color mood on those scenes is like symbolized how Injoo and Hwayoung become one on Injoo's mind

***

The Intruder: Yellow

On Princess of Thieves that appear on Singapore's auction, the flower has little shade of Yellow

Which is color of Won Sangah and fake!Hwayoung's dress on Singapore

Won = name of Korean money currency

Korean highest currency (50,000) has color of Yellow

Yellow = Sangah and Won Family = Capitalism

Yellow vs Purple

On color wheel theory, Yellow and Purple are color that opposite to each other

Symbolized how Hwayoung (Purple) and Sangah (Yellow) are total opposite

In opening sequence, Oh sisters were drawn mostly with shade of purple, and their background is yellow.

Indicating how the sisters are like "actors" in Sangah's play vs Hwayoung; how the battle between those masterminds was told from three sisters' perspective

It's also symbolized how Sangah = Yellow = Money = Capitalism is the main enemy

***

The Shadow of Flower

Hwayoung (화영)'s name have meaning Beautiful Flower. The writer JSK had mentioned that she want to give a name to Hwayoung that relate to Flowers because Hwayoung love gardening

In hanja, Hwayoung have secret meaning of her name: 花影 = 꽃의 그림자 = Shadow of Flower

It's like symbolising how Hwayoung is shadow part of flowers:

1. Princess of Thieves: to Injoo

At first, Hwayoung's color seems like also Pink

Hwayoung mostly wear pink on her second account/alter ego Jin Mikyung and on Injoo's imagination about Hwayoung's second life

It's like foreshadowing how Hwayoung live under Injoo's name at Singapore

On locker scene, Hwayoung seems like giving off her pink clothes to Injoo. Like symbolizing she's fully giving the pink side of Princess of Thieves to Injoo, together with all money and Bruno Zumino shoes that she give to her on the bag

2. Blue Ghost Orchid: to Sangah and Won Family/Jeongran

The surname Jin (진) on Jin Hwayoung is to give impression that Hwayoung is came from place that far away (indeed in character description of Hwayoung on official website, it's written Hwayoung is not from Seoul and came to there to work on Orchid Construction). If we look to Jin in Chinese surname version, it has meaning GOLD

It's like secret meaning on how Hwayoung in back have so many money and assets, because she's part of secret society Jeongran and worked for Won family

***

Thief Princess

youtube

There's Little Women OST titled "Thief Princess"

The OST indeed mostly got played in some scene that relate to Injoo or/and Hwayoung:

When Injoo decided to search the truth behind Hwayoung's death, and she look to the unbloomed Princess of Thieves

When Sangah give Injoo a blue suit, and then Injoo remembering how Hwayoung give her a black suit before this

When Hwayoung confess that she want Injoo to be happy on court scene

87 notes · View notes

kawaiixchaotic · 8 months

Text

I JUST POSTED THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY VERY FIRST AO3 FIC AHHHHHH

it's a sapphic enemies to lovers fic based on the Kdrama "Mine" (2021) from TVN. It is also a Netflix original.

it's a chapter I've had sitting around for a while due to lack of motivation but I'm trying to get back to writing regularly and I'm hoping the momentum from this will help motivate me. Pls share, tell me ur thoughts, enjoy!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50941678

#lesbian #lgbtq #sapphic #cute #writers on tumblr #ao3 fanfic #kdrama #qpoc #tvn mine #seo hi soo #kang ja kyung #lee hye jin #jung seo hyun

7 notes · View notes

catboymoments · 6 months

Text

I had a thought about how I could put the v3 characters in the postcanon sdr2 timeline? Like they’re still the same guys more or less but different incarnations?? They’re a bit younger than Hayato’s age group and helping rebuild the world after the tragedy..

#my art #danganronpa #sdr2 #thh #ndrv3 #shino saihara #k1b0 #kyung ja Akamatsu

127 notes · View notes

passionforfiction · 1 year

Text

Call It Love

This is not the typical cross-lovers story. Shim Woo Joo - in her quest to avenge her family from her late father's mistress (and later wife) who took away their home - she meets Han Dong Jin (the woman's son). And in her attempt at revenge, she falls in love.

Even if the story sounds like the typical storyline, the execution is different. Here she has a male-best friend who is just a friend. There is no best friend-in love with her in silence troupe. They are truly best friends and he falls in love with her older sister. It explores what happens when a parent leaves home to be with someone else from different perspectives. Hae Sung (the eldest daughter) is always dating the wrong men but never gives up on being with someone. Yet, when she finds out that the man she is seeing is actually married, she feels horrible about herself because she has sworn never to do that. She knows how painful that is. Woo Joo took on the weight of the house, not going to school and working. She is the strong one, the one who takes charge, the one that suffers in silence while her older sister can play and her younger brother too. She is the one with the consuming anger, the one that knows the face of her father's lover, the one who confronted him and watched him leave with the other woman. And she is the one who seeks revenge when the woman throws them out of their home. Ji Goo was too little when it happened. He only remembers his father as a loving man. He never saw him with another woman, and he lives a pretty much carefree life. Their mother is also an elegant woman, who doesn't lower herself in front of the mistress or her unfaithful husband. I liked that too. I can understand their pain, I could relate to Woo Joo in many ways.

I could also see Dong Jin and how his mother's actions also affected his life. How he carried the shame of her unethical behavior, how he has to deal with the consequences of her actions. These are young people that are living with the hurt and pain, and I liked watching their healing process. I liked how the story unfolded, leaving cliché out of the equation. It felt real and its bittersweetness, mixed with the sweetness of hope, balancing the mood of the story.

I truly loved the story and recommend it.

Poster from iMDb -https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26228312/

#call it love #korean series #Kim Young-Kwang #Lee Sung-Kyung #Sung Joon #Choi Jung-Woo #Kim Ye-Won #Ahn Hee-Yeon #Ma Hee-Ja #Jang Sung-Bum #Ahn Nae-Sang #Jun Suk-Ho

21 notes · View notes