The following was meant to be part of another article for my Fanwall. But it is too long to insert, so I am posting it separately. The other article will follow later.
Now, I finally also better understand the points the scriptwriter was making in her interview with Cine 21 on March 1, 2023. (The interview was published in four parts on March 11, 2023.)
THE INTERVIEW WITH WRITER HWANG JIN-YOUNG
Hwang Jin-young explained her motivation for writing (so far only) sageuk or (in a better romanised form) period dramas, sidaegeug— 시대극.
« It is attractive that period dramas naturally reveal the decisive emotions and the human figure driven to the edge of the cliff. […] I often think that this work is fun when intense human emotions of wanting to escape from the shackles of social status and social restrictions are expressed. That’s what I am attracted to : looking into human nature and archetypes in dramatic situations rather than calmly unraveling trivial points of everyday life. » — Here we have it … Jung’s archetypes …
When the interviewer asked her, why she had chosen a particular historic period over another, Hwang Jin-young explained how her four sidaegeug (all produced by MBC) came about. Generally, she is looking « for writing in a way that adds imagination to the historical information gap.»
« My Dearest » came about as pondering on a remark Lee Byeong-hoon, a former director of MBC, had made. That the story of Crown Prince Sohyeon and Kangbin is very interesting, but too tragic to touch. Even historical drama experts had said that.
Yet, there are many materials that are difficult to solve —something also true for the Byeongja Horan—, she explains, and «in the case of 연인, I deliberately thought of the movie Gone with the Wind a lot.»
« I believed that if the conflict, hope, and beauty in the movie were superimposed on the situation of the Byeongjahoran era, it would not seem difficult, and the story of the people who lived through that era could be told convincingly. » — Here we have it — her —as she calls it— superimposition of David O’Selznick’s Gone with the Wind and the American Civil War onto the Byeongja Horan.
When writing a drama, she explains, she wants to communicate to the audience with an interesting story. « For a story to be interesting, it needs a probable connection, and that link needs to be specific to be convincing. »
She had researched the historic data on and around the Byeongja Horan meticulously in order to increase the logical probability of a story. She incorporates all information as his own through a total of three steps.
« If you see it once, you won’t understand what it means at once, so I read it through twice, and from the third time I underline the information I need. And I transfer all the materials to a folder, which becomes my own warehouse. After completing these steps, when writing a screenplay, you will be able to develop your own thoughts without referring to each material individually again. »
« I don’t try to show a person with a specific tone of my own. […] Injo prepares his own way to deal with the Qing Dynasty, which is becoming powerful, but nevertheless he becomes the king of a defeated country. But all of a sudden, [..] I was wondering if I could criticize [him] not being ‘extraordinary’ just because he couldn’t get through the situation in an extraordinary way. Of course, I have no intention of sympathizing with Injo, but I hoped that viewers would be able to look into Injo’s broken heart in more detail. So, how much even the wicked resemble ‘me’ and ‘we’. That is also my personal value. In fact, recently, many studies have been conducted that contain this perspective of re-evaluation. So I tend to show the emotions and circumstances of the villain in my work. Wouldn’t it be too unrealistic for someone to be entirely evil? The moment it doesn’t feel real, the immersion in the story goes down. Everyone is three-dimensional. »
« My Dearest is a drama that starts with the Byeongja Horan and shows Joseon after the Byeongja Horan. In addition to Janghyeon and Gilchae’s love, I’m trying to shed light on the stories of people who were taken prisoner. The number of people taken prisoner is staggering, but there is not much food. In order to add to the enjoyment of historical dramas, director Kim Seong-yong pays attention to even the smallest details such as sets, props, and costumes.»
The interviewer asked her about her way of writing in an poetic format, combining lyricism with tragedy.
« For me, the lyrical moments that coexist with the tragic moments feel very beautiful. So I often try to embody that beauty in my script. Also, when composing a drama, it feels fun to intersect conflicting emotions, so for example, putting lyricism behind a grim scene, or light-heartedness behind a tragic one. In order for a battle or strategy to look intense, it needs to have lyricism to stand out more. When the two extremes harmonize, the story seems richer. » — In my view she managed that extremely well with the scenes in the Qing war camp, as an example.
Hwang Jin-young’s views on the relationship of story (scriptwriter) and production (the PD and all team members) are also very visible in « My Dearest » I feel :
« I think the script needs to give accurate information. After all, the essence of content is the story. Each writer has a different inclination, but I tend to explain the atmosphere and acting tone that I envisioned in my head in as much detail as possible in the script. Looking at the script, I think the writer should provide a more specific script so that each team can draw a common picture, so that the shooting can proceed more smoothly.»
One useful thing to note (but you might already be aware of it) is that in Korean “시“ is pronounced as “shi” and not as ‘si’ so the romanisation is entirely wrong. This distortion is why I use a modified romanisation if and when I find it necessary to use it at all in order to get as close as possible to the actual Korean pronunciation.
ps – Another example which I often see on this cite is when the romanised “maknae” is used for “ 막내” which is incorrect. The Korean pronunciation is “mangneh” because it does not exactly follow what is written in Hangeul. Just one of the many such distortions.
Thanks! No I was not aware of it. I realised that the topic of romanisation is a really complicated one … but the only useable table I found so far is the one on Wikipedia EN with the Unicode characters. So I have created an Excel spreadsheet in which I copy/paste the characters I find and then write the romanised forms under it. Then I put it into Google translate and get an (often) so-so translation. For short texts I can create this more easily, but for along text this is a huge task. If I select the audio button on Google Translate to hear the pronounciation, yes I notice sometimes that the voicing of the sound is different from what I would have done with it in romanising it.
Also, there is this other, Cune Reischauer system, which academics use, but which I find pretty cumbersome to write/read …. So your way is probably better, but for that one needs to understand the language in the first place, probably, right?
I am impressed by your scholarly approach and analysis so please don’t think I was criticising you. The Wikipedia and other Internet sources are using romanisation because unfortunately the problem goes way back to when Korean letters were translated’ to English by the first Westerners who publicised them outside Korea as such. Not only they couldn’t properly approximate many of the sounds, they also didn’t understand how many pronunciation rules Korean has (visavis how the proximity of certain letters to each other in two syllables can chang their pronunciation) now commonly criticised as highly inaccurate and misleading by a number of good native speaking Korean teachers who teach online.
I know, @dncingemma. I did not take your comments as criticisms in any way. Instead, I find it most helpful to have someone knwledgeabe to talk to about the Korean language. As you might have noticed, I love languages! Using language is our first point of contact in communication in many, many situations. And I like the sound of the Korean language (whereas I do not like the sound of Chinese for example ; I always think people have potatoes in their mouth when they talk.) — I signed up for a Korean language learning course via the Internet, but so far I have not had ANY time for this … So for now, I am trying to understand the structure of this language. You saying that there are many different pronounciation rules is, for example, a new learning experience for me right now (which I cherish).
I can distinguish, most often, an American from a Canadian from a British from a Scottish, an Australian or a New Zealander speaking English ; I can distinguish a person from France speaking French and a person from one of the African countries or the North African countries speaking French or a French Swiss speaking French ; I can distinguish Spanish spoken by a Spaniard from Spain, or a Columbian or Chilean. And of course, as German, I can distinguish a German (even regional accents) speaking German, from an Austrian or a Swiss German.
The other day I overheard an Asian person speaking, and I could recognize that it was Korean! I turned around, and indeed … yipee, I thought. I recognise spoken Japanese although I don’t understand a lot.
It bugs me somewhat that people often are so negligent when it comes to other cultures’ most important tool. I would like to understand Korean, not because I think I might be travelling to the country often now, but because I recognise that language forms mind and matter. In that way, for example, the polite form which young Koreans and foreigners find so difficult (apparently) is something very important in my mind for the Korean culture, the Korean way of life AND the mind of a Korean person. That historic Korean dramas use the personal name in their subtitled translations when a person is addressed by another is a mistake in my view. (Rakuten viki does not do this most of the time though, but Netflix and Kocowa do). Same for contemporary K-dramas. I recognise that Koreans often address another by their functional title, also in comemporary settings. I think that is a very valid and good idea since it shows straight away the relationship which exists between these two people; there is no personal relationship as yet. Just as an example. I like that because Western languages have ALL lost this, so far as I can tell.
Thank you for this. Really interesting. One concern that I have is the valorisation of “Gone with the Wind” as GWTW glorified slavery and it is rightly derided by many. I wish the scriptwriter hadn’t just included their admiring views but also had acknowledged the underlying horrors of slavery.
I feel she did not NOT do that intentionally. My sense was that she is aware of the problematic part of GWTW but she only picked the love story evolvement of the movie leaving that particular AMERICAN HISTORIC aside as it was of no consequence for her as Korean. Maybe it was just a question of knowledge, meaning she wanted such a female character as her protagonist, with a male protagonist matching a roguish Rhett Butler but « in a Korean way » and for the 1600s. Her knowledge of such a character from film or literature might have been limited. And I, too, must admit, from the top of my head I would not know any myself.
Just thinking : if my assumption below is correct, i.e. the writer had focused on the love story part with a female lead who is such a strong women coming from her dainty spoiled Southern Belle background (hunkydory country yangban who turns men’s heads in the Korean version), then Gil Chae’s kidnapping and being dragged to Qing and almost abused makes even more sense. It shows the strength of her survival character (like Scarlet’s). — I also feel, the writer is starting to digress a bit from the GWTW parallel (except that Gil Chae’s husband will probably die like Frank Kennedy). — Also the Jang Hyeon is now already pretty different from the Rhett Butler, I feel. He is a survivor and he is kind and he knows the ways of the world … but that’s where the comparisons end for me. Rhett Butler —in the end— left his Scarlet with that famous line : frankly, my dear, I don’t care a damn … — and she thinks of Tara, i.e. the land (as the innermost source of her being). I don’t think that’s Gil Chae’s way … she is not linked to the earth in this way, but I do not know at the moment what the writer might choose instead. That short scene in EP 1 where Jang Hyeon (in a Korean scholar’s attire by the way) is facing a crowd of men with pitch forks and swords etc. … and he repeats this one sentence … asking (Gil Chae, most likely) if she hears the sound of flowers … I feel it will have something to do with this. But currently no idea what.
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angelshadows50
October 15, 2023 at 5:57 AM
The following was meant to be part of another article for my Fanwall. But it is too long to insert, so I am posting it separately. The other article will follow later.
Now, I finally also better understand the points the scriptwriter was making in her interview with Cine 21 on March 1, 2023. (The interview was published in four parts on March 11, 2023.)
THE INTERVIEW WITH WRITER HWANG JIN-YOUNG
Hwang Jin-young explained her motivation for writing (so far only) sageuk or (in a better romanised form) period dramas, sidaegeug— 시대극.
« It is attractive that period dramas naturally reveal the decisive emotions and the human figure driven to the edge of the cliff. […] I often think that this work is fun when intense human emotions of wanting to escape from the shackles of social status and social restrictions are expressed. That’s what I am attracted to : looking into human nature and archetypes in dramatic situations rather than calmly unraveling trivial points of everyday life. » — Here we have it … Jung’s archetypes …
When the interviewer asked her, why she had chosen a particular historic period over another, Hwang Jin-young explained how her four sidaegeug (all produced by MBC) came about. Generally, she is looking « for writing in a way that adds imagination to the historical information gap.»
« My Dearest » came about as pondering on a remark Lee Byeong-hoon, a former director of MBC, had made. That the story of Crown Prince Sohyeon and Kangbin is very interesting, but too tragic to touch. Even historical drama experts had said that.
Yet, there are many materials that are difficult to solve —something also true for the Byeongja Horan—, she explains, and «in the case of 연인, I deliberately thought of the movie Gone with the Wind a lot.»
« I believed that if the conflict, hope, and beauty in the movie were superimposed on the situation of the Byeongjahoran era, it would not seem difficult, and the story of the people who lived through that era could be told convincingly. » — Here we have it — her —as she calls it— superimposition of David O’Selznick’s Gone with the Wind and the American Civil War onto the Byeongja Horan.
When writing a drama, she explains, she wants to communicate to the audience with an interesting story. « For a story to be interesting, it needs a probable connection, and that link needs to be specific to be convincing. »
She had researched the historic data on and around the Byeongja Horan meticulously in order to increase the logical probability of a story. She incorporates all information as his own through a total of three steps.
« If you see it once, you won’t understand what it means at once, so I read it through twice, and from the third time I underline the information I need. And I transfer all the materials to a folder, which becomes my own warehouse. After completing these steps, when writing a screenplay, you will be able to develop your own thoughts without referring to each material individually again. »
« I don’t try to show a person with a specific tone of my own. […] Injo prepares his own way to deal with the Qing Dynasty, which is becoming powerful, but nevertheless he becomes the king of a defeated country. But all of a sudden, [..] I was wondering if I could criticize [him] not being ‘extraordinary’ just because he couldn’t get through the situation in an extraordinary way. Of course, I have no intention of sympathizing with Injo, but I hoped that viewers would be able to look into Injo’s broken heart in more detail. So, how much even the wicked resemble ‘me’ and ‘we’. That is also my personal value. In fact, recently, many studies have been conducted that contain this perspective of re-evaluation. So I tend to show the emotions and circumstances of the villain in my work. Wouldn’t it be too unrealistic for someone to be entirely evil? The moment it doesn’t feel real, the immersion in the story goes down. Everyone is three-dimensional. »
« My Dearest is a drama that starts with the Byeongja Horan and shows Joseon after the Byeongja Horan. In addition to Janghyeon and Gilchae’s love, I’m trying to shed light on the stories of people who were taken prisoner. The number of people taken prisoner is staggering, but there is not much food. In order to add to the enjoyment of historical dramas, director Kim Seong-yong pays attention to even the smallest details such as sets, props, and costumes.»
The interviewer asked her about her way of writing in an poetic format, combining lyricism with tragedy.
« For me, the lyrical moments that coexist with the tragic moments feel very beautiful. So I often try to embody that beauty in my script. Also, when composing a drama, it feels fun to intersect conflicting emotions, so for example, putting lyricism behind a grim scene, or light-heartedness behind a tragic one. In order for a battle or strategy to look intense, it needs to have lyricism to stand out more. When the two extremes harmonize, the story seems richer. » — In my view she managed that extremely well with the scenes in the Qing war camp, as an example.
Hwang Jin-young’s views on the relationship of story (scriptwriter) and production (the PD and all team members) are also very visible in « My Dearest » I feel :
« I think the script needs to give accurate information. After all, the essence of content is the story. Each writer has a different inclination, but I tend to explain the atmosphere and acting tone that I envisioned in my head in as much detail as possible in the script. Looking at the script, I think the writer should provide a more specific script so that each team can draw a common picture, so that the shooting can proceed more smoothly.»
DancingEmma
October 16, 2023 at 10:41 PM
One useful thing to note (but you might already be aware of it) is that in Korean “시“ is pronounced as “shi” and not as ‘si’ so the romanisation is entirely wrong. This distortion is why I use a modified romanisation if and when I find it necessary to use it at all in order to get as close as possible to the actual Korean pronunciation.
ps – Another example which I often see on this cite is when the romanised “maknae” is used for “ 막내” which is incorrect. The Korean pronunciation is “mangneh” because it does not exactly follow what is written in Hangeul. Just one of the many such distortions.
angelshadows50
October 16, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Thanks! No I was not aware of it. I realised that the topic of romanisation is a really complicated one … but the only useable table I found so far is the one on Wikipedia EN with the Unicode characters. So I have created an Excel spreadsheet in which I copy/paste the characters I find and then write the romanised forms under it. Then I put it into Google translate and get an (often) so-so translation. For short texts I can create this more easily, but for along text this is a huge task. If I select the audio button on Google Translate to hear the pronounciation, yes I notice sometimes that the voicing of the sound is different from what I would have done with it in romanising it.
Also, there is this other, Cune Reischauer system, which academics use, but which I find pretty cumbersome to write/read …. So your way is probably better, but for that one needs to understand the language in the first place, probably, right?
angelshadows50
October 17, 2023 at 12:04 AM
I’ll post an example on the fantail
angelshadows50
October 17, 2023 at 12:11 AM
*fanwall
DancingEmma
October 17, 2023 at 12:17 AM
I love ‘fantail’! It is a great typo/text replacement!
DancingEmma
October 17, 2023 at 12:14 AM
I am impressed by your scholarly approach and analysis so please don’t think I was criticising you. The Wikipedia and other Internet sources are using romanisation because unfortunately the problem goes way back to when Korean letters were translated’ to English by the first Westerners who publicised them outside Korea as such. Not only they couldn’t properly approximate many of the sounds, they also didn’t understand how many pronunciation rules Korean has (visavis how the proximity of certain letters to each other in two syllables can chang their pronunciation) now commonly criticised as highly inaccurate and misleading by a number of good native speaking Korean teachers who teach online.
angelshadows50
October 17, 2023 at 9:21 AM
I know, @dncingemma. I did not take your comments as criticisms in any way. Instead, I find it most helpful to have someone knwledgeabe to talk to about the Korean language. As you might have noticed, I love languages! Using language is our first point of contact in communication in many, many situations. And I like the sound of the Korean language (whereas I do not like the sound of Chinese for example ; I always think people have potatoes in their mouth when they talk.) — I signed up for a Korean language learning course via the Internet, but so far I have not had ANY time for this … So for now, I am trying to understand the structure of this language. You saying that there are many different pronounciation rules is, for example, a new learning experience for me right now (which I cherish).
I can distinguish, most often, an American from a Canadian from a British from a Scottish, an Australian or a New Zealander speaking English ; I can distinguish a person from France speaking French and a person from one of the African countries or the North African countries speaking French or a French Swiss speaking French ; I can distinguish Spanish spoken by a Spaniard from Spain, or a Columbian or Chilean. And of course, as German, I can distinguish a German (even regional accents) speaking German, from an Austrian or a Swiss German.
The other day I overheard an Asian person speaking, and I could recognize that it was Korean! I turned around, and indeed … yipee, I thought. I recognise spoken Japanese although I don’t understand a lot.
It bugs me somewhat that people often are so negligent when it comes to other cultures’ most important tool. I would like to understand Korean, not because I think I might be travelling to the country often now, but because I recognise that language forms mind and matter. In that way, for example, the polite form which young Koreans and foreigners find so difficult (apparently) is something very important in my mind for the Korean culture, the Korean way of life AND the mind of a Korean person. That historic Korean dramas use the personal name in their subtitled translations when a person is addressed by another is a mistake in my view. (Rakuten viki does not do this most of the time though, but Netflix and Kocowa do). Same for contemporary K-dramas. I recognise that Koreans often address another by their functional title, also in comemporary settings. I think that is a very valid and good idea since it shows straight away the relationship which exists between these two people; there is no personal relationship as yet. Just as an example. I like that because Western languages have ALL lost this, so far as I can tell.
DancingEmma
October 17, 2023 at 12:37 AM
Thank you for this. Really interesting. One concern that I have is the valorisation of “Gone with the Wind” as GWTW glorified slavery and it is rightly derided by many. I wish the scriptwriter hadn’t just included their admiring views but also had acknowledged the underlying horrors of slavery.
angelshadows50
October 17, 2023 at 8:26 AM
I feel she did not NOT do that intentionally. My sense was that she is aware of the problematic part of GWTW but she only picked the love story evolvement of the movie leaving that particular AMERICAN HISTORIC aside as it was of no consequence for her as Korean. Maybe it was just a question of knowledge, meaning she wanted such a female character as her protagonist, with a male protagonist matching a roguish Rhett Butler but « in a Korean way » and for the 1600s. Her knowledge of such a character from film or literature might have been limited. And I, too, must admit, from the top of my head I would not know any myself.
angelshadows50
October 17, 2023 at 8:44 AM
Just thinking : if my assumption below is correct, i.e. the writer had focused on the love story part with a female lead who is such a strong women coming from her dainty spoiled Southern Belle background (hunkydory country yangban who turns men’s heads in the Korean version), then Gil Chae’s kidnapping and being dragged to Qing and almost abused makes even more sense. It shows the strength of her survival character (like Scarlet’s). — I also feel, the writer is starting to digress a bit from the GWTW parallel (except that Gil Chae’s husband will probably die like Frank Kennedy). — Also the Jang Hyeon is now already pretty different from the Rhett Butler, I feel. He is a survivor and he is kind and he knows the ways of the world … but that’s where the comparisons end for me. Rhett Butler —in the end— left his Scarlet with that famous line : frankly, my dear, I don’t care a damn … — and she thinks of Tara, i.e. the land (as the innermost source of her being). I don’t think that’s Gil Chae’s way … she is not linked to the earth in this way, but I do not know at the moment what the writer might choose instead. That short scene in EP 1 where Jang Hyeon (in a Korean scholar’s attire by the way) is facing a crowd of men with pitch forks and swords etc. … and he repeats this one sentence … asking (Gil Chae, most likely) if she hears the sound of flowers … I feel it will have something to do with this. But currently no idea what.