Comments on Boys Before Flowers, Ep 9 &10

Some passing thoughts as I watched episodes 9 and 10 of Boys Before Flowers, the Korean version of Hana Yori Dango:

1) there seem to be a lot of allusions to the Chivalric Court, Chivalric codes of conduct, and the love triangle between Launcelot du Lake, Guinevere, and King Arthur. recall for instance the scene wherein ji hoo's response to geum jan di when she says he always appears when she presses the emergency button in her heart: he hopes that he can always be her honorary firefighter. i use this particular instance to illustrate both points. in la morte du arthur, launcelot is not only guinevere's personal knight who always defends her honor, he is also the person with whom she commits adultery. in courtly love however, the lady's knight remains her platonic paramour, the two never really consummate their love. i guess ji hoo will remain jan di's knight in shining armor, her soul mate, the two destined to not unite at least in this lifetime. ohhhh spare me anachronistic chivalric posturing.... but i guess there is a lot of that in this show...it is a collection of many old-fashioned anachronistic relations and posturing...hybridized with many modern elements to make it somewhat understandable.


2) rigidity of tribal, class, social divides. goo jun pyo is not simply a scion of a wealthy family whose realm of power is limited to Korea only, he is a plutocrat whose power extends across the globe. in this over-the-top drama we see real indications of what the world is like. you need to be able to discern between froth and substance but it is there if you know what to look for. it is not trivial when goo's mother tells jan di's parents that her son is necessary to the whole world, upholds the whole world. the concept of emperor is common to orient but i wasn't expecting to see it here. goo's mother obviously thinks of herself and her family as empress and ruling family. i think what i am struck by with this scene is how the real wealthy and powerful of the world are not limited to their respective countries. rather there are long standing ties between all those in real power.

the tiff between a world emperor's mother and a local chieftain over the mating of their respective children is predictable and not particularly noteworthy. jan di 's mother gives as good as she gets. she may be a puny local chieftain, but she is every bit as calculating and power hungry as goo's mother. the sheer calculation in her eyes and face as she compares in her mind the difference between the actual worth of the shin wa group and the measly 300 million won she is offered to have her daughter stop seeing goo jun pyo is very well acted by the actress who play's jan di's mother. we almost don't need the lines she later utters where she explicitly states this comparison. i guess the director felt the need to include this scene and lines in case audience members failed to understand her motivation in pouring salt on her rival. why settle for 300 million won when you can have the whole world???? goodness gracious the more i watch boys before flowers i am reminded of korean historical court dramas - boys before flowers has to be yi san parading as some sort of teenage girl trash lit.

aside from historical court drama masquerading as high school romance, boys before flowers also highlights a troubling aspect of much of the world: the chasm that separates the have's from the have-not's. if there is one thing that is coming through loud and clear after watching a bunch of asian dramas and movies is the charmed existence of the rich and the horrid existence of the poor. i guess if you are born poor you die poor. upward mobility is only possible through some fantasy of a rich spouse. i can only speculate..but it is unfortunate that so many have nothing and so few have everything.

what is funny and tragic is that those who are depicted as having everything in the media in fact are not the real power and wealth holders. the real power and wealth holders are invisible. those who are visible are the fall-guys, the whipping boys....oh well....c'est la vie c'est la vum that's the way life is....

3) it is easy to become captivated by the story and gloss over details that don't really have a place in my world or way of being. but if i stop to consider my responses, i notice that a lot of the physical sensations that the drama evokes in me are uncomfortable, disagreeable and unpleasant. one thing i know for certain, i don't share the same mating habits depicted in the show. i don't like geum jan di's relation to ji hoo and jun pyo and the constant bickering and verbal sparring and mock/real battle between jan di and jun pyo. i can only assume this sparring is some sort of sexual turn on and a prelude to actual physical intercourse. all of this is really beside the point for me.

i find i am more hooked by that sense of yearning for something that is lost. i see shards of it here and there in the show: in the relation of the older females with geum jan di, the chivalric code, etc.

4) i wonder to what extent the posturing of these hapless youths is actually reflective of their actual emotional maturity. if i compare the storyline with other korean melodramas, the age of the main characters doesn't seem to matter. does this mean that kids and adults do the same things? i wonder to what extent what we see jun pyo and jan di enacting is a reflection of the old fogey's behind the show. in other words do we simply have beautiful young things acting the cheesy tastes and lifestyle of these people - how they envision themselves?

sort of like playing with dolls. these actors are nothing more than the vision of some people who are really old and out of date. i wonder if real young people are even interested in the things and acting the ways the young actors in this drama are made to act.

the clothes, the interiors, the way the supposed high school students behave, is all really unbelievable. i guess old timers don't get with their time -i.e. there is no maturation, growing old with wisdom and grace. they are still living in their high school and living out their high school fantasies. except now they have money and backers and a global audience so their fantasy is a little more flush. in terroir there is an older character who hires a young man to find a rare and precious bottle of wine for him. the actor who plays this role is all dolled up and carefully coiffed in the manner of a teen idol actor. it is when i remember this character that i have questions about what i am seeing. in boys before flowers do we simply have young actors serving as attractive place holders for how ahjummas and ahjussis live?


5) the final thing i am curious about is the original story that has given rise to so many spinoffs. based on jan di's mother, jun pyo's mother, jan di herself, the original story had a lot of strong female characters living perhaps in a female centered world. i wonder if boys before flowers hearkens to a very potent tale set in a matrilineal, matrilocal, matriarchal society? and this whole love triangle business, with its resemblance to the king arthur story mentioned above, seems to lend further credibility to an ancient story that i know only through the arthurian cycle, eleanor of aquitaine and her court of love, and the lais of marie de france. i wonder how these are connected?

Comments on Boys Before Flowers, eps. 7 & 8

in episodes 7 and 8, the viewer is forced to view the consequences of geum jan di and ji hoo's kiss. i guess if i were to take one view, i am baffled by how geum jan di has become goo jun pyo's girlfriend. is she so young and overwhelmed by his wealth, physical attractiveness, his attention to her not to mention a sense of "loss" at ji hoo's unavailability that she allows her self to be drawn into an intimate relationship with goo jun pyo?

what exactly is a girlfriend? even if there is no physical intimacy (kissing, holding hands, hugging) what about emotional investment and emotional intimacy (sharing secrets, being together, talking to each other, making time for each other) doesn't all this require some degree of volition and commitment toward loyalty? if you allow yourself to have someone call you his girlfriend don't you owe something to this person? if you don't want this obligation or feel confused, can't geum jan di say that she is not ready? she certainly is quite vociferous,
stubborn and pugnacious over a number of other things. is her honor and her well-being not worth the effort of stating to goo jun pyo she doesn't want to be his girlfriend. also frustrating is how she constantly allows herself to be sucked into the lifestyle of the wealthy f4. she makes such a show of being opposed to their tactics and so forth and yet once she gains their interest she so docilely follows along only with a minor show of resistance.

and if in her heart she can only think of ji hoo, does she not owe herself the right to honor that feeling and be true to the extent possible allowed by honor and true regard for ji hoo's and his love's well being? to go out to comfort ji hoo, allow him to kiss her, continue to go on outings with ji hoo even after goo jun pyo declares himself, gives her a token of his love, and so forth really casts our heroine in a very poor light. she is flawed. this is wonderful. she makes a mistake. she is not capable of always doing what is morally correct. she is not even capable of fighting enough for what is true and right by attempting to engage both men in a conversation. goo jun pyo barely gets a few muttered responses. while she is tongue tied with ji hoo. there is limited credibility to the inconsistencies, impulsiveness and immaturity associated with being a high school student. at some point geum jan di's behaviour is simply inexcusable even if you want to believe that she really is trying to do what she believes is right. she fails to act with moral clarity. she fails to discern what is true or right. she just drifts along doing what is easy with only token instances (like swimming for herself - how difficult is this when she swims competitvely?) of standing up for herself.

while boys before flowers is based on hana yori dango, a classic storyline that pits good against evil, it fails to capture this dramatic conflict. it seems as if the director or producer or scriptwriter has failed to understand the true spirit of the japanese hana yori dango which they seek to ape. they have failed to understand that the power of the japanese story comes from a clear, effective capturing on film of makino's fight to do what is right at all times despite all her obstacles, both within and without. and these are not trivial - wealth, power, luxury items, the prospect of living in absolute comfort even as plaything of one these rich young men, physical pleasures of any and all kinds, rare exotic material possessions. it is about a spirit which sees through all this and really really tries to hold on to what is true. it is a spirit which understands and appreciates wealth but also understands it in its full context. those filming the japanese drama were able to capture this struggle effectively so the viewer is aware of her situation, of her internal struggle, her psychological states, and most importantly her unflinching integrity in the face of some really overwhelming situations. boys before flowers on the other hand really becomes a soggy typical korean melodrama with none of the power of the japanese hana yori dango. geum jan di and her friend ga eul have none of makino's moral fiber, her integrity, her honor, nor her determination to fight to the very end even if she loses. geum jan di is neither admirable nor special but a routine female protagonist in a korean melodrama. boys before flowers seek to capitalize on the hana yori dango brand by putting out a product that tantalizes the eyes but fails to nourish the spirit and in the end fails to even be a shadow to the japanese hana yori dango. at least thus far. it remains to be seen whether the show improves in the coming episodes. but i fear there will be no change. the korean producers simply don't seem to have grasped the idea that motivates the japanese filming of hana yori dango. if they have not communicated this theme by this point in the series, it doesn't seem likely they will do so in future episodes.