American Perspectives: Finally! They've Gotten Past the Obligatory Childhood Back Story. Ep 5-13

I am so glad we are finally past the obligatory childhood back story! I think 기황후 did it best by containing it at 1/2 an episode. This show really drew it out at 4 episodes, and we were beginning to go around in circles.  I am so glad that this wasn't indicative of the pacing to occur in the rest of this show.  I really wanted to yell at childhood 동이 most of the time for lacking in common sense.

Luckily, in Episode 5, we finally transition to her teen years.  Now, it's starting to get good.  We get to see someone who has matured into a multi talented young woman.  Even though 동이 as a child possessed those same traits, what made her so off putting was that she was constantly shouting and screaming.  It was getting draining to listen to, and it was giving me a headache.

We get to see her as someone who is appreciated by the Music Department, and who has made herself indispensable.  She is aware that one little misstep, due to her slightly altered identity, can mean "Game Over," for her, so she is clever in learning the work, and building up her support system.  Which is something that I should also do in real life.  Since I'm not in a highly advantaged position, I should also work on building my own powerful network.

She gains the interest of the king, and together they are able to figure out that the issue with the musical instruments going out of tune was not a super natural occurrence, but man made sabotage intended to make it appear that the presence of Lady 장 was going to have disastrous results.  I like how they point out you shouldn't use religion to manipulate the masses. (And why religion should be separate from politics).

She is able to gain the trust of Lady 장.  Especially after she is arrested and questioned twice, regarding the fertility drugs she smuggled into the palace, she still refuses to divulge unflattering information about Lady 장.  And she remains consistent when the Office of Audit also arrests her for the same thing.  She remains quiet, and that's when Lady 장 steps in and takes ownership.  Not wanting to see Lady 장 get in trouble, as they also try to frame her for poisoning the Queen, 동이 goes out of the way to find the deceased pharmacist who supposedly issued the poisons, and does a test on his fingers to prove that there was no way either he or Lady 장 could have been involved.  Which then leads to 동이 not only cementing her trust with Lady 장, she is now in a favorable position with the Queen.  (And that is seriously how you do it when you're in a disadvantaged position, and you want to rise to the top.  I seriously need to practice this).

Another thing that I like, is that even though Lady 장 is the King's Concubine, she and the Queen are able to work together amicably, even though the Queen is aware that Lady 장 is working on strengthening her political power.  My theory is that it's because the Queen may secretly be siding with the Southern faction that Lady 장 supports, or she's exhausted by all the political battles, or she knows how difficult it can be to survive palace life, and is simply giving Lady 장 a break.  What  I like, just like with 기황후, the Inner Palace consisting of Queen, Concubines, and Court Ladies is most certainly not the Playboy Mansion.  It is a straight up, valid political institution.  And in 기황후, what I liked seeing was that the battles among the women were maybe 1% about Emperor Toghon, and 99% about Political Power.  Because they were an additional political institution representing the interests of their families and their home towns. Many of us in the west get it way wrong when it comes to the Inner Palaces of China and Korea. (And we have the nerve to refer to the Inner Palace as a "harem," seriously, DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED)!!! This is also precisely why I like the older 사극. We see these positions that women hold in the palace as something consisting of valid power, as opposed to the Western view that a possible sexual relationship with the King negates all that, and is something to be ashamed of (it isn't).  What I learned from reading "Women Shall Not Rule," was that just because a woman was selected as Concubine or Empress (this was in reference to China), did not necessarily mean that they had sex.  It meant that the Emperor had exclusive access to her if he felt so inclined, in case she did have a baby, it was guaranteed to be his, and it most certainly gave her a huge foot in the door regarding political power, but...There were many concubines selected who may have "received the Emperor's favor" once, and then never again, or who may have never received it at all.

I went off a little bit on a tangent, but I am super enthusiastic about the Classic 사극 because they do a better job cross culturally at demonstrating women's roles that we in the West repeatedly misunderstand because it's way out of our cultural context, and clashes sharply with our Puritan background.  And I feel like the fusion 사극 unfortunately cater to this Western bias, which at times make them very difficult for me to watch.

I am really excited to see the next several episodes of 동이. I will be in Hawaii this week, so I probably won't get to watch them during that time, but who knows? I might surprise you all with another response!