G for Gaksital
East Meets West II - Queen In Hyun’s Notebook
Warning: May contain some spoilers
Last time on East Meets West we discussed Boys Over Flowers and Twilight.
This article came to me while I was thinking of a conversation my friends and I had, where I asked them what was their favourite love story. I, myself, didn't know the answer, as I hated both Titanic and Romeo & Juliet, which I believe don’t give the epic message of true love. Romeo & Juliet, is just about two teens, a ditzy girl who believed the first guy to flirt with her was in love with her, and the male with raging hormones who was trying to get over his ex and had to get married to bed another girl. Sigh. And Titanic... yeah... the door thing and... she married again and had kids. I don’t know, I’m old fashioned. You loved someone, they die, you live with their memories and never marry/love again. Yeah, not realistic, but epicly haunting.
I thought about it and in Kdramas, and maybe in general, I think that best love story is Queen In Hyun’s Man (QIHM). I checked what the most epic love stories were in our time. The one people mention when talking about epic chick flicks, timeless love story and tear jerker.... The Notebook (NB).
So... here it is QIHM meets NB.
Round 1: Reel to Real
The love story with Noah and Allie is pretty much love at first sight - young love and an emotional roller coaster for them. Emotional highs and lows, anger, jealousy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, uncertainty. But, that’s not the only romance we see. It’s also about an older Noah trying to make his wife remember him and their love. The relationship suffered a lot of conflict, whether it’s Allie’s mother, social and class difference, insecurities and illness. However, after all the obstacles they came back together, whether fighting society or illness. The chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams was amazing. They did well in this film and their take on the characters and on the romance was why this movie was popular. For those who don’t know, the Leads in NB got together in real life and I have to say... I loved that they got together. They were so cute and perfect.
"God bless The Notebook," Gosling says. "It introduced me to one of the great loves of my life. But people do Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we were anything like the people in that movie. Rachel and my love story is a hell of a lot more romantic than that."
The love story with Hee Jin and Boong Do is completely different, not saying it’s better or worse, just different. It wasn’t love at first sight for either of them. And I loved that. While NB was about dealing with inner/outer conflict, QIHM was about a conflict greater than the people. We have wicked leaders, swift assassins, treacherous uniches and an evil queen. Oh.... and you know, TIME! That is the biggest conflict between these two. They live in two different times and Boong Do is jumping back and forward, from his duty to QIH to his love for QIH (Hee Jin). Their love was all about transcending life and death because technically, the only way he could reach her was to, well... encounter near death experience.
And then we have the InHyun Couple. I love their nickname! Yes, we’re talking about Yoo In Ha and Ji Hyun Woo. Speculations were arising about the two dating while the drama was airing. The chemistry was incredible, though, nothing was confirmed. Well, until Hyun Woo made a public confession. At the press conference for the last episode of Queen In-Hyun's Man, the actor made the surprise public confession about his feelings for the leading lady.
"I wanted to make this confession in front of the fans who enjoyed our drama. I sincerely love Yoo In na."
It was something new for actors to make such a public declaration of their relationship without pressure from the media. Yoo In-na finally confirmed their relationship on her radio show days later, saying the two had developed feelings for each other while filming the drama.
“I realized the feelings while filming the drama, but I was confused whether this was reality or just my drama role. So I decided to keep my personal feelings to myself until the end of the drama... Now that Queen In Hyun’s Man is over, let’s begin as Yoo In Na’s man.”
In deciding which I preferred, I think that it is unreasonable for me to judge a real life relationship. I have no right. However, because less face it, how often do you see a Korean couple confess they are dating... right? It was something new and refreshing. Not saying that the NB couple were any less special, just stating it was a bigger deal. And as for reel, I preferred QIHM from NB.
Round 2: Memory Loss
Yes, you forgot about this didn’t you? Both have elements of memory loss, but both are completely different. Obviously, NB is more realistic, where we have an older Allie going through Alzheimer’s. Forgetting who she is, who her kids are and... who Noah is. We have Noah trying to make her remember, by reading from the Notebook, their love story. I have to say the actual book did way better job at showing this. We see Noah’s struggle and how he finally thinks she remembers only for her relapse again, how much it hurts him and how he has watched her loss her memories. It was beautiful and especially the ending was beautiful and a tearjerker in the book.
QIHM is completely opposite as it is based on the supernatural and it occurs twice. Once in the middle of the series and another at the end. Once the talisman is ripped we see Boong Do has lost his memories of travelling and going to the future, however everyone around him remembers. While for Hee Jin, she is the only one who remembers and everyone else forgets. Best memory loss in KDrama EVER! So we have Hee Jin’s friends telling her there is no one named Boong Do and she has made this up, but to Hee Jin it felt so real. While Boong Do’s friends keep making comments about him mentioning a girl, but he has no idea what they are talking about, but slowly feels like he has forgotten something important. This was perfectly weaved into the mystic world and was used well in the story telling. I do love when he confuses his memory with Hee Jin with the Queen and I loved it when he got his memory back and went to find Hee Jin who is happy knowing he wasn’t a figment of her imagination. And then we have another memory loss, but in reverse, with Boong Do remembering and Hee Jin forgetting.
So which memory loss did I like better? For this I imagined myself in the situation of the female. Which is worse? Slowly losing your memory and not recognising your loved one. Or remembering you loved one, but everyone saying you imagined it. Because Alzheimer’s is a real life disease, I would say that I found Notebook memory loss worse, therefore better tragedy. The Alzheimer’s was the main tragedy in the book and was well developed and I personally get freaked out about this disease. So yeah, Notebook wins best Memory Loss.
Round 3: Love Letters
One thing was common between the two stories, both men wrote love letters to their ladies. However, there were differences. In the NB, Noah writes to Allie each day for a year, but she never gets them because her mother hides them instead. While in QIHM, Boong Do doesn’t write letters, he only writes one. However, he writes it 300 years before she reads it. He writes a letter when he decides to burn the talisman, inducing another memory loss. By burning the talisman he hopes that she will lose her memory and won’t be in pain, however he is scared that it would be him who loses his memory. Therefore he writes a letter so he won’t forget her, while wishing that she loses her memory. He hopes that if she were ever to read that that she won’t realise it’s for her from him. And that’s what happens. Hee Jin is hired to narrate a documentary about QIHM. Researchers believe that Boong Do was QIH’s secret lover and this letter was to her. It’s a lovely scene where Hee Jin is reading the story and the letter and feels a connection.
Which letter did you like better? I did love the letter each day for a year compared to the one letter, however that one letter has travelled through years and is now in a museum somewhere. I would have to say... QIHM. Because Boong Do letters were both for himself and Hee Jin and because Hee Jin’s reaction was so heartbreaking.
Winner: Queen In Hyun’s Man.
