Mary Nanna
Sensing what's happening inside
The title of this K-drama sets the theme for the journey of these characters. Most of us think we have 5 senses, but in fact we have 8, and the final sense is the ability to feel what is happening inside ourselves. It's the ability to feel our heart beat, our breath come in and leave the body, and feel how our emotions are experienced within the body - the heaviness of our heart, a
droop in our shoulders, a tightness in our throats - all these sensations inform us of our emotional and mental states.
How do we work with our emotional states? How do we make sense of the unpleasant ones? Do we try to avoid them, ghost them, run away, or do we understand that fear and risk are a natural part of the human experience and learn to feel them, how to be with them? This is the crux of this intricately woven story.
All the senses are in sharp focus in this drama. Through some scenes which are shot with a handheld camera, we feel our sese of balance and gravity challenged. Close ups of food awaken our sense of taste, the sensuality of touch is explored in some of the more intimate scenes, and every scene contains shots of breathtaking cinematography, where colours shine in dull settings. We become aware of sound, as the soundtrack dips in and phases out, background noises can be filtered out or left in, there are long periods of silence too, where quiet becomes a sound of its own. There is innovative use of camera work and filters, sometimes light, sometimes dark, sometimes the focus is on the characters and the background blurred, it's daring and experimental and ever changing, just like the nature of how we sense our experiences, an ever changing kaleidoscope of awareness.
The plot moves with pace, but nothing is rushed, and sometimes the story line leaves us bereft and shocked, but the final episode pulls everything back into a slow unfolding, restoring and completing and then opening out again into this great mystery of human experience.
One of the major themes of this drama is liminal spaces and life transitions. We have one set of characters transitioning from adolescence to adult hood as they begin their university studies, the other set of characters prepare to leave and enter the workforce. Each requires a letting go of the old and stepping into a new phase of life. Working with loss and letting go, taking chances and risks with the new is explored by all the characters to some degree. It is no surprise then that many of the crucial scenes take place in a beach setting, which is a threshold place between the solid and known land, and the wild unknown sea. Across many cultures, water is a symbol of the unconscious mind. We cannot penetrate its depths but can only move with it. This is a story about working with the forces within us, both known and unknown.
This is a K-drama unlike any other and moved me like no other. It's left me with a sense of challenge to navigate my own life transitions, my own fears, with as much internal awareness as I can.
droop in our shoulders, a tightness in our throats - all these sensations inform us of our emotional and mental states.
How do we work with our emotional states? How do we make sense of the unpleasant ones? Do we try to avoid them, ghost them, run away, or do we understand that fear and risk are a natural part of the human experience and learn to feel them, how to be with them? This is the crux of this intricately woven story.
All the senses are in sharp focus in this drama. Through some scenes which are shot with a handheld camera, we feel our sese of balance and gravity challenged. Close ups of food awaken our sense of taste, the sensuality of touch is explored in some of the more intimate scenes, and every scene contains shots of breathtaking cinematography, where colours shine in dull settings. We become aware of sound, as the soundtrack dips in and phases out, background noises can be filtered out or left in, there are long periods of silence too, where quiet becomes a sound of its own. There is innovative use of camera work and filters, sometimes light, sometimes dark, sometimes the focus is on the characters and the background blurred, it's daring and experimental and ever changing, just like the nature of how we sense our experiences, an ever changing kaleidoscope of awareness.
The plot moves with pace, but nothing is rushed, and sometimes the story line leaves us bereft and shocked, but the final episode pulls everything back into a slow unfolding, restoring and completing and then opening out again into this great mystery of human experience.
One of the major themes of this drama is liminal spaces and life transitions. We have one set of characters transitioning from adolescence to adult hood as they begin their university studies, the other set of characters prepare to leave and enter the workforce. Each requires a letting go of the old and stepping into a new phase of life. Working with loss and letting go, taking chances and risks with the new is explored by all the characters to some degree. It is no surprise then that many of the crucial scenes take place in a beach setting, which is a threshold place between the solid and known land, and the wild unknown sea. Across many cultures, water is a symbol of the unconscious mind. We cannot penetrate its depths but can only move with it. This is a story about working with the forces within us, both known and unknown.
This is a K-drama unlike any other and moved me like no other. It's left me with a sense of challenge to navigate my own life transitions, my own fears, with as much internal awareness as I can.
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