[Drama 2018] My Mister, 나의 아저씨 - Best Drama at 2019 (55th) BaekSang Arts Awards

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[actionscript]

On 4/25/2022 at 9:16 PM, YukawaCattle said:

For the point 3, I am not a professional, but I think where the obstacles are placed in this story already determines the focus of the drama. For example, Prison Playbook, the main obstacle in this drama is the "jail." Although there are love line that exists, but we can see that it is mainly the "jail" affect the development of the male lead's story. He has to get out of the jail as soon as possible and go back to the Pitcher's mound. He works hard for this in the whole drama.

 

And the obstacles in the romance drama seem to be placed between the male and female leads. This is what Thomas told me. He said that traditional romance drama would put a certain obstacle between the male lead and female lead. 

 

For example: 

 

- Romeo and Juliet: the family feud

- CLOY: Military Demarcation Line 

- Mr. Sunshine: the female lead's anti-Japanese sentiment

 

And in MM: Park Dong-hoon is a married man. He considers a lot of this in the whole drama. And so this takes up a lot of space in the whole drama.

 

Yes, agree! There is no story to be told if there were no obstacles or conflicts to be resolved between the leads.

Aside from DH being a married man, a less prominent obstacle would be that DH is working in the same company and department as JA, and is her boss.

And these are called obstacles because they are obstructing something, right? And what is it hindering? The path for DH to love himself and be happy? Yes that's true, but that's for himself and not "between the leads." Perhaps the possibility of DH and JA getting together? Those won’t be considered obstacles if there is no desired outcome between DH and JA getting together.

Did the show resolve those obstacles? Yes, it did, and the show revealed that those obstacles were resolved just in time before showing the reunion of DH and JA.

What’s the point of resolving those obstacles, and given the show’s timing in revealing them at that, if not to deliver the outcome that DH and JA can now be together?

 

On 4/26/2022 at 7:26 AM, actionscript said:

Speaking of romance drama tropes, I realized MM pretty much employed everything on the playbook, whether these are employed on the main couple (DH and JA) or not. 

 

Some of those not employed on the main couple:

1.  Piggyback ride – It was employed by DH on halmeoni

2. Back hug – It was done by Sang Won on DH

 

Good thing it also employed most of these tropes on DH and JA:

1.  A fake first kiss in the early episodes, but not done out of affection.  (Examples include CLOY, My Love from the Star, Hotel Del Luna)

2. Running towards each other – This one MM used in spades!!

3. Hand grab – That 32-second tight grip of DH on JA would count as one, right? 

4. The separation and reunion trope – This is again one of the biggest proof of the intention of that ending. Most romance dramas employ this trope. In fact, the reverse is also true – I’ve never seen a non-romance drama employ a separation-reunion ending. Like, what is there to separate?? 

 

Anything else I’ve missed? 

 

I have another trope to add – DH protecting JA in the crowded train from being shoved by the crowd. (I saw this trope used in Reply 1988 but in a crowded bus instead of the train). But JA took advantage of the situation to install the tap on DH’s phone though. 

 

The way MM utilized these tropes is very unlike the usual cheesy romcoms would. If you collectively look at all these tropes utilized by the show, there’s a subtle comedy vibe and wit in them, in how the show collected and utilized them but turned around and used some of them in un-romantic situations. I recall reading that the PDnim mentioned he actually sees MM as a comedy(!?!), and the subtle way they used these traditional tropes for me can be funny and witty if looked through a different lens.

 

On 4/26/2022 at 8:19 PM, YukawaCattle said:

I agree with you and you listed them in great detail.
You should change your name into "Romancescript". 

 

 You're giving me ideas. But my profile name got nothing to do with movies and drama shows though. It was a software program I have used more than a decade ago. 

 

On 4/26/2022 at 8:19 PM, YukawaCattle said:

Maybe Hirokazu Kore-eda watched MM and asked IU to act in his movie.

And if he has seen it, I am curious if he is a shipper or a non-shipper. 

 

 

You got it right chingu! Here’s a tweet about it:

 

 

 

On 4/26/2022 at 8:19 PM, YukawaCattle said:

 

So even shippers will also resist the age-gap relationship before they first time watch MM.

 

Well, this was discussed before, that first-time viewers would not have witnessed yet the more mature-looking JA post time skip. What would be seen in a first viewing is a 17-ish-looking JA forming an unlikely bond with a weary-looking, middle-aged salaryman.

 

At that time (circa 2017-2018) in Korea, there were a lot of controversies that involved ahjussis. Incidentally, the other drama that was shown at the same time with MM, Something in the Rain, even tackled that issue as a side plot. There were some office harassment cases at work that was tackled in that trashy (HA!) drama. The Pdnim mentioned in an interview that he wanted to show that not all ahjussis are like that.

 

In the real world, there is indeed a tendency to look down on a middle-aged man going after a much younger woman. Sometimes, they are regarded as a DOM (dirty-old-man) by judgmental, bored people who have nothing better to do with their own lives. Haha! But perhaps, 95% of such cases in the real world does involve something sleazy. But this drama is showing us what the other 5% can look like.

 

On 4/28/2022 at 8:12 AM, the_sweetroad said:

I don't know what the Netflix promos were like in your countries, but I was resistant to any hint of romance in MM because this was constantly the Netflix poster for MM in my region (and it still is):

 

 

It looked so grim and melancholy, and too melodramatic, that I thought it would be weird if there were romance between these two. Plus LSK does seem older and more weary than IU.

 

The poster you pasted incidentally had the preview for ep 12. For some reason the use of the words “JA continues to make uncomfortable advances towards DH” paints a different picture. All she did was say in the train that she didn’t feel dumped by what DH said, but she won’t make it obvious and awkward in the office. That phrase would have been more apt to describe what she did in ep 3. 

 

Actually the write-up in Netflix was fairly decent. If you look at Google’s, the write-up was really boring! Surprisingly though, the one in Dramabeans had “romance” as its genre:

 

Spoiler

Netflix:

 

Google:

 

Dramabeans:

 

 

On 4/29/2022 at 9:09 PM, YukawaCattle said:

As for why DH reacted the way he did when KH asked if JA had contacted him, I think it's because DH's reliance on JA shows up.
"I am sad now, but JA is not by my side," something like that.

Then KH knows that after DH and YH divorce, his brother now needs to rely on JA again, but JA is not by his side, so KH says, "Even if JA is not by your side now, you still can heal yourself."

 

I think DH always had a very serious reliance on JA.
The two times that DH had dinner with JA in EP7 in a candlelight restaurant both were after he met a sad event. 
The first time was when he found out that JY and YH were still going out, so he accepted JA's request. 
The second time, he had a conflict with JY and then went to the restaurant hoping JA would show up.

 

In EP10, DH doesn't want to go home to see YH, so he goes to the candlelight restaurant to wait for JA to show up.

 

And I think the main reason why DH went to the temple to look for SW in EP11 is that he had a clash with JA in EP10, so he had no one else to rely on at that moment and had to go to SW.
If DH and JA did not clash in EP10, I think even if he knew that YH knew that DH knew about her affair, DH still would not have gone to the temple to look for SW.

 

I say this because we can see that DH sent a text message to SW at the beginning of EP5, and after that was EP11, when DH had a clash with JA and DH heard YH, who was in the room, saying that she knew that DH knew about her affair.

It is after these two things happen then DH sends a message to SW.

Other than that, I remember that from EP6 to EP10, DH did not send any text messages to SW.

I think this is because, for DH, JA has a way to directly replace SW's role in his daily life, so DH doesn't need to talk to SW about the misery of life in EP6~EP10.

 

That's also why I believe DH's singing in EP14 is for JA.
I remember DH also meets a sad thing before that.
For example, when YH left JH's bar, the atmosphere was not good.

I think DH's singing for JA is also a kind of his reliance on JA.

 

In EP13, DH himself also admits that he has a strong reliance on JA.

For example, DH said JA is the one who can help him to be able to breathe.

 

So I think EP16 DH will have that kind of reaction when asked by KH, mainly a kind of idea that "I am divorced, and I am sad now. But JA is not by my side".
Maybe at that moment, he will also be sad because JA left him, but I think the main idea should be "I am sad now, but JA is not here."
After all, cell phones are very convenient nowadays. 
If she did not contact you, you still could take the initiative to contact her.

So I personally think that in these days of easy contact, JA's departure is not too upsetting.
It's not like DH doesn't have her cell phone number, and it's not like he hasn't reached out to her initiatively.

And I remember that Seoul to Busan can actually be done in one day. It just takes you two or three hours if you take KTX. I thought that DH should have such a concept of distance to influence him to be sad or not to be sad. After all, JS is in the US now, the distance is further away than Busan.
DH and JA are both in the same country, JA did not go abroad, so I personally think there should not be anything that needs to feel so sad.

 

One thing’s for sure, there were many things going on in DH’s mind at that time. The failure of his marriage definitely formed a big part of it, but for me, so were the unresolved issues/feelings with JA. During the brief time that he was able to spend with JA, he was not able to process his emotions regarding JA as he was still married. That’s why he was constantly setting a boundary, showing restraint, and putting all those growing feelings on the back burner. But now that his divorce is coming into reality, those unresolved feelings regarding JA can start to surface and can only be processed now. He now have the space to confront the reality that he did develop feelings for JA, but cannot even discuss it with her when JA said she needed space and wanted to start a new life. So DH won’t have the opportunity to know if JA would still want him after moving to Busan, and contacting her might seem inappropriate and selfish if that person have intentions of moving on.

 

In short, whatever feelings that developed in him during those tumultuous months with JA, there was no closure. But that’s ok. We the viewers knew that the more those feelings get bottled up inside, the more climactic that eventual reunion would be. And that's why utilizing the separation-reunion trope was very apt here, as was the case with most romance dramas. It was perfectly summed up by the quote from Francois de La Rochefoucauld that @the_sweetroad provided us:

 

“Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.”

 

Edited May 7, 2022 by ferily
Please don’t quote images. Thanks!

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[sweetroad]

On 5/8/2022 at 4:52 PM, YukawaCattle said:

동훈이 먼 산을 보며 커피를 마시다가 지안네 방향을 힐끗 보고는 ... 이내 피식.
Dong-hoon drank coffee while looking at the distant mountain, then glanced in the direction of Ji-an's...

 

동훈：(혼잣말) 미친놈.... 
Dong-hoon: (talking to himself) Crazy man... 

 

I noticed that, too, a few days ago when I was looking at this scene in the script! I couldn't believe PHY actually included that line "glanced in the direction of Ji An's"! I guess he's just used to always looking for her outside JH's, even in this scene when his fight with YH is still very much on the brain, and is the focus of the show in this particular moment.

 

On 5/8/2022 at 3:53 PM, YukawaCattle said:

In some pictures, I really did not see tears in DH's eyes before, but this shipper's pictures seem to show that there are really tears in DH's eyes.

 

His main idea for collecting these pictures is to want to shows that DH seems to always hold back his tears in front of JA.

 

I must be missing the tears in #3 and #4 (and even #2) - I don't think I've ever seen them in these scenes (and I still don't see them...??) - but I definitely catch his shining eyes in the other examples. But yes, with JA he holds his emotions and tears back quite frequently.

 

On 5/6/2022 at 10:53 AM, YukawaCattle said:

This plot also shows up in Coffee Prince.

 

What episode of Coffee Prince is this @YukawaCattle? I just re-watched up through Ep 14 of it (but I FF'ed to only watch LSK scenes ) and I don't remember this at all.

 

On 5/6/2022 at 10:53 AM, YukawaCattle said:

Oh, I mean, it turns out that shipper will also resist age difference love in the beginning.

I thought shipper would not resist age difference love. I thought only non-shipper would resist.

I always think that shippers all are the person that always can accept age-gap love.

 

I definitely had to be convinced. In general I don't like noona romances or age-gap romances. So I went into MM resistant to that idea. But the show is done so well that now I really think it's one of the greatest love stories of all time because in the end it just makes complete sense that DH and JA would be in love and could be very happy together. But the show had to take us there; in general I'm not predisposed to think a 24-year-gap relationship would work. In reality there would be a lot of differences and a maturity gap.

 

So it makes it interesting that no one in the show brings up any objection to the age gap between DH and JA - since we know plenty of people do talk about them liking each other.

 

On 5/6/2022 at 8:23 AM, actionscript said:

The failure of his marriage definitely formed a big part of it, but for me, so were the unresolved issues/feelings with JA. During the brief time that he was able to spend with JA, he was not able to process his emotions regarding JA as he was still married. That’s why he was constantly setting a boundary, showing restraint, and putting all those growing feelings on the back burner. But now that his divorce is coming into reality, those unresolved feelings regarding JA can start to surface and can only be processed now.

 

Very well put! He probably didn't have much time to think about these things...putting his feelings for JA on the back burner is a good way to put it. In the course of the show he had to worry about his brothers, deal with a bribe, deal with his sunbae getting exiled to Busan, fend off this strange girl's kiss, help this strange and precious girl with her debt and her halmeoni, learn about his wife's affair with his enemy, and then worry about his promotion. All the while trying to conduct safety inspections and write safety reports as usual. That is A LOT for one person in one 3-month period.
 

On 5/6/2022 at 8:23 AM, actionscript said:

The poster you pasted incidentally had the preview for ep 12. For some reason the use of the words “JA continues to make uncomfortable advances towards DH” paints a different picture. All she did was say in the train that she didn’t feel dumped by what DH said, but she won’t make it obvious and awkward in the office. That phrase would have been more apt to describe what she did in ep 3. 

 

Yeah, after watching the Episode it seemed strange that Netflix's write-up would make it sound like she's consistently making advances on him. In context, he's the one who chased after her in Ep 11, and he's the one who insists on walking her home when she's OK walking home herself after working overtime.

 

On 5/6/2022 at 8:23 AM, actionscript said:

Actually the write-up in Netflix was fairly decent. If you look at Google’s, the write-up was really boring! Surprisingly though, the one in Dramabeans had “romance” as its genre:

 

That's funny that Dramabeans has "romance" as its genre, since (from what I remember) the reviewer there doesn't think it's a romance at all.

 

Speaking of Netflix, none of the episode covers in my region shows IU at all. They have Sang Hoon quite a bit, Dong Hoon, Chairman Jang, Monk, Ki Hoon, Jung Hee, Director Yoon, and Yoon Hee. Strange that they wouldn't have any images of IU. It's like they omitted her on purpose, but for what reason I can't imagine.

 

Viki is better - they feature IU in nine of the episode covers.

[sweetroad]

A couple more interesting things from the opening of Episode 12, from the script (Google translate with some edits):

 

Episode 12, shortly after the scene @YukawaCattle mentioned above of DH glancing in Ji An's direction while getting ready for the soccer tournament:

 

1)

Outside of Jung Hee's bar. Dong Hoon is sitting and fixing his laces.

 

[Kwon Shik's pointing to the dent on the van and his line in the show of "You've got another fresh scratch here" are not in the script.]

 

Je Cheol: Is it sleepy again? 또자빠졌냐? [I think this means "did you tip it over again?" as Viki has in its subtitles]

 

Sang Hoon: ...

 

Je Cheol: Stop getting sleepy [Stop tipping it over - this subtitle is what Viki uses]. It was still my baby.

 

Sang Hoon: I'm much better for it than you. Did you put it anywhere? Every night, I pick a pretty car and slap it next to it. (kindly) "Have fun, the two of you. Don't do anything weird." The day I put it next to a pretty car, he's different from the time I start it in the morning. The kid is excited.

 

Ki Hoon: Why? So are you that sleepy every day? All over the place? [Line not in the show]

 

Sang Hoon: We're playing together. [Line not in the show]

 

Je Cheol: Is it a man?

 

Sang Hoon: Then you thought it was a girl? You didn't even know if the car was male or female...

 

Then a black van shining with a heavy feeling came.

 

Sang Hoon: (Looking at what's passing by) Don't stand next to a man like that. Baby die.

 

Dong Hoon smiles and fixes his soccer shoe laces

 

[Then he has another flashback to YH and his conversation]

 

2)

Dong Hoon is sleeping in the parked van. The sun warmly fell on Dong Hoon's face. I kicked the ball and I collapsed emotionally. Taking a nap in the sun for a while. Dong Hoon seems to be at peace but also seems to be bitter. A placard of "Gwanak-gu Cheonggi Life Sports and Soccer Tournament" is hanging outside and the party is watching the game in full swing. Je Cheol gives Ki Hoon and his companions healthy food.

 

Je Cheol: Why do you look so tired? Eat this and feel good.

 

Ki Hoon and his companions drink together.

 

Kwon Shik: This is good. [In the show Ki Hoon actually says this, not KS]

 

Sang Hoon to Je Cheol: Go wake up Dong Hoon.

 

At that, Ki Hoon turned to the van. Je Cheol opens the door and wakes Dong Hoon.

 

Je Cheol: Hey, wake up. It's us next.

 

Dong Hoon struggles to get up and sit down. I'm just sitting there trying to calm myself down.

 

[Flashback to YH and DH's conversation about her cheating, and this flashback scene ends with:]

 

Yoon Hee: The reason you don't want to break this marriage doesn't mean that your love for me remains, right?

 

Dong Hoon: ....

 

Yoon Hee: (It hurts my heart) If you think about your mother and Ji Seok and ask me to live quietly for the time being...I will do that. / No more. I can't live let's finish. Then I'll do that. I'll do whatever you want.

 

Dong Hoon, who had been quiet, got up and went into the bedroom, and after a while, Dong Hoon changed into the team uniform for the early football club and came out with a bag. He got his shoes on. [This was not seen in the show]

 

Dong Hoon: I don't want to live my life by making you suffer. But...it's been twenty years since I met you...how should I end it, where should I start and how? I don't know... thought if you didn't know I'd be able to bear it. Now it's so hard. You and I...

 

Bang the front door! closing sound. Yoon Hee is just sitting there. []

 

[Then the script has them playing soccer. PHY specifies that Sang Hoon is the goalkeeper, that Ki Hoon passes Dong Hoon the ball, and Dong Hoon scores. Dong Hoon and Ki Hoon high five each other.]

 

3)

Sunset.

 

Ki Hoon is driving the van, and Dong Hoon is tired and looks out the window. The vehicle of the party in the next lane seen from Dong Hoon's gaze. Even in that car, they all turned into super corpses, and the party slept. Everyone in the car was lying down and sleeping. A group of people sleeping. Then Kwon Shik, who is driving the top car in the front. When Kwon Shik meets Dong Hoon's eyes, he pretends to be in love with him and sends a heart to Dong Hoon, and Dong Hoon laughs as if it's pointless, but Ji An is standing in the spot where the car has passed! Standing looking at Dong Hoon.

 

Dong Hoon: !

 

Dong Hoon's expression as Ji An sees the van moving away.

 

(end scene)

 

 

It's fascinating that PHY uses the imagery of being tired, sleepy (tipped over), and waking up more often in the script than I had realized at first.

 

- Je Cheol uses the word "sleep" to refer to the van, and Sang Hoon parks the van next to a pretty girl and observes that the van is excited in the morning. I know somewhere in this thread a member had talked about comparing the van to the masculine black car that drives by, but unfortunately I can't find it! However, here it's interesting that Je Cheol uses the Korean word for sleep when he's talking about the van tipping over, and that Sang Hoon takes that imagery even further.

 

- Also, I thought the scene where Je Cheol offers black tea to the guys was just blatant product placement, and I never thought much about it before. Now I see it was always in the script like that all along. Je Cheol's question, "Why are you so tired? Eat this and feel good," is another reference to being tired/ sleepy (plus DH is sleeping in the van). Then, of course, Sang Hoon explicitly tells Je Cheol to go wake up DH.

 

- And the "super corpses" description is pretty vivid and funny, and it was acted out completely in that way . The guys do look totally dead when they pass by in the cars. The van, and all the Hugye soccer teammates, are being used as symbols for DH's previous mindset/life. In contrast to all those sleeping teammates, when DH sees JA in the street, he sits up and alertly watches her until he's too far away. In this very moment, he is not sleepy or tired at all!

 

So these three scenes confirm the GMS article: https://givemeslippers.wordpress.com/2018/07/29/dong-hoons-awakening/ and in fact the more details we see from these scenes, the more it seems that Dong Hoon's "awakening" was planned quite meticulously in the script.

 

From this time on, too, DH seems more comfortable and open with JA (and JA is included in the Hugye gang), and from YH and Do Joon Young's confrontation on the rooftop later in Ep 12, it seems like the trajectory to DH and YH's divorce becomes more obvious as well.

 

I think JA is part of DH's awakening for sure, but his difficult conversation with YH is a key moment, of course, in setting the stage for their eventual divorce. To wake up and get free from his marriage - and to have pretty JA as a bonus that makes him excited! - is all here in the script in these three particular scenes.

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[Joseph Lim]

This drama open new doors for Actress Lee Jieun. How many of you here are excited for her debut film @Cannes Film Festival 2022?

 

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[actionscript]

On 5/6/2022 at 4:53 PM, YukawaCattle said:

If we go to see Misaeng, there are also middle-aged men in the protagonist's group, but the body and looks are not like LSK so that women will consider to fall in love with him.
Ahjussis in Misaeng are basically the general public's impression of 95% of middle-aged men.
(But of course, protagonists are good people.)

 

So I think it is very obvious that MM's male protagonist is specially selected to make people feel that he can fall in love with young women in terms of appearance.

 

But maybe this is only my personal point of view.
I think LSK's body and appearance are suitable for playing a romantic drama with young women. 

 

Haha! You’re right! The selection of LSK as the male lead obviously has the intention to make him a romantic interest. Had they chosen a balding, paunchy actor to play the role, then they would obviously wanted the relationship to be platonic.  

 

I’ve also mentioned before that there is a reason why the only other good-looking actor they have casted is the bad guy, Kwang Il. Imagine if they have casted Kim Soo Hyun or Ji Chang Wook as Section Head Seo. Perhaps JA won’t roll her eyes upon hearing him say “I like Lee Ji An.” 

 

On 5/10/2022 at 12:54 AM, the_sweetroad said:

I definitely had to be convinced. In general I don't like noona romances or age-gap romances. So I went into MM resistant to that idea. But the show is done so well that now I really think it's one of the greatest love stories of all time because in the end it just makes complete sense that DH and JA would be in love and could be very happy together. But the show had to take us there; in general I'm not predisposed to think a 24-year-gap relationship would work. In reality there would be a lot of differences and a maturity gap.

 

I think that’s one of the enigma of MM. I’ll quote from the paper posted by @YukawaCattle above:

 

"The interest of My Ajussi lies also in the fact that the TU-C (Tie Up Cycle) works in favor of the formation of a possible new couple in a context where there seemed to be not the slightest possibility for this to happen."

 

On 5/10/2022 at 6:16 AM, the_sweetroad said:

A couple more interesting things from the opening of Episode 12, from the script (Google translate with some edits):

 

Episode 12, shortly after the scene @YukawaCattle mentioned above of DH glancing in Ji An's direction while getting ready for the soccer tournament:

 

Woah!! Thanks for enlightening us more about the details in the script! 

 

So even the van was in high-sync with DH! Sleepy but awakens once next to a pretty girl. 

 

And divorce seemed more inevitable and definitive based on the script of these ep 12 scenes. It probably only became less so when executed on screen as just a memory recall and interspersed with other scenes at that.

 

On 5/11/2022 at 8:58 PM, YukawaCattle said:

[Park Dong-hoon's dependence on Lee Ji-an]

 

 "What JA did not know herself is that she can provide DH with the affection valuation like a drug addiction. See what the PDH is doing now. He wandering with a cigarette he didn't smoke, making his brother panic." —— @Thomas Zhang《A glance at the role of PDH by the theory of script-writing.》

 

This actually ties up to the paper you shared, that DH has already formed a TU-C (Tie Up Cycle) with JA, on both the Psycho-emotional sphere and the Sexual sphere, though he is obviously restraining the latter. The moment DH learned about YH’s cheating with DJY, his TU-C with YH has broken, and immediately his subconscious put JA to the test and she passed, making DH initiate a “Tie Up” with JA. (This ties up to what @the_sweetroad said – he was in it before he knew it. As it was his subconscious that was initially at work and initiated the “Tie Up” with JA.)

 

JA became like some sorts of a “serotonin shot” to DH as the paper put it, which corresponds to Thomas's drug addiction analogy.

 

And good point on Sang Won. I never noticed that DH only reached out to Sang Won when he had a falling out with JA!

 

 

On 5/12/2022 at 9:47 PM, YukawaCattle said:

I found a paper.

Fictional Narratives as a Laboratory for the Social Cognition of Behavioral Change: My Ajussi

 

Thanks for sharing! It was a good read. Nothing was discussed that wasn’t touched on before in this forum or in GMS, but they used a more academic framework (The Tie-Up Theory) in analyzing DH and JA’s interactions and relationship.

 

Some key points that caught my attention:

-          The authors are obviously shippers, as the framework they used (Tie-Up Theory) is used in the analysis of the “human mating process.”

 

-          To translate the Tie-Up Theory into everyday lingo, I would put it as a dynamic movement and interplay across the following notions: curiosity, interest, attraction, and growing emotional dependence.

 

-          They believe the ending was left open, but they believed DH and JA becoming a couple was “possible, even likely, but was not granted.”

So in the matrix, they are a 3-3 or perhaps a little 3-4.

 

-          They believe DJY’s inferiority complex and envy of DH was what drove him to start an affair with YH.

 

-          The hugye gang are very welcoming of women. They welcomed Yura, Jung Hee, SH’s wife, and JA. So it was really YH who just didn’t want to be part of that group.

 

-          Once someone from the opposite sex catches our interest, our subconscious immediately assesses for compatibility based on psycho-emotional and sexual aspects. The paper focused on how DH and JA did that to each other – when the test was initiated in their subconscious, and at what moments each have passed.

 

-          DH passed JA’s psycho-emotional test when she heard him confront the building owner, and it consequently opened up the sexual aspect for testing – “kicking off the Biological Compatibility Test to be carried out through the only sensory channel available to Lee Ji An in that situation: hearing.”

The paper actually mentioned that DH actively blocked that biological test from JA, by avoiding any form of physical contact with her, but JA still got through primarily through listening to him, “a constant source of ‘physical’ contact that ends up creating a deep TU on her side.”

 

-          DH’s letting JA go was indeed an act of love:

“Park Dong Hoon’s choice is not an easy one. It is a choice driven by love, by someone

who is ready to self-sacrifice to this extent for the good of the other, to allow Lee Ji An to

become a fully mature adult and to leave her sad past behind. To become a different person,

the one she should have been from the outset, at this point Lee Ji An needs, and must, walk

alone toward the new life awaiting her. This is why Park Dong Hoon makes a step back and

aside. Had he accommodated his physical attraction toward her, she wouldn’t have wanted

to leave anymore.”

 

-          And I would just like to put in here how beautifully they have described the final scene:

 

“When he turns around and sees her, he stands up and his surprised, emotional smile,

his radiant face, his overall bright aspect confirm that his M-TU has survived and resisted

to all changes, to distance and time. They talk briefly, and when she has to go back to her

group of colleagues waiting for her, he proposes: “Let’s shake hands, just once”. The past

roles have flipped, and it is him seeking physical contact now. At last, he feels empowered

to touch her, and his handshake is resolute, warm, and snug. He thanks her and it is now

her who flips to his old position, finally being able to treat him: “I’ll buy you a meal. I

want to buy you something delicious, Ajussi”, and as he, moved, smiles even more, she, an

instant before turning back and walking away, tells him: “I’ll call you”. As they move in

opposite directions, they keep on talking to each other in their thoughts. He asks, calling

her by name: “Ji An. Were you able to find some comfort for yourself?” Then, her, in her

mind, now aware he had been waiting for her all this time, answers with two sounding,

rejoicing “Yes”. The drama closes with a promise, with the reciprocal desire to meet again.

Neither of them is any longer the gloomy, depressed person they both once were, and Lee

Ji An, with her “I’ll buy you a meal” has clearly signaled her intention to restart their TU-C

on new grounds.”

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[sweetroad]

On 5/13/2022 at 3:53 PM, YukawaCattle said:

One thing I'm curious about is, did "Daddy-Long-Legs" convince you?

I mean novel, not spiders. 

 

Thank you so much for bringing this book to my attention! I'd never heard of it before, and I got it this weekend and read it twice! I loved it!

 

Have you read it?

 

There were some similar themes to My Mister - an orphan girl, themes of belonging, a "wiretapping" dynamic where one person knows way more about the other person than the other person realizes, and an age gap .

 

It also reminded me of a more recent book I've read called "Dear Mr Knightley" https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Mr-Knightley-Katherine-Reay/dp/140168968X.

 

The plot is quite similar and I see now that one of the featured reviews says it's a modern retelling of "Daddy Long Legs." Fun!

 

On 5/9/2022 at 6:54 PM, the_sweetroad said:

I definitely had to be convinced. In general I don't like noona romances or age-gap romances. So I went into MM resistant to that idea.

 

I realized I need to eat some of my words.

 

Emma (Jane Austen) and Little Dorrit (Charles Dickens) are two of my favorite books, and they both have age-gap romances. Sense and Sensibility (Austen) has one as well, but I'm not as enamored by that couple (Colonel Brandon and Marianne) as I am with the main couple, Edward and Elinor.

 

However...among all of these stories the age gap between Dong Hoon and Ji An is still the largest. (Emma's gap is 16 years, Little Dorrit - 18 years, S and S - 18 or 19 years). I don't know why, but a 24-year age gap still seems pretty significant! But for DH and JA, they make sense so I can imagine that somewhere out there, they are happy together.