I remember in their hit romcom, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, the Hong sisters did an excellent re-interpretation of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid” so I’m not surprised that they did the same thing here with Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.”

I read this book to my sons when they were young and I’ve kept the book for my future grandchildren. Last night, I found myself searching for it in the bookshelves and rereading it to refresh my memory.

There IS a marked similarity between Max, the wild boy in the story book, and OhGong, the uncontrollable and powerful demigod in Hwayugi.

In the beginning of the story, Max wore “his wolf suit” and got into mischief the entire day, similar to OhGong who wore his furry coat and did pretty much as he pleased, expecting to be “promoted” to deity status in his own fashion. He was feared by everyone but answerable to no one. He was cocky. Thus, when he was denied his heavenly promotion, he declared war with the gods. He announced that he’d eat SamJang and become powerful on his own. To hell with the heavenly rules! He made his own emancipation act.

That is what Max did in the story book. When his mother called him “Wild Thing!” for misbehaving the whole day, he retorted angrily, “I’ll eat you up!” For this insolence, he was sent to his room without dinner. It was a well-deserved punishment. “A time-out” is how I would call it with my sons.

In his room, Max was given free rein to create rumpus and to indulge in any folly that he wanted. Parents would recognize his childish behavior very well. He was having a major meltdown, a full-blown temper tantrum. In his mind, his mother was so mean that he was going to “punish” her and make her miss him by running away to a place where he was the anointed King of the Wild Things. In this imaginary world, the other wild things would appreciate him, look up to him, and cater to his every whim — unlike his mother.

Well…it was fun playing in this world for a while but in good time, Max felt lonely and wanted to go back “to be where someone loved him best of all.”

Do you see the similarity to OhGong? This too happened with OhGong.

He encountered SunMi who was waiting for him for years to reappear because he had once promised to protect her. However, instead of making good on his promise, he told her (without any remorse or guilt) that he intended to eat her up so he could gain power. lol.

True to his wild nature, he only thought of himself. Like Max, he wanted his way and assumed that saying “I’ll eat you up!” was a brilliant idea. It didn’t help at all that he was surrounded by his posse of demon friends who catered to his whims. Nobody dared say to him, “Go to your room right now, young monkey, and stay here until you behave!”

Sure, Mawang scolded him but Mawang knew that when push came to shove, he was no contest to the great OhGong. He couldn’t send him on timeout like Max’s mother did.

It was SunMi who stopped him and confronted him about his wild streak. But it was obvious that OhGong didn’t share nor understand her point of view. He was taken aback by SunMi’s accusatory words that 1) she had been waiting for him desperately and 2) he behaved badly for disappearing on her. For one, desperation was a novel concept to him because he never needed anyone desperately before. With the exception of drinking alcohol, he could do whatever he wanted.

For another, he had openly confessed to SunMi that he was a “bad guy,” so, in his mind, his admission absolved him of the burden of protecting her. He was only being true to himself.

Thus, when he told her that he would eat her up, he felt neither guilt nor remorse that he reneged on his promise to protect her from demons, and that he was, in fact, the fiercest and most dangerous demon whom she needed protection from.

Thankfully, there was the Geumganggo.

The only way SunMi could stop him was by using the Geumganggo, the love bracelet.

Like Max in the story book, the moment OhGong realized that he needed to stop being a “wild thing” was the moment he realized that he needed “to be where someone loved him best of all.”

In the children’s book, Max raged in his room and created this fantastic other-world inhabited by grotesque monsters because he was both angry with his mom and fearful that she’d desert him. Subconsciously, he thought that his mom’s love for him had a limit and that she wouldn’t forgive him for his naughtiness and his “wild” side so he “sailed away” to where all the wild things were.

OhGong, too, tried to push SunMi’s buttons to see if she would release him from the love bracelet. He fumed over the entrapment and the forced love. He alternated between cajoling her and threatening her to let him go. He was even testing her limits by saying mean things to her.

But SunMi loves him despite his wild side and his mean streak.

Like Max’s mom who leaves hot food for him, SunMi gives him a chance every. single. time to redeem himself. Verbally, she sets her limits (“up to here and no more”) and convinces herself not to fall for his tricks. But silently, she lives in hope that he’ll fall in love with her on his own free will.

By Episode 8, we see that OhGong is finally realizing that despite the immense power he has as a “wild” thing and the Great Sage, his happiness is now linked to, literally, SunMi. He’s beginning to understand what desperation means when SunMi distances herself from him.

So what do I think is the Hong sisters’ message about “eating up” a lover?

Again, this isn’t the first time the Hong sisters used this theme of cannibalism. In Gumiho, Miho scared Lee Seunggi’s character to do her bidding because she was known to eat liver of men. In Warm and Cozy, the hero teased the female lead by calling her a vampire carp wanting to eat him up.

gif credit: pandalover1

Well, I don’t really think the sisters have a food fetish nor do I think they’re talking about sexual things. I’ve seen the raunchy comments on some site and I had to roll my eyes. (Kids!)

To me, what the Hong sisters meant here is very simple: Love is all-consuming. It devours both the lover and the beloved body and soul. It’s a deep hunger for the other person. The couple in love starve for each other’s presence. 

In the story book, the imaginary monsters begged Max to stay with them, and (strangely enough) repeated Max’s angry words to his mom. “Oh please don’t go – we’ll eat you up – we love you so!” These wild things were expressing a love so DESPERATE in the only way they knew how. Let’s not forget for a second that they were monsters so of course, they’d eat him up. Eating him up was the only way they could keep him with them (literally, inside of them, lol) wherever they went.

Now, let’s see how soon OhGong and SunMi will realize what desperate, all-consuming love means for both of them. Personally, I’d think it would be cool if OhGong did eat SunMi ala-Hannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs.” That is, with some fava beans and glass of nice Chianti.

Instead of kimchi. 😀

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I’ve typed out the book, “Where the Wild Things Are,” too, for those of you who don’t have access to the book.

Where the Wild Thing Are

The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind
and another
his mother called him “WILD THING!”
and Max said “I’LL EAT YOU UP!”
so he was sent to bed without eating anything.
That very night in Max’s room a forest grew
and grew-
and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around
and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day
and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are.
And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claw
till Max said “BE STILL!” and tamed them with the magic trick
of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all
and made him king of all wild things.
“And now,” cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!”
…
“Now stop!” Max said and sent the wild things off to bed without any supper. And Max the king of all wild thing was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.
Then all around from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat so he gave up being king of where the wild things are.
But the wild things cired, “Oh please don’t go- we’ll eat you up- we love you so!” And Max said, “No!”
Then the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but Max stepped into his private boat and waved goodbye
and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day
and into the night of his very own room where he found while his supper waiting for him
and it was still hot.