This is my “Aha!” moment.
In another thread, my good friend @hanufohane asked us, “which scene/ episode was your Dodal’s AHA moment?”
Link: Start-Up: The AHA! Moments
Of course the petal scene was important, too. But I was looking for something more. Something that was embedded in the first episodes that cannot be THAT obvious. 🙂
And it was in this scene. Do you see that line?
It was actually a line from “Ozma of Oz.” Not the “Wizard of Oz.”
Being an obsessive bitch, I checked my collection of books. And there it was:
It’s the line right beside the beefeater’s tall bearcap. (lol. The page wouldn’t stay flat so I had the little toy soldier hold it down.)
And here’s the text.
At the time the wind began to blow, a ship was sailing far out upon the waters. When the waves began to tumble and toss and to grow bigger and bigger the ship rolled up and down, and tipped sidewise—first one way and then the other—and was jostled around so roughly that even the sailor-men had to hold fast to the ropes and railings to keep themselves from being swept away by the wind or pitched headlong into the sea.
And the clouds were so thick in the sky that the sunlight couldn’t get through them; so that the day drew dark as night, which added to the terrors of the storm.
The Captain of the ship was not afraid, because he had seen storms before, and had sailed his ship through them in safety; but he knew that his passengers would be in danger if they tried to stay on deck, so he put them all into the cabin and told them to stay there until after the storm was over, and to keep brave hearts and not be scared, and all would be well with them.
Now, among these passengers was a little Kansas girl named Dorothy Gale, who was going with her Uncle Henry to Australia, to visit some relatives they had never before seen….
Do you see why it’s my “Aha” moment?
It connects everything.
When you think about this, the first gift that Dosan gave Dalmi wasn’t the baseball or the calling card. It was courage as symbolized by the music box.
She’d written, “Dad got me a beautiful music box for my ninth birthday. He said I could hear a beautiful melody if I opened it. But I never opened it. Isn’t that funny? What if I opened the pretty music box and I didn’t like the melody? What if it doesn’t play any melody at all? Because of stupid worries like that I never opened it. Are you wondering why I’m telling you this? What I’m trying to say is Dosan you’re my pretty music box. It doesn’t matter if you’re never opened. It was enough for me to know that you were there. I hope you know that.”
She’d been “stupidly worrying” about little things but Dosan inspired her to finally open it after 15 years. She got the courage to open it simply because Dosan appeared before her and he was wonderful.
He was waiting for her to say the next word. He swallowed nervously.
Dosan: Wait. Dalmi. Have you open the music box?
Dalmi: (nodding) Yes.
Dosan: What did it sound like?
Dalmi: It was unbelievably … wonderful.
She gave him a thumbs up.
For him, everything clicked. He realized, “I think I’ve figured out the keyword. ‘Sail off without a map.’”
He narrated, “It was very unlike me, but I thought the exact same thing at that moment. That it wouldn’t be bad to sail off without a map even if we were to get lost. If it’s with you, that is.”
For his journey in life, she would be his companion.
And here we have the Captain.
lol. So….
Just like the director didn’t make the hero of the drama appear until the last minutes of Episode 1, he didn’t give us the whole context of the “Wizard of Oz” quote so we missed out on the significance of the passage.
It’s this: The wind could blow hard but it was okay because there was the right man — and woman — at the helm. Having the right person with you at the helm of the boat, of a company, of a relationship, of a life journey, makes all the difference.
And that’s the central theme of this kdrama: to have an adventure of a lifetime with the one you choose to love.
Sure, we could easily understand the story from a business level. That’s the superficial level; the writer and director were already tossing out titles with business terminologies, like Start-Up, Burn Rate, Risk, Demo Day, and so on, to show us the business model.
But the key to delving deeper into the story is to understand that the business paradigm is only a stepping stone to deeper insights on life.
Look:
In the mid-2000s, there was a bestseller, “Blue Ocean Strategy,” written by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborne. They outlined a new strategy for businesses. Instead of competing in a shark-infested market or business sector (filled with viscious competitors) where there was a high risk of getting bloodied or dying (hence, the color “red” of ocean), the authors advocated seeking out the “blue oceans” or uncontested markets. Here, competition was irrelevant, and a company could design innovative products, develop better services, and transform the world. Hence, blue ocean.
Think of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and the other new titans of that time navigating a new world.
And think of this scene from the story:
But since this blue ocean was vast and new, and there weren’t any maps or manuals to help sail through the territory, the blue ocean could be scary for many CEOs. It took a gutsy, wise, and self-confident CEO to steer his company safely through deep waters.
credit: redzerogames.com
It’s noteworthy to point out that JP, despite being a big-shot investor, has never created anything in his life. He only invests in profitable companies. His philosophy in life is vastly different from the true entrepreneurs, Dosan and Dalmi. Both Dosan and Dalmi are creators. They can envision things that don’t exist and build them from nothing. That’s genius.
So, while interpreting the story from the business level is definitely a novel way of looking at kdramas, we should always remember that a great story is one that transcends the literal, the obvious and the mundane.
Look beyond what the writer and director are showing us because you never know what’s hidden.
For this writer, the meaning of the story is simple, and for this director, it’s even right under our pretty little noses. “At the time the wind blew…”
T_T so, so beautiful. it’s like you get into the writer and director’s heads, pm3! re: blue ocean strategy- we were asked to read that book in my first semester of grad school. and when you included the blue ocean shot i’m like a goner. the one thing i always remember from that book is that pursuit of differentiation, and that’s precisely what the writer is doing by choosing DS as the male lead and JP the 2nd lead, DM’s dad as a man that’s ahead of his time, a non-college educated CEO, and the list goes on.
ps: remember i mentioned how i wanted a kiss scene? well.. let’s just say from the new stills of tonight’s episode, it looks like i’m gonna be celebrating =p
I loved that, @packmule3. You are making your readers appreciate the idiom, ‘God is in the details.’
(Is that book why Australians refer to their country as Oz? I’ve never read it.)
😂😂 Yes!! The differentiation!!
I’m glad you mentioned that. In one episode, they were talking about differentiation. Was it when they were talking about the seeing eye dog?
Companies that differentiate themselves from other companies, like better design, or new service (think of this contact-less food deliver that became necessary due to Covid), or customer relationship, will make company more profitable. Profit means company can survive.
In context of the drama, the distinct personalities make the story memorable.
I had a much longer piece to post but I 🤦♀️ accidentally deleted it when I refreshed the page. So I hope this was good enough. I had to beat the “deadline” I set for myself before my morning jog.
Are we having a kissing scene? 😂
Do you perhaps work with Park Hye Run or the Start-Up team? This is one great detail. By that time, I was probably swooning over the knight approaching Dalmi that I didn’t even notice “the wind” blowing right there.
Ok even if I am spamming I need to let you know that my brai is on strike… I need all the weekend to just internalize this post..
See you tomorrow evening, for bow
Thanks, this analysis is fantastic!!!
wonderful!!!
marvelous!!!
@packmule3, You”be done by a wonderful service for us by showing us how Dalmi and Dosan are meant to be.To use a phrase from Jerry Maguire, they complete each other. They also recognize the value (not in terms of money) in people and their team shows strength even when making mistakes. They ultimately support one another. If you contrast that with Injae’s team, you see the traitorous twins and wonder a be out how well the company supported their personnel.
I also like that Dosan and Dalmi are cognizant of the fact that people could lose jobs and livelihoods because of technological innovations. They don’t just gloss it over and do take Dosan’s father’s plea to heart,unlike Injae’s cold reaction. I like that they try to be ethical and that their AI is being fashioned to help everyday people like Grandma.
On a personally note, I love getting lost. I have made wonderful discoveries in the unexpected world. And have grown personally from the challenge.
@packmule3
it’s like you got into writer-nim’s head, your insight on vision on the voyage was spelled out verbally by DoSan on the elevator talk
😂 @packmule3 we can use the wind analogy for HP. It’s JWon’s song. “The Wind is Blowing”.
Hahaha. Thanks for reminding me. “The Wind is Blowing” was the “significant” HP song.
Their love story definitely started at the time the wind blew…during his Math Olympiad, the wind blew and he became the youngest winner. By being the youngest winner, JP saw him in the television and newspaper. Grandma and JP decided to use his name. Despite not knowing at that time, I hope Dosan already knows that that wind was indeed a blessing.
Reposting my comment under this SU topic as this is a relevant example of “sailing without a map” in the real world.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/35-year-scientist-led-modernas-efforts-create-covid/story?id=74701220
In the article… “However, the decision that Moderna was confronted with in early January — of whether to try to develop a vaccine against the rapidly spreading novel coronavirus — was a risk, directing valuable resources toward a viral threat that we didn’t yet know would blossom into a full-blown pandemic.” Didn’t this sound like HJP’s arguments? He would probably advised them to wait. And yet this company went for it, that’s why they are trailblazers. Now we have a vaccine for COVID in less than a year from a non-big pharma!
They also know their “why”. “We believe that our platform is going to make a difference, and we believe that we’re uniquely capable of responding to this pandemic. And if we don’t do it, maybe no one else will,” Bennett said, while recalling her reasoning at the time.“
Salute to this lady named Hamilton, to the Nam Dosans and trailblazers of this world! May they continue to multiply.
I just thought that when they showed ‘ at the time the wind began to blow’ , it just meant that DoSan and Dalmi’s love story began too. ☺️ I’m enjoying Start Up. I regret not watching it with you gals. Anyway, just wanted to greet everyone a Merry Christmas from Oz! 🎄🎄🎄
Merry Christmas, @agdr03. Let me put up my Christmas doodle.
@Packmule3,
I just read this passage and I am in awe, because without knowing it, I wrote in the morning at JP’s Self Awareness thread about Dosan and Dalmi that they are the visionaries and enterpreuners kind of people.
So happy that we are in tune! *smiles*