Casting aside her royal lineage, Princess SooKyung and her man BaWoo should dovetail together like a mortise and tenon. She’s virtuous; he’s dodgy. She’s a widow; he’s a man whose wife ran away with his best friend. She’s childless; he has a son pining for a mom. She wears white; he wears shades of black. She’s lived a sheltered life; he lives by his wits. She’s passive; he’s a loose cannon.
I want to see the law of opposite attraction at work so I’ll stay for a while to watch they’ll fall in love with each other before moving on.
Noteworthy:
1. The beginning scene
The opening scene displayed a great juxtaposition of boldness. While BaWoo boldly carried out a bossam (or kidnapping) at night,
the Princess used bold strokes to sketch a bossam on paper.
Being a Princess, she could only express in drawing what she secretly wished for in life.
Her nanny: By the way, what are you working so hard on drawing?
SooKyung: I thought of what you said during the day, so I tried drawing it.
Nanny: If it’s something I said during the day…are you talking about bossam?!
SooKyung: (smiling at her drawing) This is how they carry her on the back, right?
Nanny: There are so many topics in the world, and yet—This is naughty!
SooKyung: What’s wrong with it? Your blushing is naughtier.
Her Nanny was “blushing” at the thought that the widow was being “kidnapped” so she could meet her lover, and future husband.
Nanny: I mean there are flowers and birds. There are so many things you can draw in the world. Of all things, why are you drawing something like this?
SooKyung: (secretly smiling then muses softly to herself) Is the woman in the bag smiling? Or is she weeping?
lol. I would think the kidnapped woman was weeping copious tears of joy. Because who in her right mind would want to live the rest of her life like a dead person? A widow in the Joseon period was essentially regarded as someone who should have died along with her husband. I found it interesting to learn that a widow was given a “suicide knife” because suicide was considered an honorable path for her since it would demonstrate the ultimate fidelity to her deceased husband. By killing herself, she was preserving her chastity and devotion for her husband for all eternity.
Whoa! I guess in the Confucian marriage ideals of the Joseon period, there was no such thing as “Till death do us part” for wives since they must follow their husbands in death, too.
2. The bossam
I wrote elsewhere that the bossam for me meant a sampyusal wrap. Like this one:
source: wiki
Bossam means “wrapped” or “wrapping.”
In this drama, however, a bossam means a kidnapping of a widow. The woman is wrapped in a sack (similar to pork wrapped in a lettuce), carried out of her house, and brought to another man’s house for a remarriage.
Certainly, there were bossam that were carried out without the women’s consent. But it’s implied in this drama that a bossam was generally carried out with the widow’s prior consent and full cooperation. A bossam allowed a widow to marry again without being branded as a “loose” woman. Since she was kidnapped, the people gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed that the abduction was done against her will.
The Princess’s husband had been dead for three years, and she had been in mourning since then. For her, there was no escape from husband’s family residence, and no return to her previous palace life. Remarriage was not an acceptable option for widows during the Joseon period.
According to an article published in the “International Journal of Korean History,” the remarriage of widows became an issue during the Joseon era because it conflicted with the Confucian ideal “exemplified by the saying, ‘just as a loyal subject should not worship two kings, a virtuous woman should obey only one husband.’”
Link here: https://ijkh.khistory.org.
In fact, to discourage widows from remarriage, the Anti-Remarriage Law was issued in 1477 specifically targeting widows, not widowers. It restricted widows from re-marrying by disallowing their sons from taking the government service examinations. Without these civil exams, the sons of these remarried widows were excluded from public service jobs.
This was how widows were stigmatized in the Joseon society.
3. Stealing their fate
“Stealing the fate” could be interpreted in a couple of ways.
Here’s BaWoo’s interpretation:
BaWoo: Monk! If I have to get hit, I’ll get hit. But please tell me the reason why you are hitting me. How old am I? Isn’t a caning too much?
He meant that he was willing to receive the punishment as long as he was informed of his transgression.
Monk: What’s the good in being older? You’re still causing violence on the market street like a reckless fellow.
BaWoo: You saw that?
Monk: You think I’m the only one who saw that? Even your father and grandfather who are roaming heaven probably saw that.
Monk: (caning BaWoo) Come to your senses! If your mother or sister heard that you’ve been living recklessly like this, they would be in despair.
He was the oldest surviving male in the family, and the one responsible for providing and taking care of his mother and sister. He wasn’t being a filial child.
BaWoo: Then how should I be living? Am I not like someone who doesn’t exist in this world anyway?
Monk: You still haven’t come to your sense! As your deeds pile up, don’t you know the effects will reach Cha Dol too? (Cha Dol is his son.)
BaWoo: My deeds? Because of whose bad deeds am I living in this condition and state? What kind of wrong have I committed in my past life that I’m living like this? Please tell me.
Monk: Merciful Buddha.
BaWoo was protesting that he had done no bad deeds, yet he was being punished to live in that sorry condition. He believed his fate was unfair. Through no fault of his, he was suffering, and he resented that.
“Stealing the fate” could mean that he was carving his own destiny. Fate had dealt him a bad hand, but he was taking charge of his future. He would be “stealing” fate when he created his own life without asking for anybody’s approval or permission.
For the Princess SooKyung –
Nanny: Princess. What are you staring at?
SooKyung: I’m looking at the birds flying free. Don’t they appear so free?
She envied the birds because she was stuck living with her dead husband’s family who didn’t like her.
Nanny: How about pleading with Buddha this time? To send down a fairy’s celestial robe.
SooKyung: And what will happen if someone steals it?
We already know the Korean folk tale of the fairy and the woodcutter. The woodcutter married a fairy because he stole her winged clothes, and she couldn’t fly home. Ha! This Korean story wouldn’t pass muster now because of its theme of coercion.
Nanny: What do you mean? Say thank you to Buddha and have three kids and live a wonderful life.
SooKyung: (dismissing her nanny’s talk as silly) We will be late like this. We should get moving.
Nanny: Princess. Since you have carried out the three-year mourning, how about taking off the white clothes now?
SooKyung: Nanny, don’t you know that I’m forever a sinner?
Ugh! She was passively accepting her fate.
Nanny: What do you mean by “sinner”? How can you say such absurd words?
SooKyung: A sinner to my father and mother. Haven’t I caused them worry for the rest of their lives? And to my brother-in-law, too.
She’s different from BaWoo in this regard. She was filial child because she didn’t want to cause worry to her parents. BaWoo, in contrast, was not a filial child, according to the monk.
Nanny: (sighing. She didn’t like the mention of her brother-in-law)
SooKyung: No…I think I have spoken such useless words.
Nanny: Princess.
SooKyung: Nanny, you don’t need to wear a mourning hanbok. You should change your clothing.
Nanny: That’s not why I said those words.
SooKyung: I know. How could I not know your intentions. We will be late at this rate. Let’s go.
“Stealing the fate” could mean that her encounter with BaWoo would alter her passive acceptance of her fate and change her destiny. She was cheating fate by escaping the rules prescribed for widows.
4. This landscape
After BaWoo was caned by the Monk, and the Princess SooKyung watched the birds in flight, they met each other out in the field.
Actually, SHE saw him in the field. I’m not sure he noticed her presence because he was lost in his thoughts.
Okay, this is about cinematography. 🙂
When I look at this scene, I’m not just seeing a landscape, but a portrait of the characters’ future. The terrain is a metaphor of their mental and emotional outlook. The leafless tree, the brown grass, the lonely path, and the drab vista: all these represent their cheerless and depressing life ahead of them. While Princess SooKyung recognizes BaWoo as the man in the market who caused a ruckus, she feigns ignorance. Silently, they stand together like two stoics enduring their pain and solitude on their own.
That’s why I said in the beginning that they dovetailed each other.
Although their personalities are completely opposite each other, they’ve been alone for far too long. It’s about time they find solace in a kindred spirit. Thus, while the idea of a bossam revolves on the act of kidnapping, perhaps for two social outcasts like the Princess and BaWoo, the bossam presents a fateful opportunity to carry the weight of a widow’s troubles AND to be carried away on a stranger’s shoulder in exchange for companionship for the rest of their lives.
Let’s cross our fingers for a great 20-episode run. 🤞
@packmule3, Your post is fascinating and erudite. The status of widows in the Joseon era was certainly dire. This background enriches the subject of this drama. The fact that these kidnappings were actually planned, while put protagonists’ was not adds much to the tension. I, like you, hope that the journey to love isn’t hackneyed. And wow-fillial piety isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be from the perspective of my western eyes. Seems to me that there’s a lot of harshness and women don’t fare well (what else is new).
I’ll be viewing this with new eyes thanks yo you. Also liked your comment about the setting that created the mood. I was reminded of the gray marshland of Great Expectations. In both the harsh landscape speaks to what would seem like being trapped by your position in life. And I think of our motherless child. I didn’t expect a child character. I’ll be interested to see how they treat him. Again, hoping for good.
Thank you pm3 for the enrichment course.
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I keep my fingers crossed too. Enjoyed first two episodes a lot.
I think you were the one who reminded me that Bossam was already out, Snow Flower.
How was your Easter?
I wish they didn’t make this drama 20 episode long.
Easter was good! I am back in drama land. I have to finish Sisyphus and River Where The Moon Rises.
I hope for a happy ending for Bossam. I doubt that the writer will allow something bad to happen to the cute kid.
I like that the plot of this story is bossam. The women in Joseon suffered a lot by weird laws like widows couldn’t remarry. Their in-laws didn’t want to take care of them, it created bossam or suicide…
Thanks, Old American Lady.
Yes, I agree. The treatment of widows, and women in general, in the Joseon era was reproachable and disgraceful. However, I’m glad that nobody’s toppling statues, defacing monuments and burning down Confucian shrines in protest of the kings and nobilities (“yangbans”) who allowed it to happen. 🙂
And no, this whole “filial piety” wouldn’t work with me, and my mother, and my grandmothers, and my great-grandmothers. I’m sure if filial piety was required for survival, my female ancestors wouldn’t have lasted long to be married off and beget children. They would have been disowned by their own parents by the time they reached their teen years for rebellion and disobedience.
Yes, the landscape looked harsh and bleak, just like their future was harsh and bleak. I wonder what BaWoo was thinking while he stood there seemingly in a trance. He reminded me of a Moai, the Easter Island stone statue.
I’m not sure about the child character. I admit that after “River Where the Moon Rises,” “Hospital Playlist,” and “Tale of Nokdu,” I’m a bit tired of this precocious child trope. I wouldn’t mind a normal kid for a change. But yes, I’m looking forward to the child forming a bond with the Princess SooKyung. I like how motherly she was when she defended the child.
I know there’s a love triangle in this drama. But after “River Where the Moon Rises,” I know how to tune out the love triangle by just skipping through the second-male-lead scenes.
@pm3, I took a course in public high school way back in the stone age that was a survey of all sorts of thinkers/writers/playwrights from Aeschelus to Einstein(those who didn’t take physics learned about tne theory of relativity here). Confuscious and the Bhagavad Gita were also included. My high school was considered a slum school but it offered languages reflecting the local inhabitants including Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Hebrew along with the usual Spanish, French and Italian(no Latin here but they taught Latin roots).That’s where I first learned about fillial piety but on a very superficial level and only as an introduction. The whole idea of fillial piety, I think, provides so much information about so many Asian cultures and Asian dramas show so much in practice. So you see how important age is, how families maintain control over children through generations, how women have very defined positions, how corporate hierarchies are maintained(chaebols come to mind), and where and why corporal punishment is used. I think that these dramas could be used for acollege course examining the influence of Confuscianism in a way that is accessible to people of other cultures. I also think they would be helpful in diplomacy. There is so much that explains the mindset of the world’s most populated countries. I know that these dramas have sent me to the internet to find out about why so many behaviors are done. (One thing that I find similar to my Jewish upbringing is the importance of remembering our ancestors/parents-we say specific prayers several times a year-called Yiskor(with the Hebrew root meaning to remember), we say the Kaddish prayer on the anniversary of the death of loved ones-parents, siblings, spouses, children, and visit the cemetery on those days as well as during the days of awd(Jewish New Year). Whenever I see a K Drama, I am touched by the scenes at cemeteries and columbariums.They are so reminiscent of my culture. We don’t leave food or flowers, but leave stones on the gravestone to show thst we’ve visited. And when we do bury our dead, family members and friends help to cover the grave with soil. This is a long way of saying that our beloved(and not so beloved)dramas have been a jumping off place to learn more deeply about our cultural differences and similarities.