Korean historical dramas

My readers/blogger friends are probably sick about all these korean stuff I post recently. haha ( ^-^)ゞAlthough I didn't intend this blog to be a review or fandom site, because of my lack of activities, these are all I can think of posting at the moment. *heh (^0^)/*

I finished watching a few Japanese films last month. I'll be posting about them soon. They're still in the drafts. ヾ(￣◇￣)ノ

I'm currently doing a marathon of Korean sageuk (historical) drama's. *yeah productive huh!?* I suspect this is also the reason why my laziness got worse. :/ These things can take over your life like whoah! 70+ episodes per series anyone? Though I've finished 3 dramas in less than a month? Ha! Thanks to fast-forward option! Some parts can get slow. Hello 2 minutes of slow walking in a deserted street with heart wrenching background music?! What's up with that?!

There are 4 more series left on my sageuk watchlist. Woohoo! Couch partey!~( ﾟ 3ﾟ)~♪

This post is a bit long and photo heavy so skip if you don't want to read it. (^-^)v Here I'll show you why I like watching sageuk dramas

(1) because of political conflicts and how the King/hero/lead survive them, (2) learning about other historical figures other than the main subject of the story,

Dong Yi is made larger than life in this drama although there isn't much about her in actual history. She is important only because she became the king's concubine and bore him the royal heir. I only watched this because I was more interested in Jang Hui-bin and Queen Inhyeon's story (a true story!).

Yi San is about King Jeongjo and how he rose to power, fought various political maneuverings and met 3 influential people (there might be more but only 3 were highlighted). He is also Dong Yi's great grandson! Yi San was a wise king but I feel his achievements were made possible because of other great people like Hong Guk Young (his right hand man), Jeong Yak Yong (his scientist/genius official), Baek Dong Soo (his bodyguard). I'm glad the romance is toned down in this because I don't like the girl character at all. She is so fragile and helpless.

(3) Korea's arts and traditions

Women who become Queens are almost always married to the Crown Prince at a young age. A king can have multiple concubines in order to produce more heirs. As I understand it concubines can be made a Queen before the time of Dong Yi but because of Jang Hui-bin's plotting against Queen Inhyeon which led to the Queen's death, King Sukjong decreed that from then on no concubine shall be made Queen. So basically the King will marry someone again to be made Queen. Which confused me a bit because its rather unfair to the concubines who had served the King for far longer. Then here comes a new girl who will have a higher rank than they do. The reason (based on the drama) was so the concubines will not spend their whole lives plotting against each other.

Concubines have ranks depending on which one is the King's favorite or who bore him a child. -Bin is the highest rank after the Queen. They attach a word that sums up the characteristic of a concubine. So for Hui-bin, Hui means radiant. So Hui-bin is actually a title or rank.

The King gets married to the Queen. The concubine is married to the Queen. *lol what?!* The concept of polygamy is something that I just can't understand. You almost understand why they desire power instead because they don't receive love from the King. The dynamics are so complicated, that they all end up having sad lives. The Queen is almost like a business partner for the King, the concubines are there to produce heirs and to satisfy the Kings lust. Then again I guess those times were different, it was about serving the nation, sacrifice and duty.

Another curious case is Lady Mishil. She had a husband, lovers and was a concubine of 3 kings.

(4) the clothes and accessories! They're so luxurious and colorful.