Rebel, Saimdang, and the romanticizatin of class and nobility in sageuks

[meganbmoore]

I wrote this for tumblr, where I've been writing about Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People a lot, and decided to crosspost this one here.

At this point, it’s actually a little sad that Saimdang: Light’s Diary and Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People are airing at the same time. Mind you, it’s not because one is easily one of the most hyped sageuks in

Comments

[issen4]

Ok, first of all, THE BURN THERE, GIL DONG! THE BURN. I can only assume that the camera pans out and away so fast after that so that we don’t see Yeonsangun burst into flames from that one.

I adored that exchange! And appreciated how revolutionary an idea Gil Dong was trying to beat into Yeonsangun.

When I first started watching K-dramas, especially the segeuks, I had to constantly re-adjust my mind around the class system: "wait, so when they say they are superior, they really do believe they are superior? wtf?" The value of learning about other worldviews, heh.

Saimdang is such a pretty drama, but it does feel rather middle-of-the-road; it doesn't really say anything new.

[meganbmoore]

I loved the exchange when the ep aired, but at the time I thought it was just eliminating the chance of a "secretly noble" reveal. It was obviously thematically important, we just didn't realize how much so.

I actually think Saimdang was original balky intended to draw parallels between historical class systems and modern social status. We can see it, but SBS edited out of most of the modern plot so we only get glimpses there and as a result we have a solid but not overly original (in most respects) Sageuk plot. The only thing that really sets the Sageuk plot apart is that the central romance is between a 40-ish couple, who would normally be the sad and doomed tertiary couple who served as mentors for the younger leads.

I have to remind myself that I can't boycott SBS over how badly they treated the show because they do have upcoming dramas that I want to watch.

[issen4]

at the time I thought it was just eliminating the chance of a "secretly noble" reveal.

Oh, was that supposed to happen? I haven't read much of the news about this. I mean, were we supposed to expect that Gil-Dong was secretly a nobleman? I'd assumed that he would be portrayed the usual way, as a folk hero who was, well, one of peasantry.

I've skimmed quite a bit of Saimdang, so my focus is more on the historic bits. The modern bits are depressingly predicable: privileged people assuming they have power just because, and therefore manipulating people like mad to get their way. Ugh. When it comes to modern day K-dramas, I'd rather go with the crime dramas, as the blatant classism as portrayed in melodramas annoys me.

[meganbmoore]

It's not that we were meant to expect it, but that that's the Sageuk norm, and he's always been a noble in previous incarnations, and was in the book. So it was a "nope, not this time" thing. The historical person was a commoner, mI think, but not most fictional versions.