womenlovefest | go mi-nyeo: forgiveness and accountability.
Day four of womenlovefest! Today I'm focusing on Mi-nyeo's final convo with Hwa-ran and the themes of forgiveness and accountability demonstrated within it. This post contains one image.
In my personal estimation one of the most powerful scenes in You're Beautiful is that of Go Mi-nyeo's final confrontation with Mo Hwa-ran. Its power lies not solely within the complicated history the two women share, but how illustrative it is of Mi-nyeo's growth through the course of the series.
Mi-nyeo is introduced as a clumsy, naive girl given to placing the comfort of others over her needs. She values peace, and she recognizes the importance of forgiveness and compromise in the name of peace; she strives, always, to think the best of others, for Mi-nyeo is honest and Mi-nyeo is kind, and she believes others to be the same.
In another story, perhaps she would be punished for her optimism, her kindness, her faith. In this story, she discovers how cruel others can be and how even the most devout beliefs can be shaken. But Mi-nyeo is not broken. Through this discovery, she grows stronger. She is kinder for learning it, but she has learned, too, to value herself. To be kind to others is a marvelous thing, but you must also be kind to yourself. By learning to recognize and pursue her own needs and her own desires--by learning also that it is okay to be angry and hurt and jealous and sad, and furthermore that it is okay not to forgive every hurt suffered upon you--Mi-nyeo makes her own peace, for herself.
So when Mo Hwa-ran apologizes to Go Mi-nyeo, while Mi-nyeo cannot bring herself to truly, fully forgive Hwa-ran, she chooses to accept Hwa-ran's apology, both because Mi-nyeo has, in her year's absence from the world of A.N.Jell, gained the serenity needed to do so and because she recognizes how very much Hwa-ran needs if not absolution, then acceptance. If Mi-nyeo cannot forgive, she can still be kind. And when Hwa-ran pleads with her on another count--
A minor theme of sorts runs through You're Beautiful, that of taking responsibility for one's self, and making the effort to reach out to others, to be expressive towards others. Tae-kyung must make the effort to reach out to Mi-nyeo. Hwa-ran must make the effort to reach out to Tae-kyung. Emotional insincerity--a refusal to be honest with even yourself--foils characters again and again throughout the show. Shin-woo's greatest mistake is his deception. He-yi's decision to disguise the nature of her feelings works against her more than anything else. It is Mi-nyeo--Mi-nyeo who does not always understand her emotions, who struggles at times with them but always strives to know them for what they are--who first accepts that her life is her responsibility; these choices are hers to make.
No one else can speak for Mi-nyeo. Whether she makes amends or cuts ties, if she forgives or spurns, loves or loathes, stays or goes: it's her decision to make. And she makes it.
womenlovefest: Go Mi-nyeo.
In my personal estimation one of the most powerful scenes in You're Beautiful is that of Go Mi-nyeo's final confrontation with Mo Hwa-ran. Its power lies not solely within the complicated history the two women share, but how illustrative it is of Mi-nyeo's growth through the course of the series.
Mi-nyeo is introduced as a clumsy, naive girl given to placing the comfort of others over her needs. She values peace, and she recognizes the importance of forgiveness and compromise in the name of peace; she strives, always, to think the best of others, for Mi-nyeo is honest and Mi-nyeo is kind, and she believes others to be the same.
In another story, perhaps she would be punished for her optimism, her kindness, her faith. In this story, she discovers how cruel others can be and how even the most devout beliefs can be shaken. But Mi-nyeo is not broken. Through this discovery, she grows stronger. She is kinder for learning it, but she has learned, too, to value herself. To be kind to others is a marvelous thing, but you must also be kind to yourself. By learning to recognize and pursue her own needs and her own desires--by learning also that it is okay to be angry and hurt and jealous and sad, and furthermore that it is okay not to forgive every hurt suffered upon you--Mi-nyeo makes her own peace, for herself.
So when Mo Hwa-ran apologizes to Go Mi-nyeo, while Mi-nyeo cannot bring herself to truly, fully forgive Hwa-ran, she chooses to accept Hwa-ran's apology, both because Mi-nyeo has, in her year's absence from the world of A.N.Jell, gained the serenity needed to do so and because she recognizes how very much Hwa-ran needs if not absolution, then acceptance. If Mi-nyeo cannot forgive, she can still be kind. And when Hwa-ran pleads with her on another count--
- Mo Hwa-ran: Tae-kyung won't forgive me if you leave like this. He refuses to see me. He's never done that before. Can you go and tell him you forgave me?
Go Mi-nyeo: Why don't you go and ask for forgiveness yourself? He is the person you should apologize to, not me.
A minor theme of sorts runs through You're Beautiful, that of taking responsibility for one's self, and making the effort to reach out to others, to be expressive towards others. Tae-kyung must make the effort to reach out to Mi-nyeo. Hwa-ran must make the effort to reach out to Tae-kyung. Emotional insincerity--a refusal to be honest with even yourself--foils characters again and again throughout the show. Shin-woo's greatest mistake is his deception. He-yi's decision to disguise the nature of her feelings works against her more than anything else. It is Mi-nyeo--Mi-nyeo who does not always understand her emotions, who struggles at times with them but always strives to know them for what they are--who first accepts that her life is her responsibility; these choices are hers to make.
No one else can speak for Mi-nyeo. Whether she makes amends or cuts ties, if she forgives or spurns, loves or loathes, stays or goes: it's her decision to make. And she makes it.
womenlovefest: Go Mi-nyeo.
- Day #1: Fic.
Day #2: Meta: bravery.
Day #3: Meta: "deserving" Mi-nyeo.
Day #4: Meta: forgiveness and accountability.
Day #5: Meta: staying, going.
Day #6: Meta: things other than love.
Day #7: Meta: a funny lady.