When we look at the drawing of the episode 15, we see a huge hourglass standing between our protagonists CSH and KJH. Both are looking at the sandglass and seem to feel so little and powerless, especially because they are both much smaller compared to the hourglass. Moreover CSH and KJH are quite passive, they just stand and do nothing else than looking at the sandglass. Since the latter symbolizes the time, the viewer might wonder why the director chose this drawing. In this episode, CSH will break up with her boyfriend. So why does time seem to be the main topic of this episode based on this drawing and not the break up as such?
The answer is quite simple. The writer and the director used different means in order to show the importance of time.
First, if you pay attention to the dialogues, you will notice that time is so often mentioned. KJH’s mother says
“Once time passes, it will all quiet down.”
“He will forget about everything with time“
Then teacher Lee advises to KJH: “Let’s just wait a while longer”. She explains that CSH just needs time, just like KJH declares the same to CSH hoping that she would reconsider the break up: his mother just needs time. Furthermore while father Kim criticizes his wife, he tells her that their son withstood hard times for them therefore they need to support him as well. CSH hopes while walking on the bridge that in time he will be able to understand her. Then driver Nam advises CSH to reconsider it as well with the point: “It’s no time to think about it”. At the end, when KJH is about to give up, he confesses to Mrs Lee that it is time for him to let her go as well. As you can see, the break up is associated to time.
Moreover, time is also shown with the staging. We have CSH who wanted to break up at the end of their wonderful date but she couldn’t because KJH offered her the camera case. CSH realized that she needed to wait for the right time. She got aware that timing was as important as the way to break up. Besides, we have KJH who missed his bus at the end of the episode 15 which lets driver Nam see how KJH is affected by the break up. Then time was the reason why KJH got hurt. He caught his parents arguing and discovered that his own mother had betrayed him and asked his girlfriend to break up with him. Once he heard this, he went straight to her office. But she had already removed her couple ring, he was too late with his discovery as she had already made up her mind.
Then memories are so often mentioned as well and memories are connected to time as well. Memories represent events or moments in the past. For KJH’s mother, the break up will become a memory and at some point, it won’t affect her son any longer. He will be able to marry and have children. Then we have this taking.
episode 15
This zoom represents Cha Soo Hyun’s gaze, looking at the Havana clock in her office. This indicates that she is remembering her wonderful time spent with KJH. She has already connected this clock to her time with her ex-boyfriend. And later the good memories of their relationship are the reason why KJH changes his mind in the last minute. The time spent with her is so precious to him and now we can link this to The Little Prince: “It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important.” Thanks to these good memories he is able to remember his promise: to endure pain and overcome the hurdle due to the good memories. That’s why he changes his mind in the last moment and decides to visit CSH’s office. So while time was the main cause for the break up (CSH, KJH’s mother), time is the reason why KJH decides not to let her go and why he is as determined as before to remain by her side.
the drawing at the end
This explains why at the end the hourglass disappears, time is no longer what separates them because KJH is determined to make her change her mind. He will no longer remain inactive and passive like in the beginning. He will wait for her and waiting is linked to time. The break up was symbolized in the drawing by the separation due to the hourglass. Our protagonists were not next to each other, they were separated by the sandglass. Time seems to be against them. Yet, as time had passed on, the hourglass suddenly disappeared because it was the right time for KJH to show his strength and his determination.
I had analyzed the different meanings of “Encounter” and pointed out that “encounters” was exactly what defined JH-CSH’s relationship which explain why despite the gaps in their social status, their age and environment they could meet and understand each other. Due to many encounters, their relationship got deeper. Then in the episode 5, the turning point of their relationship is marked, when they stand in front of this painting.
They are looking at each other and JH is even touching CSH’s arm. She doesn’t push him away. Striking is that this painting from Kim Whanki is also referring to “encounter”, since his title is “Where, in What Form Shall We Meet Again”. What also caught my attention are the colors and the structure of this painting. Since we know that Cha Soo Hyun’s element is water as our heroine is often connected to the sea, we could interpret this painting as an image of the sea with a lot of foam, bulbs of air. So this painting embodies perfectly CSH and KJH’s relationship: the meeting of water and air. Yet we could interpret this painting in a different way. As you can see,
Kim Whanki, Where, in What Form Shall We Meet Again
the painter Whanki Kim drew a lot of squares with different sizes and colors. The squares could be seen as picture frames. And now we can understand why the episode started with this drawing.
Our protagonists are walking side by side and there are a lot of picture frames. All of them look empty. But in reality, there are not. It is just that our OTP is not aware that their relationship has been marked with different pictures. They didn’t take any picture but the director and the viewers are the spectators of their pictures. I sense that from the start, the director and writers were planning to use this drawing and painting. Let me give you examples from previous episodes:
In the first episodes, we see these following takings:
Due to the black frames, they definitely look like photos. Then in the second episode, wheen JH and CSH were eating ramyeon, the scene was so shot that you have the impression, it is a picture (metal bars remind of a frame again)
and it became a photo for real.
Then in the third episode, this scene on the beach
which is breathtaking reminds us of a painting due to the window frame of wood which can be perceived as picture frame. In the episode 5, the director shot a scene in a similar manner:
To me, the painting from Whanki should be seen as a photo album that contains all the moments of our OTP and that’s why at the end of the episode, we see the painting used to show different moments of JH and CSH’s life.
JH and CSH are not entirely aware of their serendipity because at the end, we see how their paths crossed each other without noticing each other. By doing so, the director and writer are underlining that they were fated to meet. As conclusion, the viewers are actually watching a photo album of our OTP therefore the writer keep shooting scenes as photos. Moreover, the picture frames in the drawing look a lot like stars illustrating first the natural of their meetings and second the impact of their encounters… in this darkness, they felt happy and are kept as good memories. And their final photo is this
episode 16
All along the viewers keep seeing such pictures, while our protagonists have no idea of their existence. These are invisible photos. But who is the photographer? Sure, in reality the director chose to create such takings but in the story itself, I would say, nature and time are the ones behind these pictures as nature and time are the natural forces that bring KJH and CSH together.
You, one so warm, and me, one so tender, meet again? (Translation from VIU)
This poem has been used twice in this drama, once in the episode 5 and the other at the episode 10. Striking is that the drawing in each episode was referring to that poem. In the episode 5, we had the impression that the frames were like stars shining in this darkness.
episode 5
The frames were representing the memories of our OTP’s different encounters so that the idea of “when will we meet again” is visible in this drawing.
But now, let us take a closer look to the drawing of the episode 10.
episode 10
Behind an hedge, a man seems to float in the air in a garden. The hedge serves as wall and keeps intruders away. The man is looking at the sky. The garden and the sky are colored in dark and gloomy colors. I had mentioned in my previous post that the dark colors are an indication that the main characters will face huge problems. In the episode 10, the major issue is the possible loss of the hotel with the garden in Cuba. What caught my attention is that unlike the previous drawing, JH is not drawn in black but in white. Why the change? Sure, one reason could have been to create a contrast because JH would have been barely visible in such a gloomy scenery. However, the creator could have used yellow or gold, since JH is often connected to the sun or star. Yet, white symbolizes purity and innocence which fits JH’s personality. Moreover, his trip to Cuba is indeed so selfless and pure because he just wants to help his girlfriend.
As you can guess, the drawing illustrates a scene in the episode, when he is waiting for grandfather Samuel in the garden. But why did the illustrator make JH float in the air? Let us not forget that JH has been compared to the wind (the scene with JWS in the episode 9) and in another drawing a red butterfly embodied him. Both have something in common: the element air. As conclusion, JH floating in the air is another indication that JH belongs to the element air. We all know that he is close to nature.
However, the darkness seems to disappear a little as later, there is a golden frame surrounding JH and the garden, as if he was protected.
This corresponds to the roof of the porch.
The way the director shot that scene was really amazing as he was actually following the poem. First, we see JH looking at the star (“Among a multitude of stars”). Then the camera follows JH’s gaze and shows us the sky full of stars…
Then we have to imagine that the camera position changes and from the sky, we are brought back to JH. But it gets a little closer to him.
This camera move refers to “one (star) stare down at me”. As you can see, the camera position is changed: it is up
then down,
here it is a translation from Viki
Striking is that as the camera position changes each time, the closer it gets to JH and to the sky indicating that they are getting closer to each other, it even becomes personal. It was as if there was an exchange between JH and the stars, and especially an exchange with one star, the one representing his beloved one, CSH (“Among a multitude of people, I stare up at that one star”). They look as if they were communicating to each other through the distance. The star reminds him of CSH and that’s why when he recites this verse, he starts thinking about her. In the last mentioned verse, the star is a metaphor for a loved one because before people were mentioned. This personification explains why JH starts thinking of CSH and their different encounters: “Where, when and as what will the two of us, You, one so warm, and me, one so tender, meet again?”.
While looking at the stars and starry night and reciting that poem, we have the impression that JH is wishing to see CSH very soon. This is not a coincidence because don’t forget the expression “when you wish upon a star”. Stars are linked to inspiration, dreams, aspiration, guidance, pursuits and magic. Indeed, CSH serves JH as an aspiration, she is his guide… Later, CSH remarks that this feels magical… and it was as if his wish had been granted, when he met the next day.
This justifies why the drawing from the ending looks like this:
They are blessed by the sky as they are surrounded by shooting stars
CSH as star comes down to him… she is followed by shooting stars. And we all know that a shooting star is associated to wish as well. The issue with the hotel has not only disappeared, but also his girlfriend has come to him and his biggest wish has come true: “as what will the two of us… meet again?” She is now his lover. So this scene illustrates that he finds strength and comfort in the starry night. CSH inspires him to do extraordinary things (the masquerade ball, the super service, aso). His dream is to be with her no matter what. And the next day he could meet like he had wished. Nature in the form of stars is on his side.
This time, I will explain the significance of walk in different k-dramas (Encounter and The Lonely Shining Goblin) in order to demonstrate how detail-oriented some scriptwriters are and how literature has influenced the authors. Sure, not every walk in a k-drama has such a deep meaning, yet it is important not to believe that TV-series only serve to entertain and we should just watch without thinking.
In order to understand better the symbolism of walk, I would like to introduce to you a poem named “sensation” written by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) in 1870. Here, you can listen to the original version, a French singer composed a melody for this poem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eEQpJ_oTyg
Sensation
In the blue summer evenings, I will go along the paths, And walk over the short grass, as I am pricked by the wheat: Daydreaming I will feel the coolness on my feet. I will let the wind bathe my bare head. I will not speak, I will have no thoughts: But infinite love will mount in my soul; And I will go far, far off, like a gypsy, Through the country side-joyous as if I were with a woman.
As you can see, in this poem, the narrator is enjoying his walk. All his senses are fully awakened (sight, touch, smell, hearing). Moreover, he feels the nature through his entire body as different parts are mentioned (head, feet) or implied (“blue for eyes, “pricked” for nose, “love/soul” for heart, “gypsy” for ear). All this indicates that he feels alive, he enjoys this moment to the fullest. As you can see, the walk is a metaphor for life that’s why we often read the following expression: their paths have already crossed. In this image, the path symbolizes a person’s life and walking means that this person lives. Striking is that in this poem nature (“wind”, “grass, “wheat”, “paths”) is compared to a woman. Nature can give joy and warmth. It is a source of inspiration too. Yet, the poem also implies that one could walk with someone else but since he is alone, then by paying attention to her/his surrounding so that this person won’t feel lonely. Nature can replace the company of a woman. But it is not necessary to walk alone. Striking is that the walk is also associated to love. To conclude, walking in love is the best which means life without love is no real life.
Now, if we look at the k-drama The Lonely Shining Goblin that aired in 2016-2017, we will notice the similarity between the poem of Rimbaud and the main protagonists. The main character, Kim Shin, has lived for 900 years as goblin. His immortality was a reward and a gift from God. Our hero resented God, his king and himself for his unfair death. He had dedicated his life for his king and country and at the end, he died as a traitor. Due to his past, he never really lived. Even after becoming a goblin, the viewer can sense that he is still not living. He is just enduring the time but not spending his time to do things he likes. He witnesses how his servants, all humans, are passing away and each time, he is hurt. He feels lonely. He doesn’t live to the fullest, not because he is afraid of death or god… it is just that he doesn’t know how to live. He is just waiting for his bride. Hence he has never loved anyone. His future wife is supposed to remove the sword and ends his immortality. So love and death are connected. Striking is that at the beginning, we don’t see Kim Shin walking at all. He can teleport by using doors or he just stands there. When he meets the heroine for the first time, he is standing in the street. Sure after meeting her, he starts changing but he is still very passive. He only walks, when he needs to save her from the thugs. In the picture below, he is already waiting for her. He still doesn’t walk, he just waits for her. However, the closer he gets to his bride, Eun Tak, the more he starts becoming active and walk.
episode 6
One episode later, the beholder witnesses how his position has really changed. Now he is leading her, holding her hand and we can see a smile on his face. As you can see, the change occurs because he starts loving Eun Tak. He is now living literally. So the walk reinforces this metaphor: Kim Shin lives his life, enjoys it to the fullest and is active. His love for Eun Tak has changed him.
episode 7
Now, let us analyze the walks in Encounter. First, our heroine Cha Soo Hyun is seen walking for the first time, when she is determined to watch the sunset in Morro Cabana. But since she is under the influence of sleeping pills, we could say that she is like a sleepwalker. She is not even really living, she doesn’t even feel that her shoes are uncomfortable, until she feels some pain in her foot. However, she doesn’t stop, she keeps walking to the top of the hill. After her awakening, she starts changing. She walks more freely with KJH during their first evening together. Later, she is shown walking but she is so slow. Notice that KJH arrived later than her, yet he was outside taking pictures before she joined him. In Sokcho, we barely see her taking a long walk. First, they sit on the bench, then they use the car and later, they just play on the beach. Yet, under the influence of KJH, CSH is forced to walk, see the episode 5, where he is supposed her paintings in his district. The real first walk happens in the episode 6. And this time, CSH is taking the initiative as she is the one who proposes to go for a walk. Her desire to walk corresponds to her desire to live and enjoy life.
episode 6
Her “love” for KJH was the trigger for her to change her life in South Korea. Sure, the sunset had changed her mind, yet once she experienced a setback (the ramyeon scandal), she thought that she should cut ties with KJH. the latter never gave up on her and he succeeded. As you can see, both characters, Cha Soo Hyun and Kim Shin, have something in common. The moment they meet their loved ones and decide to open their heart, they start living and walking. Walk, love and life are so intertwined together. This explains why the couples walk more and more as time passes on.
episode 7
Later after the break up between Cha Soo Hyun and her boyfriend in the episode 15, we see the following scenes. We see how KJH is wandering in the streets and Cha Soo Hyun is standing on a bridge.
This scene is really painful and emotional.
Actually, in this scene, this is not a stroll at all. First, she used her car indicating a regression. Secondly, she is just standing, as if she was frozen. Besides, when I used the word “walk”, I had “stroll” in my mind. Kim Jin Huyk is moving in an aimless way, he looks so lost. He doesn’t really pay attention to his surrounding. So their “walk” reflect the way they are feeling and living: he feels lost and lifeless and she is like petrified, she can’t move due to the coldness of the night and the bridge. The bridge is full of metal creating a sensation of coldness. She is no longer a Sleeping beauty but a statue made of ice. Besides, this impression is reinforced as there is no plant, no people on that bridge, only cars passing by. Notice that the moon is not shown at all, although it is night. CSH, as the moon, can not shine as she is without her sun.
As for the bridge, it symbolizes that CSH is about to leave KJH’s life and world. However, we never see her crossing the bridge entirely. Since a bridge connects two sides together, it embodies the link between two worlds. In the goblin, it connected humans and god, life and death, past and present. Don’t forget that on that bridge, our reaper met his past love and Eun Tak’s mother met the goddess. Here, CSH just puts some distance between herself and KJH. She can not bear to watch KJH in pain. The bridge is an illustration for distance and leaving KJH’s side/world but like I mentioned it before, we don’t see her reaching the other side as she stops and looks at the lights and buildings lost in her thoughts, too hurt by the pain.
Now, if we compare the two couples, then we will notice that the way they walk together reflects their position in the relationship. Since CSH and KJH are walking side by side, they are equal. In the Goblin, since he is much older than Eun Tak (she is just 19 years old), he is the one leading. He has indeed the upper hand in the relationship as he is still hiding things from Eun Tak, the real meaning of his bride: ending his immortality.
That’s why in the future by watching a k-drama, pay attention to the walk if one of the main characters is described as passive and quite restraining himself/herself. The walk could be a clue for a possible change, especially if it happens with the person he or she loves.
unexpectedly be faced with or experience (something hostile or difficult).”we have encountered one small problem”
meet (someone) unexpectedly.”what do we know about the people we encounter in our daily lives?”synonymes : meet by chance, run into etc.
nounan unexpected or casual meeting with someone or something.”she felt totally unnerved by the encounter”
you come to realize the ambiguity of the title “Encounter”. Moreover, it also reveals why JWS can never become a part of CSH’s life.
If we take the first definition (facing some difficulty and hostility), it is referring to the adversities that CSH and JH have already faced and will face together. So far, CSH had to deal with a few bad experiences:
the article and picture about a possible romance which forced to hear bad comments from her ex-mother-in-law and mother
the anonymous message on the bulletin board;
the gossiping
the terrible question from the reporter
the terrible comments from her own mother
the incident with the contract (Hotel in Cuba)
the arrival of Jung Woo Suk as second CEO (episode 12)
her meeting with KJH’s mother (episode 13-14)
The same happened to JH:
the gossiping and the weird gazes from his co-workers (episode 5, 9)
the harsh words from chairman Kim (episode 6)
the harsh words from secretary Jang (episode 6)
his meeting with director Choi (episode 7)
his demotion to Sokcho
his meeting with JWS (episode 11-12) which made our hero feel insecure
But now let us focus on the second meaning of encounter. It implies an unexpected meeting and if we look back at the different events between CSH and JH, we will notice that they had a lot of unexpected meetings:
– Cuba :
The accident with the taxi. If JH hadn’t been asked to change the seat, CSH would have never noticed him.
The taxi was supposed to bring her to that place in order to watch the sunset but it broke down. She had to take the ferry… by walking on the street, she caught JH’s attention which led him to follow her.
She almost fell from the wall therefore JH had to intervene. I doubt that he would have approached her without her mistake.
At the airport.
Striking is that they missed each other at the café the next morning. And this was not an encounter but a planned meeting (rendez-vous).
– South Korea:
He becomes her employee.
After reading his letter, she wants to visit the playground he had mentioned to her before. But she is caught there red-handed which triggers JH to invite her to look at the pictures from Cuba.
JH is drunk and CSH sees him standing all sleeping. She decides to bring him home.
When he followed Jang to Seokcho, this meeting was not planned by JH nor CSH. Our heroine was surprised to find him there. But even if we consider it as a planned meeting, there was a casual meeting in all this, especially if we compare it with JWS. CSH was not at the hotel, when JWS and JH arrived at the hotel. JWS kept waiting and missed her. The opposite happened with JH. CSH was walking around, until she saw him. They could have missed each other like JWS but it didn’t happen.
After arriving home, JH listened to radio and the message of a listener which made him realize that the listener was CSH. They met “through the radio”.
Then we have got the car accident. If she hadn’t been involved in that accident, she wouldn’t have received her birthday gift from JH and even become closer to him.
CSH saw JH a little depressed at the café as she was on her way to a meeting. She changed her plan in order to cheer him up.
Then at the end of the episode 5, they meet in front of that painting. JH wasn’t expecting to see her there too.
In the episode 6, she goes to teacher Lee’s place, although she is not even sure that KJH will be there as she had told him that she wouldn’t come.
He runs to her house as he is depressed. He needs to be close to her house in order to overcome the future separation. She catches him there.
In the episode 8, Driver Nam picks him up so that he can be at the ball.
Episode 9: She is able to meet him near the lighthouse, she could have missed him.
Episode 10: KJH meets her at the café where he was supposed to meet her in the first episode. She finally reads his note and discovers the question he wanted to ask
Episode 16: she is able to find him at the playground.
I could have mentioned more encounters between our protagonists. Nonetheless all these encounters had a huge impact on CSH and JH and their relationship. Because it was always unexpected, CSH couldn’t be like an ice princess. Her guard was down, besides she got sometimes caught red-handed, where she was unable to behave like a CEO. Furthermore, through these casual meetings, JH was able to see CSH in a different light. Only through encounters, KJH could break down her walls and her resistance. Then she was forced to do new things with him. It was refreshing for her and she could see how natural and simple their meetings were. The encounters in the later episode have a different function: she lets KJH enter her heart and mind completely.
However, in the beginning of my post, I wrote that the title gives us an explanation, why JWS can never be a part of CSH’s life. If you look back at all their meetings, JWS always tries to meet her. He needs to get an appointment. But if an encounter occurs, then either the one leads to create a misunderstanding and put JWS in a bad light or he is destined to witness how Kim Jin Hyuk gets closer to Cha Soo Hyun. The first case was, when he enters the shop in order to retrieve the ordered suit. He wants to impress a picky lady. Unfortunately, his ex-wife hears his words and thinks, he has another woman in his heart and mind. As for the second case, the fateful encounters are the following:
episode 4: He witnesses KJH bringing CSH with the old truck. He witnesses how KJH’s present is accepted. On the hand, his gift (the expensive dress) is later rejected.
episode 6: He sees, how CSH puts the bought necktie to KJH
episode 9: the kiss at the ball
episode 6: this is what JWS sees
This is his reaction, when he sees them kissing
CSH has never had any encounter with JWS:
The meeting at the restaurant before they got married.
In the first episode, JWS meets her at his mother’s birthday. JWS knew that CSH had to appear there.
In the episode 3, she wants to meet JWS in order to protect JH. JWS is waiting for CSH at the bar.
He drove to Seokcho in order to meet her but he missed her and when he had an encounter with her, she was with JH coming back from the beach.
He meets her again at a restaurant in order to resolve the problem.
The press conference (episode 6): he received an invitation.
He couldn’t find her at the ball despite knowing how she was dressed. (episode 8)
Then in the next episode, he asks her to go a restaurant where he proposes to her again.
In the episode 10, he wants to meet her at the sky lounge but she refuses for the first time to follow his request.
JWS represents the exact opposite of “encounter”/JH. Every meeting he has is organized, even with JH. Let just take the episode 6. He wanted to help CSH but also see if JH was the one who received the necktie. That’s the exact reason why CSH can not fall in love with him. JH is natural and simple, whereas JWS is sophisticated and artificial. We shouldn’t forget that CSH doesn’t come from the same world than JWS. She only entered it, when she was young… like her friend and secretary said, she used to be different in the past: more natural and carefree. Through the different encounters, the viewers realize that human beings are powerless since time and nature are the real forces. Cha Soo Hyun was destined to meet Kim Jin Huyk and Jung Woo Suk couldn’t stop it as money means nothing to time and nature. He could never win over them. When the time was right, her path crossed his and this time, she could notice him, unlike in the past.
The episode 5 shows that they missed each other in the past. They were not ready.
Cha Soo Hyun has already decided to break up with KJH, nevertheless the latter is unaware of her decision. Since she knows that a bad break up can be really painful due to her husband’s fake affair, she decided to leave a good memory behind believing that this would lessen the pain. And we all know that no matter how you break up, the pain will never be lessened. She thinks that she should break up, just like her ex-husband did, for the same exact reason: protection. She wants to protect KJH and his family.
Since KJH had proposed as a date to visit a book store together where they could read books together and exchange their favorite book, CSH thought, she needed to grant his wish. She knew that this would be his favorite date, the perfect date. Our heroine chose as book Alice in Wonderland and KJH The little Prince. Yet, the perfect date ended here.
episode 14
I chose this taking because it perfectly fits the situation. Their future separation is illustrated in this scene. The counter serves as border, just like the decoration with the books on the ceiling. Moreover, CSH is standing far away from KJH reinforcing this impression that CSH has returned to her own world. The distance between them in this taking illustrates the inner distance CSH created. Then you can distinguish an invisible frame in this picture, it really looks like there is a glass or a window between them. And this invisible frame corresponds to the invisible change in CSH. CSH has not just started to put a boundary between herself and KJH but also put a gap between them and KJH is unaware of it. She doesn’t share her thoughts and feelings any longer. She is actually hiding behind her smile that’s why KJH is so happy. He said once that seeing her smile would make his day. So he thinks, CSH is happy. Striking is that CSH has adopted KJH’s mannerism. The latter did the same in the past. He never wanted people around him to worry and burden them hence he smiled a lot. The illusion is perfect: she smiles, they spent a good time together so for him, everything is perfect. Yet, she is about to hurt him terribly because he is not expecting it.
Strangely, while KJH is waiting at the counter, he waves to her.
His gesture means for him (Here I am, look at me!), however for CSH it means the opposite: waving goodbye. Remember that she wanted to break up at the end of this perfect date but she couldn’t as KJH offered her a gift: the camera case with her name on it. That’s why she had to postpone it and find the right time. She came to the conclusion that the timing is as important as the way of parting. yet, she is making a huge mistake because no matter how and when, breaking up is really painful.
Yet, there is one thing that caught my attention: she is wearing a red coat. First red is her favorite color (see the dress in Cuba) but she is showing her love for KJH by wearing such a color. She is even catching people’s attention with her coat. She wants the attention from the media on her so that she can quietly break up with KJH without causing any wave. So loving KJH has definitely changed her. She might put an invisible distance and boundary between herself and her boyfriend, yet she is not giving up on her love. She has decided to love KJH but from a distance… so her love will remain despite the break up. As you can see, KJH’s words and behavior have influenced her greatly, she is a changed woman, although there is still something that KJH couldn’t change: her insecurities and fears, the last wall he couldn’t tear apart. She still views herself as cursed, her relationship with KJH was just a dream because it was too wonderful to be true.
While I was watching this drama for my analysis about feet and hands, I came to realize that the hands are often shown with the cellphone. This connection between hands and cellphone starts with this significant scene:
JH takes a picture of his hand where he has just written his cellphone number. Striking is until that moment, we had no taking about cellphones. Why? First, when CSH meets JH for the first time, she has just lost her cellphone. JH didn’t use it at all, he had his camera with him. However, when they are about to part from each other, CSH keeps asking about his phone number but JH refuses as he doesn’t want to be misunderstood… he would rather like to meet her in person again hence he proposes to meet at the cafe for breakfast at 9.00 am. Since CSH doesn’t show up, he leaves a note where he asks her what he always wanted to know: does she have a boyfriend? As you can see, JH doesn’t seem to be the type who uses a lot his cellphone, he is rather a direct person.
episode 3
In the picture above, the connection between hands and cellphone is even reinforced because we have CSH’s hands holding the phone and we have JH’s hands represented in the picture. So indirectly, their hands touch each other through the cellphone. And this is really important because I had already analysed before that JH will use his hands to get closer to CSH and bring down her walls she had created around her. Remember this scene (episode 3), where they play at the beach: He describes himself as the biggest excavator in his neighborhood. With his hands, he puts away the sand and he wins each time. Therefore we could interpret this game as a metaphor for the future events. With his hands, he will little by little come closer to CSH’s heart. With his hands, he will be able to destroy her thick walls and make her surrender.
But since they had returned to the reality after leaving Cuba, JH was well aware that he had to start from the scratch. Here, CSH was not a destitute woman but a CEO. So there is this huge gap and if he wants to get closer to her, this time he needs to give her his cellphone number. He can not approach her directly, unlike in the past. Interesting is that director gives us another taking.
Here JH is happily looking at his hand because he has not just made a move, he has also succeeded with his attempt to get closer to her. CSH didn’t reject his offer. Striking is that after giving his cellphone number, JH receives no phone call and no text. He knows that she needs to make the first move as she has the upper hand. She is after all his boss and if he tries to ask her for her cellphone number, this might not be well perceived. JH is very well aware of the image he wants to give to her. So nothing happens… however, we see JH now using his cellphone more often. He checks on her via his cellphone.
That’s his only way to know what is happening to her. However, parallel to this, he keeps to be in touch with her with his hands. Since he can not see her directly, he counts the floors in order to know where her office is.
Notice that the director uses two takings for this scene underlining his need for physical touch and closeness. As soon as he meets her, JH starts to use his hands for real to get closer to her, like here for example
We shouldn’t forget that he did the same gesture in Cuba and offering his arm marked the start of the first move to get closer to her hand. So he is using the same method again.
But now, let us go back to our main focus, which is the use of the cellphone. Only in the episode 5, CSH contacts JH with her cellphone.
episode 5
But she doesn’t call him. She texts him after seeing being depressed. So they don’t talk to each other but exchange their thoughts via cellphone. Here, the cellphone helps them to create a private sphere where they can be genuine and even intimate. No one can hear them or even see them talking to each other. They can escape from the attention of the media and the journalists. This justifies why for a while, JH and CSH text each other a lot for a while. The fear to be seen together is still there, on the other hand, CSH starts getting more and more comfortable with JH so that in the episode 6, she is not scared to be seen with JH, when she puts his necktie.
Some viewers were complaining that CSH seemed to be rather passive in her relationship with JH. However, the cellphone proves the opposite. She is the one who decides to text JH, when she notices his sadness. She wants to help him. She is also the one who called JH first with her cellphone (episode 7)
In the same episode, JH uses his cellphone in order to know how far CSH’s place is from the Han river.
Initially, he is struggling because of his immanent transfer but his wandering thoughts make him realize that he misses her. He wants to be closer to her hence he makes a research. As you can observe the cellphone is here used again as a way to get closer to her. Moreover, he also realizes that he has no picture of her in his cellphone. Actually, he has already one picture of her, but only in his camera. Therefore we can conclude that the cellphone has become more important in JH’s life. The closer he gets to her, the more he uses it which is understandable because he used the cellphone as a way to get closer to her first. This was his first approach.
That way, he will be able to see her any time. The mobile usage illustrates the evolution of their relationship and their love. Then in the episode 10, JH is the first one who initiates the first video phone call. CSH feels uncomfortable while JH acts as the expert. However, I doubt that he has ever done a video phone call before. JH likes to make himself appear as competent, confident, strong and manly. Don’t forget that he is the best excavator from his neighborhood, the expert with the game machine (where he failed), the docent in his neighborhood. As their relationship progressed, you can sense that JH feels more and more comfortable with his cellphone. He has changed a lot. I have the impression that he used to be a little old-fashioned when it comes to the cellphone. However, in the episode 11, hJH calls her in order to have an office romance in a hidden room and he uses it in order to sing to CSH.
He has become more and more confident and so obvious that he is not able to hide his huge love for her. They are caught by the cleaning lady (“these are the good times”) and his brother hears him singing. JH is more and more taking risks to be caught. What caught my attention in this scene above is his need to touch physically CSH while singing to her. So he goes to the white howl embodying our heroine and touch the plush toy. Our main character is indeed a greedy person, as he can not get enough of CSH.
And let take us a closer look at JWS. In the beginning, we never see him calling CSH. They just meet and we have to assume that she called him (episode 3) or he called her. First, in the episode 10, we witness a scene where JWS calls CSH but the latter rejects the offer to meet him at the Sky lounge. This scene is quite important because it reveals that JWS has always had her cellphone number and he could contact her anytime. Yet, JWS has only one picture of CSH in his cellphone… the one he had before he met her. This proves that he never used the cellphone to get closer to her. Moreover, we never see him texting her. Only in the episode 11, he sends a text which CSH doesn’t see as she is dating JH. But his text is rather common… while CSH and JH put a lot of thoughts in their texts. We see them texting one thing, then erasing the text and tip another text. In the pictures above with the texts, the viewer see the final message, the one JH and CSH read. To summarize, JWS’s failure is visible with the mobile usage. He only sees it as a way to meet CSH. Our main leads utilize the mobile in order to cheer up their partner, to share their thoughts, to convey their love, to take pictures, to sing, to locate the person aso. JWS is a pragmatical person who is not romantic at all. Furthermore this also underlines JWS’s lack of expression skills. He doesn’t use the cellphone that much because he barely talks.
Finally, the cellphone plays an important in the second couple: Lee Dae Chan and Jang Mi Jin. Although both have a false impression of each other, they are able to connect through the cellphone. JM played a part in it as he downloaded the dating application. What caught my attention is that DC and JMJ post the same picture. They hide half of their face in the picture. The face, half covered, symbolizes that they are revealing just a part of their identity. They are not entirely revealing who they are. However, their relationship progresses much quicker than JH and CSH’s as they have less hurdles. JMJ and LDC only needed to get rid of their prejudice and first impression. The app revealed that they had some affinities, yet JMJ had more expectations about her future boyfriend. The closer she gets to DC, the more she changes her criteria about a boyfriend. In the last episode, she made a move in that direction: she visited DC’s restaurant as she wanted to see him… yet, she was a little embarrassed. Nevertheless, DC is a step ahead of her in my opinion. He openly admits that he likes her and he even mentioned marriage in front of his friends.
To conclude, the use of cellphone in this drama reflects the evolution of our modern society. However, there is this common critic that cellphone and Internet contribute to the isolation of people and lack of interaction and communication among people. Strangely, the drama showed the positive side of the cellphone.
What caught my attention in the episode 13 is this Now, you are wondering why. JH’s mother is using the tangerine syrup in order to lure CSH. And this contrasts to teacher Lee’s gesture in the episode 6:
Both pictures have something in common, the citrus fruit. Before analyzing the first scene mentioned above, we have to pay attention to teacher Lee’s gesture. Lee gave the mandarine to show JH her support and comfort. Her gesture was very warm, even motherly because she had peeled the mandarin for him before. In that scene, we could see that Mrs. Lee was worried, yet she never said anything about it. She offered the fruit which made JH happy. Moreover, it seems to me that offering an orange can signify wishing him good luck because tangerine and chance have the same sound in Chinese. Lee’s gesture indicated that she would support him no matter what.
Now, observe the contrast with the tangerine syrup. First, the mother didn’t offer this tangerine syrup directly, she had to use LDC and JMJ in order to reach CSH. Then she is not offering a tangerine as such, but a syrup. We all know that syrup is made of sugar and too much sugar can become poisonous. I connect the syrup to the love of JH’s mother. The love of JH’s mother for her son and her family is actually too much. This explains why she points out that she wants her family to be as they have been. She is refusing any change, especially when it comes to JH. The latter has always loved her so much… remember the smile he had, when he was talking to his mother over the phone and got caught by CSH. The latter thought, he was talking to his girlfriend. So for the mother, it has nothing to do with CSH as such. She uses her special status as an excuse. She acts like a jealous woman. So offering the tangerine syrup was a poison, CSH thought, she had been accepted. Imagine the pain, when she realized that it was the opposite. JH’s mother heard her son saying to his father that he couldn’t live without CSH but notice, she avoided to hear it from her son herself. By not hearing it herself, she can act behind his back excusing herself that she had no idea. Moreover, she can dismiss it, saying that JH will overcome it. To conclude, JH’s mother loves JH too much, just like the syrup is symbolizing it. (love = sweet) That’s why we offer chocolates to our loved ones (=sweets). She is actually trying to kill the love between JH and CSH with the tangerine syrup. The syrup fits the mother’s personality: the sweetness of her manners and voice can not make us overlook that she is trying to destroy that wonderful love. Besides, the mother’s request is too unrealistic: her family not to change is impossible… her sons will leave her at some point and start their own family.
JH’s mother uses her “weak constitution” and “gentle, sweet manners” in order to have her family focused on her. That way she is able to get her ways. Her words towards CSH were actually rude in my opinion:
– First, she expected CSH to be upset. She never mentioned the word “pain, suffer” or something similar. She implied that CSH’s pride had been hurt or CSH considered herself as superior.
– Secondly, she made an allusion that CSH had never intended to marry JH. “Dating doesn’t lead to marriage”.
– Thirdly, she claimed that CSH and JH belonged to two different worlds. This showed that she had no idea about CSH and had huge prejudice about her. Moreover, she used this as an excuse that they couldn’t be together.
To conclude, the mother is as selfish as the other mothers in this drama. Her own fear and her desire to keep her son by her side were the reasons for the rejection. The syrup of tangerines was a gift as a departure, a reminder that our heroine should do what the mother asked her. She perverted the gesture, the wish of good luck was turned into the opposite.
This place is introduced in the second episode, where JH goes after spending the evening with his friends DC and HI. However, he is not alone. HI followed him there.
JH teased HI so that the latter ran after him. This place is also mentioned in JH’s application letter which makes CSH curious, therefore she goes there on her own.
However, she is caught by JH who is so happy because this gives him the opportunity to approach her. In his letter, JH described this place as his place of retreat, even CSH could feel that he treasured it very much therefore she wanted to see it with her own eyes. Curiosity and her experience with JH in Cuba were the reasons why she went there. After the scandal is revealed, HI and JH are seen again at the playground.
look at her face: she is clearly unhappy
She asks him about the photo. As we can see, HI also knows the importance of this place. She knew what JH would do after seeing his picture in the internet. After revealing his identity due to the anonymous post, JH goes to the playground in order to think and gather some strength. He is not sure if he could convince CSH to get closer to each other. Striking is that HI is not with him. The moment he revealed his face to his coworkers, HI is never shown in the playground again. We can conclude that HI has already given up on JH, although she has not really admitted it. After the episode 4, HI only talks to JH at their office or at DC’s place. On the other hand, little by little CSH takes over. In the episode 9, she even goes there without him. In the episode 10, CSH even discovers that this playground is about to disappear. In the episode 11, we have this wonderful scene which represents the climax of their relationship.
episode 11
As conclusion, the playground represents what grandfather Samuel told JH:
episode 1
The playground is the place where CSH and JH’s love could start… If she hadn’t appeared there in the episode 2, I doubt that JH would have pursed her. That’s why we see the playground, when the preview for the next episode is shown.
Notice that there is no one… So CSH and JH might not be there any longer but when we see this place, we remember these scenes of JH and CSH there, especially the scene from the episode 16 which seals their love. The playground might disappear or change, yet their love will still exist.
Now, let us focus on the different meanings of the playground. A playground is a place where children go to play in order to have fun. And this is no coincidence that JH cherishes this place. This is linked to JH’s personality. JH’s favorite word is “fun”, he was always portrayed as a cheerful young man. Secondly, JH used the playground in order to spend time alone too. So this playground represents his secret place, where he can hide from others. Strangely, a playground is usually full with people therefore it is not really possible to hide. Yet, he goes there during the evening/night or if it is during the day, there is no one else there. Even if there was someone, I am sure, he had a book with him so that no one would approach him. Now, we can better understand why JH is using his smiles as a mask, he acts the same with the playground. This is his habit: hiding something in front of everyone. He doesn’t seclude himself where no one can see him. It is in the open air, he has an opposite behavior compared to JWS who goes to his room. Behind doors, our second lead can dwell on his feelings and thoughts.
Then if we pay attention to HI and JH’s interactions in the playground, we can see why from the second episode on, her one-sided love was doomed. In this scene, HI is chasing after JH who teased her just before calling her ugly.
episode 2
Here, you can see on the one hand the playful nature of JH, on the other hand HI’s real position: HI has been waiting and chasing after JH but she was not able to catch his heart. So this scene symbolized their real position: HI will never be able to touch him and his heart. JH is not even aware of her feelings. He only has fun on his mind. Then later in the episode 3, both characters are sitting on the swing next to each other.
Notice that HI sits on the right swing, whereas KJH’s swing with CSH will be the right swing which underlines that HI can never be KJH’s partner as they share the same swing. They can not swing together literally.
Neither JH goes to HI’s side, nor the latter approaches her friend. Both remain at the same distance which underlines once more that their relationship will never change. HI will never get closer to JH, but she will remain by his side. This is important because this illustrates that HI will never betray him.
Then if we take a look again at the scene where JH sees his boss for the first time at his playground, the viewer sees how CSH jumps off the swing as soon as JH calls her. Striking is that CSH chose to sit there before JH’s appearance. This outshines CSH’s sleeping playfulness. This is not visible yet. Then both remain standing close to the swings. Their position and their gesture reveal the gab between them. However, we can see the contrast to the scene in the episode 11:
Here, JH is kneeling in front of CSH. He left the swing and went to her side, touching her knee. This scene illustrates everything: CSH has accepted the playground as her treasure, she has already left the chaebol world. This metaphor comes true at the end of the episode 12. But JH’s kneeling in front of CSH embodies their respective status in the couple: for him, CSH is his princess. He is kneeling like the boy (credit to @Jemrie (forum soompi))
who is offering the shoe.
They have here the same position. Striking is that although CSH was considered as a princess due to her marriage with JWS, she was never treated as such in that terrible family. Neither JWS nor his mother treated her like a princess: she was either a maid or a doll. That’s why JWS bought her so many expensive gifts. He wanted to dress her up but the doll was always put in a certain place where people could admire her. Yet, it bothered him because the doll never reacted to his gifts. With JH, CSH’s cheerfulness has resurfaced, she likes being at the playground, she likes it, when JH pushes her gently… he brings movement and joy into her life. Then now, you must wonder why I came to think about JWS, while analyzing the playground. In my opinion, only when JWS sees JH and CSH interacting at the playground, he will realize that he has never treated CSH like a princess, that he has never known the real CSH. He never knew that she had a cheerful side, she could make jokes and tease her friends.
Remember that JWS only saw JH bringing CSH home with her car or he saw her at the hotel (episode 3) with JH, our second lead never witnessed how CSH would be in a different surrounding. CSH was always seen in his world with JH but never in JH’s surroudings.
Although this story, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, looks like a book for children due to the drawings and the style, in reality The little prince is classified as a philosophical tale. First, the author is criticizing through this story our modern society… don’t forget that it was written during World War Two therefore he wanted people to question themselves and their values. The main points are the following:
– the contrast between appearances and reality
– the incapacity of communicating between adults and children
– the importance of relationships among people and to take care of them
– the sense of responsibility towards others
– the loss of true values due to money and power (represented by different kind of adults: the king, the drunkard, the geographer as scientist, the businessman, the vain man and the streetlight igniter)
In The Little Prince, the adults are portrayed in a pejorative way: their lives consist of dependencies (alcohol, the need of admiration, the greed to possess etc.), of loneliness and lack of feelings. After reading this short description, you can observe that CSH’s world looks a lot like the world in this story. The two main protagonists in The Little Prince are the aviator and the Little Prince, yet they should be considered as representing the same person because the main point of this tale is to ask people to take care of their inner child. That’s why you can read in The little Prince
“All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”
The little prince represents the child embodying all the positive aspects like innocence, creativity, imagination, purity and curiosity in opposite to the adults mentioned above, while the narrator and aviator is the adult. Meeting the prince in the desert means that the aviator is able to rediscover his inner child and rethink about his own life: True values like friendship and love become visible again hence the fox says that
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
At the end of the story, The Little Prince leaves the aviator behind (officially he goes back to his planet but since a snake bit him, we can wonder if he died), yet the narrator says that he is still looking for the little prince, even asking the readers if they saw him. Besides, when the aviator looks at the stars in the sky, he always thinks of him. As you can see, the aviator doesn’t forget his “inner child”. He is an grown-up after all, yet he shouldn’t forget his inner child.
In the beginning, the aviator explains an unforgettable event. When he was 6 years old, the adults couldn’t understand his drawing hence he gave up to become an artist. From that moment, the aviator started living like a grown-up… and here we can see a parallel with CSH. It was around this age, where she was forced to give up her innocence and carefree life and become an adult at an young age. Meeting KJH is like meeting the little prince. She discovers what she has long forgotten: love, joy, carefree life aso. This also justifies why KJH has this playfulness and cheerfulness as he is still very innocent. He might be a grown-up on the surface, yet his personality reminds us of a “child”. I can not forget how some viewers sometimes reacted to his huge smiles… they were somehow bothered by these smiles. But seeing these from this perspective, KJH is the little prince, the one who will awaken CSH’s inner child. Thanks to him, CSH is able to perceive life with her heart and no longer with her eyes. JWS was too realistic and too grown-up to bring happiness into her life. On the other hand, CSH represents the adulthood because in the philosophical tale, the little prince starts changing as well: he discovers what friendship and love mean which becomes painful for him. He loses little by little his innocence as well.
He left his planet because of the rose. The flower was so vain, contradictory but vulnerable, however she ended up hurting the little prince with her words. She loves him but she is well aware that she was the reason he misunderstood her. The rose symbolizes on the one hand femininity and on the other love. The little prince only realized how unique his rose was after meeting the fox:
“It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important.”
We could say that KJH is resembling a lot to the little prince. He spent a lot of time with his rose, took great care of her but due to her words, he ended up leaving her behind. The rose could be perceived either as CSH (she broke up with him) or his mother (who hurt him by forcing CSH to break up with him). Moreover, moving closer to CSH who is the archetype of the adult means facing reality and the world of the grown-ups. He met the queen Chairman Kim, the greedy director Choi, the jealous CEO JWS… Each time, he got hurt but was able to overcome the suffering. He experienced a lot with CSH. He became little by little an adult. Yet his mother refused to see it. That’s why CSH and KJH are both saying the same at the end: they make the other a better person. CSH can become more cheerful and playful again, KJH has become a real man. He is her fence and her protector. They complete each other.
Striking is that CSH has a lot in common with the little prince as well. First, she possesses a painting representing The Little prince. We could interpret that the little prince embodies her inner child that she has long forgotten and is trapped in the painting.
Their situation is similar: both are lonely. He lived on his planet, she lived for her hotel. Secondly, both enjoy watching sunsets. The prince said he could watch 44 sunsets on his planet, when he felt sad. And we saw how the sunset in Cuba had such an impact on She could forget her sad life, this even marked the time of her awakening: trying to enjoy life differently. That’s why we have this.
episode 1
Yet after meeting the boyfriend’s mother and her rejection, Cha Soo Hyun is once again confronted with the reality, the world of adults. The beholder witnesses how affected she is.
episode 15
Notice how she is sitting next to the little prince. She has always been turning her back on him, in a sense we could say that she has been trying not to acknowledge her “inner child”, although we know that CSH had started changing. Nonetheless, the way this scene was taken underlines another aspect: we barely see the little prince, hence we come to the conclusion that his presence has been even reduced. Don’t forget that she is about to break up with JH. Moreover, the wall/door on the side which covers the face of the little prince could be interpreted as the pressure CSH is feeling right now. She is again fighting against her inner demons: the right to be happy. She feels that happiness can only be a dream. For her, unhappiness means reality. Reality is linked to being a grown-up. She associates reality and adulthood with unhappiness since no adult around her has ever been shown happy. See her ex-husband, her mother (never satisfied with her actual life), her father (regretting his bad choice), her ex-mother-in-law, her secretary Nam (he stopped being a journalist, never confessed to his loved one…), JMJ trying to chase the perfect husband … Moreover, I sense that she might even think that she, the princess, is cursed to be unhappy in her life therefore her curse might affect JH’s family. This is the real reason for the break-up.
The presence of this philosophical tale is only really revealed at the end of the episode 14, where CSH is reading the book next to KJH. However, it appeared much earlier with the painting in CSH’s bedroom.
This is the biggest painting on the right. What I didn’t know is the existence a sculpture of The Little Prince with the fox in South Korea. As I had mentioned it before, the fox is not really visible in the painting. The little boy is the main character which shows that CSH has always felt a certain closeness towards this extraordinary character. Another visible trace is the bouquet, it is protected just like the little prince protected his rose.
picture from the book episode 14
To conclude, the writer and director used different visuals to create a connection between the philosophical tale and this drama (bouquet, painting, the book). But it goes far beyond that.
The title of this drama has a lot in common with this French story. Encounter is what actually defines the work from François de Saint Exupéry. Because the aviator had a plane crash in the desert, he met casually the Little Prince. Then the little boy meets the fox as a coincidence as well. The appearance of his beloved rose is not something planned either. One day, she appeared on his planet and the little prince had no idea how it came to life. So far, he had been busy taking care of his planet (see the picture above):
– cleaning the volcanoes,
– taking out the roots of baobabs as they represent a thread to his planet
Therefore when he saw for the first time this flower, he was clueless what she was and where she came from. As you can see, due to encounters, The little prince changes little by little, is forced to make decisions which leads him to leave his planet, to explore other planets and to meet new people. He leaves his planet because the rose due to her vanity, carelessness and arrogance took him for granted and thought, he would remain by her side despite her behavior.
And this leads me to the third aspect, the brevity of the encounters. The Little Prince never stays very long on the different planets he visits. First, the adults he meets are very flawed hence not interesting. They are even more self-absorbed, which the main character realizes. Secondly, even after meeting the aviator and spending some time with him, The Little Prince decides to leave the desert and to go back to his planet. By announcing to the aviator (the narrator) his immanent departure, he forces his friend to leave the desert too. As you can see, even if their encounter was very meaningful because the Little prince became a meaningful person to the narrator, they don’t stay together in the end. Their separation is indeed painful. He knows that the aviator can leave the desert with his plane hence he forces the narrator to do it by announcing his own departure. And here we have the difference between The Little Prince and Encounter. KJH wants to remain by CSH’s side no matter what and he keeps telling her that in order to reassure her. CSH had a lot of encounters, but all of them were with the same person: KJH. For the Little Prince, it was different… he met different people which made him realize how adults were, what friendship and love was aso. On his journey, The Little Prince makes a lot of new experiences which changes him little by little… he becomes more mature and wise. At the end, he discovers in a painful way what love is. Here, I also perceive another similarity with CSH, our protagonist. Thanks to KJH, she discovers love, cart food, average dishes, sand game, the joy of the salsa dance, an open-air gallery aso… Thanks to KJH, her horizon is broadened and enriched. She can feel again, her heart can see things which she couldn’t before. And it is the same for The Little Prince. Since I had already compared KJH and CSH to the Little Prince, my main focus will be elsewhere here in order to avoid any repetition.
Another similarity between these two works are the characters. I have the impression that certain people from The Little Prince resemble a lot to the characters from Encounter, like for example Chairman Kim. She could be compared to the King. The latter lives alone on his planet but he needs to have subjects in order to act as a King. And here, the Chairman Kim acts and lives like a queen. For her, she is royalty and her subjects have to follow her orders. Once she no longer needs them, she can discard them. Yet, at the end she ends up alone because she had abused her position. She didn’t realize that for her position, she had to act reasonably in order to keep subjects around her. And The King in TLP (The Little Prince) is well aware of that. He knows that his demands have to be reasonable, yet he tends to abuse his power anyway. The contradiction is visible in both stories. Their sense of superiority can only exist as long as there is someone besides them but they are not aware of that. Then we have the businessman who could be also linked to the Chairman Kim who wants to possess more and more. Her thrust for money is endless that’s why at the end, she is caught for bribery. But the most important character from TLP resembling to a character from Encounter is the fox. You might wonder about his identity in Encounter…. In my opinion, teacher Lee acts a lot like the fox. The first connection is her title. She is a teacher and the fox is the one who teaches The Little Prince what friendship is and what love is. He listens to him and gives explanation without giving him real advice. He doesn’t just explain what friendship is, he teaches him through experience. He asks the prince to tame him and as such to create ties between them. The fox is the wise teacher, the one who is there for him and who declares that the colour of the wheat fields will always remind him of The Little Prince. And teacher Lee has a similar behavior in Encounter. She doesn’t interact much between CSH and KJH, she always listens to both and explains things without giving any advice. She never stopped CSH from breaking up with KJH. She felt sad and sorry but she said nothing. Then in the dark room, she is the one who reminded CSH to enjoy the present because death could occur anytime. She mentioned missing her husband after his death… Yet she never told CSH to visit KJH. She let CSH make her decision. And that’s exactly what the fox did too. He always let the little prince come to his own conclusion. He only helped him by giving him valuable information.
Furthermore another comparison is the place. KJH and CSH met in Cuba, a country where they were on their own. So for them, Cuba was like a desert as they only interacted with each other. For them, the others were like inexistant. Don’t forget that CSH and KJH didn’t pay attention to the dancers during the sunset, they were both focused on the beautiful scenery.
episode 1
CSH didn’t see the couple dancing. Then later, they walked barefoot without paying attention to others again. So they acted as if they were alone all this time. And to me, the desert from The Little Prince resembles a lot to Cuba. Although it is a desert, The Little Prince is able to meet the narrator, the fox, the other roses and the snake. It is not an empty place, it is a place where it is difficult to live. And the evening spent together in Cuba was exactly like that. CSH had trouble to walk to the top of the hill, she had lost her cellphone and purse therefore later they hadn’t much money, it was quite difficult to manage to eat and have a good evening. Her situation is really similar to the aviator’s situation: his plane needs to be repared and he has nothing. Yet despite everything, CSH was able to survive and to enjoy the evening: experience new things. And this is exactly what happened to the aviator and the little Prince. Despite the loneliness, the harshness of the environment, they were able to survive, to overcome the loneliness as both became close, just like CSH and KJH.
The picture above from The Little Prince represents the street lighter turning on and off the light. He lives on the smallest planet and the latter turns around one cycle per minute hence the worker has no time to rest. The street lighter is blindly following the instruction. He never questions the meaning of this instruction or tries to change it hence he is unhappy. As you can sense, the street lighter represents the workers’ social class in reality. But what does he have to do with our favorite drama Encounter?
First, let me remind you that the story written by François de Saint Exupéry contains a lot of drawings which makes you think that this book is for children. So the drawing above is the perfect illustration. And Encounter has the same approach: it uses drawings in each episode in order to illustrate the topic or the main event of the episode.
episode 14
Looking at such a drawing, you can’t help thinking about fairy tales and we all know that fairy tales are stories for children as well. As conclusion, both works give the appearance of being stories for a younger audience (one a fairy tale, the other for little children), while in reality the purpose of these stories is different. On the one hand, Encounter is actually using fairy tales elements in order to demystify the fairy tales, on the other hand the writer and director want us to reflect about life and happiness. And The Little Prince has the same purpose: the adults should question their own values and even not forget their inner child in order to be happy. The adults portrayed there were all very flawed as they had forgotten what was really important in life. In Encounter, CSH is in the end the perfect illustration of such an adult. She is trapped in her own world, too focused on others and forgetting herself in the end. This explains why The Little Prince is still so popular after so many years, its message is timeless. And this is what the writer and the director tried to do with Encounter: they used books, paintings, poems from different times so that a certain intemporality can be perceived. Besides, this drama made you think of an old film, a classic due to the music (intro) and the drawings. Sure, there is a difference with the story The Little Prince, like for example the use of the cellphone. Remember that I had pointed out how the cellphone helped KJH to get closer to CSH (first texts, then phone calls, thirdly pictures, then video calls, then song over the phone etc). In the book, there is no description of the plane f. ex…. and the planets explored by the prince seem to be too unreal making us think that this is a story for children. This difference can be easily explained: we are not reading a book but watching a drama so the story is embedded in its time
But now let’s go back to the street lighter. So far, The Little Prince had more sympathy with him than with the other adults (King, drunkard, the businessman or the conceited man) hence he wished to have become his friend. One of the reasons was that the worker was not selfish, due to his work he is not self-absorbed. He takes care of others in reality. Besides, his work shows a certain utility: in the prince’s eyes, turning on the light is as if a star would be born/shine. It looks beautiful and nice. However, the little boy doesn’t stay on that planet because it is too small. And who resembles to this character in Encounter? To me, the street lighter reminds me of KJH’s mother. First, the mother belongs to the same social class: the workers’ class. Then she is not someone who questions values and traditions, just like the street lighter who never questions the absurdity of the instruction. She sticks to her role as mother and wife: helping her sons and husband. That’s why she can be perceived as not selfish. She lives in her own world, too scared to disobey or even question anything. When The little Prince offered advice and help in order to improve the street lighter’s situation, the latter clearly refuses it. He was too scared to change anything. The refusal of any change, even the rejection reminds us KJH’s mother. She rejected CSH claiming that she belonged to another world, she said that she wanted to keep her family as it was. To conclude, she has a lot of similarities with the street lighter:
– the lack of judgement, the prejudice
– the refusal of any change even if it means discomfort. Both are prisoners of their past in the end. The street lighter had a nice life in the beginning, yet it changed as the planet turned around much quicker.
– the same social class
– the fear: The Little Prince even got aware that the worker would be looked down by the others (conceited man, king, businessman) due to his situation and KJH’s mother had this fear.
But if CSH’s father is not the street lighter, then who resembles him? I have the impression that CJH could be the geographer, the scientist. Both have a similar work: the geographer writes books, CJH was a journalist. Both love books as well. The flaw of the geographer is that he never explores himself the world, he keeps writing and reading books, yet he never experiences the beauty of the ocean. He never leaves his desk hence he doesn’t know his planet at all. He represents the uselessness of the science if someone is forgetting the real purpose of the science. He is actually a prisoner too, just like the street lighter… but not of the past but of the future. And a politician is often too focused on the future, forgetting the present. Yet the geographer is the one who encourages The Little Prince to explore the world and discover things. He is not different from CJH. The latter encourages his daughter to face the world, to experience new things… and at the end he realizes that he should change his life as well, not focussing too much on the future but enjoy the present.
As for the conceited man (“le vaniteux”), I see some parallels with our second lead, Jung Woo Suk. Both are focused on their appearance as they are seeking admiration. JWS pays a great deal to his clothes because he thinks that Cha Soo Hyun might be impressed by his appearance. Remember his unfortunate encounter with Cha Soo Hyun at the shop. However, the difference is that the conceited man lives alone hence he has definitely no admirer around him. Being alone means that he can never find any admirers. For JWS, this is different. He is used to be admired. Despite this contrast, they are both in the same situation. JWS is determined to win her love (which is a sort of admiration), just like the conceited man asks the little prince to be his admirer and clap his hand. Their selfishness and their lack of consideration to the other are visible in both cases. The Little Prince is tired of clapping his hands and he realizes that the vain man is blind and deaf. He is just too self-absorbed to have a normal conversation with the main protagonist. He just gives orders and he is not even aware that his whole existence is pointless as he lives alone on his planet. JWS is not really different from him. He might have many female admirers, however he is just as blind and deaf as the vain man. Moreover, he also gives orders to CSH (“meet me at the sky lounge”). He thinks, he is generous enough to tell her that she can take her time. He ignores her words that she won’t meet him. Finally, he is also alone in his own world. While the vain man lives on a planet, we could say that JWS lives in a coffin due to his liking for brown and black and for rectangles.
Even the painting and the windows have the form of oblongs.
He is never seen outdoors (only when he is forced to meet KJH, his rival). And even in a room, he usually doesn’t look outside.
episode 5
His back is always facing the windows which reflects his personality: narrow-mindedness. And just like the vain man, JWS ends up alone in his realm. The Little Prince is bothered by the behavior of this adult, Cha Soo Hyun has never loved him and will never love him. Unlike the vain man, JWS gets aware that he will never be able to win CSH’s heart. He accepts his fate and turns his attention towards the other woman in his life, his mother. But since she is in jail, he lives alone in this lifeless and empty house.
episode 16
This last picture reflects perfectly JWS’s life: loneliness. He is a king without any real subject. He just has his loyal secretary and that’s it. He is still sitting with his back to the windows. His life has not changed, just like with the conceited man. MEeting the little prince doesn’t change the life of this adult. The only difference is that JWS is no longer seeking Cha Soo Hyun’s love.
Another similarity is the presence of the star.
episode 16
We have the poem “Enchanted” where the star is mentioned, then this illustration where the sun and moon are reunited which creates a shining star. Their love transcends time and space. And at the end of The Little Prince, the narrator asks the readers to think of The Little Prince if they are in Africa in the desert and a start shines… the little prince could appear anytime. The star as symbol is used in both works.
Finally, I would like to remind that each adult in the philosophical tale should be seen as a different part of ourselves. They just represent a certain flaw and the adult has to keep these aspects in check in order to enjoy life and be happy.
After meeting KJH’s mother, it becomes clear that CSH will choose to break up with him. She has many reasons for this decision. First, we have to imagine that she suffered a lot in her first marriage due to the mental abuse from her mother-in-law. So when she met YJ, the words from the latter clearly showed that she wouldn’t accept her as future daughter-in-law. So I doubt that anyone who suffered abuse from a mother-in-law would be ready to go through the same experience again. Secondly, KJH kept pressuring her to marry him. He had noticed her unhappiness, when she saw the couple in wedding clothes. He offered her the bouquet but she never gave an answer… he had to ask over and over again, until she accepted his proposal. Her hesitation is quite understandable. She associates marriage to unhappiness. When she saw the wedding dress, she was reminded of her unhappy marriage which left a huge scar in CSH’s heart. CSH was not only scarred by her mother-in-law but by her marriage as such. Don’t forget that until she finally met SA, she really thought that her husband had fallen in love with another woman and never really loved her.
So when we see this scene, CSH is looking at the painting created by Soo Ah. The painting is called the bride and strangely, the bride has no head. We only see the gown of the bride. Since the head is missing, it creates an anonymity. Due to the colors (yellow, beige and grey), a certain melancholy oozes from the painting too. Moreover, the bride dress is not really white, rather cream giving the impression that time had passed on. To conclude, this bride and marriage is not evoking happiness, rather lost time or dreams.
In this taking, CSH in the background is standing for a long time in front of that painting. To me, it looks like CSH is actually thinking about her next move, the break up. Yet, I also sense that by looking at the picture she is trying to find solace. She will break up with KJH, yet she is imagining herself getting married again. On the one hand, the painting helps her to escape from her oppressive situation, on the other hand to find closure. By imagining herself in that dress, she is able to give up on the marriage. That’s why there is no head. The beholder is asked to imagine herself in that gown.
Then in this taking, we have the fake mistress in the foreground. She is the author of that painting. In my opinion, she was inspired by her own situation. Back then, she had signed a contract with JWS asking her to eat with him and spend times with him in exchange for money. She had to act like the girlfriend and mistress. However, as time passed on, she fell in love with JWS and she started dreaming of marrying JWS. As you can see, she drew the painting with this wish in mind. She wished to be the bride and kept waiting and hoping that this would come true. That’s why the beholder perceives longing and melancholy in this drawing. However, she could never express her wish because she was bound with the contract therefore the bride has no head. She can not show it in the open. The painting helped her to hope and overcome her loneliness. However, when JWS broke up with her, she realized that this had just been a dream. JWS has always loved his wife. Giving the painting back to CSH means that SA gives up on her dream. She has come back to reality, she wished that CSH can get a new start (a happy marriage either with her boyfriend or with her ex-husband). Since she explains the whole situation to CSH later, from my point of view, she actually tries to help JWS in the end. They might get a new start, however this is too late. Moreover, JWS had hurt her with his action. Since she saw CSH with KJH at the gallery, she knows that her relationship with KJH is serious… that’s why I sense that SA’s gesture (offering the painting) illustrates her wish to redeem herself and to help CSH to find happiness and a new start in life.
because they mark the turning point in CSH’s life. This scene represents CSH’s awakening and the eyes are the evidence of CSH’s change. When someone sleeps, the persons closes his eyes. So the eyes reveal if the person is awakened or asleep. However, when someone is in a coma or vegetative state, the eyes can remain opened, yet they show neither emotions nor reaction to their surrounding. To sum up, the eyes represent an important signal for the physical state of a person. Since CSH explained to JWS (episode 7) that she had been in a coma for so long, we can conclude that her eyes had been opened all this time but they were emotionless and distant. So the eyes in the second taking above illustrates the change in CSH’s mind: her eyes are shining like stars, even smiling because she has been touched by the beauty of the sunset. All of her senses are fully awakened now. She is reacting to the sunset and to the wonderful music.
This explains why the famous Roman senator Cicero (1. Century BC) wrote once: “The face is a picture of the mind as the eyes are its interpreter”. From ancient times, people could notice the importance of the eyes. In French and in English, we have the saying too that eyes are the mirror of the soul. Why? First, we have no control over our eyes, unlike our mouth. With the latter, we can decide to remain mute or lie or say the truth, however it is not the same for the eyes hence the eyes give away a lot of information about our emotional state. The person can never really control his emotions. People can fake their smile but they often forget about their eyes. We could use as example for this CSH’s smile at the end of the episode 14. She fakes happiness, while her eyes reveal her sadness and pain. Hence the gaze is connected to sincerity and genuineness. Moreover, the eye is more complex compared to the lips, as it is composed of a pupil, the tears, an eyebrow, eyelid, the corner of the eye, of possible dark circle under the eye. Furthermore, we have two eyes and not just one which reinforce the expressed emotions.
But let us go back to the eyes of our heroine before the awakening (episode 7). They show neither reaction nor emotion. Her eyes are totally blank. This scene confirms her allegation, when she confronted Jung Woo Suk in the episode 9.
She really looks like a person in a vegetative state as she doesn’t even move her head or her body. Striking is that CSH’s eyes are looking down. And this gesture is really important. First, this reflects her actual situation. By lowering her eyes, she is in reality lowering herself in front of her mother-in-law. Her eyes outline her inferiority in front of Chairman Kim. Secondly her action shows that she is actually avoiding people’s gaze. While her mother-in-law is talking to her, she keeps staring at her dish. Why is she avoiding people’s gaze, if she is in a coma? We have to understand that the eyes have another function as well. They can reflect the other. The other’s gaze is a substitute for the mirror. If CSH looked into the chairman’s eyes, she would see a glimpse of herself, but it is a deformed reflection because the chairman Kim judges her at the same time. She only catches a small part of CSH. Through her mother-in-law, she would see herself in a coma. She would be reminded of her terrible situation which would increase her pain. But if you pay attention to the scene in the episode 7, you’ll notice that the chairman Kim is doing the same. She is also avoiding CSH’s eyes. Only when her son appeared, she turned her head towards him and looked at him. Later, we discover why JWS’s mother avoided CSH’s eyes.
Chairman Kim says: ” I always felt uncomfortable about the look in her eyes. That look in her eyes always bothers me. I hated her for that.”
Why did she dislike CSH’s eyes? A simple answer would be that CSH’s eyes were different. CSH never envied or admired her and her son. While all the others would worship them and try to get closer to them, CSH was never attracted by them. The mother-in-law couldn’t bear the thought that someone was looking at her differently, was not considering her as a queen. That’s why chairman Kim abused her and tried to control CSH. In this scene (episode 7), the mother-in-law gives the following orders:
“Get your hair done… wear the clothes they prepared (…) People would be waiting to see your face. You have to be tidier than situation like this. Smile more. But don’t smile too much.”
As you can see, she is taking control of CSH’s body. She treats her daughter-in-law like a doll which explains why her son criticized her in an earlier episode for treating CSH like a thing. But this is not just the hair and the clothes, but also the way she smiles and she moves. And now we have to remember this: we have no control over the eyes. How can the mother-in-law take control over the eyes, if the owner can not even control them. This is impossible. The mother-in-law was fighting against nature, a doomed battle. Now we have another explanation why the mother-in-law was upset. This was the only thing she could never control as CSH couldn’t even control her own eyes. This underlines the dictatorial tendency of JWS’s mother. A third explanation is that the chairman Kim also saw a glimpse of herself in CSH’s eyes which she didn’t like. As I said before, the eyes function as a mirror, although the reflection is deformed as the other judges you at the same time. Chairman Kim saw a part of herself, she didn’t want to see: the abusive, greedy and selfish person. CSH might have been in a vegetative state and never react to her mother-in-law’s cruel words, however CSH never stopped thinking and couldn’t stop herself from resenting JWS’s mother. This would infuriate the mother-in-law which would force her to abuse CSH even more and it became a vicious circle, until CSH and JWS’s mother avoided each other’s gaze as it had become too unbearable.
Since we talked about mirrors, I would like to explain why CSH was so obsessed with mirrors. She had one next to her desk and in her bedroom. Her mirrors were even huge. The mirrors outlined her loneliness, by having her own reflection next to her, she would feel less lonely. Moreover, by looking at herself, she would feel that she was still alive. The mirror would confirm her existence, would reassure her… Moreover, this would give her the opportunity to take control over her body. The mirror reflects the image she wishes to see but the problem with the mirror is that it doesn’t really help you to see your personality, only the appearance. On the other hand, the other’s gaze let see you a part of your personality… even if it’s a deformed and partial view. Only with the presence of another person, you can discover your true self. CSH tried to see herself in the mirror but she only saw her appearance not her personality. Only after meeting KJH and looking at his eyes, she started seeing herself and discovering herself. Remember that she said that she had many identities (CJH’s daughter f. ex.) but in reality, she was seeking for her own identity. Who is exactly CSH, the person behind this name? While the chairman’s gaze revealed to her an terrible reflection, with KJH she could perceive her good side. His eyes let her see how beautiful she was. But she never saw her own happiness. That’s why KJH’s words in the episode 16 are so important. “With these pictures, you will see a side of you that you never knew”.
Now, we have another aspect: the importance of the pictures. The pictures serve here as a mirror of her happiness, the side she never saw and knew. Neither the mirror nor the eyes were able to allow her to discover another glimpse of herself.
episode 16
As you can see, CSH was desperately searching for her own identity and personality all this time and had no idea how to find it. The pictures helped her to find herself and allowed her to choose happiness. And this also justifies why CSH is determined to take many pictures later. For her, the pictures have a meaningful purpose. Because they helped her, she realises the importance of pictures. However, when she sees herself in the pictures, she is not alone. Teacher Lee is by her side and tells her how she judges the pictures: “I really love your expressions. How pretty. You look happy”. Then she remembers Kim Jin Hyuk’s words:
As conclusion, Cha Soo Hyun can only discover herself thanks to the pictures and thanks to the eyes of her boyfriend and teacher Lee. Alone, she wouldn’t have been capable. Through the eyes of others, the human being is able to perceive himself, discover a part of his personality. This idea comes from the French philosopher Sartre who wrote the theater play “No exit” (Huis-clos) where the 3 dead main characters, reunited in a room, are forced to live together and see their own flaws in the eyes of the others as there is no mirror in the room. They realize what kind of persons they truly were in their past life. That’s why this famous phrase comes from this work: “Hell is other people”. Actually, Sartre is not saying that we should avoid social contact, it is just that the eyes of others might become unpleasant as we see a glimpse of ourselves in them. However, the real conclusion is to incite people to make the right decisions and to do good to others so that the gaze of others reflect a good image and judgement of ourselves. Here, the happiness of Cha Soo Hyun will shine and be reflected in Kim Jin Huyk’s eyes. It will make him happy and that’s what Cha Soo Hyun realized in the dark room.
Through the introduction with the drawings, especially in the first episode, we have the impression that we are about to watch a fairy tale. First, we see a flying horse, an imagined animal. Then the main character, Cha Soo Hyun, is presented as a princess living alone in a huge castle. She is wearing a crown, however she leaves her huge palace and has to go through a huge forest full of thorns in order to be able to see the sun and the sunlight. She arrives in Cuba.
From the start, we see the reference of Cinderella. Cha Soo Hyun loses one of her shoes which KJH has to pick up
episode one
, he even buys her new ones, sandals that are far more simple and comfortable. Just like the prince, Kim Jin Huyk has no idea about her identity. He is just fascinated and attracted by her. Even Cha Soo Hyun exclaims after her return from the ball (salsa show) that she has been Cinderella. Furthermore we have other allusions about Cinderella:
more than one ball (the second happens at the end of the episode 8),
episode 8 and 9
the mask representing a pumpkin,
episode 8
the fact that the color of the mask is grey, the same color than ashes because she is hiding herself behind her expressionless face. Don’t forget my interpretation in another essay where I compared our heroine to a fire that had been covered with ashes. Only her eyes are revealing her true feelings and thoughts (especially after Cuba).
The other reference is the Sleeping Beauty. This is visible through the drawing (the forest full of thorns).
episode 1
Then Cha Soo Hyun describes herself as a vegetable in front of her husband. During many years, she was like the Sleeping Beauty (in the fairy tale, she sleeps for one century). This explains why she was suffering from insomnia. How could she fall asleep, if she was already in a coma?
The common denominator of these two fairy tales is the existence of the prince. The prince is the one who awakes the Sleeping Beauty with his kiss and in the second one, the prince finds Cinderella thanks to her special shoes. In my opinion, since Cha Soo Hyuk is linked to the sea and Kim Jin Hyuk is associated to the sun in the drawings, we have to imagine that the sunset in Cuba represents the kiss of the prince, the sun kisses the sea which causes Cha Soo Hyun’s awakening. So on the surface, the prince seems to be Kim Jin Huyk. However his situation doesn’t fit the description of a prince. He comes from a lower social class. He has neither powerful parents nor wealth. However, we shouldn’t forget that first in different fairy tales like The story of a Youth who Went Forth to Learn what Fear was or The King of the golden mountain (both from Grimm), sons from a lower social class (merchant, craftsman) are able to marry a princess at the end and become kings. As you can see, the origin of our hero can’t be the main objection for not considering him as a prince. However, we have a real prince in the story: Jung Woo Suk. He is rich, handsome and powerful. He represents the archetype of prince charming. He is the prince since his mother, the chairman Kim, views herself as the queen as the leader of Taegyeong Group. Striking is that we have two princes in this “fairy tale” which is quite unusual but not extraordinary as some few fairy tales contain such elements. So the existence of two princes indicates that there will be a competition. Who can earn the princess’ love?
episode 11/12 the confrontation and duel: who will get Cha Soo Hyun?
Cha Soon Hyun can never love Jung Woo Suk as he has no idea what she really likes and who she is.
But are
Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty the two only fairy tales that are mentioned and
exploited here in Encounter? I see two other possible references: Snow-white
and Little Red Riding Hood, although there was no explicit allusion like with
the other stories.
First since
the stepmother is jealous of Snow-White, she abuses her and wants to get rid of
her. The beholder can observe the similarity. Moreover, since CSH’s nickname is
the Ice princess, it means that her “face” is white and cold like snow. And
Snow-white received the same name due to the color of her skin which reminded her
mother of snow. Then we saw that chairman Kim abused Cha Soo Hyun so that at
the end, she left the “palace” divorcing Jung Woo Suk. Snow-White is forced to
leave the palace. At some point, the queen wants to kill her, when she realizes
that she is still living with the dwarfs. Here, Chairman Kim wants to take away
Donghwa Hotel as CSH has been able to change the financial situation of that
company. The impact is almost the same. Since CSH put all her energy into that
hotel, taking it away from her would mean to kill her literally. The dwarfs are
the driver Nam and the PR-manager Kim Sun Joo among others.
The final reference is The Little Red Riding Hood. First, we see Cha Soo Hyun wearing a red dress in the first episode, the same color than the little girl in the fairy tale.
Then later, in the drawing of the episode 11, a wolf appears.
The wolf could embody Jung Woo Suk who has come back in order to claim his “ex-wife”, his first love. What people most don’t know is that in the original version, the French fairy tale written by Charles Perrault in the 17th Century, the story ends with the following moral:
Moral
Children,
especially attractive,
well bred
young ladies,
should
never talk to strangers,
for if they
should do so,
they may
well provide dinner for a wolf.
I say
“wolf,” but
there are
various kinds of wolves.
There are
also those who are charming,
quiet,
polite, unassuming,
complacent,
and sweet,
who pursue
young women
at home and
in the streets.
And
unfortunately,
it is these
gentle wolves
who are the
most dangerous ones of all.
As you can see, the author warns the young women not to listen to seducers. I see here some parallels as CSH was also convinced by her parents to marry Jung Woo Suk. She was polite, complacent and sweet (just like in the moral) and at the end, her life was ruined. Sure, the message has been modernized and transformed. However, the message is that people should think really hard and not allow themselves to be influenced. Naivety and ignorance were the reasons why the women were easily seduced; in CSH’s case, I would say that she had been trained to listen to her parents.
Striking is that many fairy tales end with a marriage with the saying: they lived happily ever after. Since our heroine has been married once and is now divorced, this characteristic represents a contradiction to the fairy tales. In reality, the characteristics of the prince have been perverted. Due to his power, wealth and social status, CSH suffocated and suffered so much that she became a vegetable. Moreover, her husband was not even able to protect her from his jealous mother hence CSH judged him as weak and poor in the end. On paper, JWS was the perfect husband candidate, in reality he was the opposite. The elements from fairy tales happen after her divorce indicating that divorce is not the end of the world. This is also a chance to get a new start. In my opinion, the writer is in fact trying to demystify the fairy tales. Kim Jin Hyuk is just an average man and as such he is as brave and strong as any other man. A real good husband is the one who pays attention to his partner, observes her carefully and takes care of her. Money and power are not a synonym for happiness. To conclude, this drama sends the right messages for women by using elements from fairy tales:
Fairy tales (marrying prince charming) are just an illusion
be independent,
a normal person might be the right partner for you,
be happy with simple things and enjoy the ordinary days of your life.
At the end of the episode 3, KJH moves his foot closer to CSH’s shoes… but just a little, while he confesses that he went to Sokcho because he wanted to see her, he missed her. After hearing that KJH feels something for her, she moves her foot away from his. Here their feet are under the table indicating that they are now in the same world.
With this camera position, the director wanted to use the foot as symbol for the attempt of KJH to change their relationship. He doesn’t want to keep this boss-employee relationship any longer, he definitely wants more and since he knows from the radio that CSH considers him as friend, he thought, he could try to be acknowledged as friend. Notice the connection between the small distance he moved his foot and his attempt to ask her to become an official friend. In the same episode, just before they went eating, Kim Jin Hyuk stood at her hotel door and the director used two takings in order to point out that they were still in two different worlds. But at the restaurant, the situation has changed, KJH has decided to step up and be more active in his pursuit of our heroine.
episode 3
We know that he loves her because from the first episode, he was interested to know if she had a boyfriend. Yet here he only asks merely for a friendship as he knows that he can not ask for more right now. But as you can see, CSH rejects his offer and tries to maintain that relationship as boss-employee.
A lot of people understood the symbolism behind this scene, however what I, like many viewers, failed to see is that the director and writer had been already using the feet and the hands as symbols since the first episode. Someone might even wonder as joke if the director is not a foot and hand fetish.
Just in the first episode, we have 8 takings with the feet and 9 with the hands which is quite a lot. The first taking is this:
episode 1
JH brings her shoe back and puts it next to her foot. Here, her high heels embody the chaebol world which is a uncomfortable and painful world. That’s why her foot has a wound. She might look good in high heels but with such shoes, it is impossible to walk for long and properly. JH with his hand offers assistance. Striking is the meaning behind the hand, JH has to lower himself but he doesn’t mind it at all. The hand reflects two aspects: modesty and kindness. This simple taking has such a deep significance but it marks the start.
From that moment, the director pays a lot attention to the hands, arms and feet of our protagonists. But let’s go back to that scene where KJH puts CSH’s shoe in front of her. That’s when he notices that her foot has a wound hence he proposes to walk barefoot. After convincing her, he offers his arm to help her to come down from the wall
Notice that here KJH is keeping a certain distance from her, as he just offers his arm and not his hand. With some reluctance, CSH accepts his assistance one for time.
But why does the director spend so much time on focusing on the hand and foot in this scene? In my opinion, first he would like to underline CSH’s shyness, she is not used to physical contact. Secondly, he also outlines how quickly their relationship evolves. First, his hand was close to her foot which revealed a huge gap. Now, he is bold enough to offer his arm. The gap has diminished. Then we see her walking barefoot and at some point, JH looks at her feet
and notice that they don’t look good. CSH is not used to that way of life… being totally destitute that’s why he proposes her to buy shoes. Since they drank beer together and walked together barefoot for a while, JH feels naturally closer to her that’s why he grabs her arm gently without thinking as he proposes to buy sandals.
It’s a natural gesture but it outshines how comfortable JH already feels with her. For him, there is no longer any gap between them, they don’t really belong to different worlds. However, CSH’s reaction (she pushes his hand away) makes him realize that she is not feeling the same. She is definitely not used to be so physically close to anyone. Why buy shoes? He wants her to treat her like a princess but with his own means. He chooses “funny” shoes for her. She is hesitant to put on the sandals as this is totally new to her. However, the moment she puts on the shoes, she notices that they are comfortable.
Since she looks at them, the viewer can feel her emotions. She is agreeably surprised that’s why she accepts the sandals and walks later happily with him. But before that, the director focuses one more time on the feet.
JH is still barefoot unlike CSH. So this taking illustrates that JH already gives priority to CSH.
This zoom has another meaning. They are now in the same world… they are equal but not poor. They are not totally deprived. By experiencing walking barefoot, JH realized that CSH did belong to another world but he had no idea that she belonged to the chaebol world. As they walk together, CSH puts her hand on her stomach. She is signalizing that she is hungry.
The hand is used here as a way to express oneself that’s why we have sign language. The hand is a tool for communication. I had already pointed out that CSH had never been allowed to express herself. She had to remain silent and obedient, however she developed two strategies where she could express herself freely and show her emotions: the paintings and the hands. In other episodes, like in the episode 2 we see her caressing the watch she wore in Cuba.
This tender and intimate gesture illustrates that she treasures this time spent with KJH. She is remembering all the emotions she felt that time. In this scene, she does it, when she is alone, no one can see her being so tender. But let’s go back to the scene, where JH notices that she is hungry. This is really important because it shows that JH is a good observant. He already pays attention to her body language, which JWS doesn’t and has never done. For him, she was always sour-faced as he only looked at her face. He never looked elsewhere. What caught my attention is when they are at the restaurant, the director has two similar takings.
Unlike in the other camera positions, the hands are not the focus but they are both in the center of the zoom. Both serve the same purpose. JH’s hand indicates his hesitation if he should pay for the salsa show, CSH uses her hand to hide her laugh and smile. Both are expressing a certain shyness. She doesn’t dare to laugh in front of him, he is thinking if this is worth. He is still unaware if she is attracted to him or not. He had already told her that he found her cute. This “shyness and awkwardness” will be even more visible later, when they are about to part from each other.
They already like each other but they don’t know how to approach the other without looking like a flirt/playboy. But between the restaurant and the departure, they went to the salsa show… here, JH is able to take CSH’s hands which is really important.
She allows him to touch her and become close to her. It took JH the entire evening and night spent with her to be able to touch her, however this was for him a signal that he had some chances. That’s why he wants to meet her the next morning. He wants to know if she is as interested in him as he is in her. What KJH didn’t see is this. When she is in the taxi, she looks at her shoes and has a huge smile.
CSH not only likes the shoes but she already perceives them as meaningful. She is happy and has already a good memory of the time spent with KJH. She doesn’t feel that she belongs to a different world from KJH.
This is the reason why the director pays so much attention to KJH and CSH’s hands and feet. The evolution of their relationship is not only visible with the feet but also with the hands… CSH’s shyness was the reason whyKJH was very cautious around her and knew that he had to take little steps so that CSH would put down her walls and become physically intimate with him. Moreover, CSH shows a lot of emotions (anger, fear, …) with her hands, as she has learnt to hide her thoughts and emotions. This is unnoticed by many, especially JWS, but not by KJH.
So only in the episode 5, KJH was able to take CSH’s hand again, when he proposed to have a some-relationship. It took him some time in order to come closer again… the gap between the two worlds was just so huge, however KJH was determined and persistent in his goal. Little by little, his hands got closer to hers again but it took some time:
episode 3: he repeats the same gesture, when she had to jump from the wall. Here he helps her to enter the truck.episode 4 notice that his hands don’t touch hers yet
First, he had thought that he had succeeded after having spent the afternoon with her, nonetheless when he saw this :
episode 5
he got anxious that he might have failed. As you can observe, the picture on the right shows two hands joined together… and KJH had not been able to take her hand after his return from Cuba. That’s why he got worried… he knew that if he had touched her hand again, she wouldn’t be able to cut ties with him.
And the break up is also reflected in the hands: In the episode 15 KJH tries to hold her hand but he fails as he can only grab two fingers.
episode 15
In a similar scene, he tries again to hold her back but this time he only grabs her wrist. He doesn’t even dare to touch her hand. He still respects her, although it is painful for him.
And this visible distance between their hands culminates to the point that his own hands are about to cut his ties with her and her world. With his hands, he wants to write the resignation letter. With his own hands, he is about to leave her world as he has the impression that his hands and love were not strong enough to keep her by his side, since she feels guilty. she could destroy his happy family.
But then he remembers his good memories with his girlfriend and his own advice: to endure pain and hard times with good memories hence he changes his mind. He won’t give up on her… his strong will and determination are back, he won’t let her influence him.
Morro Cabana is the place CSH went in order to watch the wonderful sunset at Malecon Beach. The man working at the Havana Hotel recommended her this place by telling her that this was the place to fall in love. However, CSH went there alone and on her own. After JH’s rescue, she woke up and realized that she had put her head on JH’s shoulder. Nonetheless, after some awkward moment, she saw the beautiful sunset and was mesmerized by it. However, JH told her that in order to be more moved by this beautiful sunset, she should listen to a certain song. The moment she listens to the music, you can see how the song and the scenery affect her.
Suddenly tears appear showing a sadness and even a heartbreak. In that moment, the image becomes white and black…
It was as if CSH gets aware of the unhappiness and tragedy in her life. She remembers sad moments in her life, where she has to fake smile and happiness, like f. ex. this one
or her marriage.
In the picture above, she doesn’t even smile which indicates how terrible for her the wedding was. She never wanted to get married. All these events, showed in black and white, are sad and painful memories of her life. Actually, we could say that her life was lifeless, since it was colorless. The negative emotions are clearly visible and palpable in these memories. Then the director contrasts her memories with the couple dancing in the sunset.
The couple is moving, there are a lot of bright colors (red, gold, yellow) indicating that in this place and in this moment, there is life and joy. People are enjoying the moment and their life, living to the fullest. But instead of getting too emotional and even depressed, she closes her eyes and takes a long breath.
It was as if she decided to come out of the coma, not to let her “vegetative state” continue. She breathes for real and get rid of these terrible memories that have marked her life until now. Then the camera position changes and we see couples dancing to the music, while CSH just sits there.
So the contrast reinforces the idea that CSH’s deep breath before was an awakening. She might no longer be in a coma but she doesn’t move. She doesn’t know what to do, she just enjoys the moment: the beautiful scenery and music. For the first time, she smiles genuinely.
Since the camera is always focusing on her head and face and not her body/heart, the director intends to underline two aspects:
– CSH has made up her mind… her reason is behind it, not an emotional decision.
– her disposition has changed. She has made up her mind: she wants to enjoy life and not continue living a lifeless and depressing life. To conlude, her mindset has changed: she wants to live differently.
This explains why for the first time, she asks someone for help. She even expresses her desire: to drink some beer. So some might say that CSH’s awakening was CSH’s own decision and JH had nothing to do with it and JWS was right to wait. However, this is not correct because JH was the one who offered her to listen to the music… without the music, CSH wouldn’t have been that moved. All her senses have been touched due to the combination of music and the wonderful sunset. For CSH, it was a magical moment. JH sensed something, when he saw her mesmerized by the beauty of the view. Because of his own experience, he wanted her to share the same feelings and experience. What he didn’t realize was the extent of this gesture. His gesture would move her “brain” so that we witness CSH’s awakening…
JWS could have waited for a lifetime… nothing would have happened. Sure, another element played in JH’s favour: his sincerity and his simplicity. Since JWS is playing games with her (deal at the birthday party: I’ll deal with my mother, you treat me nicely / begging for a divorce as he fell in love with a woman… but he is still not married), JH is the exact opposite. He is always honest and humble. CSH had many opportunities to see that: the camera, dancing in the street, the offered shoulder, the music, barefoot walking, helping her with the shoes… but more importantly,
these words:
What JH tells her clashes with her ex-husband’s behavior during their marriage: remaining quiet and the next day bombarding her with expensive gifts. JWS’s behaviour contributed to her emptiness and loneliness. Here, JH is not acting as her boyfriend but these words outline his maturity. Moreover, they are quite similar to the other advice he will give her in the episode 7: enduring it together with our good memories. He gives her the support she needs so that she becomes brave and can reveal herself to others. He is her source of strength, the sun that can makes the moon shine.
A lot of viewers perceived the parallels between the scene in the episode 16, where Cha Soo Hyun returns to her boyfriend’s side and the scene in the episode 2. The playground symbolizes the place, where their love began and was completed. In the episode 2, our heroine went to that place after reading Kim Jin Hyuk’s letter of motivation. In his letter, he described how meaningful this place was to him. While watching the view, the viewer listens to the song CSH listened to, when she watched the sunset in Cuba. The music serves as a tool to show that our heroine is remembering the wonderful moments she lived with KJH in Cuba. However the difference between the two scenes is that their position is reversed. KJH caught her at the playground which surprised him and made him happy. In the episode 16. KJH is sitting there looking at the falling snow when Cha Soo Hyun appears behind and joins him.
(episode 2)
Each time, KJH is surprised as he didn’t expect her there. The other similarity is, the two situations are always encounters. The right timing played a huge part in their love in order to start and to be completed.
(episode 16)
Striking is that Cha Soo Hyun sits on the left swing, while our protagonist is seen sitting on the right swing. It was as if the left swing would always belong to his girlfriend. He doesn’t dare to sit there. This playground with the swing is so sacred for both of them. Nonetheless, this scene from the episode 16 is not just as a reminder of the saying: this love began and was completed there. There is another scene which shares a lot of similarities with the scene at the playground: the fateful encounter at Morro Cabana and the beautiful sunset. At first, you might wonder. Let us go back to the scene in Cuba. First, CSH has a problem with the taxi as the latter is broken.
(episode 1)
She is forced to leave the taxi, take the ferry and walk to the top of the hill with her high heels.
(episode 1)
And now, if you go back to the takings before Cha Soo Hyun meets her loved one in the episode 16, she is also forced to leave her car as there is some construction work on the road.
(episode 16)
Then we see her walking to the top, determined to reach that place: the playground. The takings are quite similar to these from the episode 1.
(episode 16)
Both scenes illustrate her determination. On the one hand, she wants to watch the beautiful sunset and the other hand, she wishes so much to be at the playground, the place she remembered her experiences with KJH in Cuba, the place where he approached her knowing now her identity and later acted as if he was her knight touching tenderly her knee.
Sure, there are huge differences between these scenes (day versus night; moon versus sun; coldness versus warmth) that’s why the beholders might not catch the resemblance between these two events. Yet both have something in common: the presence of water (sea and falling snow). In another analysis (forum soompi), I had written that Cha Soo Hyun’s element is water. The snowflakes look a lot like stars due to their form. It was as if the stars would celebrate their reconciliation and the finalization of their love. Moreover, Kim Jin Hyuk is also attracted to go outside, when he sees the snow falling. He looks at the window
episode 16
and his feet are the ones leading him to that place.
Nature is leading him there. And just like in the episode 1 where Cha Soo Hyun arrived on the top before Kim Jin Hyuk and sit on the wall waiting for the sunset, in the episode 16 our hero is waiting for the snow. CSH is about to rescue him from his melancholy, just like Cha Soo Hyun was saved by him from falling down the wall. While the sunset in Cuba touched her heart and led to her awakening, the scene in the episode 16 symbolizes a different aspect: Cha Soo Hyun’s change of heart.
In Cuba, she woke up literally and decided to change her life (enjoy life and abandon her sadness), the viewers witness the change of her mindset. However, only her mind has changed, not her heart, as she keeps controlling her heart. In the episode 16, the change of heart happened in the dark room.
Here the red color reminds us of the sunset in Cuba. That’s why the scene in the red room was added, while we see her walking to the top in order to reach that playground. This was her third and last huge revelation: her own happiness was dependent of her boyfriend. Without him, she is not able to be happy. If she had given up on him, then she would have been miserable all her life. The difference between the time (day versus night) can be easily explained. Cha Soo Hyun’s world is the night as she is associated to the moon which means that KJH has been able to enter her world completely, just like she entered his world as well: the playground. In both events, we see natural phenomenons: snow and sunset. Nature is omnipresent and is a driving force for them, although our OTP is surrounded by houses and buildings.
KJH and CSH have something in common: their favorite color is red. KJH chose the red diary for HI and even used a red box for the camera case. However, you will notice that CSH is actually very reluctant to admit that she loves red. During this drama, we see how CSH is fighting to find herself and to reveal her true personality to others and the presence of red is used to see the progression, her journey of self-discovery.
This is implied from the first episode on that red is her favorite color. First our heroine got upset, as soon as her ex-mother-in-law sent her a dark blue jacket with a blue skirt. The viewer saw, how CSH disliked the clothes. Blue contrasts so much with red but this is not enough to realize that she likes this color.
episode 1
The real evidence is when she is in Cuba. There, she is wearing a red dress. In South Korea, she is dressed in a conservative way: white, black and grey. Why did she just wear red in Cuba? CSH only wore such a bright color in Cuba because she is just a nobody there. She could choose such a dress because she knew that people wouldn’t pay attention to her. Hence we can come to the conclusion that she only wears red, when she is not observed. Her experience in Cuba transformed her hence after her return, we see her wearing a red necktie with a light pink shirt.
(episode 2)
This marks the first step. We can say that the moment KJH entered her life, she started changing therefore the viewer notice little changes in CSH’s clothes as well. Then in the episode 6, she is wearing a light pink coat
and we shouldn’t forget that she is about to go to a press conference where many pictures will be taken. The more time passes on, the more daring CSH becomes. In the episode 8, she meets JWS in a red dress too.
Yet, her dress won’t be noticed because as soon as she leaves her office, her coat will cover the dress. And here is the best evidence. In the episode 11, she goes on a date with KJH. She is about to receive the couple ring.
So we see that CSH is still trying to hide this so that the beholder come to the conclusion that she is still hiding herself. Yet, this is no longer grey, white or black. She becomes more courageous. The progression is even more and more visible because in the same episode, she is finally wearing a bright red coat. Yet, she is only showing it to KJH. She is on a date with him and this is not revealed to the public.
But this is different, when she is about to break up with KJH.
(episode 14)
She has planned to organize the perfect date in order to leave him with good memories. This time, she is also wearing a red coat, but the difference is that here she wants to attract people’s attention. Pictures of her with KJH are later uploaded on social network. She decided to reveal herself to the media (her favorite color) in order to announce her break up with KJH in private. That way, she is able to get the media’s attention and no one will notice what is happening to KJH. Yet, her plan didn’t go like she had planned. She had to postpone the painful news to KJH.
But CSH was so scared to reveal herself and reveal her liking that even in her flat, in the beginning her paintings contained a lot of blue. However, in the episode 10, we see changes in her flat too.
(episode 10)
We have more paintings with red than blue. Above her own bed, there is this huge picture with a lot of red.
In this taking, we see her using a red sweat shirt and this kind of clothes is rather personal. To conclude, the more episodes we saw, the more red CSH started wearing or bringing into her flat.
However, after the break up, there is a regression. She is seen again with the light pink coat (see the image below) and then with white clothes again. So the color of her clothes reflects her emotional state. She is again suppressing her feelings (episode 15).
(episode 15)
But the real highlight is this: the dark room.
(episode 16)
This is the place where CSH feels at home hence CSH is able to gather her courage and change her mind. She makes huge decisions in her life and the dark room filled with red was the reason why she could change her mind. She was forced to admit that she missed KJH so much (episode 9) and why she couldn’t smile without KJH (episode 16). And this is not a coincidence that each time when CSH returned to KJH’s side, she had gone before to teacher Lee and her dark room. Immersed in the red light, she can no longer hide her true color and feelings.
But there is a reason why CSH likes red so much: her mother. The latter showed up once in red and we could sense that this was her favourite color too. She only dressed in brown or dark blue, when she met chairman Kim as she knew that the queen would never accept such a color.
The writer’s choice for Cha Soo Hyun’s favorite color is not random. Although she was described by the media as the ice princess, she was in fact the opposite: a passionate person. She could be compared to a fire covered with ashes and Kim Jin Huyk as the sun was the only one who could lit the fire and remove the ashes. Hence everyone mistook the ashes for her true personality. Don’t forget that the fairy tale Cinderella is often hinted in this drama (the balls, the loss of shoes, the hidden identity). Now we can see clearly another connection between the fairy tale and Cha Soo Hyun, as Cinderella used to live close to the ashes.
I have already written an essay called Time, however the mentioned analysis was focused on the episode 14, where time was the main topic of the episode which was illustrated in the drawing in the form of the huge hourglass. Nonetheless, this occurred to me that time plays a huge part in Encounter and is not limited to one episode. We could even say that time is what helps KJH and CSH to get together, although in the episode 14 we have the opposite impression. Time appears as the main hindrance. However, this is just a temporary state. The whole drama outlines the power of time.
First, the title is linked to time. Encounter means a casual meeting, hence timing is important. In order to meet each other, the paths of our main leads had to cross. Without the right timing, they would have missed each other and never met.
Notice that at the end of the episode 5, it is clearly shown that their paths crossed, yet they didn’t notice each other. This was not the right time. Strangely is that CSH complained to JMJ in her car (episode 5) that the timing wasn’t right therefore she couldn’t be with KJH. She was divorced, had a difficult and complicated relationship with her ex-mother-in-law and was the CEO of Donghwa Hotel. She wished, she had met him before. Yet only the viewers know that in reality she met him before but neither he nor she caught the attention of the other. I guess, CSH’s sad but beautiful face was the reason why she caught his attention in Cuba. This can not be just the red dress. Even later when he looks at her picture, the photo is in black and white and he is so fascinated by her. CSH became a “vegetable” due to her life with JWS’s family and only through this experience, she became like that. Since KJH is a very happy and humble person, her sadness contrasts so much to his own life. Yet, after spending some time with her, he discovered a cute woman who could smile, laugh and even joke. He realized that with him, she was like transformed.
However, the way CSH saw KJH for the first time looked like an unfortunate event: they met due to a car accident. So on the surface, it really seemed like a bad time because KJH’s camera was damaged. Yet his reaction was the reason why Cha Soo Hyun noticed him first. Later she caught him dancing and she realized the reason why he kept refusing the money, but accepted reluctantly the card of the secretary. Later, our hero saved her life because she could have fallen down from the wall and died in Morro Cabana. So time was on our hero’s side from the first episode on. However, CSH thought the opposite, especially if you consider the “unfortunate” car accident.
As you can see, CSH was wrong with her statement that this was a bad timing. In fact, it was the opposite. Without her past, nothing like that would have ever happened. Fact is that CSH needed KJH which the latter realized. He made her smile and was happy with it. On the other hand, we have an encounter contrasting so much with the different encounters CSH and KJH had together. In the episode 6, JWS arrives at the store for a new suit as he wants to impress a picky lady, unaware that CSH is already there. She gets the impression that he is still womanizing. This is a bad encounter for JWS underlining how time and nature were working together against JWS. The latter was never meant to be her first and only love. He was just the first husband. But even the other title “Boyfriend” could be perceived as something linked to time as well because a boyfriend is not a permanent state. Either there is a break up or it ends with a marriage. That’s why the viewers can not see their wedding in the end as the focus was on Boyfriend.
Then appointments, although totally different from encounters, are also linked to time. Striking is that although CSH and KJH had planned to meet the next day, they missed each other. This is interesting because it underlines that time can not be controlled by human beings. Nature and time worked against KJH and CSH first, but they helped them later. On the other hand, JWS has to call in order to meet CSH (episode 3, episode 9, episode 11). And CSH is always bothered by these appointments. This outlines that no matter what CSH could never feel comfortable around JWS and could never fall in love with him.
Then the presence of time is often used with visual tricks through watches,
(episode 1)
(episode 2)
cellphones, calendar
and clocks.
The last picture comes from the episode 14, Cha Soo Hyun is looking at the time of Havanna remembering good memories, she is doing the same when she is caressing her watch so delicately. These visuals have two purposes: on the other hand, we see how time has passed on and we see a scene from the past (like the first photo with the watch) or we can see the person remembering good memories from the past without using any flashback. Yet, we have two time jumps in this story. Here is just one example. Concerning the calendar that Kim Jin Hyuk uses (here episode 5), it gives to time another dimension: the length is much longer. First it is not limited to the day (24 hours like the watch and clock), the year marks the beginning and the end of the time hence it already implies that our hero wants to remain by Cha Soo Hyun for a long time. However, he has not declared it yet. It happens much later.
Then in the dialogues, time is often mentioned. For example, KJH keeps saying that he will stay by CSH’s side for a very long time or CSH and KJH’s mother need time. With the break up, KJH will have a hard time. You observe that people describe time. Since KJH speaks about death in the episode 11, the beholders are reminded that CSH and KJH’s time together is limited. Death will separate them. However, the drawings and the use of fairy tales and of The Little Prince underline the aspect of timelessness. The stars, the moon, the sun in the drawings, just like the trees alley in the episode 11 and the garden where the love began and was completed indicate that although their time together is limited, their love is not. Their love will survive time hence at the end, we see the birth of a star: the symbol of their eternal love. Time becomes here an eternity.
The bouquet with the note shown at the end of the episode 16 is another allusion for time as well.
This taking is important as both objects mark the beginning and the ending of their love story. Besides, they represent good memories. Since they are protected by a glass, it illustrates that CSH wants to keep them for a long time. They should be preserved and even survive time. Like KJH said, love is ageless as death can not kill a love.
If we pay attention to the time of narration, it doesn’t correspond to our own time. First, it starts with the past (scenes of CSH in black and white), then the story begins around September/October, while the first episode was aired in November. Then we have one time jump (episode 2). So when CSH and KJH meet at the hotel (episode 2), where CSH is greeting the new employees, the time is now the same as the time the viewers were watching (November). The time is sometimes slower and sometimes quicker than our real time outlining that this is a story. In fact, we have two time jumps, yet no one complained about the time jumps. CSH and KJH’s mother needed time to get used to each other. KJH made a mistake in my opinion, when he proposed to her for the first time with the flower. Imagine, it was around February and they had started dating in December!! Within two months, he proposed which is quite rushed, especially for a woman who has been through a divorce and had a difficult relationship with her mother-in-law. The story ends in 2020, ahead of our own timeline. We see here the future… As you can see, the story had elements from the past, from the present and from the future. So time was represented in his whole entity. And in my opinion, this is another reason why this story is indeed intemporel. Except the use of cellphones which definitely marks our modern society, everything seems not to be bound to age and time limit. Actually, I doubt that cellphones and Internet will disappear from our life. The cellphone might change its form but not its function and purpose, just like the Internet. Notice that our OTP walked in the nature (on the streets, in a field, in a beautiful alley) and never visited any amusement park.
To conclude, time played a vital role in the love of CSH and KJH. CSH never realized that she had got it all wrong: wrong timing aso… in the end, it was the perfect time for her to change her life as she was about to meet KJH while watching the beautiful sunset in Cuba.
Will dir den Frühling zeigen, der hundert Wunder hat. Der Frühling ist waldeigen und kommt nicht in die Stadt.
Nur die weit aus den kalten Gassen zu zweien gehn und sich bei den Händen halten – dürfen ihn einmal sehn.
– Rainer Maria Rilke 1875-1926 –
Want to show you spring
Want to show you spring,
that has hundred miracles. The spring lives in the woods and doesn’t come to town.
Only the ones who far from cold alleys walk in pairs and hold hands – may see it once.
Okay, this is my own translation. The problem I had is that first “waldeigen” is a word created by Rainer Maria Rilke and secondly I tried to keep the structure of this poem. Waldeigen means belong to the woods/forest. You might not know but German is a very creative language, you can create your own words because it is possible to put two words together. Yet people will understand what you mean.
What caught my attention is the following. Spring is connected to nature (“woods/waldeigen”), contrasts with modern life and civilization (town). And this fits our OTP. KJH represents nature due to different associations (sun, green grape, wind). Hence for the poet love is a natural phenomenon, however he doesn’t just outline that only people in love are feeling and seeing the spring, the two persons have to be active. If you pay attention to the title (want to show you spring), it is an invitation to fall in love. One is active in his courting. You have to leave the room and walk in the streets with your loved one to experience it. And that’s why we see our OTP walking in the cold streets (episode 6, 14 and 16). They actually do what Rilker described. They don’t feel the coldness of the winter as their love warms them up.
Moreover, the verse 3 and 4 clearly shows that love is to be found in the nature… hence leaving the town and going to the woods can lead you to find love. It looks like that for Rilke, love is not a state but a process… And KJH acts exactly like the person in this poem (want to show you spring). He keeps asking for CSH’s acceptance to love him and to fall in love with him. Besides, we clearly saw that KJH was proactive in his pursuit. He used his hands and his cellphone to get closer to her.
Interesting is that the subject in the title is missing: either it is “I”/”ich” or he/she “Er/sie”. I chose the first person because it becomes more personal and direct. Yet, it could be “Wants to show you spring”. I pointed it out because I wanted you to understand why I chose it this way. Besides, my own translation is not perfect, quite far from it and someone could claim that it is different.
Another observation is the contrast between hundred miracles and once. In my opinion, the poet could be referring to the uniqueness of love. Real true love can only be found once, but we have many people who can experience the same “spring” hence we have hundred miracles. And CSH was the one who kept mentioning her love as a miracle. Spring indicates that there will be changes in the persons who are in love, because spring announces the appearance of new leaves, new flowers aso. Something new and beautiful will surface, like a rebirth which can be connected to CSH’s awakening.
Bebebisous33s' analyses in K-Dramaland and Manhwas 