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➮ 조선로코 녹두전
the tale of nokdu
the tale of nokdu
◦ finished - 4/30/2020
◦ three words - hilarious, refreshing, defiant
◦ three characters - nok-du, soo-hyang, the queen (THE QUEEN!)
◦ rating -
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◦ three words - hilarious, refreshing, defiant
◦ three characters - nok-du, soo-hyang, the queen (THE QUEEN!)
◦ rating -
my heart is full of these characters & this story. all the characters are nuanced & morally gray; no one is flat. as a picky sageuk watcher, this one ticked all my boxes. my biggest take away from it, however, is the idea of familial structure, specifically what defines a mother.
viewers are presented with an array of mother figures & no two are alike (might I add). first, nok-du’s adoptive mother whose anger sparks the true beginning of his search for his identity. also, dong-joo’s late mother who is her sole reason to move forward and enact revenge—
—on those who robbed her of family. yoo-sun, the head of both the gisaeng house & clan of female assassins, who is the mother of women who’ve lost what is known as the nuclear family. & the queen who is trapped by PPD, losing her son, and, metaphorically, her husband as well.
& most non-conformative of all, we have lady kim, nok-du’s performance of woman & mother. nok-du beats the nuclear family image to the ground w/this performance & showcases how unrealistic it is; not to mention, not one family in the entire drama adheres to this image anyways.
one could even say that the widow village, gisaeng house, and female assassin base were destined to be physically destroyed as the tight community those made together exposed the fragility of societal expectations.
but despite the buildings & belongings caught aflame, the bonds those women (& nok-du) formed continued on and sparked a revolt in the hierarchical royal society. however, that spark too went out as their revolt was squashed (in typical sageuk fashion).
though unlike said fashion, the drama ended with hope. a little community on a distant island shore lives on where mothers are reunited with children & the idea of family is who you survive the battles with. nok-du & dong-joo’s chaotic marriage shows this.
the ceremony, while attempting to be as traditional as possible, looks different, the props are changed just a bit, & the weather is not perfect. the rings the two share are not gem or metal, but made of flowers strewn together, which symbolizes their marriage as more natural.
hmm, the marriage that is less normal than what society craves is more natural, less manufactured. take away what you will from that tidbit of my theoretical spewings. bottom line is, this drama rocked & left me thinking a lot about the word “family” and just how sacred it is.
the king said as he was slain, you will be lonely as king. lonely & lonely over & over again— it is inescapable. & as the camera pans out to reveal an empty throne room before yool-mo, viewers see the barrenness of joseon society’s most coveted position. father of the country.
the symbol of the head of household doesn’t even pertain to that standard, which exposes the gilding of the standard as a whole. might look shiny, but underneath, it is dark & imperfect.
now, the queen, on the other hand, looking bright with her back literally turned to that gilded society embodies what it is like to embrace non-conformity. her story ends with hopes of a new beginning. her struggles hit me the most throughout the drama.
to see her able to embrace her true self,
& embrace her son really was the perfect way to end the drama. the focus was not on nok-du & dong-joo in the last moments, but on the queen, a mother, a woman, and the ending of her journey for her identity. she won.
& embrace her son really was the perfect way to end the drama. the focus was not on nok-du & dong-joo in the last moments, but on the queen, a mother, a woman, and the ending of her journey for her identity. she won.
now, it is worth saying, that this community could ONLY survive literally off the grid on a remote island. there still was no place within the perceived normal society for them. and there still is limited room, as this topic is still debated in today’s society.
the word “family” and what it means still sparks revolts & will continue to do so. & I think this ending, where no side truly wins or loses, encapsulates that ever going struggle with no clear ending. what will family mean in five, ten, twenty years? we can only hope to see.
this is all I can coherently say without writing a full paper, so now I shall end my thread with gifs of scenes I think are neat.
“letting you go is worse than death. nok-du, no matter what anyone says, you’re my son who’s more precious to me than anything in this world.” #조선로코녹두전 #TheTaleofNokdu
“go somewhere far and live freely for me. will you do that? you must survive. you must.” #조선로코녹두전 #TheTaleofNokdu
