Reinterpretations in Golden Demon Movie

Comparing the Konjiki Yasha novel and the movie, one can see that there are some re-interpretations of several scenes. Due to production costs and practical reasons, melodramatic films are unable to provide audiences with the same level of details as the novel. Therefore, they could only capture the essence of the novel and in that aspect, strip away the other unimportant details. 

Take the card scene, for example. While the book depicted it as a cramped, rowdy and barbaric place, the movie presented it in a more mellow manner which strangely didn't make as much of an impact as it did for the book. In the book, Tomiyama was "savagely torn and trampled" by his opponents, and his sorry state made the readers empathize with Tomiyama. However, the movie only included some "mild slapping" of Tomiyama's hand and reaction shots of his embarassment. No connections had been made with Miya. 

For the "Shawl" scene, the book showed Miya and Kan'ichi sharing a shawl together, but the movie changed that by making Kan'ichi kiss Miya after she accidentally took a fall. This scene, contrasted with the previous scene with Tomiyama, reveals the filmmaker's intention. By sharing a kiss, both Miya and Kan'ichi share a connection that is transferred to the audience. By making that personal connection in the beginning, it builds grounds for the melodramatic build up when Miya ultimately leaves Kan'ichi for Tomiyama, someone whom the audience does not relate to at all. 

Elsaesser mentioned in Tales of Sound and Fury that when films condense melodramatic novels, a more violent graph is produced. The Konjiki Yasha movie demonstrates how filmmakers "condense" the novel by deliberating removing and adding certain parts to allow the story to fully realize its melodramatic effect. 

"Film Writing" of Higuchi Ichiyo's Thirteenth Night

Higuchi Ichiyo (1872-1896) was one of the most famous writers in Modern Japanese Literature. She was so famous that she was immortalized at the back of 5000-yen notes and has her own Ichiyo Memorial in Taito City. Despite writing only a few short stories, all of them made significant impacts in the literary world in terms of the language used, as well as the revolutionary way in which she tells her story. One of my favorites is Thirteenth Night, and that story truly reveals Ichiyo's prowess as a writer and how she can "visualize" her novels.

As a writer in the Meiji Period, Ichiyo's story contains elements that are characteristic of Meiji-style family melodramas. In Thirteenth Night, the protagonist Oseki's "fictional family" does not totally follow the traditional ie family system as Oseki's mother actually stood up for her when she complained about her unhappy marriage to Harada Isamu. Oseki's father also supported her decision, but urged her to reconsider. Both arguments forces Oseki to make a moral decision on whether or not she should leave Harada. Such acts actually empowers women as it shows that they face the same moral pressures as their male counterparts and the second part of the short story also tells us what happens after she makes that decision.

Despite being a melodramatic story, I was shocked to find no traces of melodramatic cliches in Thirteenth Night. The story seemed to have a life of its own, as compared to other melodramas where the story is alive due to the author constantly feeding the reader with information. The words had an almost "visual" feel to it. Take the opening of Thirteenth Night, for example:

"Ordinarily, Oseki rode in a handsome black rickshaw, and, when her parents head the sound of it...they would run out to greet her. Tonight...she had hired a rickshaw on the street corner...paid the driver, sent him away, and stood dejectedly at the door".

The opening of the story sounds just as sudden as Oseki's visit. The words itself seem representative of the emotion that Ichiyo wanted the audience to feel: unprepared and shameful. Throughout the story, each character had a life of its own, and the rhythm was just nice so that it flowed like a running stream. Nothing was too deliberately planned but at the end of the story, everything managed to be addressed. Higuchi Ichiyo was the first writer that I saw accomplish so much with so little words, and I would definitely recommend her works to any lover of Japanese literature.

         

Hwarang: The Beginning

In Hwarang: The Beginning, many aspects of specifically Asian melodrama tropes of coincidence and of the universal melodramatic mother are present. In this story, two peasants, Mak Moon and Moo Myung travel to the capital of their kingdom, Silla. This mission is extremely risky, as it is forbidden for uninvited outsiders to enter the palace, shown by the heads mounted on the exterior walls. However, in Mak Moon’s attempt to find his father and sister in the kingdom, the two childhood friends enter the palace, but Mak Moon is soon killed for seeing the hidden king. The story from here progresses mainly between the relationships of Moo Myung, Mak Moon’s sister, and the hidden king. Since this is a period drama, the stakes of the characters are well put in place for a melodramatic mood. Ben Singer in Melodrama and Modernity describes the genre of melodrama as having “heightened emotionalism”. Such emotionalism occurs especially in this drama with the life/death laws between the peasant/royalty. One of those laws being that anyone who sees the hidden king, conscious of who he is, must die, like Mak Moon.

         The elevated levels of emotion also come about through shocking and overdone coincidences. For example, when Mak Moon has been stabbed for seeing the hidden king, the person who happens to find him is his father, the one he was searching for. This causes his death scene to be especially heartbreaking and emotionally intense for the viewer. Later on as well Moo Myung, who joined Hwarang, the poet warriors, as one of the only non-noble men, turns out to be of noble blood. The stake of this nobility is high as well, because Moo Myung happens to be a secret son, actually named Sun Woo Rang, in direct line for throne. This puts him in competition with the other hidden king. The battle between cousins for the throne also leads into another character of Hwarang, the self-sacrificial Queen Dowager.

         In trying to keep the hidden king the successor to the throne, the Queen Dowager, the hidden king’s mother, sacrifices much of her own happiness and health. Like many women in melodrama, her agency comes from her self-sacrifice. “The female characters in family melodramas attempt to solve these problems and maintain the family… through the repression of their own desires and other acts of self-sacrifice.” (Mercer 25) While trying to keep her son in line for throne, the Queen had to sacrifice many important relationships, including her best friend. Since her friend was pregnant by her brother, the Queen Dowager had to kill her in order to stop competition between their offspring for the throne (but unbeknownst to the Queen the unwanted son, Sun Woo Rang, survives). She also sacrifices her life for her son’s throne by knowingly drinking poisoned tea for years. Out of fear that those poisoning her would poison her son if she called them out on their actions, she consciously accepted her death long before its time, fulfilling her self-sacrificial agency.

Lily Mars All That Heaven Allows

All That Heaven Allows, directed by Douglas Sirk in 1995, is a melodramatic film which, in many ways, proves to subvert from the typical melodramatic formula, as many of Sirk’s films do. The film tells the story of an upper-class widow, Cary Scott, who falls in love with a much younger, and far less wealthy man who brings her both happiness and sadness, as their relationship results in the abandonment of her children and criticism from her country club peers. In pursuing a romantic relationship with her gardener, Ron Kirby, Cary is disregarding the conventional behavior that is expected from her, facing social ostracism leading to a state of depression. I found that the way Cary’s friends tell her to deal with her emotions is perhaps the single most interesting aspect of this film. When dealing with her internal conflict of whether or not to pursue the relationship that makes brings her so much happiness, or disregard it, maintaining her social acceptance, Cary is told to turn on her TV. Her friends tell her this as if it might be a solution to her real-life problems, when really, watching TV is only a temporary escape from reality. 

The symbolism and allegories in this film are hard to go unnoticed. All That Heaven Allows exposes us to both a middle-class life of contentment with the simple things in life, such as nature, as well as a life of luxury, in which the bourgeois consumerists seem to secretly hate each other— and maybe even themselves. It appears that Cary’s interest in Ron may, in part, be a virtue of her desire to escape her capitalistic reality. This divergence in social class creates a Romeo and Juliete-esk quality to their relationship. Cary is so deeply involved in a society that values material things, like televisions, that she seeks to break free from the shallowness surrounding her. By making a social critique of a society which conditions us to abide by social norms, Douglas Sirk is encouraging people to think differently, and evolve from the the socially learned ways of the world. 

Skip Beat

Skip Beat is a popular shoujo manga by Yoshiki Nakamura. The plot follows naive 15-year-old girl Kyoko Mogami, who follows her childhood love Sho Fuwa to Tokyo to support him in his dream of becoming a famous singer.  She is deeply in love with him but is unaware that Sho does not return her feelings and sees her nothing more than a live in housekeeper. Until one day she decides to deliver him dinner, she overhears him making fun of her plain appearance and giving attitude. That is when she decides to swear off love and she would have her revenge by becoming famous than him. This is the start of her journey of becoming the most famous actress in Japan.

One of the key things that make this manga a melodrama is the big physical gestures. On the day she swore revenge, she had to be dragged out by security guards. Kyoko often expresses her feelings in violent, physical actions. Like during the Dark moon arc, she runs off to go perfect a role, she apologizes for causing trouble by violently throwing herself onto the floor. She tends to overexaggerate her movement whenever she feels intense emotion or whenever she feels she has caused trouble for other people.

Besides the big physical gestures, Kyoko's emotions tend to take a physical form. Whenever she thinks of revenge or Sho, the person she despises the motion, literal demons appear and interact with the physical world as the surrounding characters often comment they feel intense hatred or deeply unsettling aura. When she is not acting, her emotions are open and easy to read. Kyoko is a person of extreme and excess because she often goes from happy to sad to rage in a span of one page. After all, she holds onto her disdain on love for 200 chapters before she realizes that she is in love with Ren, her acting sempai.

The most prominent reason why Skip Beat is a melodrama manga the misunderstanding of relationships between characters especially Kyoko's and Sho relationship. Many characters mistake Kyoko and Sho's relationship as romantic and that she is a super fan of Sho. Because they grew up together, they know each other entirely too well to claim a casual acquaintance. Even when she claims hatred, many do not believe her. The disbelief is also fueled by her refusal to talk about how or why she knows Sho so well. Whenever she does mention her relationship with him, the context is often confusing and people become too scared to ask for more details as the room around them gets dark and foreboding.

This is one of the most popular shoujo mangas as it still ongoing today and there are many adaptions of the story. There is an anime, Taiwanese drama, and drama cds. One of the reasons why Skip beat is so popular is because the reader gets drawn in by Kyoko's extremeness in her acting and you can't help wonder what crazy stunt she will pull next for her acting role. Another big draw is the emotional complexities of Sho, Kyoko, and Ren because Sho still has a grip on her heart, one of hatred, but a grip none the less. How Ren is going to break Sho's grip on Kyoko is another question readers want to be answered because currently, Kyoko realizes she loves Ren, but Sho still a dominating presence in her heart.

Descendants of the Sun

Descendants of the Sun directed by Kim Eun Sook and Kim Won Seok is a 2016 Korean Drama television series that centers around the romance between a charming captain of the Korean army Special Forces unit, Yoo Shi Jin, and ER doctor Kang Mo Yeon. The drama begins when the two characters cross paths and develop feelings for each other. Unlike many other Korean Drama series, the romance gets established early in the Korean drama, as early as in the first four episodes. However, the plot gets more dramatic as we see the moral dilemmas develop. The new relationship doesn’t last long since Kang Mo Yeon is rarely free since she basically lives in the hospital. Also, Captain Yoo Shi Jin is often sent on secret missions where he disappears without notice. On top of that, there is an obvious clash with their relationship dynamic. Kang Mo Yeon’s job is to save people while Yoo Si Jin’s job forces him to kill people and sometimes even use his own body as a shield or weapon during war. Eventually, the pair break up but fate reunites them when Kang Mo Yeon, along with several other humanitarian doctors, get sent on a medical service trip to the same place Yoo Shi Jin has been deployed: a fictional European country called Urk.

 From there, the plot gets packed with melodramatic situations as the two main leads reunite. Moral dilemmas, which have been established as a common aspect of the melodrama genre, arise amongst the characters. Some of the dilemmas they face are conflicts between job vs. romance, family vs. romance,  and ethics vs. politics. What makes this drama so unique and interesting to viewers is the unusual pairing of a soldier and doctor as the main leads. Also, the majority of the drama takes place in a military setting in a fictional Middle Eastern country, which also contributes a lot of action, special operations, an earthquake, and disasters amongst the complicated relationships. As one would expect of a Korean Drama, this drama does present a lot of heavy emotions from feeling happy to heartbroken. However, particularly with this drama, there’s also the constant pressure, vulnerability, and also fear that the characters have to face being in a war environment and under army regulations. Yet, there is a lot of humor and wit despite the dark background of the plot. This balance between lightheartedness and seriousness delivers an enticing melodramatic drama that either leaves viewers crying or on the edge of their seats at certain moments.

Descendants of Sun has been a major hit throughout Asia and several other countries around including United States. Its popularity has increased the fan base for Korean dramas. While this drama has not been the first war-related romantic drama, viewers had high expectations since its production. Why have Korean dramas continue to gain so much attention from its viewers? There are several reasons that I could think of. First, Korean dramas present a fresh programming that international audiences may not be used to, which makes it more exciting. Also, there could be a cultural appeal from the way that viewers can learn about different societal norms, Confucian values in friendships, love, and family relationships by watching the day-to-day lives of the characters. In this way, Korean dramas can easily draw in a universal audience, and when they combine these traditional values with Western values the appeal extends to a global audience. Another good reason I can think of is that Korean dramas, often consisting of 16-20 episodes (longer than a movie), can leave viewers emotionally invested. The viewers can resonate with the characters after going through all the ups and downs. With TV dramas, there are also cliffhangers and tension built up at nearly every end of an episode to keep the viewers coming back for more. As Korean dramas continue to expand its universal fan base, the dramas will continue to be available on free streaming websites such as viki or Drama Fever with fan-made subtitles.

Garden of Words

Garden of Words (言の葉の庭, Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese animated film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. In the story, 15-year-old Takao Akizuki and 27-year-old Yukari Yukino meet every rainy morning at a garden (specifically, the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden), and slowly start interacting with each other. While Yukino does not reveal much about herself, Takao confides in Yukino about his aspirations of becoming a shoemaker, without even knowing that Yukino is actually a teacher at his school. Nonetheless, the two find themselves looking forward to their rainy morning meetings, but also eventually learn from each other how to "walk" through their own lives and look ahead to the future.

While Garden of Words is definitely one of Shinkai's more subdued and simpler films, it still expresses many different melodramatic modes and aspects. For instance, the concept of showing "conflict as a polarized battle" (Ito 3) that is a major aspect of Shinkai's films is evident here: there is a clear divide between society and the individual in the case of Garden of Words. Takao and Yukino are required to live their set lives as student and teacher respectively, but the movie portrays these roles in a negative light, while their meeting at the garden as a result of skipping school to "learn to walk" is portrayed positively. This is reflected in the film's use of sunny days as an unfortunate event and rainy days as the opposite, because rainy days are the only days can truly get to know one another. Society is also portrayed negatively as some characters, such as Takao's brother and his girlfriend, ridicule is dreams of becoming a shoemaker, while the mistreatment of Miss Yukino by third-year students goes unattended to protect the reputation of the school. In the end, no one can really understand these two people in the story, meaning that their treatment of each other as individuals is the "good" force in this polarized battle.

Moreover, the film's final scene of Yukino running down the stairs of her apartment to reveal her feelings to Takao before they part ways without resolving their conflict portray the "outpouring of exorbitant emotion" (Ito 2) so prominent is many melodramas. The scene itself is filled with feelings of extreme regret and determination as Yukino runs down her apartment stairs in the pouring rain, as she tries to catch Takao before he leaves forever. Takao's initial love toward Yukino changes to hate and confusion very quickly as he screams out his frustration over Yukino's inability to express herself honestly and move on from her young mindset. At the very end, Yukino runs to Takao and embraces him, completely letting out her tears and sadness to him as she reveals that Takao was the person who saved her from being afraid to go to school and face those who have oppressed her for so long. The scene, in addition to expressing a multitude of exaggerated emotions within 5 minutes, displays these "exorbitant emotions" through its animation, as the rain is drawn as falling in different directions due to the wind, in addition to the faraway still shots of Takao and Yukino on the staircase that most likely represents the distance between them. While this being the only scene with this amount of exaggerated emotion within the film, it nonetheless displays the melodrama that is so integral in all of Makoto Shinkai's movies, despite its more subtle interactions and still scenes.