kdrama: Vineyard Man eps 1-16 (complete)

[meganbmoore]

Vineyard Man is a less-known romantic comedy from a couple years ago. I’m not sure why it’s unpopular as it stars Yoon Eun Hye of Goong ,and is one of the few modern kdramas I’ve seen where the hero actually isn’t a jerk. Then again, heroes who act like jerks seem to be a requirement for most kdramas, so maybe that’s it.

YEH plays Ji Hyun, a young fashion designer in Seoul who gets fired after her manager steals her design. That same day, her great-uncle comes to Seoul and tells her family that he’ll leave his 1000 acre vineyard to Ji Hyun if she’ll live and work on the vineyard for a year. Eager to get and sell the vineyard, Ji Hyun’s family sends her there, content to let her work to give them the easy life. Like most irresponsible kdrama families who get their daughters in trouble, this is supposed to be cute. There, she learns that the overseer of the vineyard is Taek Gi, a man who she had a misunderstanding with in Seoul that resulted in both spending the night in jail. Eventually, though, they overcome their differences and the expected happens.

It isn’t my favorite kdrama, but it certainly isn’t my least favorite, either. The first few episodes showed promise, but also hit a bunch of my irritation points. For one thing, too much of the humor was in humiliating the characters, a type of humor that’s never appealed to me. Then there was the nature of the misunderstanding, which I think went too far, and petty little revenge bits that just seemed to make things worse, and weren’t funny to me. Thankfully, they didn’t last long.

The big thing, though, was Ji Hyun’s manager stealing her design. Because of course a successful career woman is going to be so threatened by a part time intern that she’s going to steal her design and deliberately sabotage her chances in the industry. Yes, I know things like that do happen, but kdramas’ vilification of smart, successful women with careers and/or goals to make the often flaky, irresponsible, and aimless “cute” heroines look good is one of my major problems with them. (The other is the vilification of family as something to be “beaten”-and I’ve long since accepted that, more often than not, I will hate the “cute” families, sympathize with the ones I’m supposed to hate, and be fine with the ones in between. Then there’s the fact that most “heroes” are alpha jerks to some degree, treat the heroine with disrespect half the time, and she normally ends up suffering in the name of his angst.) Tangent aside, they do, thankfully, make up for that somewhat with another character later on.

I liked that, for once, it was the guy who figured out he liked the girl first, and sat around angsting over it while she was with the other guy, and that he pursued her in the end. (Complete with bus chasing and making out.) Taek Gi stuttering and trying (and failing) to tell Ji Hyun that he liked her was adorable.

I also liked how they handled the other parties-Ji Hyun’s senior classmate Dr. Kim, and Taek Gi’s ex-girlfriend Su Jin-in the normal kdrama love square. For once, it’s the other guy who’s portrayed as a jerk, and the other girl who’s written as being likable and sympathetic. Dr. Kim wasn’t portrayed nearly as negatively as most kdrama other women, of course, but I’ll take what I can get. And even though I don’t like Dr. Kim, I do like the indication at the end that they’ll get together, even moreso since it wasn’t just tacked on to the end, but they were shown as getting along and probably being compatible earlier in the series. “You can only be happy if someone else is made unhappy” is another of my kdrama (and love triangle/square in general) problems. I much prefer “you didn’t get what you want, but here’s something better suited for you.”

If you’re reading my comments and noticing similarities to Fantasy Couple or Lovers, it’s no accident, though Vineyard Man, while enjoyable, doesn’t match my love for either of them.

Oh Man Suk may not be as pretty as a lot of the more popular kdrama actors, but I like him. And…would probably rather look at him than a lot of them. The pretty ones don’t do as much for me. Mostly, I wonder at their lipstick. I’m glad to see that this seems to have helped his career take off. I was more impressed with Yoon Eun Hye here than I was in Goong, but TPTB still seem to be relying too much on her being cute for my tastes.
 

Comments

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. His falling for her yet holding himself back just hit all my quirks that I enjoy. And they were so cute together afterwards it almost makes you want to gag. :)

I liked YEH much better here - she didn't cry nearly as much (there's way too much crying in Goong).


Btw, I got the book in the mail. Thank you! I'm so excited - now I need to but that third one that just came out.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of prpoblem with Goon, but my main problem with YEH there is that the actual character is minimally written (I often think that both leads were basically playing themselves with window dressing) with sympathy bids and cutesy mannerisms piled on to the max. There's still a bit of that problem here, but now much.

The 10 years later bit had me going "What? Really? You're doing this?"

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

No kidding, how often does that happen in a kdrama. I liked it though - & the whole "little grape" thing. It's a good drama for relaxing cuteness, not too much drama/angst - & I enjoyed learning what we did about vineyards, too. When I was in 3rd grade, my class went on a field trip to a vineyard (my dad was stationed in Italy) & I remember we got to pick grapes & eat them & they were so delicious. So the drama brought back memories, too.

I also really liked that he wasn't a jerk. Even when he thought she was a spoiled snot in the beginning, he was still a nice guy out swiming in the pond at night to find her stupid shoe.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

I really like the fact that Taek Gi isn't a jerk, but I wondered whether it were part of the whole "the rural countryside is better than Seoul in every respect!" thing. Kind of an odd romanticization.

I am pretending that the ten-yrs-after thing doesn't exist, much like the epilogue to Deathly Hallows. :P Ji Hyun and Taek Gi can be happy and together with kids, yes, but that's way too much.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I was looking at the apparent ages of kids and adding them up, and realizing that the 3 older ones had to come about a year apart at the most.

I think it bordered on saying the countryside was better than Seoul, but barely saved itself. Not vilifying Su Jin-the cuty girl trying to lure him to the city-helped a lot, and they had Ji Hyun become a fashion designer again, which was a nod to her city life still being a part of her.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

That's possible, yes. I hadn't put Su Jin on the Seoul Sucks end, since the research facility where she works is a smaller town, not too far from the vineyard.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Su Jin is very clearly "city girl," so, while not quite Seoul, there's still the urban/rural bit with her.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I know I never checked it out because I don't find farm-related stories very interesting (they are going to have a wine-related drama with Bae Yong Joon, and much as I adore him, I am skipping even that one). So that was automatically a no.

Plus, to me, the lead guy was incrediblu unhot, and while I can overlook such shallow :D considerations in a period drama, revenge story or something with more heft in general, in a romcom I demand sex appeal.

Kdramas have plenty of career women being praised (see YEH's own Coffee Prince). The ones who are put down are the ones who are personally selfish. But we are never going to agree on that one :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The only ones I've ever seen praised are the heroines of Lovers and Fantasy Couple (though that's a different kind of career.) Every other woman in a modern kdrama who I've seen who's collected, confident, and has a career or goals has been MADE to be bad to make the heroine look good. So yes, they're selfish, but the narrative makes them selfish to make the rest look bad, and the heroine look good. The narratives of most kdramas want to you dislike pretty much every female expect the heroine, her (typically annoying) BFF, and sometimes a mother. Other females are deliberately made to look bad to make them look better. I'd mind a lot less if the same standard was applied to male characters.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Well, anything in a story is 'made' by the narrative. So yes, e.g. the Tennis Girl in My Girl is 'made' by the narrative to be selfish, but if we assume the fictional world is real in the story, then she *is* shelfish otherwise the meta-Moebius strip is going to make my head hurt.

Of course the 'other girl' would be demonized. In a melodrama narrative, we need obstacles for the heroine (which is why gal friends or Moms are OK). But then seeing how psychotic Other Guy usually gets, I think the more accurate thing to say is "Other Person" is usually a total psycho. Other guys in Winter Sonata, Resurrection, ChunHyang, Goong, One Fine Day, AllIn, East of Eden, Stained Glass, Beautiful Days etc etc are all nasty pieces of work that make Tennis Girl look quite nifty.

other 'working women' which are not demonized are in Capital Scandal, Robbers, Coffee Prince, All In, Love Story in Harvard, Winter Sonata, East of Eden, 9 Ins 2 Outs, etc. I confess to not being fond of many office dramas, so I probably tend to see less of that subset than is average for a Korean viewer (I would include Seosono in Jumong or Yeon in Kingdom of the Winds as ambitious and undemonized working women, but period dramas are a separate thing anyway).

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Demonizing the romantic other, IMO, is rarely anything other than lazy writing. "I need conflict...ah, I'll just create a horrid Other to attempt to interfere." *yawn* It's also why so much shoujo loses me. Too many "conflicts" aren't real conflicts, just shallow shortcuts meant to avoid any conflict that actually takes effort and complexity.

Saying "of course the other girl has to be demonized" is the same as saying "of course you have to hate all female characters if you like slash." Neither is true.

Part of why I prefer period dramas is that they are far superior in characterization and conflict, both romantic or otherwise. Every one I've seen has had the opportunity to take the easy road, and avoided it.

ETA: And while I can't say much about the others you listed off because I either haen't seen them yet, or tried them and was bored (the melodramas and i are very much not friends, though I enjoy peoples' posts on them) i do know the Goong expected us to sympathize with Yul, which isn't true of Tennis Girl.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Saying "of course the other girl has to be demonized" is the same as saying "of course you have to hate all female characters if you like slash."

Perhaps I should have expressed myself better. "of course the other person has to be demonized if you are setting into a melodrama mode" is what I meant. Gender is irrelevant, only their status as an obstacle matters.

I think our basic difference stems from the fact that I adore melodrama, the more melodramaish the better: evil exes (of whatever gender), horrible parents, amnesia. I lap them all up. You don't seem as keen on it. It makes sense. I came to dramas from Bollywood, which is basically melodrama condensed so that is what I look for (which is why our drama likes rarely match). In fact, a drama too realistic loses me (9 Ins 2 Outs might be excellent and quite a feminist dream but I gave up because I was so bored).

And of course, Korea is still a very conservative and gender-traditional society (women are expected to retire from the workforce once they have kids) and their dramas usually reflect it. Seeing more stereotyped gender roles that I might not like in my own life doesn't bother me any more than when I am reading a Victorian novel or watching a Bollywood flick.


Re the ETA: Goong expected us to symathize with Yul? Then they failed miserably, because I loathed the little git. I felt bad for his living situation, but even though you know my dislike of HyoRin (or any marriage breaker, on principle), I still liked her better than Yul.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, I like melodrama (It's what Higuri You lives on, and I adore her manga, and I essentially survived high school through melodramatic romance novels, though I do admit that they also contribute to my being fed up with some of the things that irritate me these days) I just don't like the form it takes in most romantic fiction.

I'd say Shin was the "marriage breaker" in Goong, really. It was originally his plan to eventually divorce Chae-Gyung and marry Hyo-Rin, and he didn't exactly keep it a secret. Didn't advertise it, but they both pretty much knew. But yes, I'd say Goong wanted us to sympathize with Yul. The only ones I could sympathize with were Chae-Gyung, Hyo-Rin, and Shin's mother in that show, though. I kind of hated every male in the show.