Have We Really Loved? - Kang Jaeho

Tonight I want to be serious. By now most people already know that I am a very very serious person. So serious that sometimes I consider myself boring. But to be honest with you, I am not serious enough and I wish to be more serious. To me everything should have a purpose and everything has to have a meaning. So why am I here behaving like a silly goose and blogging about a Korean actor who has no connection with my daily life? Why have I said I am not JUST a BYJ fan, even, I LOVE him? There are so many reasons. And here is just one - because he freely chose to perform in the drama "Have We Really Loved?" and even paid hefty price for pursuing it. This alone holds value to me, and if you learned the reasons he chose this drama, it holds even more value to me, such that BYJ tugged a tender part of my heart and remained there deeply, till today.

If you want to know more about HWRL, there are so much to read. But I would start from this one, of course, our bb has it. I love this posting of hers so much that I almost want to re-write it down here word by word. But since I am a lazy person, how about I just do the "copy and paste" business.


who loves jaeho? hands up please! ( h: Me! Mee!)

yea... thought so there'll be so many of you... ( h: I know you too, and you will!)

for me personally, HWRL ranks pretty high up there in terms of faves. but it's also one of those i don't rewatch that often. it's just too painful. personally,

...

The role Yong Joon played in HWRL was Kang Jaeho, a young man who’s from the lower rungs of the society. He had to sell crabs at the seafood wholesale market in order to pay for his and his sister’s tuition fees. He had lost his father since young, and was abandoned by his mother too. Therefore, he had this thinking that money’s everything. In order to get somewhere, in order to turn from rags to riches, he courted Hyun Soo who’s from a rich family. But he found himself drawn to the young professor Lee Shin Hyung. When he finally realized the true love in his life and was prepared to face life squarely in the face, worse blows came…

...


another thing... HWRL is not just a love story between jaeho and the female lead. there're a lot of other love stories in this drama too. love between jaeho and his aunt, between jaeho and his sister, between jaeho and his best friend, between jaeho and his mother... there're also other love threads depicted in the drama, like the female lead's parents, jaeho's sister and her boyfriend, the old granny and her daughter...

some people feel that all of the other characters are redundant and their stories boring and they fast-forward and watch only the yong joon scenes.... but think about it this way... this drama is about the real life of the people in korea. and this is as real as it gets. i've yet to come across another drama that reflects so much of korean culture and the korean way of life. in this context, this drama really explores and challenges the various values or set standards in the korean society. like how the female lead defys her family in pursuit of real love, like how could a man choose between real love and to support his family, like how there's a social stigma against orphans and men who do not serve the army, like how love between an older woman and a younger man tends to be frowned upon, like how money seems to make the world go round...

in fact, i've found that i like the drama (and all the other characters) more and more as i watch it again and yet again. they sort of grow on you, esp the old granny (i used to think she's just way too noisy...)!

yes, HWRL is a heavy drama. but to me, it's also the very essence of korean culture, of real life.

( h: to me, HWRL ranks No. 1 among all his works. Why? Because it is a heavy drama, because it is so serious. Don't you remember that I am a serious person? I love everything that is serious. I watched HWRL for more than 5 times, and the more I watch it, the more I enjoy it. The first 2 times I did the what-you-know the skipping thingie, only want to watch Kang Jaeho part. It was such a long drama, you know? 44 episodes! Then the next few times, I enjoyed watching more and more of every charater's performance and every character's dialogue. I even realized that I "enjoyed" more and more the painful moments in the drame, and even, "enjoyed" crying with the charaters, particularly, with Shin-hyung, not because I was insane, but because I cherished the realization that out of my callus heart that deep tender part of my heart is found and touched - I can still cry! Isn't that amazing? Isn't that treasuable? Now I want to stay in that state for a little longer, so I enjoyed it.)

of all the roles wuri yong joon has played, this one seems the most real. as real as though kang jaeho is not just some guy in some drama. really. when i was watching HWRL, the sadness, the pain, the anguish i'd experienced was as though someone really dear to me was dying. it was that bad. in most of yong joon's works, no matter how brilliant he was, i was still very conscious of the fact it's not real, it's just a drama or a movie. and that yong joon is an actor. but when it comes to HWRL, somehow, yong joon disappears and jaeho comes to life. so real, so real it's painful

...


i've had many fans asked me if they should watch HWRL, and i've shared my views both on soompi and loveyongjoon.com. will just say it once again here... no one can promise you that HWRL will be a good or bad drama. actually, i've always thought that this is one of those dramas that you either love it or you hate it, no two ways about it. if you hate it, then you will think it's terribly boring and you can't bring yourself to even carry on and finish it. but if you love it, then it will become your fave byj drama.

i belong to the latter group myself. of all the characters yong joon has played, this one (jaeho) is the dearest to me.

why? coz jaeho felt so real. most of the other characters yong joon has played seemed to border upon perfection. too handsome, too rich, too cool, too... whatever.... but jaeho is as as human as it gets. and coz he's a flawed person, coz he felt pain and got hurt, we feel even more for him. really...

(h : talking about this role of yong joon's being so real, that the actor disappeared and Jaeho comes to life, I want to re-post an article here that I felt dear to and saved from KOB, written by "yesbut", posted by "water" and translated into Chinese by "happiebb". I can tell bb loves HWRL and Gang Jaeho very much!)



Gang JaeHo. Gang JaeHo.

Written by yesbut KOB 2005.07.06
translator: water


How strange it was.
that while I watched (HRWL)
I couldnt see Bae YongJoon there.


When we see a drama and try to explain it to somebody,
we usually call the talent of the drama his or her real name
instead of the name in that drama, right?


After we watched , we did chitchat like:
Bae YongJoon bla bla . ,
or Choi JiWoo bla bla.
(I am afraid whether this may apply only to ME ??? -_-;; )


But when I watched ,
I couldnt call him Bae YongJoon but Gang JaeHo.


Well, to me it was the first and quite weird experience
that the actor looked like the same person as the character in the drama,


Around the end of last year I watched ,
I finished watching all 44 episodes of it only for 3 days.
(Well, frankly speaking, I was a bit crazy at that time.)


Alas, how much was I moved, touched..
(can you see my tear dropping down my cheeks??)
After completely watching them,
I had felt stuffy in my heart for a while.
(The after-effect affected my life slightly, oh, no, considerably -_-;;;. )


Gang JaeHo Gang JaeHo..
I can tell you without hesitation
he was a character of the most powerful impression
that I ve been ever faced with.


How is it possible (that I cant see Bae YongJoon in this drama)???
Wheres Bae YongJoon gone???
You know what the feeling is like?
It is as if I fell in love with a creature
that didnt exist in reality.
An inexplicable feeling, the confusion.


Of course, needless to say, its partly
because of the power of script of the writer, Ms. Nor HeeKyung.


It is said that while writing, Nor HeeKyung attached the character's
photos on the wall, then made a conversation with them
from time to time, any time,
and lived with them together, intimately.
She said that in her own dream Gang JaeHo frequently showed up.


Because of the writers infinite affection on him,
the character of Gang JaeHo could be so vital and alive, I suppose.


Then, all of a sudden,
I got a question:
If another talent (or actor) played Gang JaeHo,
could I still absorb myself in Gang JaeHo so deeply like this? '
If Bae YongJoon didnt play him,
could the life and love of Gang JaeHo have still appealed to me like this,?


What if Jan DongGeun, Jeong WooSung, or Cho InSeung played Gang JaeHo???


Well,. It might be a bit embarrassing. mightnt it ?? -_-;;
No matter how hard I think through it,
I cant find any one that can replace Bae YongJoon as role of Gang JaeHo.
And I think its not only because of his performance.


(Of course I cant deny that he did acting very well,
I dare say that his acting in this drama
is the best among all his works.
But, frankly speaking, there are a lot of other actors
who can be named the best in acting.)


And then, where does this UNREPLACEMENT come from???
Hm I think it is not necessary to analyze it,
But if I should put it into a few words:


His decisive, provoked ,or depressed expression
might come from Bae YongJoon in his real person
who always has lived , trying his very best,
without compromising smoothly with the world.


Why does JaeHo that tries every trick for gaining an actual profit
seem still not to be snobbish???
It seems to be because Bae YongJoons nave and honest attitude to life
seeps into the role of JaeHo, right? '


JaeHo who looks cold, harsh would sacrifice himself
for his family, and in that aspect JaeHo is not much
different from the real Bae YongJoon
who always becomes humble and weak to his fans,
and shows too much love to them..


Gang JaeHo , no matter how dirty he behaves,
raises an infinitely warm feeling in me, allowing me
to ask no question about his meaness,
and then leads me to embrace him,
comforting him: yes, youve got through a lot of hardships.
I can tell that Gang JaeHo is sort of realization of
typical Bae YongJoon with delicate, tender emotion
and basically a good nature.
(He succeeds in bringing about the maternal instinct
from even my callus heart -_-;; )


And then,
JaeHo's wide, strong back on which he carries a box of crabs....,
his big, soilid hands which speaks for nobleness of labor
and his wide chest on which he hold SinHyung tight.
Without Bae YongJoons physique,
could it be possible to incorporate them?
(I am a bit being excited~~~)


(Now, I have to calm down ;;;;)
I personally like very much
that JaeHo works at the-break-of-dawn-fish market.
It was the first time for me to find an actor
who could show his laborious acting so naturally.
He really embodied an original MANLY BEAUTY.
(Above all, man is a symbol of power, isnt it !!!!)


Therefore
while actor Bae YongJoon is very well matched with an intellectual, and luxurious
image, he is also very well suitable for the blue-collar image who struggles
in the midst of the cruel, bitter life.


He has both sides of the affluent and the deficient,
How can it be explained; that strange two faces...,
It also could be one of his charms that entrances lots of women.


If it were not for Bae YongJoons Gang JaeHo,
I might have been cynical at SinHyungs absolute love
and unconditional dediction to JaeHo,
and I might have hastily defined an extreme and selfish love
of HyunSoo as attachment or a desire for possession.


Just because Bae YongJoon played Gang JaeHo,
the two womens love to him could look
so plausible and touching, I suppose.


After SinHyung goes through all hardships,
then obtained her parents consent for her marrige to him,
then JaeHo leaves SinHyung as cruelly as possible
At that scene, SinHyung talks to GilJin, crying:
Hyung, I tried to hate him, but I cant, because I can understand him so well.

(water: in the past (from 1970s to 90s), female students in colleage
used to call male seniors Hyung
whose literal meaning is elder brother but originally
the word is used only by males like unni (elder sister) is used by women.
Thus that women call male senior Hyung
meant sort of destruction of gender, womans liberation movement.
And here we also can peep into the SinHyungs relationship with GilJin.
She thinks GilJin as a senior rather than a man.)


It is not only SinHyungs view but also my view.
I also can understand him,
not because of continual misfortune, and my compassion for it
but because of Gang JaeHo with Bae YongJoons body and soul.
No matter how unforgivable behavior he does,
I can't hate him.
(Oh, okay, you could blame me
for my biased, unobjective affection on him,
anyhow, what shall I do? I am his fan.~~~~)


Today I missed him so much.
As SinHyung desired,
I wish that the world where he wakes up again,
would be not so harsh one. '


I ain't finished yet, but I got to stop it here for tonight. I NEED to talk more about wuri yong joon's HWRL later. Just to conclude tonight's serious thoughts, to find the meaning and purpose of loving him, I got to say that I want more people to know about wuri yong joon and the drama "Have We Really Loved?", for it is such a nice drama with such a nice title - a really essential question - Have We Really Loved? Hopefully through him and through this drama, we all learn to love in our lives in a better way. I’ve never been a fan of anyone, but BYJ is an exception, mostly because he had the eyes and heart to pick this drama out of so many potentially popular dramas that may have higher commercial values. He IS different!