Tae Sub deliberates and decides to come out to his family
Wheeeee!!!!!! Juz finish 63 episodes of the korean drama series, Life is beautiful. Yup 63 episodes. 1 hour per pop. That's 63 hours of precious time that could be spent doing something else. Something productive perhaps. So is it time well spent? Is it worth it?. Yup. Definitely worth it. I just love the positive message that LIB tried to convey. That being gay is not the end of the world and everything will turn out all right. I should probably give a brief description on what Life is beautiful is about but i decided against it as there are plenty of introduction already written about it. If you are interested in an intro for this drama, click here. This will take you to asianwiki LIB write-up.
Anyway what really got my attention and interest in watching LIB initially was the fuss that the series kicked up in korea. Some korean mothers got their knickers in such a tight little knot over the 2 gay characters in the series. Got them so infuriated that they took out a front page ad in chosun journal, a local newspaper, accusing the broadcaster SBS of glamorizing gay lifestyle, encouraging the spread of gayness and aids, and if their son becomes gay and dies from aids after watching their filth, SBS must take responsibility. Oppps i had a moment of smugness there whilst writing that. If only it was so easy to spread gayness, I would be a very happy boy. Ohhh so veryyy happy. I could just imagine myself spreading my gayness to the person i desire. Ohhh that thought is kinda nice....hmmm couldn't be that hard right....
And how a key scene was omitted by SBS because of objections from the church that it was shot in. That got the screen writer hopping mad. She released online the script to show how the scene was intended to be and SBS was flooded with complaints from viewers wanting to know why it was cut out. The omitted scene is a simple commitment vows spoken between the gay characters, Tae Sub and Kyung Soo whilst the two were attending a wedding. It does seem like a touching scene if you read the script. Oh well.....
But hats off to the 69 year old screen writer, Mdm Kim Soo Hyun. I had this sneaking suspicion that this feisty grandma wrote LIB to educate koreans about gay people and their struggles. She is well aware that you cant cram education down people's throat, especially one this sensitive, without them wanting to regurgitate. And korea being korea, you really have to be gentle. So she says lets package everything into a family drama. Have a gay son. We start slow and just ramp it up until you are face to face with it. Whatever your intentions are Madam, I salute you and thank you for coming up with something that i can identify with and maybe to learn from. It gave me so much pleasure to watch it. It would be so swell to have a grandma like you i bet.
The drama fleshes out Tae Sub's journey from the closet to being comfortable with his sexuality. It is quite pleasant to watch his transformation but if i were to choose my favourite character, it would have to be his boyfriend, Kyung Soo. Lee Sang Woo plays the role of Kyung Soo. He does a superb job in showing all the emotions associated with loving someone and the struggle to deal with his myriad of problems stemming from his previous marriage and his own family especially his mother. Kyung Soo's relationship with Tae Sub is also shown without much sugar coating. It has its ups and downs, the insecurities of being in a relationship and how they struggle with discrimination. But the most appealing thing that Mdm Kim did for these two characters was to show the viewing audience that there is not much difference between a gay relationship and a straight one. Its just love and our commitment to it. A gay relationship might be a tad more intense because of the secrecy of it. But really, love does not care for genders. Both actors done a mighty job and both their characters are so well crafted. And they are very easy on the eyes which is a big plus for me haha.
To watch Life is beautiful, click here.
