DVD Review

“Dae Jang Geum”

The Great Jang Geum

“…and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him;” ~ Psalm 45:11.

This is Day 7 of my Lenten Journey series. Today I’d like to share with you a review of a mini-series my wife and I just finished watching. It attained a 54% rating share during the initial broadcast on Korean television during the 2003–2004 season.

Title: “Dae Jang Geum (The Great Jang Geum).”

The cover notes that it as “The true-life tale of the first woman in Korean history to gain a [high] post in the King’s Court.”

Set in 16th century Korea, the series follows the life of young Jang Geum (pronounced chang gooma) whose mother was killed and whose father was arrested and exiled or killed (we’re not told which) when she was quite young, perhaps 5 years old.

Jang Geum had a burning desire to learn and to do the unconventional for a young Korean girl. As a result, she often got into trouble.

Jang Geum’s mother had been a court lady before a plot against her almost killed her. After escaping near death and being saved by Jang Geum’s father-to-be, the family went into hiding. Upon her father’s discovery and arrest, Jang Geum’s mother tried to escape, but was hit by an arrow. Her dying wish was for her daughter, if she is willing, to enter the palace, become the Highest Kitchen Lady, and somehow avenge her mother.

Jang Geum does manage to enter the palace and get chosen to become a court lady trainee, but there are many who plot against her. Other trainees and the staff despise her because she is not known to be from a prominent family. For fear of retribution, Jang Geum cannot tell anyone who her birth parents are.

Despite her intelligence and hard work, she finds herself in one pickle after another.

At one point Jang Geum’s even convicted of treason and exiled to Jeju Island. There she meets a physician lady and learns that if she becomes a physician she may be able to return to the palace. So, despite her great cooking skills, she applies herself to learning medicine.

Jang Geum becomes romantically attracted to an officer in the royal guard, but the romance must be kept at arms-length due to palace rules that forbid court ladies from becoming involved with a man. The court ladies are the king’s property and must conduct themselves as such or be kicked out of the palace forever.

You will enjoy the amazing scenery, the changing seasons, the colorful costumes, the huge cast of extras, the perfect casting, the wonderfully artful cinematography, and, of course, the palace intrigues.

We have watched the series twice now and enjoyed it immensely. Having watched it nightly for the past month and a half (there are 54 episodes), we became attached to Jang Geum and looked forward each night to seeing how she would deal with the various situations that arose as she pursued her goals.

The one negative for me was the subtitling. Often the titles flashed by too quickly to read, especially when they contained long foreign names. Another drawback to the subtitles: they sometimes blended in with the scene so much that they were unreadable. I also question if the subtitles do justice to the action. Sometimes it seemed that much more was said than translated, and, of course, many of the nuances are lost.

I’m glad we have the complete set on DVD so we can watch it again.

If you view this video, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I also hope you’ll visit those who are following along on this journey:

Jill Ebstein, James G Brennan, Maryam Merchant, Daniel Hopper, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Joe Luca, Amy Marley, Jenine Bsharah Baines, Wolfie Bain, Trista Ainsworth, Sarah E Sturgis, Indra Raj Pathak, Holly Jahangiri, FILZA CHAUDHRY, Beth Stormont, John Gruber, Ana-Maria Schweitzer, Charlene Fate, Harley King, Thewriteyard, Gurpreet Dhariwal, Christina Meier Ph.D, Dr John Rose, Michele Thill, John C. Davis, Selma

Happy Reading, Writing, Viewing and Connecting.

Previous Lenten Journey story

[For those following along, yes, I skipped day 6. I meant to post the current story yesterday, but life intervened. So, while I wouldn’t normaly post on Sunday, I’m making an exception today.]

The Journey began here