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gillianthecat · 2 years

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please do write your thoughts on blueming if you want/have the time, i would love to read them 🙏🏻

Hi Anon! Thank you so much for asking, I'm excited that you want to hear my thoughts on Blueming! I loved this show and all its characters so much.

Sorry this took a while, I wrote it up and was planning to organize it more, but I've decided just to post it as is. It got pretty long, so it's below the cut.

My initial reaction to Blueming was of being viscerally transported back to my 18 year old self. That eventually faded as I got immersed in the characters and their world, but the sense of realness and weight to worldbuilding remained. I’ve never been a film student in S. Korea (or anywhere), but it felt completely plausible that this is what it was like.

At the same time, there was a kind of a fairy tale, magical feel to the show. Which, interestingly, added to the feeling of realness rather than taking away from it. Perhaps it’s just the effect of looking back through the mists of time, but my first year of college did have a slightly unreal, anything-is-possible, the-whole-world-is-new kind of feeling, which I thought that Blueming captured. Part of it was in the cinematography, and I think part of it was the pacing, where transition scenes were skipped and things left unsaid.

Pacing

I’m not sure how I feel about the show’s pacing overall. As I said above, it did contribute to that fairy-tale, nostalgic-for-the present feel, but it sometimes just felt like things were missing. This was only my second short form S. Korean BL, so maybe it's just something I have to get used to. But the rhythm of Semantic Error’s eight slightly longer (18 to 27 min) episodes felt more natural than Blueming’s eleven shorter (11 to 16 min) episodes. My feeling that the pacing was slightly weird might just be because I’ve had no ability to focus recently and kept pausing and taking breaks, but I’ve been doing that for most shows so I don’t think that’s the problem.

It really felt like Blueming wanted to be either a single cohesive film or a longer series. It was the length of a longish film: two and a half hours. And it was about film making, so that seems like a natural fit. It also felt like it had a film-like reticence, a not needing to have everything said out loud or explicitly depicted. It kept a lot of things as inferences or implied.

I realize that it was made from a webtoon, so the episodic divisions and titles come from that, but they didn’t really fit this version. The 12 minute chunks felt arbitrary rather than natural to the rhythm of the story. Or rather, it felt like they manipulated the story to fit into those 12 minute chunks when maybe the story wanted to be told another way.

It also felt like the story could have been expanded, although I also suspect that would have ruined some of its specialness. There were a lot of fascinating supporting characters that felt like real people, and we only got glimpses of their stories. Part of me wants to have more of their stories, and part of me thinks just glimpses were perfect. It made the world feel fully realized, without distracting from the main story of our main couple. The mothers, for example: both seemed like fascinating people on their own, but I also think we got as much of them as we needed for them to feel like real people.

The bigger question is, are we missing important parts of Cha Si-won and Hyeong Da-woon’s story? It sort of felt like that and sort of not. I liked the elliptical feel, where you have to read between the lines to figure out the progression of their relationships in places. There were a few points that were actively confusing, about how much time had passed, or how they got from point a to point b. But mostly it worked.

Hyeong Da-woon’s fantasy!

Or maybe it was a dream, but it felt like a fantasy to me. Actually, I wasn’t sure it was a fantasy while watching. I thought so at first, but then when he went out into the kitchen, it seemed like his hopes for his parents, even in his fantasy, were so (heartbreakingly) low. They didn’t acknowledge him even in his wildest dreams of happiness. So by the time he met Cha Si-won I had decided it was reality and didn’t realize it was a fantasy until we saw Cha Si-won in bed the next morning. And it felt like a switch, but I guess by that point I identified enough with Hyeong Da-woon to go along with it. I too wanted him to get the love story of his dreams.

Anyways, about the content of the fantasy. It low-key broke my heart. He wants his parents just to be home with him sometimes. And he wanted Cha Si-won to choose him. Of course the easy forgiveness without a proper apology or a conversation is a fantasy, and he knew that wasn’t a reasonable thing for him to want. But the other parts. In his fantasy, Cha Si-won was the seme. Cha Si-won was the one stepping forward, to come to his house, to pull him into the hug, to take his hand and pull him along, to initiate the kiss. And that low-key broke my heart. I do think he truly loves Cha Si-won as he is, flailing insecure mess and all. But Hyeong Da-woon! He just wanted someone to choose him! Someone to go out of their way to bring him into their life. The whole show, he was the one reaching out to the people he loved. He was shown calling his parents. He was the one pursuing Cha Si-won. Yes, he was popular and acquaintances approached him, but that’s not the same as being chosen by someone who loves you for who you are. And again, I don’t think he’s unhappy with Cha Si-won as he is, its just… I don’t know, I love that that tension is there and is never resolved even with the happy ending.

The Ending

I do love their ending though - the apology and that whole conversation. And Jo Hyuk Joon’s acting was subtly wonderful - the way he braced himself for the conversation, the way his face fell when Cha Si-won walked away, his utter relief and hope when Cha Si-won came back. And I loved that the issues between them weren’t simplified, it was about pulling strings, but it was more about how Hyeong Da-woon reacted to the conflict. And I loved that Cha Si-won was mature enough, had grown up enough to see that that was the problem. Hyeong Da-woon may have been the one pursuing him, but he was strong enough and present enough to want to shape their relationship as well.

Both the actors were amazing. Well, everyone was, but the two leads in particular, and I was surprised to see they were both new to acting (if MyDramalist’s lists are complete). They perfectly embodied their characters, neither over-acted or under-acted. I personally like it when the actors are older, as an older person myself. And they both convincingly passed as university students, even the 31 year old Jo Hyuk Joon. There was alway that one guy who just looked more grown up than anyone else, you know.

Themes I Noticed & Other Unorganized Observations:

~ Appearance and lookism, obviously. Although it felt like this faded away after the first 2 or 3 episodes. I initially thought they were going to be acting students because of this lookism thing. But it wasn’t so much about beauty per se as about how people perceive you vs. how you feel inside/who you really are.

Fatphobia, related to the above but not the same. And honestly not really addressed.

~ Parents - both sets of parents were imperfect - overly involved and under involved. I like that Cha Si-won’s relationship with his mother was never really resolved, he says ‘she never did apologize’ - I think that would have felt too pat and fake. There would have needed to be a lot of onscreen work shown to make that feel real, and the story wasn’t about that relationship. But at the same time, I could really feel the genuine love between them, and how the mother thought she was doing the best for her son, within her somewhat self centered worldview.

~ The whole thing with Hyeong Da-woon pulling strings. On my second rewatch, I noticed the scene where he’s at the Cha family dinner and the mother is complaining about the costs of their school project. My impression was that’s the reason he did it, or at least one of the big motivators. He saw a problem that he could help solve. And he of course didn’t know that Cha Si-won hadn’t submitted his scenario himself, so he thought that he wanted to win the prize. (I think the conflict would have been somewhat different if Si-won had been trying for the prize himself.)

Maybe it’s because I have a bit of a crush on him myself, or maybe over-identify with him, but I’m not as angry at him about the string-pulling as some people I’ve seen. He was just trying to help out the guy he liked! He’s only 20, he hadn’t thought it through. And he grew up in the film industry world, where connections matter, it probably felt like a normal thing to him - that’s just how business is done in that world. And honestly, we don’t even know exactly what he asked his parents - was it, “pick this guy, please” or, “take a look at this guy's script, he’s a friend of mine.” If it was the latter, then the parents are more to blame. (they’re to blame either way, but Da-woon has less blame.) I know I sound like a Da-woon apologist. Probably because I am a Da-woon apologist.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Si-won was right to get angry at him. He fucked up. It helped Si-won in many ways, but it was also legitimately hurtful. Da-woon wasn’t thinking about the impact on Si-won. (To be fair, he didn’t know him all that well at that point when he made the request. And another person could have been more straightforwardly grateful for the boost. Although I don’t think that’s a person who Da-woon would have fallen in love with.

~ Si-won’s beach scene speech about pain. I was like, oh, Da-woon’s gotta be falling for him hard right now. He looks like he wants to kiss the fuck out of him. So I was really glad that happened.

~The kisses were great! They felt real, and what’s more is they felt absolutely in character, which I don't always feel even from objectively good kisses. I think maybe it helps that the actors are older? I don’t know, I was just trying to think of other in character kisses - Old Fashion Cupcake. Billy and Seng in both shows I think did pretty good. Vee and Mark? Semantic Error? Yes to both. So maybe it’s not as rare as i think. But I guess it also felt like the way they wrote the kissing - the whole bit with Si-won kissing too hard and Da-woon’s laughter and telling him to relax - it felt like there was character development alongside the kissing, which was nice.

~First watch, I thought Ba-woo (the guy with glasses) had a crush on Yun-jeong (the short haired girl), but the second time I realized it didn’t show that at all. Which was nice, because then I could freely root for Cha Si-yeong (the sister) without feeling sad about breaking Ba-woo’s heart

~ I loved the sister’s courtship of Yun-jeong! I loved Yun-jeong in general. The scene with the bad guy was wonderfully real and nuanced.

~ The bad guy was well drawn. He felt real. A plausible film student asshole.

Out of the non-bad guy characters, the sister is the one who fucked up the most, submitting the script without permission. I would have been furious with her if it was me. And the show didn’t really get into this - it showed Si-won getting mad at her, but didn’t follow up much. And oddly enough it worked for me. I guess because she’s young, and the family is already shown to be overly enmeshed in each other’s lives. And the story wasn’t about that relationship, so i didn’t mind that that thread was dropped. And I was still able to like her and cheer on her courtship of Yun-jeong. Perhaps another factor is that her doing that was a driver of the plot, so as an audience member I can’t be too mad.

~ More to say on Da-woon’s brand of perfectionism? I actually liked that we didn’t get to see him crack til the end. And the very last scene was of him starting to tell his story back at their hotel. The balance of the show felt right that way. And that even when Si-won gave him permission to speak, validated that his struggles mattered, he didn’t start talking right away. That felt real - too distracted by just wanting this person who was willing to see you for who you were. He didn’t have anything to complain about in that moment, his life was great!

~ The more I write, the more I can see why Da-woon fell for Si-won. It intuitively made sense while I was watching the film, and the actors built great chemistry that made it feel real. But in analyzing this, I can see how Da-woon was drawn to somebody like that. I mean, at first I think it was just attraction, a crush based on superficial things. But Si-won is willing to be so vulnerable with Da-woon, right from the beginning. It’s not intentional, I don’t think, I think it’s just that Si-won has this stormy mix of feelings inside him - attraction and jealousy and probably other things - and all his flimsily constructed facades of “coolness” just fall apart around Da-woon. But Da-woon is drawn to that vulnerability in a cute guy. Notice how in that drunken conversation he said, 'I thought we were alike.' He sees this other guy being put up on a pedestal and pressured to be perfect, but the difference is the other guy won’t stay up there. And while Si-won feels like he’s a failure for falling off it, I think Da-woon, being already attracted to this guy, is drawn to, and envious, and protective of that vulnerability.

~ And despite all his mixed up feelings, Si-won feels safe with Da-woon. He trusts him to fall apart on, he trusts him enough to be “bratty” and rude. Which normally isn’t how I would recommend trying to court someone, but it makes sense for these two men, so invested in presenting an image of perfection to the world, that letting down that image, letting your vulnerabilities be seen (Si-won), or not being scared off by those vulnerabilities (Da-woon) is an immensely appealing form of intimacy. Si-won had been flawed and vulnerable with people before, but it had scared them away (other kids) or they told him to change himself (his mom). Here was a person who seemed to like his insecurities! Who thought he was cute! Who didn’t run away when he said, “here I am, and I’m a mess.” How could he not start falling for Da-woon?

~ I’ve read a bunch of reviews where people said they had trouble liking Si-won until later in the series, but oddly enough I never had that problem. Maybe because I was so viscerally transported back to my own college years, that right off the bat I identified with him and his anxieties and insecurities, even though I’m not actually that much like him. So while I can see how he’s very annoying, I never got annoyed at him

~ To be honest, I think a lot of both their initial interest in each other was sexual attraction. Which they each responded to very differently. But that attraction pushed them to really look at each other and gave them the chance to see a person they liked and connected with and fall in love.

~ I think a reason why this series resonated with so many people (besides being well made) was that it’s about the idea that falling in love is about seeing someone and allowing yourself to be seen. The whole mortifying-ordeal-of-being-known quote.

What other shows are about this vulnerability? My Beautiful Man, but in a very different way. Blueming talks about this idea openly. I guess My Beautiful Man does too. I guess all love stories deal with this implicitly, but not necessary overtly. (I wrote a little about how various shows are about this idea of vulnerability but it didn't really fit here.)

And maybe why this didn’t quite feel like a BL to some? Too honest, not quite enough fantasy?

~ This is another one of those ‘bubble’ korean bl’s that absolutebl talks about, where they never directly acknowledge queerness or homophobia, so it’s hard to know how much of an impact that has on the characters. But it definitely feels like it could be part of the story (in a way it doesn’t as much in Semantic Error) given their concern with perfection and hiding and how they’re seen. The fact that so many of their conversations aren’t shown allows the audience to imagine they do talk about this. If not during the time period of the show, after it’s over and they’re finally having open conversations.~

~ Second season. I’m guessing it focuses on other characters? But a second season focusing on these two could work, along the lines of I Promised You the Moon. They both still have growing to do. Although they end in a much more mature point than Teh and Oh-aeow did in ITSAY. So it would be tricky to make something that balances A) a compelling plot/conflict, B) staying true to the characters and their journey thus far/doesn’t undo their growth just for the sake of creating drama, C) feels like a story worth telling, and D) ends with them in a better place. Even I Promised You the Moon didn’t quite manage, and that was a story I thought worth telling and that the characters needed.

Cinematography

Cinematography was so beautiful. I don’t know enough to analyze it really, but the light and the colors and different filters at different times and moods were great.

I like how they set up these beautiful symmetrical shots, which gave it that stylized slightly fairy-tale feeling, but then had random people walk through the frame, which kept it grounded and real. I’m thinking of many of the scenes in restaurants in particular.

That love scene in the hotel was so beautifully shot. I don’t know exactly what S. Korean censorship rules around how much sex can be shown, but I liked that the scene felt very intimate and clearly implied they were going to be having sex.

Thanks for asking, Anon! If you want to write back and share your thoughts I'd love to read them.

#blueming #dawoon x siwon #hyeong da woon #cha si won #blueming meta #blueming reaction #blueming spoilers #asks answered #gillianthecat reacts to bl #reaction by gillianthecat #wow that's a lot of words #anon asks

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etlefevre · 5 months

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[Cha Eunwoo] alto, quem vem lá? oh, é EMILE YVES LEFÉVRE, o AUXILIAR DO CONSELHO de 25 anos, como é bom recebê-lo! fazia tempo que não nos encontrávamos aqui pelo castelo, espero que esteja tendo um ótimo dia. senti falta de sua personalidade RESPONSÁVEL e GENTIL, só espero que não continue sendo tão TEIMOSO e VINGATIVO. por favor, por aqui, estão todos lhe esperando!

RESUMO:

Emile era um órfão deixado por motivos desconhecidos a própria sorte. Por ser de uma nacionalidade diferente, o menino sofria muito bullying das outras crianças do orfanato e isso compadeceu o sarcedote e conselheiro real Jacques Lefévre. O homem adotou Emile com o objetivo de treiná-lo para assumir seu lugar quando este se aposentar e o rapaz segue os passos do pai adotivo a risca, para ser um sacerdote. Ele está envolvido na seleção para ser mais um par de olhos para Jacques. Fica de olho nas selecionadas e atento para qualquer quebra de regra, já que é importante demonstrar serviço.

Não conhecer suas origens parece algo fora do comum para muitos, mas não para o jovem Etienne. O que sabia era pouca coisa e somente aquilo que os responsáveis do orfanato acharam prudente lhe contar. O pequeno havia chegado até ali com o nome Joo-Won, um nome de origem coreana e certamente eram seus progenitores originários daquela nação, porém, por circunstâncias desconhecidas decidiram deixar o filho na porta do orfanato para que fosse cuidado e criado pelos responsáveis do estabelecimento. Foi assim que ele ganhou o nome Etienne, pois era mais fácil para que seus colegas e para que se sentisse em casa num lugar como a França. E até seria mais fácil se apenas a mudança de nome fizesse os demais o considerarem como um deles, mas a aparência tão diferente fez com que a criança sofresse as mais diversas provocações, mas também compadeceram a um homem: Jacques Lefévre.

O homem achou que seria interessante ter o pequeno como protegido e assim o fez. O adotou quando ainda era um jovenzinho, não tendo mais do que cinco anos, mas idade o suficiente para saber que havia ganhado uma casa e uma família. Jacques criou o filho adotivo por dois víeis, a uma criação rígida, voltada não apenas para o ofício da família, mas também alguém que não tem medo de ir atrás dos seus objetivos custe o que custar. Desde sua adoção, Etienne sentia o fardo do sobrenome Lefévre sobre si, não que isto o incomodasse, ao contrário, mas atrai uma atenção de forma indesejada, pois desde a tenra idade era rebelde e muitas vezes intratável, de certa forma era notável que o jovem responsável por continuar a honrar e levar o nome da Lefévre adiante tinha uma personalidade única que muitas vezes era mascarada para servir aos desejos do pai. Recebia uma educação digna enquanto em casa, tomando lições de boas maneiras, literatura, e até mesmo um ou dois instrumentos musicais. Por vezes, acompanhava o pai em seu trabalho, o observando das sombras apenas para tornar-se consciente de seu dever para com a família real, não demonstrando dificuldade alguma em corresponder às expectativas.

Etienne está no conselho para ajudar em todas as questões possiveis. Com a seleção isso ficou cristalino como água, afinal, Jacques estava intimamente envolvido com as questões da seleção e deixou claro que o filho iria lhe ajudar. Etienne está no palácio para ser mais um par de olhos do pai. Além de cuidar para que tudo ocorra bem na seleção, o rapaz também está li para treinar para assumir seu futuro posto como conselheiro, substituindo Jacques, ao menos, assim espera.

#𓍢 ・ about .#like para plots

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