Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born

Conflicted Literature

Prologue

My mind never fails to go completely blank right before writing these.It feels somewhat like a line of astounding talents gone ahead before me, and my absent minded ass is up next. No idea what to write, how to portray these thoughts that future me can look back on and feel every word of it as if I’m in front of the television again pressing play for the first time. What do they want to see from this review? How do they feel of this drama? Man, wouldn’t it be so much easier to just be like the rest? Well my dear silent minority, we aren’t like the rest. Our thoughts differ, lights dim out, voices hollow, presence uncertain.

But, every now and then some of us gather the strength to shout our unpopular opinions loud enough for everyone willing to hear. Lights begin to flicker back on as we approach our biggest momentary fear, the stage is ours. Make no mistake, no matter how nor if the audience responds back to you, you’ve done something for us that will always inspire those after. There’s no telling when you’ll feel like this again, nor get the chance to express it.

You then realize those lights that were so intimidating before were never dimmed. At last , a star is born.


Man vs Everything

I’ll get my biggest frustration with this drama out of the way first to make up for the rambling. Jeongnyeon is not a complete drama. In fact, you’ll feel there’s something missing at the very beginning, but it only becomes apparent towards the end. There’s several components to a story, and that one thing you’re having that gut feeling is missing in this one, is conflict.

How so? We’ve seen many antagonists introduced, as well as internal and external struggles made out as obstacles in our leads’ way. Poor upbringings, jealousy, underdogs, loss, scandals, defamation, the list goes on. Well, could you really make these things out to be conflicts when even the characters absolutely refuse to?

First we have our favorite little star Yun Jeong. Dimwitted, until she’s not. Inexperienced, until she’s not. Star of the show, until she’s not. Daring, until she’s not. Determined, until she’s not. Damn near mute with multiple medical professionals’ ruling it as so… until, well.

My surprising favorite that deserved closure and proper writing all around, Yeong Seo. I haven’t seen a single thing from the actress until now with this drama, and i can still tell this is easily the best performance she’s put on without needing to see any other. In fact, i won’t even butcher her character here any more than the writing already had. Just know, she deserved much, MUCH better..

Speaking of deserving better, let’s reel in the last few who deserved worse. Despite my unpopular perspective with the Prince of the stage herself, I’ll admit, Moon Ok Gyeong is hands down the most fascinating character that’s completely open to interpretation. She’s a fan favorite to many, both in and outside the drama. To me? She’s the epitome of toxicity and the most subtle portrayal of an antagonist I’ve seen this year. I know that opens alot of doors for discussion, and to be fair, they’re probably not even opened at all had the webtoon been adapted faithfully enough. But we’re going from the abomination they chose to throw out for us to mindlessly consume, and that being my conclusion.

Now here’s someone i feel for certain couldn’t have been redeemed well enough in the original work to make sense of, Ju Ran. Another popular favorite, but i see no logical reason why outside of some piss poor GL teasing. Her storyline was the sole confirmation that cuts that shouldn’t have even been considered , were made. The heavy censorship behind her relations with everyone was adding gasoline to a forest fire. I see no potential redemption of this character in even the webtoon whenever i decide to pick it up. But hopefully I’m wrong.


To make something clear, this drama is by far Kim Tae Ri’s most innovative and expressive role yet. And it’s clear to me now what she’s been going for all along aren’t good scripts, but challenging roles to take her own acting range another step further. Even her weakest work steps all over 95% of the industry, and that’s no exaggeration. She has been my favorite actress in this drama land since I’ve first came across her, and she’s only reaffirmed my obsession with her work and talented eye for scripts here. If you feel even remotely similar about her, you will enjoy every last bit of this drama as i have, minus the rant after, likely.



Jeongnyeon is a successful, aspiring drama that failed as an adaption. Have i read the original webtoon yet? Not a single word. But i know a cut and rushed mess when i see it, as I’ve seen too many at this point. Want to know what else I’m aware of ? My opinion being the minority , as well as my genuine enjoyment throughout watching this series. I can go longer than this run on sentence about this embarrassment of an adaption as much as i can rave about how even Kim’s worst work is better than your fave’s best and you’d be doing yourself the disservice by not trying this title out as any fan of Kim Tae Ri or even Shin Ye Eun.


I applaud the effort of the impressive cast and remarkable production. Our star has yet to dim, it’s just another was born.

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One of the Best Sapphic Adaptations till Date!

Set in the 1950s, “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” delivers a classic retelling of two Korean art forms- Gukgeuk and Pansori.

I spend a lot of time learning the intricacies of these two folk arts, which are quite liberal and intriguing as compared to those in my motherland. For those unaware, Pansori is Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer, where the singer tells the story by singing and the drummer accompanies her on the drum. Incorporating this aspect into Gukgeuk was the main highlight of this show, which refers to a theatrical performance that combines singing and dancing. In post war era, Gukgeuk was extremely popular and women portrayed men’s roles. In short, it was an all female- production which had a cult following from the 1950s to 1960s, after which it rapidly declined due to the rise of films. “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” delivers a subtle romance with homoerotic tones. Adapted from the webtoon “Jeong Nyeon” (정년이) written by Seo Irae (서이레) and illustrated by Namon (나몬), the original storyline was a sapphic love story. Even though the show is a censored adaptation, the all-women ensemble renders itself useful in maintaining the sapphic flavors.

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/11/18/jeongnyeon-the-star-is-born-series-review/#more-1325

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The Best Sapphic Themed Romance in a Long Time

You were my dream, my longing and my one and only Prince!”

If someone had told me that a supporting character would rise to be the main lead’s love interest, I wouldn’t have believed them. That was until I watched “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” and was left mesmerized by the romance between Jeongnyeon and Jooran. A classic retelling of the webtoon “Jeong Nyeon” (정년이) written by Seo Irae (서이레) and illustrated by Namon (나몬). If you are worried that the show is a censored adaptation, so it won’t have the same romantic connotations as the original, fret not. “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” encompasses a spell binding romance in the midst of encapsulating the Korean art forms, Pansori & Gukgeuk. For those unaware, there is a difference between both. Pansori is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer, where the singer tells the story by singing and the drummer accompanies her on the drum. Gukgeuk refers to a theatrical performance that combines both singing and dancing. The show embodies the very essence of both art forms that were quite popular in the post-war era. Being an all women production, even the male roles were portrayed by females. We are going to talk about the different facets of this show that strongly betray its homoerotic context!

Read the complete article here-

https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/11/19/jeongnyeon-the-star-is-born-series-review-ep-1-to-12/

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Delusional cult following ending in a disastrous watching experience

It was very much a disappointment, as the drama promised depth yet only provided a surface-level spectacular and absolutely miserably failed at living up to its title. The story revolves around the meteoric rise of an aspiring performer to fame and can effectively explore ambition, sacrifice, and the grit of showbiz but instead felt contrived and very uninventive. Characters were written with reprehensibly little dimension; FL herself was the usual tired cliché of a dreamer whose motivations were never fleshed out. The dialogue was supposed to be emotionally packed but came off as empty and repetitious, eating into the seriousness in connecting audiences with actual struggles of the lead. The rhythm of the show was also wanting, with plot points either being belted out too fast or stretched beyond reason, thus stealing much of the momentum and excitement in the story. Even music sequences that should amaze and excite were uncouth in choreography and even without energy, to one's surprise. Instead of whisking viewers away on some sort of immersive rise-and-fall tale of celebrity, the drama shuffled its way through plot points that rarely offered anything new or impactful throughout. It's a drama that wanted to shine bright and turned into a flash in the pan that's hardly memorable; it left me to consider what could have been if it reached for believability instead of reaching for empty theatrics.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born '' is a historical drama full of music and stage performances.

The drama has strong performances, which are the key feature of the drama and its strong suit.

Also, the music and the songs were all great, along with the costumes and the settings, which were perfect for the period and to create the perfect atmosphere for the story.

In addition, the characters were interesting, though the main one was tiring to keep up with and got annoying at times, but the rest of them were endearing, and everyone had strong chemistry between them.

However, the story was rushed and it didn't have an organic progress. The ending was open as well.

So, overall, six out of ten.

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One of the exceptional productions of 2024 in several ways

"Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" is one of the exceptional productions of 2024: exceptional in terms of the subject matter and the rather specific cultural background, as the KDrama celebrates two very South Korean art forms: the post-war all-female performance theater Gukgeuk and Pansori, a chanted epic narrative rooted in Korean culture. Exceptional also, because this KDrama creates a women's space in which women play the decisive role and are explicitly NOT reduced to their gender role. Finally, exceptional when it comes to the acting performance: in this case in two respects, as the highly committed actresses present us a show within the show. Definitely worth seeing. (At least, I´d say…)

The international title is perhaps a bit misleading, because actually no one is 'born' as a Gukgeuk star. This is hard work, even for those who may be born with talent. That is exactly the theme of the story of this KDrama. The historical setting of the 1950s may seem old-fashioned - who cares about such a special theater movement that was there only for a few decades and has by now been almost forgotten? No way! The topic obviously is quite on. The South Korean audience is thrilled. In the viewer statistics, the numbers have multiplied over the 12 episodes. No wonder, because the plot itself could easily be set today, 2024. The Gukgeuk training is actually comparable to the modern KPop idol industry. Accordingly, individual struggles with personal limits and challenges, the dynamics of relationships, as well as competition, infatuation, friendship, love-hate relationships, envy, self-doubt, overestimation of oneself and ultimately the overexploitation of one's own strengths and possibilities are practically timeless.

But due to the fact that these personal processes of the protagonists are located back in the 1950s, they simultaneously bring the art form of pansori and the flowering of the (now almost forgotten) gukgeuk to radiantly fresh, rousing life. By introducing us to three generations of gukgeuk and pansori stars and bringing them closer to us emotionally, we get a lasting impression of the extraordinary South Korean cultural heritage. (If you are interested, see the side note below.)

The original title is just "Jeongnyeon". The story is based on a well-researched webtoon. While the webtoon focuses on the main character and her personal development processes, the KDrama focuses on the relationships that shape Jeongnyeon on her path as well as the other women, young and old alike. The KDrama "Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" vividly embodies the quality and the (short) history of Gukgeuk using the example of three generations of Gukgeuk artists. Wonderfully done so. The webtoon also achieved this in 2019, and was even specifically awarded by the Ministry of Culture for the outstanding quality of the story and also for its contribution to raising awareness of gender equality in South Korea.

Kim Tae-ri leads a fantastic ensemble. But even if she once again surpasses herself here, she is not alone, but the whole, which is more than the sum of its parts – just as the show on the Gukgeuk stage is a co-creation in which everyone is giving their best, according to their role and tasks, so that something great can come of it. And so all the ladies contribute in their own unique way to the success of this fantastic production.



























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--- SIDE NOTE: Pansori ----

Pansori is almost unique: a very old form of epic narrative singing that goes back a long way in Korean cultural history and is able to generate maximum emotional charisma using minimalist means. This requires one person to tell a story by singing and one person to beat the drum. The emotional power of the different dramatic moods is characterized by a stylized repertoire of vocal use and expressive performance. This in combination with the equally characteristic rhythms of the drum beat. A one-person opera in which one person plays ALL the roles, so to speak.

The roots of the idiosyncratic sound in combination with the drum go back to Korean shamanism. In the 17th century, it became an art form in its own right to captivate people with a wide variety of stories in street theater. This is also what the name “Pansori” refers to. "Pan" means a place where people come together, while “Sori” means the expression of the voice, the singing. By the 19th century, pansori had the attention of the upper class and was formally refined. It is about the stories that have shaped the lives of people on the Korean peninsula for centuries – highly dramatic and emotionally expressive. It´s fueled by the relationship being established between narrator and audience. No monologue, no lecture. Rather, narrator and audience meet in the intimate, emotionally honest, vulnerable space that the story opens up - in compassion for its protagonists.
Not everyone can just do pansori. This narrative singing is special. The training is hard. In addition to singing, there is a repertoire of facial expressions, gestures and forms of movement that are given in their structure but must be completed individually. Characteristic of the incomparable singing is the anhemitonic pentatonic scale used, in which the semitone steps E to F and B to C are missing. This is used in different emotionally colored modes, each of which is defined by a specific pitch. Frequency, ornamentation and emphasis emphasize the different emotional states even more. The rather hoarse voice quality is also characteristic, especially in the lower octaves. A clear voice is not required in Pansori. The falsetto technique is used for the higher pitches.
Since the 1970s, pansori has had state-recognized status as a Korean cultural asset in the country, and since 2003 it has also been officially listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.


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--- SIDE NOTE: Gukgeuk ---

Gukgeuk is not that well known and is not particularly protected as a Korean cultural asset. Gukgeuk refers to purely womens´ theater for music and theater performance. An art world, a theatrical art creation created exclusively in women's spaces. The women also took on the men's roles. In the post-war years, Gukgeuk was extremely popular in South Korea. The fan cult was in no way inferior to today´s idol fan cult. However, not much of that still remains today. The Gukgeuk theater performance began as a purely womens´ theater in the 1940s. It reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s. But then the decline followed closely with the growing of the film industry, because there the tried-and-tested stars could earn more and the reach was also greater.
Gukgeuk is characterized by traditional Korean performing art forms and in particular pansori, but combines elements from theater, music, song and dance in an idiosyncratic way, like a quintessence. In contrast to traditional Korean opera (Changgeuk), in which men and women perform aside, Gukgeuk places greater emphasis on high quality acting. Expression, grace in movement, facial expressions, all of this is integrated more finely and intensively into the performance. That’s where all-female production comes into play. A great voice alone is not important with Gukgeuk. Rather, it is the ability to embody the mood of the story sensitively and authentically, to emotionally resonate with the audience and to carry them along uncompromisingly, catapulting them out of their everyday world and instead drawing them into the story with all its emotional facets.
The women were celebrated as stars. They were celebrated as artists. Some were perfected in their appearance, language and behavior for the male roles. Thus, the Gukgeuk artists were able to experience themselves outside of their gender roles.

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you know what i love beside female centered? it's a historical that's not the same mold of politics

I think this year they're attempting 1950s more in different places of history, which is nice

the whole mood feels like watching a theatrical piece, jeongnyeon is like na heedo, but it's a characteristic of energy and youth

I love the stage parts, tho I do dislike the vibes, everyone hates her cuz the sunbae likes her and she has raw talent, like chill…

kim taeri's daesang was well deserved but the writing did lack in some aspects

i'd have loved more development and faster growth to highlight her strengths, there were some angst elements that were cheaply added, so the overall pace lacked

but the acting was on point

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whoever rated this drama 1 star, did you even watch the show like ????? youd know all their points about nepotism are wrong if you actually looked at the screen while watching the show. the director made it clear that she accepted jeongnyeon just as an understudy because if she accepted her as a normal trainee, the others would think she was accepted because of her connections with moon okgyeong and not her talent (AND SHE WAS ACCEPTED AS AN UNDERSTUDY BECAUSE OF HER TALENT)
and isnt the whole point of the show that shes poor but blessed with a voice gifted from the heavens?? so the only nepotism that she has is her voice inherited from her mother, like brotha are you fr
glad you dropped the show because you don't deserve to watch it loser

Anyway, that just irked me a little so i had to say something.

i'm really glad this is a female-centered drama because you rarely see those these days and admist korea's uhhh lets just say gender problem.
i am disappointed they removed jeongnyeons gf from the drama but considering koreans censorship (aka homophobia and antifeminism; i had to clarify for that loser in my replies), this is pretty decent (no men cast !!!!!)

actors are casted well. ive always been a fan of kim taeri and she always does a great job. and jung eunchae is really fine lmao. (edit after ep 12 shin yeeun so fine guys shes so bad like damn she so fine she actually soooo fine)

personally ive never been interested in traditional korean singing but this show keeps me intrigued and i do look forward to future episodes.

will probably update later but thats all i have to say for now

edit: okay just finished the show, and I must say the acting was soooo good, like definitely award-worthy. shin yeeun is really an incredible actress and woo davi too. like wow, their skills are genuinely top-tier
I really respect the effort the cast put into the show, like the years of vocal training, dance lessons, etc.

a few things that i was not happy about was a lot of the writing, like yes they took out jeongnyeons gf which is bad already but i did not like how they wrote hyerang too. there are a few plot holes and even though the ending is alright like its appropriate i guess, but its not satisfying enough and i think we need at least a prologue.

however i am actually very grateful for this drama like its not very often where a kdrama as an all female reoccuring cast. this is probably the only one i can name and i did thoroughly enjoy watching this show. i hope they do make more shows like this in the future and i will cherish this drama for the rest of my life.

update 2: after processing the ending for a few days, ive been lurking on twitter and jeongnyeon and juran were supposed to kiss in the original script during the final goodbye scene in ep 11??? im so pissed that changed. i didnt mention this before but when i was watching that scene i cried so much i was sobbing. why would they write juran as a character that liked making all those pledges with jeongnyeon but then at the end she has no choice but to break them. im so sad. And when they said goodbye, juran was wearing the bird pin she and jeongnyeon both got when they vowed to do gukgeuk till they were old. i actually cant. the endings so bad in that aspect. why would they do this. we basically get no clarity.

okgyeong and hyerang were also supposed to kiss too before okgyeong finally left.. im also unhappy about how okgyeong just left with no appearance in the last two episodes??? I get her reasoning, but its selfish, and she really left a single mom and her kid bro. like yeah hyerang messed the freak up but okgyeong was really awfully inconsiderate for that.

but yeah im just really unhappy with the ending. like dont get me wrong, it's such a great drama, but an ending like that would never bring it justice. the ending as in the ending scene itself was good; its just that a lot of the important characters relationships are left off at a not good point. aside from jeongnyeon juran and okyeong hyerang, what about yeongseo and her mom? what happened with that? and what about the director? what is she gonna do w/o maeran? is it really their last performance? what the frick are all of them gonna do after? theres too many questions to be asked.
The only way to fix this is with a second season !!! and also no men next season. id be sad if they made a s2 that was just jumping forward in time. i need to see jeongnyeon and yeongseo crash jurans wedding.

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Gay subtext meets historical drama

"She already knows how to make women fall for her without consciously thinking about it ..." (episode 6, 17:43)
"I never knew those two [girls] could have such chemistry, they're bringing out the best in each other" (episode 6, 51:47)

"Jeong Nyeon" is more than a glimpse into a woman-centric world of acting. The setting of a woman-only theater that positions women as both the objects and subjects of romantic desire naturally lends itself to a subtextual exploration of same-sex attraction. It's a glimpse into the potential for better gay representation in Korean media

Though the production team’s decision to remove Jeong Nyeon’s female love interest (Kwon Bu Yong) and the explicit same-sex romance is a regrettable concession to society's homophobic expectations (they should've done better), the drama remains commendable for its efforts to integrate elements of gayness throughout the narrative. I was impressed by everyone's performances

"The stars that graced the gukgeuk stage went on to continue their paths as artists, pansori singers, outdoor theatre performers, or even film actors. They have merely dispersed, not disappeared"

That the curtain has fallen on Maeran's story need not spell the end for female gukgeuk. The genre deserves to rise from the ashes, and girls/women should have the chance to soar on its stage again

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A dancer dies twice.

"A dancer dies twice—once when they stop dancing, and this first death is more painful.” Martha Graham

This show is hands down, one of the best Kdramas I have ever seen and probably the most touching one since The Red Sleeve, for me. I feel like it should be going down in some book as one of the most poignant shows made about music, art, the artist's connection to their art, tradition, and the slow painful death that culture goes through when the times move on with a faster speed than it can keep up with. This show is a love story. Not a romantic love story, though. It is a love letter to Pansori and Gukgeuk. They have crafted this story with such compassion and care that you are moved by the slow tragedy that unfolds, twice over; once on behalf of the characters who are going through it, and once again as you absorb the enormity of watching an era's slow but dignified death.
The story follows country bumpkin, Jeongnyeon, who loves to sing but is forbidden to do so by her mother. After finally escaping home, she comes to Seoul to audition for a position at a gukgeuk troupe called Mearan. After finally getting in, her true journey starts: honing her craft, learning humility, making friends and foes, and overcoming the unexpected hardships that life puts in her path.
The story is heartbreaking as things first go up but unavoidably come down again, as darkness overcomes the light. And one comes to understand that sometimes determination and love are not enough and despite wanting otherwise, some endings are unfortunately inevitable. The only thing that remains is the love for the music. For singing. For dancing. The joy of bringing that art to the insatiable audience. This is not a love story but it might as well have been.
Unfortunately for this show, it is an adaptation of a webtoon, and as all webtoons cast a curse on their good adaptations, this one also had the misfortune of being a significantly inaccurate adaptation, or so I've heard, and that has come to harm the show's intergrity. The source material being an explicitly sapphic romance, the show falls short of bringing that from subtext into text and in addition, has erased a key love interest out of existence, so it seems to be suffering from a boycott by the original source's fans.
I haven't read the original and, not being a fan of Korean webtoons, it's unlikely I will ever read it so I can't judge the depth of the betrayal but as a casual viewer with no prior knowledge of this webtoon's existence, just watching the show as a show that exists separate from its other associations,I thought this show was magnificent. There was also definitely multiple romantic subplots but the romance is not the center of the story here. At all! But its existence is pivotal to how the characters behave and move the plot forward so despite not being centered, it is a critical part of the story that helps connect every character and their motivations together. That said, the main pairing of the story wasn't my favorite and my investment in their romance was very low (hashtag Team Jeong-Seo 4ever!) I was more interested in another dynamic that never actually developed fully into a romance. However, the sapphic themes are obvious and crucial but not central as the story takes great pains to put the love for gukgeuk at the forefront of the show and I loved that decision, actually. The way that this show talks about music and art is magnificent and something I have rarely seen done with so much love and devotion to the craft. So I still think this is still a love story but not a romance.
The acting is pure perfection. I'm actually speechless. I can't find enough words to praise this ensemble. Every single actress in this show was perfect. They were so good! They were glorious! Artful! Sensational! I don't know! Kim Tae Ri doesn't even need an explanation. Everybody knows she's amazing. But holy f***, I did not know Jung Eun Chae had that in her, woah! Also, the rest of this cast need to be 50 times more famous, already. Shin Ye Eun was so good and so was Woo Da Vi and everyone else too! And I haven't even gotten to explaining what magic they created when they were performing on the stage within the show. I cried so much, watching these actors as their characters put on shows in which they played other characters!!!! That's two layers of acting and they did it with such passion and refinement, I was crying during every Changgeuk performance. Which brings me to...
Music: So the music in this show is a solid 10 out of 10 stars because the music is out of this world. This is essentially a musical, with at least two musical performances per episode throughout the run. Each song is performed again and again by multiple characters in parts before we see the full performances later on. Each freaking performance brought tears to my eyes. I'm not Korean but my god!!!! These songs based on Korean folklore touched my heart like I had grown up with them! I cried A LOT! Because the music was so pure and the artistic value was so high that it did not require education or knowledge to be moved by it. And that's how it should be. I love pansori but I had never listened to it to this extent and honestly, it was a bit heartbreaking hearing this heavenly music of the past and thinking of what is called "music" today. We live in hell.
The production of this show was immaculate too. The quality was so high that I have no comment besides pouring out many praises. Nailed it!
Rewatch value: Girl, I might! I don't know! I already wanna rewatch some scenes, to be honest...
Overall: I don't know. I loved this. Storytelling: perfect! Plot's progress: devastatingly touching. Acting: Awards are not enough. Music: Ethereal. Production: Professional and flawless. I don't know, this was as good as it gets both in substance and production. We rarely get shows that are so uniformly good and I just feel like it would be the loss of a lifetime to miss out on experiencing such a feat.

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