AnnitsAnn

Hi. I have to applaud your effort and work for this. I did skim through some parts but it really offered other people who weren’t aware of these visual cues new perspective when watching dramas. We often don’t even notice these things but they actually make up so much of how a particular scene delivers the message/emotion the writer/pdnim may want us to feel.

I found out about this through My Ahjussi. I don’t know if you’ve seen that one (the BEST drama) but a lot of its avid supporters drew up long and detailed analyses. If you’re talking about visual cues examples, you probably won’t find a better one than in My ahjussi. As you know, it’s got to be one of the most criticized dramas before it even aired and because of that, the writer and the PD had to divert a bit from their intended storyline.

A lot of the arguments are whether or not the main leads were purely platonic or not - going by the ‘evidences’ laid out throughout the drama. These details are not even thoroughly given thought or importance until after the drama ended. Cues includes the stoplight, the frame separation (just like what you had in your examples), candles, the male lead almost always behind the female lead especially through her most difficult times. And when the camera would almost automatically pan or show the female lead, in moments where the male lead is really down and do not know what to do, as if implying she’s the way out.

That’s quite a lot ???? but seeing your post and then the whole article automatically reminded me of My Ahjussi. What they weren’t able to say in words they spoke loudly with each scene.

Looking forward for your part two.

Haha! My thoughts exactly. I must have watched every adaptation of this story. This will forever be a classic and one if my favourites. Im still waiting for that ISWAK 3. How sad. >.<

Happy to see this back up to 9.3 ????

It must have been ep 5 or 6. I’m the same but this story is so different and the way it unraveled was very satisfying.

No worries, glad you carrried on watching. Hope youve enjoyed it till the end. It sure left a big mark on a lot of us viewers.

The first episode was slow and didn’t really provide a glimpse to how the story will unfold. I guess my advise is to watch the first few episodes ad do just that, watch it. Do not wait for something climactic to happen because the show builds it up instead of serving one single scene to sum everything up. Its really a show you have to experience and Id like to say to not read any recaps/reviews because sometimes it can take away from the feeling of the drama. It’s really hard to explain how MA was and unless youve watched it for yourself, youre not going to fully appreciate those reviews and comments about it.

I agree, you put what I want to say in eords better and more thorough thsn Id have been able to. That’s pretty much what I was trying to get to. DH was so passive that a possible change to his life is not at all welcome. He doesn’t want to do anything about it. Funny though that that reason is obe of the reasons he also was doing anything he could to keep everything in his life the same.
He acts so he could keep from acting on whats in front of him - in this case it’s the affair. I hope that makes sense.
I do agree with you about the message between the monk and DH too. I often visit the fansite and have read that analysis. I guess what Im going to say though is I relate more to the 2nd part of that analysis, where they made the connection between the birds in the sky, the background song to mean that DH wants free from his old life. No worries, I guess we could all be like that especially when we have somthing to prove our case. Im the same too

That is true and I think thats where the beauty of the drama lies also. Everyone has a different perspective about it but I think if you connect everything, it all comes down to him refusing to let YH go because it would also mean he’d be letting his heart go. And he’s forcefully trying to hold onto YH,
their broken marriage and ultimately, to his own heart. It’s always nice to see different opinions from everyone, it makes you think twice about some things in the drama.

In all fairness, I thought DH was referring to himself. He was trying to hold on to himself. He does want to let everything remain as is. But his heart wants something else, opposite of what his usual, passive self usually does. So in the ending, as much as he did it for JiAn, he also did it for himself (e.g leaving Saman, opening his own company). JA wanted him to be truly happy and that led him to his own pursuit of happiness. Granted, he calculates the risk of everything before he does them, so then comes YH. They both had a heart that wants to fly away but YH was the catalyst to end things between them. He did not know how to end a relationship of 20 years so YH did it for him. Although Im not sure I entirely understand what the problem with the ending is. I frel like all clues are there to piece together.

We’re actually quite the opposite. I thought she did great especially on the first sobbing scene at the hospital. She portrayed the hopeless feeling of losing a loved one so well. She must have been pretty drained after this drama, she cried a lot towards the end.

I feel like with this drama youve got to go in it with an open mind and without expecting anything. Im happy that Ive started it without having read any of the reviews, only those brief comments about it praising the actors/drama. I did not know what to expect and MA gave me more. For me its because it had such an interesting premise and cast and no clue as to how they were going to execute it.

I feel almost sorry for the people seeing it later after reading reviews/comments. Not because it is overrated (I think it definitely deserves more recognition) but because people will have more of a tendency to miss those little nuances that made this drama Ioved. Trying to watch it expecting to be blown away by each episode, after having expectations built up so high from comments/reviews that they miss what made this drama great in the first place.

It was all in the small details, you’ll be amazed at how one small detail in the background could mean so much and it coul be so easily missed if your attention isn’t fully focused in it. Now Im not saying you weren’t focused or whatever else, it couldve been just a case of not fully being inmersed in the drama. Every convo in the drama means more and says more than what they actually only said. The drama was saying things that they can’t show and showing things they can’t outwardly tell. The brothers, the neighborhood - at first I thought they were only fillers too but later realised they were there for a reason. They were a mirror of people in the drama - they represent DH and normal, ordinary people like us. Try watching their scenes again and their actions on that scene, what made them do it. Then you’ll realise something about DH - what he lack in words he more than made up for in actions.

There’s so much more to say about the drama such as e.g the ending. Credits also to soompiers in the forum - the amazing insights and analyses from everyone there were really helpful and comforting.

reallyyy hope that for the people watching this next, that they could just go in the drama and see it on their own.

Id also like to add for the people starting this, A lot of people found the first few episodes slow or ‘boring’ but it really sets the story for the rest of the drama.