"There’s all kinds of people in this world, you know. There are other people like you and me."
(Okay I lied! Another review.) This is mainly a thematic interpretation, because I have so many thoughts about this drama that needed to get out. I think we all know the drama is a masterpiece on every other technical level ;)
This story is so very special to me. I'm in love with the approach to its premise. It reads like a common superhero show, and may easily be just that, but it's a fully character-driven drama. It never was about superheroes, but rather people that just happen to have superpowers.
Here, superpowered life is anything but flashy. Our main characters aren't heroes so much as they're people having to live in the shadow of their own past or their parents' past, always cautious about being found out. Their supernaturalism is certainly what makes them special and different, but is most often more liability than badge of pride, something that in order to get by, they have to keep to themselves.
For both the parents and the kids, their otherness doesn't make their lives easier. It weighs on them, binding them to external forces eager to exploit them in exchange for the promise of a secure life. The institutions that prey on them see them as non-human, as monsters who they get to hold hostage, deeming them as otherwise worthless to society—or even threats. The characters too accept their superpowers as something that will always set them apart from others. But when they do find out of that loneliness, it has tremendous impact.
I'm sure that this show wouldn't really be as compelling as it is, if it didn't also deal with the specific effects that living such a life has on your personhood, your parent- and childhood. Their powers aren't just a vessel for the awesome action scenes, but contribute an integral part to the characters' sense of self and identity, and this is something that I think isn't done very often, at least not in the way Moving has.
(so much subtext here in regards to marginalized identities IMO!)
Though even with all their baggage, Moving's characters are completely ordinary people. They're someone who might be your classmate or your neighbor, who is also trying to make it through the day just like the rest of us.
Unlike other superheroes who exist in the gleam of the public eye laden with glamour or otherworldly expectations, personal survival and protection become the characters' number one priority. They have to hide or obey orders, but what they want the most above all else is to be able to simply live their life and protect those they care about, and in this they become even more synonymous with the everyman among us. Even within the cycle of secrecy and inhuman exploitation they find themselves in, their burdens feel consistently grounded, feel the same as ours (this is most obvious when the show deals with its familial relationships that are at the center of the story).
The want for integrity, for companionship, the want to be someone who belongs and contributes to their community, to be a good parent or child, to be your own person. The characters strive for these things until the very end, including those on the other side.
In Moving, there's no costumes, no saving the world and no revering applause. However it's exactly in how the characters carry themselves and their own ideals that they do become heroes, and this thematic aspect ties the narrative together, next to all the suspense and action that the overarching plot offers. Ultimately the foundation of their individual heroism doesn't lie in big public gestures or unwavering loyalty to their country, but humanism: recognizing their own worth and the empathy they carry for one another despite everything.
I kept thinking about how simple themes like this are something that a lot of superhero media easily forgets in its exceedingly grand plot ambitions. But with some recent releases it seems like we're moving (lol) back into the right direction—that is no matter how crazy or epic it may be what truly makes a superhero story great is when it tries to tell a deeply human story at its core. At least that's what I think.
Of course, Moving is much more of a "supernatural drama" than anything else and has the length and breathing room to even tell such a nuanced story, but I'd still say it categorizes itself within the superhero genre. And it's great to see that there are storytellers like Kang Full out there who have so much love for it to give.
I love you, Moving, and i can't wait to see how this universe continues 💛
Also sharing my favorite edit of the show here, because it's what prompted me to write this review: https://x.com/cha_chronicles/status/1704953243493970141
This story is so very special to me. I'm in love with the approach to its premise. It reads like a common superhero show, and may easily be just that, but it's a fully character-driven drama. It never was about superheroes, but rather people that just happen to have superpowers.
Here, superpowered life is anything but flashy. Our main characters aren't heroes so much as they're people having to live in the shadow of their own past or their parents' past, always cautious about being found out. Their supernaturalism is certainly what makes them special and different, but is most often more liability than badge of pride, something that in order to get by, they have to keep to themselves.
For both the parents and the kids, their otherness doesn't make their lives easier. It weighs on them, binding them to external forces eager to exploit them in exchange for the promise of a secure life. The institutions that prey on them see them as non-human, as monsters who they get to hold hostage, deeming them as otherwise worthless to society—or even threats. The characters too accept their superpowers as something that will always set them apart from others. But when they do find out of that loneliness, it has tremendous impact.
I'm sure that this show wouldn't really be as compelling as it is, if it didn't also deal with the specific effects that living such a life has on your personhood, your parent- and childhood. Their powers aren't just a vessel for the awesome action scenes, but contribute an integral part to the characters' sense of self and identity, and this is something that I think isn't done very often, at least not in the way Moving has.
(so much subtext here in regards to marginalized identities IMO!)
Though even with all their baggage, Moving's characters are completely ordinary people. They're someone who might be your classmate or your neighbor, who is also trying to make it through the day just like the rest of us.
Unlike other superheroes who exist in the gleam of the public eye laden with glamour or otherworldly expectations, personal survival and protection become the characters' number one priority. They have to hide or obey orders, but what they want the most above all else is to be able to simply live their life and protect those they care about, and in this they become even more synonymous with the everyman among us. Even within the cycle of secrecy and inhuman exploitation they find themselves in, their burdens feel consistently grounded, feel the same as ours (this is most obvious when the show deals with its familial relationships that are at the center of the story).
The want for integrity, for companionship, the want to be someone who belongs and contributes to their community, to be a good parent or child, to be your own person. The characters strive for these things until the very end, including those on the other side.
In Moving, there's no costumes, no saving the world and no revering applause. However it's exactly in how the characters carry themselves and their own ideals that they do become heroes, and this thematic aspect ties the narrative together, next to all the suspense and action that the overarching plot offers. Ultimately the foundation of their individual heroism doesn't lie in big public gestures or unwavering loyalty to their country, but humanism: recognizing their own worth and the empathy they carry for one another despite everything.
I kept thinking about how simple themes like this are something that a lot of superhero media easily forgets in its exceedingly grand plot ambitions. But with some recent releases it seems like we're moving (lol) back into the right direction—that is no matter how crazy or epic it may be what truly makes a superhero story great is when it tries to tell a deeply human story at its core. At least that's what I think.
Of course, Moving is much more of a "supernatural drama" than anything else and has the length and breathing room to even tell such a nuanced story, but I'd still say it categorizes itself within the superhero genre. And it's great to see that there are storytellers like Kang Full out there who have so much love for it to give.
I love you, Moving, and i can't wait to see how this universe continues 💛
Also sharing my favorite edit of the show here, because it's what prompted me to write this review: https://x.com/cha_chronicles/status/1704953243493970141
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