There's something envious about a short story that is well-written and get all the points across without seemingly rushed. I love writing but always fail to pick a subject that I can write to form a short story. My line of thoughts always think of long-winded plots that will take a lot of chapters to reach a conclusion, which then causes them to never be written at all. I really appreciate writers than can pick to write about anything and make a complete story about a topic in just a few pages long.
The same can be said about short films or short series. Splash Splash Love, a 2-episode series starring Kim Seul Gi (Oh My Ghostess) and Yoon Doo Joon (Let's Eat) is one good example of getting the message across without being draggy. It feels like a coming-of-age series. It tells the story of a high school girl who's bad at math and was on the verge of losing hope due to the high academic expectations of today's society. It's a common problem faced by many teenagers, I suppose. On a test day, she decided to ditch the test and wandered pointlessly in the rain. By chance, she noticed a strange occurrence while staring at a puddle. She was then transported to Joseon time, which was suffering from a drought season. There she met the King of Joseon, later known as King Sejong. Together they faced a life-changing experience and fall in love.
Short and sweet, while maintaining connection and consistency, it's a beautiful fiction written with a purpose. Life is meaningful. A human being is born with a purpose, with an innate talent, even if one has yet to realize that him/herself. It's going through life while finding purpose and being useful to self and society is something we should strive for. Some may be academically-challenged, but being observant of your surroundings may just be a useful trait that can save your lives. We may have talents that we can nurture. We shouldn't run away from our problems, but face them as if our lives are on the line, giving it our best shot. We shouldn't let our worries of a future that has yet to come stop us from living the present in earnest, giving and contribute to the people that we care and to the society in general.
I love the fact that this series maintain a light mood without going into heavy melodrama despite the seemingly bleak ending for the love story. I love how the girl realizes that despite being in love with a Joseon person, a King to boot, she has to go back to her time and face her sense of insecurities and live her life without running away from her problems. I love the fact that the King, while thinking she was all he needed to give him strength to carry on, realizes that the girl is better off in a future that he envies than got stuck in his world. Their parting (not really a spoiler since we should all expect that, right?) was heartbreaking, but at the same time gave off a hopeful vibe somehow. We meet, we love, me part, we live on.
Comments
Post a Comment