When President Hu Jintao met with Wen Xixiang last week, he said, "It's a pity that I can't watch every episode because I'm too busy." This shows that I have been deeply fascinated by Dae Jang Geum. It is said that Zhang Wu Bangguo, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said privately recently, "Because my wife likes watching Korean dramas every day, I can't help watching them. The "Daejang Geum" I am watching now is very interesting. " Not long ago, there was even a housewife who tried to throw herself into the river because her husband refused to watch Dae Jang Geum.
The evaluation of China media is also very positive. China's "Cultural News" commented: "Dae Jang Geum has demonstrated the history, clothing, food culture and national self-improvement spirit of South Korea and has become a worldwide guarantee check for South Korea." China Youth Daily also reported: "The people of China love Daejang Geum very much. Romantic people watch the love story in the play, hard-working people watch the determined ideal, and gourmets watch the diet in the play. " And strongly praised: "China people are weaving their ideals through Dajinjin and looking for lost social virtues."
The reason why Da Jang Geum makes the audience feel sad is precisely because it is actually a fable of the modernization and transformation of Confucian culture. Moreover, it is completely feminist.
On the way from Hong Kong to Shanghai, I suddenly found that the Korean drama Dae Jang Geum is everywhere in the mainland. In the airport terminal, two well-dressed Shanghai girls are excitedly discussing the plot of the play. "That Cui Shanggong (the villain in the play, trying to frame any colleague who will threaten his position for power) is really like a leader of our company, with good ability, but it's a pity that he is too protective!" The girl with short hair began to tell the similarities between the ancient court and the modern workplace. On the plane, the old couple in the front seat chatted about trifles one by one, and the old lady suddenly said that she would try the medicinal food in Korean cuisine one day. "Korean food is just a barbecue?" The old gentleman said suspiciously, and was immediately retorted: "Didn't you watch Dae Jang Geum?" That's really exquisite! "
This is an interesting TV play. When it was staged in Taiwan Province Province more than a year ago, it also aroused enthusiastic response, thus pushing My Wild Girlfriend and Winter Love Song, which are popular in Taiwan Province Province, to another climax. The whirlwind of "Daejang Geum" not only made travel agencies pay attention to launching healthy food tours and historical tours of Daejang Geum in South Korea, but also collected complete data of Korean court food in a short time and compiled a DIY Korean food guide with illustrations, which immediately made a big profit.
However, it's not just food that makes Daejang Geum so popular. Although dressed in elegant and exquisite costume, Daejang Geum is nothing like a costume drama in the traditional sense. Wearing a suit and tie is more "modern" than many fashion dramas. The reason why Dae Jang Geum makes the audience including Korean, Japanese, China, Hongkong and Taiwan Province feel sad is precisely because it is actually an allegory of the modernization and transformation of Confucian culture. Moreover, it is completely feminist.
There is no doubt that the original story of Dae Jang Geum is actually rooted in the Confucian tradition. After production and processing, "Colliwood" has become a cultural commodity that can earn a lot of money for Korea. It tells the story of "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" and "Do your duty faithfully, go too far and don't change it", but the plot is vivid and rich, and it is not boring at all. It conveys the truth of "respecting heaven and loving people" and "the benevolent is invincible", which combines with turbulent political events, but transcends the traditional court drama's insistence on the details of struggle; Compared with all kinds of Qing Dynasty dramas accustomed to the ruling power and imperial views, it has an alternative vision belonging to the common people. It emphasizes the Confucian ethics for thousands of years, that is, "the gentleman is work-oriented" and "the gentleman strives for self-improvement". But the master is not a traditional bureaucratic intellectual class (of course, they are basically men), but a common woman who dares to pursue love, ambition and self-growth in a strict feudal society.
In other words, although Chang Jin's career is related to the safety of the world because she works in the imperial court, she pursues the perfect embodiment of the ego first, not the redemption of the ego. Dae Jang Geum represents a more individualistic self-pursuit, rather than the unconditional dedication of collectivism. So this play is very modern. The so-called independence of reason, morality and emotion, in the final analysis, is actually closely related to modern society with more and more professional division of labor.
In short, the biggest difference between modern society and traditional society is that the more professional skills and economic independence, the more independent emotional and moral personality can be consolidated; In order to maintain the independent dignity and rational judgment of work, we must look for the independent orientation of knowledge system (culture) and professional class (society) outside the traditional taboo political and religious order. In many European languages, "major" and "occupation" are actually highly related, just like English majors. People's destiny is no longer defined by family, gender and social class. Through knowledge, study and social mobility, people can create their own path and then change their destiny, just like from ordinary women to the first doctor.
What I want to say is: On the surface, "Dae Jang Geum" tells the story of a Korean doctor in the 6th century/kloc-0, but in fact, it projects how the professional class and the mode of monarch and son in Confucian ethics conform to the interpretation of modern individualism under the rise of modern capitalism in East Asia. I remember that about 20 years ago, inspired by the German classical scholar Weber, many historians, economists and sociologists began to explore the relationship between Confucian cultural areas in East Asia and the development of capitalism. Looking back at Dae Jang Geum today, the clever Koreans have gone beyond theoretical research, and they directly show it to the world with touching dramas. Changjin is not an armchair strategist. She is more like an engineer, scientist, professional consultant and manager who keeps pace with theory and application around you and me. While actively participating in group social life, she pursues her ideal self-practice.
Yes, Chang Jin is not so much a court physician. Isn't she more like a tireless professional female engineer? The Korean film My Savage Girlfriend affirmed women's right to pursue love independence through a protagonist who is completely opposite to the traditional female model, which caused a cultural shock in the Korean Peninsula, which is used to men being superior to women, and has not stopped. Dae Jang Geum emphasizes the value of women's participation in the workplace and the pursuit of work autonomy, and also reflects the ongoing social changes in East Asia.
So, who is Dae Jang Geum? To paraphrase a line from Stephen Chow, "Everyone can be a great man, and everyone is a great man". Dae Jang Geum is the East Asian version of Joan of Arc, Madame Curie and Woolf, and it is also the road from an ancient civilization to a modern society. Thousands of professional workers in Qian Qian are striving for the top-we still need the truth of the Bible, the teachings of the Analects of Confucius, and the stories of the present, in order to find our place in this rapidly changing, complicated and unpredictable turbulent world.