AAE -- Wishes of the Heart
Introduction by All-About-AAE
"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes"
-- lyrics from Walt Disney's 1950 film Cinderella
A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartache
Whatever you wish for you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true
The dramatic, climactic middle-of-the-street kiss between Sun-Mi and Hyung-Chul at the end of All About Eve, probably more than any other single scene, raised the awareness and popularity of Chae Rim and Jang Dong Gun as international K-drama stars. More than a decade later, TV interviews of these actors still highlight that video clip.
This fan fiction by author LoveCR2 begins with the classic ending, then devolves to an alternate reality which is assumed to be already present, but unrecognized, in the original story -- that the infamous incident never happens at all, but is only a wishful fantasy of Sun-Mi's fertile, romantically-inclined imagination. And so what on face value appears to be the long-awaited resolution of Sun-Mi and Hyung-Chul's volatile relationship, becomes instead the seed of a whole new progression of complications in their lives and love.
But do the events in All About Eve actually support this premise? Let's take a look...
Episode 20 concludes in a series of events that progress in four main parts:
1. Sun-Mi attends a pre-production meeting for Eve's Morning.
2. Sun-Mi announces a segment of the broadcast, with a surprise appearance by Young-Mi.
3. Sun-Mi travels with Hyung-Chul to an orphanage in Kang-Won-do, where they meet up with Young-Mi.
4. Sun-Mi says farewell to Hyung-Chul, but then accepts his surprise proposal.
Throughout the first 19.5 episodes, the writer divided attention to the stories of all four principal characters. However in this final sequence, the primary focus throughout remains solidly on Sun-Mi. Even during the visit to the orphanage, where logically the story line would shift to Young-Mi, the focus stays on Sun-Mi's words, actions, and reactions to the other characters.
The lead-in to the ending sequence is Joo-Hee's wedding day, which starts out on a positive note between Sun-Mi and Hyung-Chul, but progresses in a downward spiral with miscommunication, disappointment, and inevitable frustration. At the end of the day, Sun-Mi is faced with four unresolved issues in her life and relationships:
1. Woo-Jin's recent death -- her grief mixed with anger that his sacrifice was for a woman who did not love him.
2. Young-Mi's disappearance and likely suicide -- her guilt at not realizing, and intervening to prevent it.
3. Her own career future -- what is her ambition, to be a news reader, talk show host, or foreign correspondent?
4. Hyung-Chul's seeming indecisiveness in their relationship -- does he want to marry her, or stay 'good friends'?
As Sun-Mi lies in her father's bed, she is carrying a heavy load in her mind, experiencing a fitful sleep. Yet when the story resumes, all her conflicts are neatly resolved, within a single day, in a happily-ever-after, fairytale-like ending.
Of course, such fantastical endings are a staple of K-drama. So what makes this one different?
In both of the only two substantial scenes that do NOT focus on Sun-Mi, it is significant that a story is being told: First the nun relates Young-Mi's miraculous story of rescue and redemption. Second, Young-Mi reads from the fairytale Snow White, her words reflecting the essential conflict of the drama: "Because the witch thought she was the prettiest in the world, she couldn't bear not being the one." These hints by the writer are too blatant to be coincidence, the reference to Snow White revealing the writer's intentions.
The Snow White fairy tale has several versions, but the most commonly known is Walt Disney's animated movie. In it, Snow White falls into a magical sleep where she is awakened by a Prince's Kiss of True Love. "Cinderella" Sun-Mi plays the part of Snow White, whose mother died when she was young, Young-Mi plays the role of Wicked Stepmother, aka "some sort of Queen among us" who enters Sun-Mi's life through her father's clueless actions, and Hyung-Chul is the Prince ("Don't you think he's just a prince?"). All Sun-Mi needs to do now is tie up the loose ends troubling her, and arrange for the Kiss of True Love, so she can live in true fairytale form, happily-ever-after.
Let's see how the writer could be using Sun-Mi's subconscious wishes to accomplish this...
The Eve's Morning production meeting -- Supposedly only a week or two have passed, indicated by Sun-Dal's return from honeymoon, but all the arrangements are in place for Sun-Mi to leave for London the next day. The tension between Sun-Mi and Hyung-Chul is palpable, but somehow no one notices. How is it that a decisive man who just recently declared "I'm going to do things my way now. … I'm not going to listen to what you say. You're going to listen to me" has not resolved this important issue? By now shouldn't they have come to an accommodation allowing Sun-Mi to go with the understanding that he'll wait as before? (see Sun-Mi's farewell below) But if Sun-Mi is merely reflecting on Hyung-Chul's indecisiveness that night, where twice he deferred and hid his true feelings from her, this behavior makes complete sense.
The Eve's Morning broadcast -- Sun-Mi is co-hosting the show, and Joo-Hee's mention in the previous scene that it is her 'last show' suggests she was doing this routinely for some time. But Hyung-Chul had asked her that night to anchor Eve's Morning, so she was not the substitute in Young-Mi's absence. And with Art Club and Musical Postcards still on her card, how would she have the time? But if this is a fantasy, this contradiction can be ignored, because it is important that she be there, for the next point.
Young-Mi in the video -- It is incredulous that the photographers and reporters who did the filming, the tape editors who produced it, and everyone on the set can't recognize Young-Mi -- only Sun-Mi sees her. But if this is a dream centered on Sun-Mi's attempt to resolve her problems, it is the logical step that she alone makes the discovery, and so redeem her failure to intervene and save Young-Mi.
Departing MBS -- Sun-Mi is the first to rush out of the studio, yet she is the last to arrive at the car. Even if she stopped by the Ladies' Room on the way, and picked up her bag from the announcer's office, how did all the other announcers, presumably needing to finish the program broadcast after it resumed from "technical difficulties", arrive first? Again, an inconsistency like this is inconsequential in a dream. What's important is that everyone is present to send off Sun-Mi, the actor at the center of the dream, not Hyung-Chul.
Meeting Young-Mi at the orphanage -- As mentioned previously, this series of scenes should emphasize Young-Mi, but instead keep the focus on Sun-Mi: her reactions, her tears, and her conclusion that Young-Mi did really love Woo-Jin (justifying his sacrifice). Young-Mi's amnesia and failed suicide are both physiologically unlikely and too convenient, a story-tale end that lets Sun-Mi off the hook for any tragic consequences, and allows Sun-Mi to remake her nemesis into her best friend! Not likely in reality, but logical for a dream that mimics Sun-Mi's penchant for romanticisms.
Returning to Seoul -- Hyung-Chul and Sun-Mi spend hours in the car together on the trip up and back, yet don't discuss the elephant in the room, her departure the next day, leaving this to the last minutes?
Sun-Mi's farewell -- She is only leaving for a year, but acts as if it is the end of everything between them. What happened to cell phones? Or even postcards? Then, she describes her feelings as 'thankful' and 'grateful', parting with the emotional equivalent of a handshake! And he doesn't say a word in response! But this dramatic act -- it clearly is not what she truly feels -- neatly parallels her equally dramatic act of "giving up" Woo-Jin on the bridge at Yuldong Lake. (Sun-Mi later reveals that incident was not the end of her feelings, when talking with Woo-Jin after Hyung-Chul declared on the rooftop that he liked her, and that she had intended to use Hyung-Chul to make Woo-Jin jealous.)
The proposal -- Here, Hyung-Chul whips out the ring, sans jeweler's box, as if he's always ready to propose, and just waiting for a dramatic, spur-of-the-moment opportunity to do so. (Remember this trip was a spur-of-the-moment thing.) Is it conceivable a man who decides not to follow through on a well-planned proposal will then carry the ring about, loose in his pocket, with vague hopes of another, random opportunity coming his way? But for Sun-Mi, well-aware of the romance (or lack of) in her colleagues' recent proposals, it is the perfect romantic vehicle which connects, full circle, back to their first encounter in a London crosswalk, where Hyung-Chul uses a car, instead of a ring, to knock her senseless off her feet...
One final point...
The writer of All About Eve makes numerous comparisons between Young-Mi and Sun-Mi throughout the drama, some as similarities, such as neither having a mother growing up, and others of differences, such as Sun-Mi's stable youth of relative luxury to Young-Mi's troubled youth in near poverty. In Episode 10, midway through the story, Young-Mi has a nightmarish dream prompted by Bae In-Su, her villain of a boyfriend. It parallels nicely that in Episode 20, at the ending, Sun-Mi has a fairytale dream prompted by Hyung-Chul, her prince of a boyfriend.
Whether you agree with this analysis or not, please enjoy this continuing saga of True Love between our favorite OTP (and also probably yours, if you are reading this) Yoon Hyung-Chul and Jin Sun-Mi.
-- All-About-AAE