Achieving Happiness

For two straight nights i’ve been a zombie, camped out on the sofa,the clicker in my right hand, a bag of chips on the left. From 10:30 pm to 7:00 am for two succeeding days i’ve been watching Lovers in Paris on DVD.

It’s decidedly lunatic the way i react to this soap opera. Yeah sure I could pretend and say that the cinematography and the script are  outstanding (the first one is, really it’s good; as for the latter, well, the original is in Korean so I can’t really say. The subtitles are so-so; but I’m never lost or confused by the English despite the occasional grammatical and spelling flubs) and these are the main reasons why i watch it. But the truth is i am simply insane over the two main characters.

I suppose its the way the writers of the soap succeeded in creating two very three-dimensional characters. The two protagonists  — Tae-Yung Kang and Ki-joo Han– have very established characters and personalities. From the way they dress, the way they talk, their quirks and eccentricities, strengths and failings, they’re all there. Pathetic as it may sound (Im not exactly a people person,really), i dind myself empathizing and relating with them. 

Wala lang. I wrote in my journal the other night that it’s so rare to meet people who are so fully formed and complete in themselves that they have the confidence to share themselves with others without the slightest fear of not being accepted. The two main characters  in LIP find that confidence in each other.  I guess the rule isn’t so much as wanting to be accepted by the world, i’t’s being accepted, understood and loved by the one single person you choose to bare your soul to, warts and all.

My bestfriend Walkie fully understands this about Lovers in Paris. I can’t recall how many hours we’ve spent discussing every single detail of the soap, the dialogue between Tae-Yung and Ki-Joo; their differences and how they fit (like two irregular stones that fit together, as the poet Adrianne Rich says so beautifully); how they respond to the difficulties and challenges they face as individuals and inevitably, as a couple. She feels involved with the series because, well, she remembers her husband Sonny and how the two of them have journeyed to where they are now.

I am married myself. I married a man who’s essentially happy at heart. My husband sees the light and positive in most things; whereas I tend to dwell on the dark and dreary. He is my strength, as he is so strong and confident in who he is and what he is. He makes me discover my own strength.

Everytime I watch LIP (obssess over it, cry over it, laugh over it and  myself and how I react to it), I miss my husband and am so grateful  he found me, that I found him. This is an unfinished essay, and intend to finish it in a bit. I gotta go watch LIP again.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 26th, 2005 at 12:03 am and is filed under Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.