Friday, March 29, 2024
FILM&DRAMA

Jang Ok-jung: Living by Love SBS 2013 drama review

This is the love story of a cold young king who falls in love with a beautiful commoner (Jang Ok-jung). This causes all sorts of problems at the palace when she rises up the concubine ranks.

I was totally entertained by the romance in this drama. And there’s definitely chemistry between the main characters, Kim Tae-hee as Jang Ok-jung and Yoo Ah-in as King Sukjong.

I was already familiar with one version of Jang Ok-jung’s life from the drama Dong Yi (MBC 2010). In Dong Yi, she is portrayed as a villain, but here Jang Ok-jung is an innocent victim.

So this new angle was thought-provoking too. Perhaps the historians who wrote about her were biased? Perhaps she wasn’t really that bad. Anyway, whatever the truth, it’s a good story. 

In this post I will look at how the historical figures are portrayed in the drama.

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Chart of Joseon kings and related historical dramas

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Who was Jang Ok-jung?

Jang Ok Jung (Hee-bin) was an infamous concubine in Joseon history.

Today, she is famous for her beauty and infamous for her ambition to be Queen. She did become Queen when King Sukjong dethroned his second Queen – Queen Inhyeon – and put Jang Ok-jung on the throne.

But she was eventually demoted back to Hee-bin (the top level concubine in Joseon times).

During her life at the palace, Jang Ok-jung was suspected of several crimes. One involved using black magic to put a curse on the ill Queen. 

Finally she was put to death for her crimes along with members of her family. Even though Jang Ok-jung was only a concubine, her son still became King – King Gyeongjong (r.1720-1724).

But this drama is sympathetic towards Jang Ok-jung.

Here she is not the villain, she’s the (almost) innocent victim. Most of her crimes are shown to be set ups by her enemies.

And apart from one major mishap, she is only guilty of behaving rather arrogantly and feeling entitled because she has the king’s love. She’s young and naive. And the victim of politics as well as the Joseon social class system.

As the drama progresses, it becomes clear that Jang Ok-jung is not going to turn into a villain. So I wondered if the writers would change history at the end too and give us a happy ending! Perhaps I shouldn’t say how the drama ends…

Jang Ok-Jung: Living by Love

Kim Tae-hee’s performance

This was Kim Tae-hee’s first sageuk. And whilst I enjoyed her performance as Jang Ok-jung, I was not expecting to see the infamous concubine portrayed as a waif. That is not the impression I had of her at all.

So her performance certainly shows Jang Ok-jung in a new light!

Yoo Ah-in’s performance

Yoo Ah-in portrays King Sukjong as a cold king who follows his intellect and not his emotions. He’s a far grittier King Sukjong than I’ve seen before. And his presence was strong throughout the drama.

Although he’s attractive, he’s not always likeable!

He’s not the warm, jolly King we see in Dong Yi (played by Ji Jin-hee). But he is facing serious threats from his government – the officials are shockingly open about wanting to kill him.

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Yoo Ah-in also stars in the historical film The Crown. It’s about the disturbing story of the last days of Crown Prince Sado who died in a rice chest. (Crown Prince Sado was King Sukjong’s grandson)

Chart of Joseon kings and related historical dramas

ROMANCE

Jang Ok-jung and King Suukjong in Living by Love.

I enjoyed the romance developing between Jang Ok-jung and the King.

Making her a seamstress in the palace was a fun idea. It gives her an excuse to wrap her arms around him with her measuring tape! And the king is visibly affected when she stands so close to him even though she is focused on her work!

But for me, some of the romantic scenes went over the top…

Such as the scene where Jang Ok-jung is in the laundry department wading up to her thighs in water gathering the washing that has been thrown into the water by other court ladies (they bully her for being low class).

Not one but two men rush to save her. The King and the prince. But the King gets there first.

Of course it’s pouring with rain – isn’t it always? And he wades into the water in his royal robes and boots and grabs her and kisses her.

This scene is far too Cinderella for my taste

And Jang Ok-jung has suddenly gone from a confident businesswoman to a helpless waif waiting to be saved from her drudgery by the handsome king.

A woman not meant to be Queen

But romantic dramas often end when the couple announce their feelings and are united.

However, in this story, more drama arises once the honeymoon period is over. I like this.

When Jang Ok-jung becomes worried about losing the king’s affection, things get ugly. Look out pretty young court ladies! 

The drama also does a good job of showing how Jang Ok-jung is out of her depth when she becomes Queen. 

At one point the king tells her to capture the people’s hearts.

She just looks at him blankly as though ‘the people’ have never entered her mind. She has no interest in them, she only wants to be with him. And we’re reminded that whilst he has been brought up to be King and work for his people, she has never thought she would ever be Queen!

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Jang_Ok-jung Living by Love SBS

Jang Ok-jung VS Queen Inhyeon

Jang Ok-jung and Queen Inhyeon are two very contrasting characters. And this is reflected dramatically in their dress.

Jang Ok-jung likes bold colours and designs which reflect her flirtatious and bright personality. She’s a rule breaker refusing to be tied down by tradition and rules. 

She’s criticised for being flirtatious in her fashion and behaviour which is perhaps why all the men are in love with her: The King, Prince Dongpyung, and her older ‘brother’ from childhood, Chi Soo!

From a modern point of view, she may not come across as particularly flirtatious! But it seems that by Joseon standards her behaviour and choice of fashion are considered outrageous!

On the other hand, Queen Inhyeon (played by Hong Soo Hyun ) is the demure noble lady.

She was brought up to be Queen but has no idea how to capture a man’s heart. She understands that she has to reach out to the people and be seen as faultless.

But she sees life too simply – believing that rules must be followed no matter what. And this ends up frustrating the King and pushing him away even further.

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Emotional Scene with Queen Inhyeon

The most moving scene of the drama for me was the death of Queen Inhyeon.

When she tells the King how she feels about her life. I cried.

She was lonely and still so young. And although she had been brought up to be Queen she obviously had not realised what it would really be like. To make things worse she couldn’t have children (the main part of her ‘job’).

Anyway the king was cold to her and they only have a political relationship. He reflects on his behaviour on her deathbed. But it’s too late now.

Jang Ok-jung Hee-bin) vs Dong-yi (Suk-bin)

Jang Ok-jung-Living By Love

There are no baddies that I can really love to hate in the drama, except possibly Suk-won.

But she doesn’t enter the story properly until near the end to cast the final blow to JangOk-jung’s fate. 

Suk-won was the title for the lowest level concubine – junior level 4 and she goes on to become Suk-bin, the top ranking concubine.

She’s portrayed as a hard young woman who sees becoming a concubine as an opportunity to get out of her hard life as a servant. But her manipulative behaviour means I have little sympathy for her.

We don’t see Suk-won’s relationship with the king. She’s simply portrayed as an ambitious and conniving court maid. But actually, she had a son who became King Yeongjo the longest reigning king in Joseon.

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(Suk Bin and King Sukjong’s supposed romance is shown in the drama Dong Yi, 2010 MBC)

Chart of Joseon kings and related historical dramas

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Drama vs the history books

Some of Jang Ok-jung’s crimes have been noted in the annals. But they are made lighter in the drama for a more sympathetic character.

For example, when her son becomes ill, Jang Ok-jung (now Hee-bin) is caught praying with a shaman. (not allowed in Confucian law)

In the drama, this is an innocent act. She is simply praying for the health of her own son. But she is framed by Suk-won who plants evidence to ‘prove’ that she is really praying for the death of Queen Inhyeon.

But according to the history books, she WAS participating in black magic and happy that the Queen was dying. Due to this, King Sukjong sentenced her to death along with members of her family.

And in fact, after the ambitious Jang Ok-jung’s unsuccessful time as Queen, King Sukjong changed the law. He made a law that no concubine could ever become Queen. This was to stop greedy and ambitious concubines getting ideas above their station.

But the drama suggests that it was Suk-won who was the baddie. Not poor old Jang Ok-jung. And so perhaps she is the reason the king made this law. Interesting.

One thought on “Jang Ok-jung: Living by Love SBS 2013 drama review

  • the movie ain’t a lil right compared to dong yi they need to do their research and look up facts before making the movie or the tv show so they could make it look accurate in fact jang ok Jung was always got wat she wanted but at the end she lost everything she worked and dong yi all she did was try to help out the people of Joseon and bring peace to the palace since she lost her father and brother who was the head of the sword organization in fact doing yi was trying to do good than bad compared to jang ok Jung who wanted power wealth and other stuff but dong yi was trying to get away from the hard life and do instead for the people and of course for herself so she would not go through all that suffering since Joseon had a class system

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