A man picks up a film reel entitled “The Red Shoes.” He splices film stock and sticks it together. Viewing his edited footage he sees black and white images of a woman walking onto a stage and a pair of red shoes followed by a title card that reads: “Would you take me there?” A […]
https://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Teaser-7-IU-_-The-red-shoes-screencap-iu-35710132-1280-720.jpg7201280Joe Palmerhttps://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/KULTSCENE-LOGO-2018-TRANSPARENT-RED.pngJoe Palmer2016-01-29 07:03:282016-01-29 07:03:28IU’s Red Shoes: A Torment or Saviour?
Korean comedy film “Miss Granny” was released in 2014, and due to its massive popularity, a Chinese remake “20 Once Again” was produced in 2015. Both the movies received a lot of international attention, partially due to its engaging storyline but also because many famous stars were casted for the films. Remakes and adaptations are […]
https://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/PicsArt_1453981868140.jpg20482048Anna Cheanghttps://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/KULTSCENE-LOGO-2018-TRANSPARENT-RED.pngAnna Cheang2016-01-28 06:02:132017-07-07 07:14:09’20 Once Again’ vs. ‘Miss Granny’: Which One Is Better?
A man picks up a film reel entitled “The Red Shoes.” He splices film stock and sticks it together. Viewing his edited footage he sees black and white images of a woman walking onto a stage and a pair of red shoes followed by a title card that reads: “Would you take me there?” A […]
https://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Teaser-7-IU-_-The-red-shoes-screencap-iu-35710132-1280-720.jpg7201280Joe Palmerhttps://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/KULTSCENE-LOGO-2018-TRANSPARENT-RED.pngJoe Palmer2016-01-29 07:03:282016-01-29 07:03:28IU’s Red Shoes: A Torment or Saviour?
Korean comedy film “Miss Granny” was released in 2014, and due to its massive popularity, a Chinese remake “20 Once Again” was produced in 2015. Both the movies received a lot of international attention, partially due to its engaging storyline but also because many famous stars were casted for the films. Remakes and adaptations are […]
https://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/PicsArt_1453981868140.jpg20482048Anna Cheanghttps://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/KULTSCENE-LOGO-2018-TRANSPARENT-RED.pngAnna Cheang2016-01-28 06:02:132017-07-07 07:14:09’20 Once Again’ vs. ‘Miss Granny’: Which One Is Better?
A man picks up a film reel entitled “The Red Shoes.” He splices film stock and sticks it together. Viewing his edited footage he sees black and white images of a woman walking onto a stage and a pair of red shoes followed by a title card that reads: “Would you take me there?”
A smartly dressed gentleman smokes a cigarette and orders a champagne cocktail. A flame haired woman in a beautiful gown copies his order. He asks her, “Why do you want to dance?” She responds, “Why do you want to live?”
These two fragments of stories occur in two different productions with the same title: “The Red Shoes.” The first is from the 2013 music video for K-pop starlet IU’s single. The second is a scene from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s melodramatic classic from 1948. Few obvious similarities come from those two extracts, yet with a bit of work we can learn how IU channeled these British filmmakers for her own art. It also gives great insight into a time when her artistry and intentions have been brought into question. 2015 has been IU’s most turbulent year in the K-pop industry so far. Much of her work was focused on audience reactions to her and it did not go down well, to say the least. “The Red Shoes” shows us that that will be of little concern to her going forward.
Written and produced by powerhouse duo Kim Eana and Lee Min Soo, IU’s “The Red Shoes” tells the story of a woman lost in her world, hoping for summertime and her love to return. The film “The Red Shoes” follows Victoria Page as she tries desperately to become the greatest ballerina there ever was. Thanks to the impresario of Ballet Lermontov, Boris Lermontov, her goal comes into view. Her true desire is put into question, though, as he makes her choose between love and dance.
The opening of IU’s video clearly places it within classic film territory, but the similarities do not end there. The musical theatre aesthetic and dancing red shoes (naturally) are clear examples. Even the group of men IU plays with can be traced back to the group of men who make up Lermontov’s creative team of choreographers, composers, and designers. Most interesting, however, is how they both adapt the story of “The Red Shoes.” The original story is a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen about a young girl who acquires red shoes that make her dance and dance until her feet must be amputated. Powell and Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes” uses this story within the film as the main ballet that Page performs while also connecting with it metaphorically as the tale seems to come true for her.
In a sense this is what IU also does with the film. Her song is not a straight adaptation and the video and lyrics do not take the same story but rather continue the theme. In the film, the infamous red shoes were seen as a torment, objects that mirror the destructive obsession within a person. For IU and Kim Eana however, they are seen as saviours. She slips into the red shoes as she sings, “If I count this as destiny, if I choose my own destiny”. It is not until she puts them on that she can break free of her monochrome world and take the projectionist by the hand and lead him to endless dancing and music.
IU is wilfully taking the obsession of the shoes onto herself. She is not scared of being consumed by the music. If she can dance and sing for the rest of her life, she will. She spurs on the shoes with Lee Min Soo’s big band swing music and her “oompa loompa dooms.” References to repeating stories of love and her chorus refrains of “again, again” show IU’s commitment to music. Intriguingly the song leaves behind the red shoes in favour of pink shoes. IU sings as she puts on the new shoes, “They say you can go to better places if you wear better shoes.” Like Powell and Pressburger did with Andersen’s story, IU brings “The Red Shoes” further. Not only is she comfortable being obsessed, she wants more and she wants something new.
The comfort does not last however.The black and white world starts to creep back in. The red shoes chase after IU before finally attaching themselves to her again. This move mirrors the concluding events of the film. In it Page is forced into an ultimatum by Lermontov and her boyfriend, Julian Caster, about whether to dance or go home with Caster. In a state of panic she is seemingly forced by the shoes to run out of the building and to throw herself in front of a moving train. It is an altogether more bleak look into the theme than what IU has given us, yet the similarities are clear. IU is aware that living in a constant state of creativity is not good for a person. Responsibilities pull us out of this fantasy world.
This maturity is what helps the song from falling into pure indulgence. It shows foresight into IU’s more recent work and how people have reacted to it. The push and pull of idol and civilian life was clearly on IU’s mind but the thoughts of others were not a concern for her. By the time 2015 came around though she could not ignore what her audience thought of her. Her work on her album “Chat-shire”, written exclusively by IU, shows her directly commenting on her muddled identity as a young woman in the spotlight. “The Red Shoes” seemingly warned her about this, “The girl with the brown hair looked for her path, Fell in love again and lived happily, A story that has been re-written from the beginning.” Telling us that we have heard this story before, she says, look deeper. IU can see what’s coming. It happens to many female artists who try something different. Who dare to leave their comfort zone.
The enigmatic Boris Lermontov informs us of how to really understand IU, “The music is all that matters. Nothing but the music.”
This is what ultimately matters in the end. IU is a musician. What she has to say is in her music. If it is that which has brought her all of this hate than so be it. It is the risk we take when creating. It is the risk we take when we put on the red shoes.
“The Red Shoes” heralded in the next stage of IU’s career. Her move from a cute idol with a great voice into an artist was highlighted by her use of a classic film. While it is not strictly her work, her continued collaboration with Eana and Min Soo is clearly a huge influence on her later work. The parallels between IU and Victoria Page are apparent enough that it is not likely this would have worked with many other female idols as well. IU’s insatiable desire for music has not wavered. All the hate in the world will not stop her. She will keep on dancing, red shoes or not.
What do you think of the comparisons made here? Also what do you think of IU’s recent controversies? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.
https://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Teaser-7-IU-_-The-red-shoes-screencap-iu-35710132-1280-720.jpg7201280Joe Palmerhttps://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/KULTSCENE-LOGO-2018-TRANSPARENT-RED.pngJoe Palmer2016-01-29 07:03:282016-01-29 07:03:28IU’s Red Shoes: A Torment or Saviour?
Korean comedy film “Miss Granny” was released in 2014, and due to its massive popularity, a Chinese remake “20 Once Again” was produced in 2015. Both the movies received a lot of international attention, partially due to its engaging storyline but also because many famous stars were casted for the films. Remakes and adaptations are not new to both Korea and China; there have been many K-dramas based on Chinese source material and vice versa, but there is a constant debate about the quality of these remakes.
It is a common and unqualified generalization that “the original” is always better; K-dramas are often compared to the original dramas or webtoons and receive negative reviews purely because on this comparison. While unfair because each version of the story should be evaluated separately, I do admit that when a remake has exactly the same plot and characters as the original, it is very difficult to watch the remake without subconsciously comparing it to the first version.
Though both of these particular adaptations they were very alike, there were minor points about each show which defined and differentiated them. This raises the question: which one is better? Let’s examine them.
Plot
As mentioned above, the plot for both movies were identical and there were even scenes where the dialogue was exactly the same. Sure, “20 Once Again” is a remake of “Miss Granny,” but was it really impossible for the scriptwriter to inject even a little bit of creativity into the script?
The plot on its own though, while mildly fantastical, is a winning one. It empathizes the importance of filial piety and sends out a strong message to viewers to treasure their youth. This message is relatable in both Korea and China because both societies are currently facing the problem of an aging population; the struggles experienced by the various elderly folks in the show and the conflicts within a family with various generations living together are all familiar and realistic. By giving the main character Oh Mal-Soon (played by Shim Eun Kyung)/Shen Meng Jun (played by Yang Zishan), a 70-year-old grandma, a new lease of life by allowing her to become 20-years-old again she pretty much embodies the hopes of everyone who has ever wanted to return to a particular period of time. That’s probably why these movies felt so engaging; viewers were all drawn by this imaginative idea. In reality however, with a length of around two hours, the plot moved along very slowly in the movies and felt very long. There were many scenes that I found entertaining but highly useless to the overall development of the plot.
Moreover, there were also some supporting characters who were left underdeveloped. A good example would be music producer Han Seung Woo (played by Lee Jin Wook)/Tan Zhi Ming (Chen Bolin). He was supposed to be Mal Soon/Meng Jun’s love interest in the movies. However, in both movies, the ending left viewers not knowing anything more about him apart from the fact that he has a bad temper and has retro music tastes. It’s hard to root for the main couple (if you can even call it that) when you know nothing about the male and the couple barely had any romantic interactions before they were separated.
via omonatheydidn’t.livejournal.com
Even if the main point of the story was not about the romance, it was way too rushed and unsatisfying, especially in a show that delivered in almost every other aspect.
For all its flaws, however, the plot definitely had great humor, whether it was through the situations that the characters landed themselves in or through the often witty dialogue. A 70-year old grandma in the body of a 20-year old young lady? Cue hilarious scenes with a young lady standing in the midst of a crowd of elderly folk and doing slow morning exercises with them. To its credit, “20 Once Again” did change scenes like these to fit in with the local culture, for example the old folks in the movie watched a Chinese period drama rather than a Korean one which was used in the original movie.
Perhaps the most defining difference between these two movies is the quality of their cast. While all the actors did a decent job in portraying their characters, all in all, “Miss Granny” had a better cast. This was especially evident for the main character Mal Soon/Meng Jun. Both Shim Eun Kyung and Yang Zishan did well and brought a lot of life to the character. They also succeeded in showing both the tough and vulnerable sides of this character’s personality, making Mal Soon/Meng Jun a very endearing protagonist whom viewers felt and rooted for. Both actresses really mastered the art of acting like old women and created amazing comedy even at the risk of ruining their personal images.
via joowons on tumblr
They enjoyed a good chemistry with the rest of the cast as well, in particular with the actors who played their sons, Sung Dong Il (for “Miss Granny”) and Zhao Lixin (for “20 Once Again”). This was especially important in the movies because the mother-son relationship was a very touching one, despite the lack of scenes together, this relationship worked very well in both movies.
As Mal Soon/Meng Jun was supposed to be a good singer, Yang Zishan really lost out on this aspect. Shim Eun Kyung’s singing voice was a pleasant surprise, she could not just carry a tune but she had a certain level of skill which made her singing scenes enjoyable to watch. Yang Zishan’s singing, while mildly decent, was quite unstable and emotionless, making Meng Jun’s instant popularity unbelievable and ultimately detracted from the film’s enjoyment.
“Faintly Sweet Memories” – Yang Zishan
“White Butterfly” – Shim Eun Kyung
For the role of Seung Woo/Zhi Ming however, the actors had to put in extra effort because the script barely helped them with their character development at all. Both the actors casted are relatively famous and have a nice resume of past projects but Lee Jin Wook added way more depth to Seung Woo as compared to Chen Bolin’s Zhi Ming, who basically remained boring and stagnant throughout the entire movie. Seung Woo’s relationship with Mal Soon also didn’t feel as forced as Zhi Ming’s and Meng Jun’s, which made it enjoyable to watch even though there wasn’t much romantic development.
Soundtrack
This seems like an odd and trivial criteria to compare the movies with, but it’s not weird when the movies are largely centered around music. After turning back to her 20-year-old self, Mal Soon/Meng Jun gets invited to join her own grandson’s band and subsequently encourages the band to start playing old hits because those are the only songs she likes to sing. The band thereafter goes through a transformation and starts to produce quality music. This transformation was definitely illustrated more clearly in “Miss Granny,” because the movie started out with the band playing really horribly — discordant chords, lousy lyrics and so on. When Mal Soon joined them however, they were soon playing lively and catchy oldies. They sounded really good as well.
via irrational-obsessions-gottcha78 on tumblr
For “20 Once Again” however, the band started off with a relatively good song, so it was hard to believe that they were doing badly. As a result, the transformation was not apparent, making the storyline unbelievable.
Both soundtracks had some outstanding songs though, but the main theme song from “20 Once Again,” which was sung by Luhan, was really amazing. Apart from having a beautiful melody, the lyrics captured the essence of the movie and was a perfect way to end the show.
Although both movies had its strengths, ultimately “Miss Granny” was a better version because the story was brought to life in a very moving and heartwarming fashion, aided by the wonderful performances of the cast members and a great soundtrack.
Premium subscribers at Dramafever can check “20 Once Again” out on the newly launched CJ E&M Movie Channel. “Miss Granny” is also available on Dramafever so you can check both movies out and compare them yourselves!
Have you watched these two movies? Which version do you prefer? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.
https://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/PicsArt_1453981868140.jpg20482048Anna Cheanghttps://kultscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/KULTSCENE-LOGO-2018-TRANSPARENT-RED.pngAnna Cheang2016-01-28 06:02:132017-07-07 07:14:09’20 Once Again’ vs. ‘Miss Granny’: Which One Is Better?
