#pansori

Im Kwon-taek

- Seopyeonje

Turns out the Hutrix girls are actually mudang (korean shamans). They just use modern kpop music rather than traditional music and drums to drive out the demons. Or, well, they are like super hero mudang.

The opening bit where we see the first super-mudang create the honmoon (which apparently was a concept made up for the film and doesn't exist in traditional korean beliefs) has some worldless vocaliztion that shifts into lyrics sung in traditional pansori style. Translated into english they go as follows:

To light up the darkness We shall sing our song With this unwavering sound We shall heal this world

Beautifully covered by a canadian korean pansori singer here:

There are also some incredible work done with cultural nods, both old and modern, as well as some very clever work with costume design and colors.

The little norigae charms the Huntrix girls have on their outfits at the start, the reason behind the demons having patterns on their skin as well as the significance of the mother-of-pearl details visible on all outfits of the historical hunters, and Rumi's demon patterns shifting from pink and purple to mother-of-pearl (as well as the patterns on Mira and Zoey's sleeves) at the finale.

An art historian called Bekah does a great breakdown of it here:

Pansori: South Korea’s Authentic Musical Storytelling, August 21, 2017

Name: Seodo (Seo Jaehyun) Age: 28 Soloist + band (sEODo Band) Genre: Joseon Pop (they are more or less officially labeled as the founders of it by most news sites & shows)

What is Joseon Pop?: It's a term coined by Lucy's Sangyeop over some drinks and Seodo & his band ran with it. Seodo was trained in both traditional korean music and western pop. So Joseon pop is his own mixture of his pansori/gugak training and western music influences like Queen, Amy Winehouse, and Whitney Houston. How this manifests varies widely from song to song. Ranging from rock-gugak fusion to moody pop songs.

Typically his vocal style is a mix of pop and pansori. He rarely goes fully into pansori, but the music will carry traces of gugak.

Song recs to get the vibe~~

Sarang-ga (Love Song)- A classic song from them. You can hear the various influences in this song. Chill love song.

Buk! - From one of their recent albums. Shows their gugak-rock fusion side

Flower Without Scent - Moody poetic pop ballad type song. Gorgeous lyrics that contain social commentary

Bada (sea) - From the competition show they won.

Feathered Rhythms - New song. Really funky and fun. One of my favs

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Seodo facts for funsies

He's very aware of his natural androgyny and while he normally wears the standard mens fashion w/ a hint of artsy nerd, he's stated that he purposefully plays up his androgyny for performances. So you'll often see him in heels, skirts, dresses, etc.

He's an avid surfer and museum goer. He treats his IG as his person photo diary sometimes and well it's like 60% surfing, 20% performances, and 20% museums. Regardless of the time of year bc he travels to Indonesia and Thailand a lot. While in nyc for a small private event, he speedran like 3-5 museums. I'm pretty damn sure half his friend group is just a bunch of surfers.

First off, I know the basics of the story since I like the musical version of it so, I expected a masterpiece.

Sooo WHY TF DID THEY HAVE A VERY OBVIOUS SEX SCENE IN FRONT OF A KID?? NO WONDER IT IS AGE RESTRICTED... IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES? LIM KWON TAEK YOU PERVERTED PSYCHO ILL SEE YOU IN HELL AND YOURE GONNA CATCH THESE HANDS ON GODDDD

Second of all... idk what it was but it felt sooo choppy while the actual scenes were WAY TOO LONG. Like I fast forwarded so often because it would just be a minute of two people walking, slow shots, and like just people staring. Nothing would happen and then everything would happen and then suddenly stop.

The movie was just soooo choppy. It literally felt like no scene had any connect to the next one. It was 3 minutes of a good scene that looked complete content wise and the next one is the father being a drunken bitch. And the next one is them singing happily. And the next one is a present day scene. . Like the watching experience felt soooo weird. It didn't feel like a professional made this

Note, this is my first Lim Kwon Taek movie because I heard of him being a p3do before I had heard of any of his movies. I know he had a veery weird kissing scene in the 99 Chunhyangjeon, and had 14 year old Lee Sang Ah topless in Gilsotteum. I think he saw no problem with children being part of s3xual acts... sir. You're weird AFFF

Back to the movie, fuck the father that was never a father. How dare he make his daughter go blind just to build up the "Han" in her and THEN TELL HER TO NOT GET BURIED IN HAN AND "SING BEYOND IT". What was the problem with her singing? She was so good? And even if she had a lot of Han in her voice... That is all she has known in life! Han is all she has known! You have fed her nothing but rice soup, gruel and alcohol-fuelled rants and expect her to have strength and emotional depth in her voice?

For a movie about Pansori it barely has a lot of Pansori in it! Give me the ENTIRE frikkin Chunhyangga you scaredy cats.

Shout out to Oh Jung Hae (Songhwa) who sang all of her own scenes (except the last one, I thought thr voice was different and it was Ahn Sook Sun, who is her teacher! Not surprised there. Ahn Sook Sun is a big name in Pansori)

And then when Dongho came to look for her and she sang the Shimcheongga while he played the Bok. AND AFTER JUST 5 MINUTES THE BACKGROUND MUSIC SETS IN??? I WANTED TO HEAR HER SING!!! SING MORE!!! HOW DARE!!! HOW DARE THEY JUST SHOW HER SINGING WITH SOME SENTIMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING OVER IT!!! That killed the entire emotion of the scene. I was so into Songhwa's singing and Ahn Sook Sun's voice smhhh

Understandably didn't shed a single tear through the movie except during the singing which surprised me because I cried during the musical. I love Gugak and Pansori and I think I know my way around the different styles and songs, but I prefer "Dancing Gayageum" over this one. Sorry Not Sorry. I'm so surprised that the gugak folks had a problem with "Dancing Gayageum", and not with this movie when it portrayed Gugak in a worse light than Dancing Gayageum. This movie made Pansori singers into poor, downtrodden, substance abusing psychopaths with no dignity and love for their children who are too proud of their singing, earn no money from it, and push severe mental and physical abuse onto the children just to give their voices "Han".

Dancing Gayageum was REALISTIC. It showed the generational differences, the traditional vs academic arts, the release of "Han" and the complicated relationship with family much better than Seopyeonje. It showed that you can indeed make money from Pansori, that you have a future in it, and that you can be a good teacher. That you can break generational trauma instead of having to pass it on. I think the Gugak people that held protests again Dancing Gayageum were just mad that people would connect the dots back to them while Seopyeonje plays in the past (sometime around the war) so they just could brush it off as a thing of the past.

Regardless, I still think it's a good movie and it had to be made and released in its time. It helped a lot to reintroduce Pansori to the people and showcased the nature of Korea and Korean society, be it good or bad. I will not be rewatching the whole movie but I will most definitely be listening to the OST album.