Post by Teahouse Keeper on Oct 14, 2006 23:04:22 GMT -5
Brilliant Korean movie that is so much better than what Hollywood is producing these days. Released in 2002, Who Are You? is simply splendid. Because it depicts precisely what online chat and online romance are about. It shows quite nicely some of my idea.
We have Jee Hyungtae, a game designer in his 20s who has been working on an online dating game called Who Are You?. For 2 years, he and his team have gone without wages, just to perfect the game which he had started with his friend Namhoon. Even the team supervisor left for a real paying job. Hyungtae, however, had left a real paying job to do the game.
So then....the team is at the Beta stage and the team members get some testers whom they have to play the game with and subsequently find out what the testers think.
Suh Inju, a woman in her 20s, becomes one of the beta testers and she finds that the game is not realistic and the avatars are bad.
She makes her comments known in the game's bulletin board and it so happens that Hyungtae reads it one day. Not pleased, he replies that upgrades are upcoming and then checks her profile (user name Byulee), which surprisingly enough, contains her real information. The place she works (Sea World), her age (23), her name (Suh Inju) etc.
He then decides to visit her
Turns out she is working as a diver in the aquarium where she feeds the fishes. And she is also working on being a mermaid (pending management approval).
His curiosity satisfied, he returns to his game design, only to have his curiosity piqued again when Namhoon gets creeped out by Byulee's bad tester attitude. Amused and curious, Hyungtae volunteers to take over from Namhoon who happily obliges.
So then, Hyungtae is Mello, the online personality whom Suh Inju soon finds herself confiding to.
In just a few days, Mello seems to understand her well. More so, because he discovers from checking her Seaworld staff profile, that she used to be a national swimmer who had lost her hearing during training. She wears a hearing aid.
The rules, set by Mello, are simple: They cannot call or see each other, but must always be there for each other. (They can still sms though).
Mello: Know the word 'Invisible friend'? A friend you can never see or call. These are the rules. But you must always be nearby, for moral support. When you feel like being true to someone, when you have to let it all out, seek that invisble friend. I will always be nearby.
At the same time, Hyungtae sees Suh Inju every morning when she jogs up to the 30th floor of the building he works in. But she does not have a good impression of him. She tells Mello that he is nothing but a computer game designer (like her ex-boyfriend), who eats and sleeps in office, and "his clothes stink". She also calls him "pea-brain" and thinks that he may be a materialistic pervert.
Hyungtae by day and Mello by night, it soon frustrates the hell out of Hyungtae who soon finds himself falling in love with her and wanting her to see the real him. He drops obvious hints but strangely, she does not seem to see (or perhaps does not want to).
Mello:What do you know about me?
Suh Inju: Your face, your address, I know nothing. Do you really play music? I guess it is not important.
Mello: Tell me, what do you know about me?
Suh Inju: Someone....who knows me well. The first person who has listened to the real me. I would say that is enough.
It so disappoints Hyungtae that he grabs his guitar and sings his heart out into the speakers, to the amazement and amusement of Suh Inju
[Personally, I feel she just does not really care who Mello is, as long as she has his ear. Just someone who listens to her while she talks. And that is true for many people I have talked to online. They are completely self-absorbed.]
Spurred on by this new courage, Mello suggests that they meet at a restaurant that bears the name of her favourite lake Titicaca. But last minute, seeing her there, he chickens out, fearing her reaction if she knew.
Namhoon: Why did you run?
Hyungtae:It's Mello she wants.
Namhoon: Jee Hyungtae and Mello are one!
Hyungtae: Not to her.
At the restaurant, Suh Inju has second thoughts too as she sits and waits for Mello: I don't know what he looks like, but it feels like he is on my side. Meeting him just might make that feeling disappear.
Yet time does not stand still. With the confidence that knowing Mello has made her feel, Suh Inju decides to quit her job to find another. On the other hand, Hyungtae prepares to move out of his office with most of his team to a new place....
Ultimately, whether they can be together depends on whether Suh Inju can accept Hyungtae for who he really is. As Hyungtae says, she is in love with a fantasy and when the truth is out, can she accept that he is not as she imagined? Can she accept that the Hyungtae she dislikes is in fact the Mello she has come to trust?
It's like Superman and Clark Kent. On the one hand, you love the girl and wanna tell her the truth, but on the other hand, you cannot risk losing her if she finds out the truth.
[If the girl really loved him, she would accept him for who he really is. But he just cannot afford to take that risk. Yet, if she cannot accept him, is such a love worth keeping in the first place?]
It is a tough dilemma, not easily understood by anyone who has not experienced it. If Hyungtae did not love her as he did, perhaps the problem would not exist and there would be no dilemma. But the fact is that when you love someone and can't let go, it complicates matters.
Which brings me to my idea that love should begin with a matching of minds rather than bodies. Minds falling in love is far better than physical attraction (or repulsion). I mean, how wrong can you get when two persons already see mind-to-mind (before meeting)? By the time the meeting takes place, it's already too late to back out For the heart (and mind) would have already been ensnared. It is harder to just walk away. Because deep down, you know this person. Hell, you love this person.
I think accepting someone's physical form after loving the person's mind, is only a small hurdle to pass (if two persons have genuine feelings for each other). Sex, as research shows, is only a matter of mind. As I always say, arouse the mind and the body will follow.
Certainly, acceptance depends very much on the persons involved. If luck holds (and fate allows), then people might find something more unexpected and beautiful than anything they have ever known. That is what makes life worth living.
We have Jee Hyungtae, a game designer in his 20s who has been working on an online dating game called Who Are You?. For 2 years, he and his team have gone without wages, just to perfect the game which he had started with his friend Namhoon. Even the team supervisor left for a real paying job. Hyungtae, however, had left a real paying job to do the game.
So then....the team is at the Beta stage and the team members get some testers whom they have to play the game with and subsequently find out what the testers think.
Suh Inju, a woman in her 20s, becomes one of the beta testers and she finds that the game is not realistic and the avatars are bad.
She makes her comments known in the game's bulletin board and it so happens that Hyungtae reads it one day. Not pleased, he replies that upgrades are upcoming and then checks her profile (user name Byulee), which surprisingly enough, contains her real information. The place she works (Sea World), her age (23), her name (Suh Inju) etc.
He then decides to visit her
Turns out she is working as a diver in the aquarium where she feeds the fishes. And she is also working on being a mermaid (pending management approval).
His curiosity satisfied, he returns to his game design, only to have his curiosity piqued again when Namhoon gets creeped out by Byulee's bad tester attitude. Amused and curious, Hyungtae volunteers to take over from Namhoon who happily obliges.
So then, Hyungtae is Mello, the online personality whom Suh Inju soon finds herself confiding to.
In just a few days, Mello seems to understand her well. More so, because he discovers from checking her Seaworld staff profile, that she used to be a national swimmer who had lost her hearing during training. She wears a hearing aid.
The rules, set by Mello, are simple: They cannot call or see each other, but must always be there for each other. (They can still sms though).
Mello: Know the word 'Invisible friend'? A friend you can never see or call. These are the rules. But you must always be nearby, for moral support. When you feel like being true to someone, when you have to let it all out, seek that invisble friend. I will always be nearby.
At the same time, Hyungtae sees Suh Inju every morning when she jogs up to the 30th floor of the building he works in. But she does not have a good impression of him. She tells Mello that he is nothing but a computer game designer (like her ex-boyfriend), who eats and sleeps in office, and "his clothes stink". She also calls him "pea-brain" and thinks that he may be a materialistic pervert.
Hyungtae by day and Mello by night, it soon frustrates the hell out of Hyungtae who soon finds himself falling in love with her and wanting her to see the real him. He drops obvious hints but strangely, she does not seem to see (or perhaps does not want to).
Mello:What do you know about me?
Suh Inju: Your face, your address, I know nothing. Do you really play music? I guess it is not important.
Mello: Tell me, what do you know about me?
Suh Inju: Someone....who knows me well. The first person who has listened to the real me. I would say that is enough.
It so disappoints Hyungtae that he grabs his guitar and sings his heart out into the speakers, to the amazement and amusement of Suh Inju
[Personally, I feel she just does not really care who Mello is, as long as she has his ear. Just someone who listens to her while she talks. And that is true for many people I have talked to online. They are completely self-absorbed.]
Spurred on by this new courage, Mello suggests that they meet at a restaurant that bears the name of her favourite lake Titicaca. But last minute, seeing her there, he chickens out, fearing her reaction if she knew.
Namhoon: Why did you run?
Hyungtae:It's Mello she wants.
Namhoon: Jee Hyungtae and Mello are one!
Hyungtae: Not to her.
At the restaurant, Suh Inju has second thoughts too as she sits and waits for Mello: I don't know what he looks like, but it feels like he is on my side. Meeting him just might make that feeling disappear.
Yet time does not stand still. With the confidence that knowing Mello has made her feel, Suh Inju decides to quit her job to find another. On the other hand, Hyungtae prepares to move out of his office with most of his team to a new place....
Ultimately, whether they can be together depends on whether Suh Inju can accept Hyungtae for who he really is. As Hyungtae says, she is in love with a fantasy and when the truth is out, can she accept that he is not as she imagined? Can she accept that the Hyungtae she dislikes is in fact the Mello she has come to trust?
It's like Superman and Clark Kent. On the one hand, you love the girl and wanna tell her the truth, but on the other hand, you cannot risk losing her if she finds out the truth.
[If the girl really loved him, she would accept him for who he really is. But he just cannot afford to take that risk. Yet, if she cannot accept him, is such a love worth keeping in the first place?]
It is a tough dilemma, not easily understood by anyone who has not experienced it. If Hyungtae did not love her as he did, perhaps the problem would not exist and there would be no dilemma. But the fact is that when you love someone and can't let go, it complicates matters.
Which brings me to my idea that love should begin with a matching of minds rather than bodies. Minds falling in love is far better than physical attraction (or repulsion). I mean, how wrong can you get when two persons already see mind-to-mind (before meeting)? By the time the meeting takes place, it's already too late to back out
For the heart (and mind) would have already been ensnared. It is harder to just walk away. Because deep down, you know this person. Hell, you love this person.I think accepting someone's physical form after loving the person's mind, is only a small hurdle to pass (if two persons have genuine feelings for each other). Sex, as research shows, is only a matter of mind. As I always say, arouse the mind and the body will follow.
Certainly, acceptance depends very much on the persons involved. If luck holds (and fate allows), then people might find something more unexpected and beautiful than anything they have ever known. That is what makes life worth living.