“Romance of Their Own”: The Jump From E-novel to Film

Considering South Korea’s 10 top grossing films of 2004, some, like “Taegukgi” are no-brainers: big budget films with big stars. However, the popularity of Korean melodramas has grown so prominent, that a film like “Romance of Their Own,” also known as “Temptation of the Wolf,” has also been able to crack into the top 10.
“Romance of Their Own,” is the typical Korean melodrama in which a country bumpkin girl, Han-kyung, moves to Seoul, and gets the attention of the two most popular guys in school. There’s plenty of bickering and tears, and then comes the old plot twist in which she finds out one of the guys is her long lost half-brother. You can guess the rest for yourself. This movie, directed by Kim Tae-kyun, famous for his “Volcano High,” also helped launch the career of Kang Dong Won.
What I find most interesting about this movie is not the actors, nor the plotline, which comparatively, is pretty good. What’s more fascinating is that this is the second book by on-line author Guiyeoni that has been turned into a movie (The first one, “He Was Cool”, featured Song Seung-heon as the main protagonist). It follows in the tradition of “My Sassy Girl” in which the basis for a popular movie first appeared on-line. Guiyeoni has been critiqued harshly, especially for her first novel, which featured popular AIM icons and expressions that catered to the new generation of Internet junkies. Guiyeoni, and others like her, are not taken seriously by most Korean authors, because of the immature style of writing. However, the fact that her books have been so popular in East Asia that they have been made into movie adaptations with A-list stars should speak of the importance in Korea of this new breed of author.
I think that the spread of these e-novels is partially based on the prominence of technology in South Korea, and the proliferation of websites that support these authors. There are forums in which young adults can share thoughts and writings, and as the success of Guiyeoni has shown, be a stepping stone into the literary world. Though the Korean government and newspapers such as the Chosunibo also sponsor competitions to search for new talent, few young authors will be able to exhibit the sophisticated style they are looking for. Seeing the growing popularization of these novels on the younger population of Asia, I feel that the Korean literary community, since they can’t stop these websites anyway, should encourage these young authors, and help them mature as writers.

YYZ


At the professor's suggestion, I added some movie posters and pictures from the movie. However, I was only able to find Chinese versions of the novel on-line. I'm sure those of you who can read Korean will have better luck.