Painter of the Wind (Korean Drama)

What makes a woman 'a woman'?

'Painter of the Wind' just not might be everyone's cup of tea. It's not your usual gender bender dramas. So thee might be people who doesn't ge the essence of this drama. But yet, this Drama exists as a strong wok of art.

'Painter of the Wind' aired in 2008. We have seen a lot of gender bender dramas after that. There was 'Go Eun Chan' of 'Coffee Prince', 'Go Mi Nam' of 'Your're Beautiful', 'Kim Yoon Shik' of 'Sungkyungkwan Scandal', 'Gu Jae Hee' of 'To the Beautiful You', 'Sung Nyang' of 'Empress Ki', and many more gender bender girls in Korean Drama. Also Japanese Drama has many gender benders.
But they all were girls. Girls in boy clothes. They were girls to their very core.
Where as Shin Yoon Bok of 'Painter of the Wind' is not. Yoon Bok is not just a girl.

Here comes the question, what makes a woman 'a woman'? Does having the anatomy of a female is the only factor that determines a girl or a woman. What if she is living with a group of boys/man from childhood, in boy clothes? Won't the surroundings, the peer groups and friends a factor that decides the nature of any human while he or she is growing up.
From the little age of 8 years old, the girl is dressed as a boy and living inside a group of boys. She is being with them all the time, having conversations with them, sharing each others likes and opinions. Naturally the girl will attain some boy traits. And she spend her teenage with the boys, where all the boys around her is attaining puberty and hence getting attracted to girl, and probably having conversations among themselves about the girls. So the girl who is getting in to her puberty herself, who is listening everyday to this, will be attracted to girls, or boys?

So was Yoon Bok a boy or a girl?
The answer here is that Shin Yoon Bok was both - a girl and a boy.  And hence it might be difficult for some people to understand this character. Because this character contains both a male and female the the body of a female.

Shin Yoon Bok's first love becomes a girl, the giseng Jung Hyang. Yoon Bok is attracted to Jung Hyang's beauty. And never once, till the end, ever, the girl in Yoon Bok shows up in front of Jung Hyang. With Jung Hyang -Yoon Bok is a boy. The male side of her shows up charismatically for her, as natural as any 100% male would have shown his courageous and cool side unconsciously to impress the girl he likes. So when Yoon Bok is with Jung Hyang HE is a man.
So d love between Yoon Bok and Jung Hyang never felt something strange and bizarre. Not even for one second. And that's one of the biggest achievement of 'The Painter of the Wind' Drama.
At d same time when Yoon Bok is with her Teacher Dan Won, only then the girl nature would show. That too, very rarely and not until towards d last episodes.

The women in Sin Yoon Bok would come out only through Yoon Bok's paintings. The girl who is trapped inside Yoon Bok comes out as d feelings of women in Yoon Bok's paintings.
Such a simple yet complicated and beautiful situation is shown so perfectly and with ease in this drama.

And a big hats off to Moon Guen Young who plays Shin Yoon Bok. She was a man in this drama. Especially when Shin Yoon Bok is with Jung Hyang, Moon Guen Yong was a boy to the core. We have seen many gender benders where girls pretend to b boys. But there, the girls r either too cute (Go Eun Chan of 'Coffee Prince', Go Mi Nam of 'You're Beautiful) or strong yet getting discomfort when a man touch her (Kim Yoon Shik of Sungkyungkwan scandal, Sung Nyang  of Empress Ki) girls in their hearts. The way they talk walk are like a girl. (Only Sung Nyang somewhat achieved d charisma of men in her gender-bender.)

But when Moon Guen Yong plays Shin Yoon Bok, her walk, her talk,  her body language, her voice, her small sarcastic smiles, and even her expression was of a male. Someone who doesn't know that she is a girl, wont know she is not a boy. And those charismatic smiles, even d expression in Yoon Bok's eyes as HE look at Jung Hyang is something on which every girl can melt. Expressions usually found in male actors's face.

If this is not an enough reason to put 'The painter of the Wind' in a high position, there is Park Shin Yang as Teacher Dan Won Kim Hong Do. The character itself is so versatile and, like d character of  'Shin Yoon Bok', unlike d usual stereotypes. Even d characters'z entry is so dynamic as he try to draw a tiger by going near it in jungle disguise and getting spotted by the tiger and getting chased by it. DanWon is such an unconventional character with his naughty way of talking and no-nonsense nature. And the actor Park Shin Yang is such a great actor that Dan Won seems to b a real living person whom we have met in our daily lives.

If these r not enough reason to watch this drama, there r d paintings. We anticipate to c d finished paintings each time they start drawing. Nd d tension that builds just to see them draw is so strong. And each painting seems to have something to say. The artists passion for their paintings makes us chained to this show. Yet when Shin Yoon Bok ask 'what d hell is such a stupid painting' everytime there is a problem with d painting, we understand Yoon Bok's mind clearly. Here d artists willingly crushes their hand for the person they want to protect and then recover from it. The viewers can feel d need of that action of hurting their own hand clearly inside them at that second. In one word, this is a drama that has captured human emotions clearly and strongly.

Also another notable character is Yoon Bok's foster brother Young Bok. I liked his character. He is simple and honest, warm and innocent. A character we feel like liking a lot. Young Bok loves Yoon Bok. But his feelings are so beautiful as its shown in a way that Young Book himself is not fully aware of his feelings, or d nature of his feelings for Yoon Bok. Young Bok's feeli
ngs r not motive oriented. Young Bok is usaully aware of d fact that Yoon Bok is a woman and is not his real brother by blood relation. Yet he seems to have love her strongly as his brother too. Also loves her a a woman. His feelings r mixed. But the story doesn't try to unclear that mixture. Its left as that. Because Young Bok's love is more beautiful and pure as that.

Also at d end Dan Won and Yoon Bok's love is also not explained much. Just left as it is. This express the fact that love and feelings need not b explained, analyzed or reviewed. They r better to b just felt as a mix of whatever it is...

I also liked d part where what happened in d past is only reviled later, slowly slowly, one by one. Usually in other Korean dramas, d past incidents r all shown first and then v go to d present to older actors nd all. (eg - 'Dae Jang Gum', 'Moon that Embraces the Sun', 'Gu Family Book', 'Iljimae'). But here, in d first episode, from start itself Shin Yoon Bok is a girl living disguised as a boy in the art department. How did Yoon Bok came to b there, what make Yoon Bok get disguised as a boy, nothing is shown. That keeps the viewers interest and makes us want to see it to know what had happened to Yoon Bok. And this method keep viewers more interested than showing everything before at first...

So the drama has d capacity to keep our interest, has such great characterization, extraordinary actors,  paintings that talk to us, and a strong vibe of an excellent direction.

Until i watched 'Painter of the Wind',. I used to think 'Dae Jang Guem' is the best Historical Drama ever. But'Painter of the Wind' took d first position in my heart now, pushing 'Dae Jang Gum' to position 2. Yet sadly 'Painter of d wind' was not in d top historical dramas list anyone created online. That is so disappointing that people doesn't know to appreciate such a great drama as this one and just concentrate on the conventional rom-com-adventure dramas.

So i am writing this article about the 'Painter of the Wind' that aired in 2008, and hope that at least people who happen to read this, will watch that drama and like it.

Characters

Moon Guen Young as Shin Yoon Bok : A girl disguised as a boy. Yoon Bok has every emotion of a boy and a girl at d same time. He/she is an excellent painter and is studying act in the government arts department. That being d reason that she has to pretend to b a boy, as a girl can never study in d government arts department. Yoon Bok's foster father is an official in d department and he is d one who made Yoon Bok to pretend as boy and join d arts dept.



Park Shin Yang as 'Dan Won' Kim Hong Do: Kim Hong Do having d pen-name Dan Won is considered to b the best painter of Joson. He was send in exile to a remote town after some bad incidents. But comes back to Hanyang (old Soul) and to d Government Art Department up on d order of the King. He is a naughty sort of man who has inflexible ethics and a caring heart. Dan Won also happens to be Yoon Bok's real father's best friend.

Moon Chae Won as Jung Hyang : A ghayagam playing giseng. She is beautiful as a flower and hence Yoon Bok gets attracted to her. Jung Hyang gets attracted to Yoon Bok too when she gets to know him(her) well. Jung Hyang is the main lead and center of attention in each of Yoon Bok's paintings. Jung Hyang and Yoon bok give their heart to each other and becomes each other's first love.



Lee Joon as Shin Young Bok : Yoon Bok's foster brother. He is really close with Yoon Bok and cares for him(her) a lot. Young Bok is a simple and innocent personality. He loves Yoon Bok, though its a mixture of love towards a brother nd love to a woman. Young Bok only says that he and Yoon Bok is one person as he gets sad if Yoon Bok is sad and he gets happy if Yoon Bok is happy. So he will go to any length for Yoon Bok's happiness.

Bae Soo Bin as King Jungjo : The King of Joson. King Jungjo's father Crown Prince Sado had been sentenced to death by his father before he got to rule. And there is not even a portrait of Crown Prince Sado remaining. But there was once a portrait drawn which had got lost when d artists who drew them had been mysteriously murdered. So King Jungjo is trying to recover the lost portrait of his father, Crown Prince Sado. And he chooses Dan Won and Yoon Bok to be his help.

Im Ji Eun as Queen Dowager (Debi mama) : The main Protagonist in the story. She is King Jungjo's step-grandmother and the person behind the murder of the artists who drew Crown Prince Sado's portrait.

Ryu Sung Ryung as Kim Jo Nyun : A wealthy merchant who got his money and power by being the provider of idea and henchmen of Queen Dowager and her troop. He has a great taste of arts and like to possess beautiful and precious items as a collection. His eyes fell on Jung Hyang and he wants to add her to his collection...

Story : 

Shin Yoon Bok is studying in the Government Arts Department as a painter. Yoon Bok is a girl disguised as a boy. A painting that Yoon Bok drew becomes a huge problem in d arts department. But no one know who drew that painting. The King calls back the famous painter 'Dan Won' Kim Hong Do to identify who painted the controversial painting. Dan Won identifies Yoon Bok to b d painter of that painting but gets impressed by his skill and talent. Dan Won feels it would b a huge loss if Yoon Bok is convicted for that picture and try to save him. At the same time, Yoon Bok's foster-brother Young Bok take d blame of d painting on himself and save his brother.

From then on Dan Won considers Yoon Bok as his student and try to carve him in to one of the best artists in Joson. And they get along much like friends than teacher and student. Meanwhile Yoon Book gets closer to the giseng Jung Hyang and they both confess their feelings for each other...

And King Jongjo keeps Dan Won and Yoon Bok close so as he can get help from them in retrieving the lost portrait of Crown Prince Sado.

My Ratings of this Drama : 11/10

Share this post