Korean drama Rooftop Prince is based
on murders in ancient and present times and time traveling as principal
axis. Ancient Crown Princess and three courtiers bizarrely came to
modern South Korea in order to investigate the death of Crown Princess.
The spoiled rich kid of modern world fell into the sea, cousin did
nothing to rescue him. Coincidentally, both persons look exactly the
same!
In ancient world, the elder sister made
younger sister injured to become Crown Princess because of jealousy. In
modern world, sisters of different father and mother staged the plot of
“Blissful Women” because of jealousy, where elder sister deliberately
abandoned younger sister.
Because of too many plots occurred in
episode 1 of Rooftop Prince which crisscross past and present, audience
has to spend more concentration to understand the entangled fate of the
past and present. But the comedy effect of episode 2 came into play, and
the drama began to fall in live with the expectations of the audience,
but the grand ending is more difficult to guess.
The 1st episode of Rooftop Prince buried
a lot of foreshadowing hint, thus only after watching the grand final,
then only the appropriate evaluation can be given. For example, the
beginning of “49 Days” is not attractive, but in the later half, the
layers of plot that are stacked begin to show effect, and the grand
final not only surprising but also very touching.
Many people mistakenly thought that
Rooftop Prince is a comedy drama runs wild. Rooftop Prince that looks
like a comedy drama actually spent a lot of thoughts into the drama.
From just the costume alone, there are implicit meaning.
Many
time-traveling drama series is back in time from present to the past,
where most of the time travelers have some knowledge or understanding
about the past or ancient world. But Rooftop Prince does it inversely
among time traveling drama. It’s forward in time from the past to
present. Thus, in essence, it’s very different from other time traveling
series! But there is a similarities, that’s time travelers want to go
back to their original place and time.
The ancient Crown Prince and his tree courtiers also encounter the following problems after traveling from the past to preent:
- How to go back to their original era and place?
- How to adapt after coming to modern world from the technology-backward ancient world?
In the 2nd episode,
Crown Prince and the
three courtiers tried to return to their palace where they originally
came from. But because the times are different, so although the place is
the same, but still to no avail. This is a new idea which never
presented in time traveling films before. Ancient people coming to
modern world will definitely face with many difficulties, they’re sent
to police station because of couldn’t adapt. The scene which seemingly
funny and mischievous actually has many thoughts put into it, and with
just costumes, there are many implicit meanings.
The clothing styles of Crown Prince and the three courtiers represent the evolution stage of them adapting to modern society:
1. Ancient costume
Ancient people coming to modern times is
just like dragon trapped in shallow beach, unable to adapt, such as
don’t know how to cross the road, creating a lot of jokes, they even
have difficult in making a living, and even brought into police station!
Later, because of unfamiliarity with modern electronic products, they
messed up Park Ha’s home, almost setting it on fire. At this time,
they’re wearing ancient costumes which are out of tune with modern era.
2. Sportswear
Although putting on modern sportswear,
but how they behave is still maintaining the habit of 300 years ago the
habit. The tracksuit in bright color actually is related to ancient
costume, because in ancient times, the color of clothing was used to
differentiate the official position or class. The color of King’s robe
is red, and the color of Crown Prince’s tracksuit is also in red.
Although Crown Prince is wearing dark blue imperial robe, but Crown
Prince will become the king sooner or later, and hence will eventually
wear red imperial robe. Although the sportswear is modern clothing, but
it’s not the usual daily fashion for modern people. It signifies that
although Crown Prince and the trio want to adapt to modern society, but
after all they’re not yet well versed. At this period, Park Ha taught
them how to cross the road, riding the bus, brushing the teeth, using
the toilet and other daily knowledge Crown Prince still cannot put down
the status of royal family, and the three courtiers worked for Park Ha
to repay the debt instead.
3. Casual wear
Basically at this stage, apart from
hairstyle, the gang of four has already very close to modern people in
appearance, representing that the four persons gradually adapt to the
modern Korean society, and began to have the energy to think about how
to get back to 300 years ago, and draw a conclusion: The rooftop
apartment is the key to go back to the past. In episode 3, Crown Prince
started to show off his strength, helping Park Ha with expertise that
prominent in ancient world, “calligraphy.”
4. Animal mascot costume
The four persons do not have any skill
in modern world, and always make mistake during work. In order to help
Park Ha to promote the strawberries, the three courtiers had to wear the
costume of the animal mascot, and even the Crown Prince also put down
his status as royal family, concealed his identity to wear animal mascot
costume. The mascots are panda by Crown Prince Lee Gak (Park Yoochun),
representing he has special status of royal family, while the other
three courtiers, the warrior in the mascot of dog, civil scholar in
mascot of rabbit, while eunuch in the mascot of cat.
The warrior Woo Yong Sul (Jung Suk Won) is playing the dog, signifying as loyal as a dog, defensive and can protect the master.
Civil scholar Song Man Bo (Lee Min Ho)
is playing the rabbit, signifying clever, resourceful and adaptable.
When they first arrived in modern world, unfamiliarity caused them to
create many trouble and were hauled into the police station. It’s
extraordinary memory and resilience of scholar that solved the problem.
Eunuch Do Chi San (Choi Woo Shik) is
playing cat, signifying as gentle as cat, has sensitive ears. The Crown
Prince gets to know everything from events in palace to others’ bedroom
because of Do Chi San, and thus broke the rule to promote him.
Crown Prince Lee Gak is playing panda,
and fainted after dancing too hard. As such he also learned that Park Ha
plan to leave the rooftop house to go to the United States.
5. Suit
The four persons do not have the ability
to make a living in modern society. When waking up after falling in
water, Crown Prince Lee Gak decided to pretend to be spoiled rich kid
Yong Tae Yong of modern era. On one hand, it can solve financial issue,
on the other hand, he can get close to Hong Se Na (Jung Yoo Mi) who
looks exactly the same with Crown Princess. In order to beg Yong Tae
Yong’s grandmother to buy the rooftop house, Crown Prince and the trio
cut short their hair, and wear the suit to go to work at the company of
Tae Yong’s grandmother. The four people determined to completely adapt
to modern society. At this period, Park Ha taught them how to use the
mobile phones and other technology products, and social engagement
culture in the company culture. When going to work, the four persons cut
their long hair, put on a suit, but do pay attention to their neckties.
Crown Prince is the only one without a
neck tie, because neck tie equals to collar of white-collar working
class, signifying employed by others and controlled by others, which is
inconsistent with the status of Crown Prince. The fancy tie and dyed
golden hair of Do Chi San is related to his eunuch status and
personality that prefers beautiful. The black tie and hairstyle of Woo
Yong Sul is related to his neat warrior personality. Among the four
persons, the flowery color of Song Man Bo’s tie is the most suitable,
representing Song Man Bo is the most smart, resilient, and can
successful in modern society.
Currently among the three Wednesday and
Thursday dramas, the plot of The King 2 Hearts is no doubt the
weakest. Man From the Equator is the best no matter it’s the flow of
dramatic rhythm or acting skills of the actors, but because of the theme
is more sadden, and lack of new ideas, so comparatively Rooftop Prince is the most creative drama among Wednesday and Thursday drama.
Translated review by Rooftop Prince viewer
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