Ji Chang-wook plays Jo-won in the Netflix series ‘Scandal.’
Although reactions to the work were divided after its release, interpretations of why Jo-won is a character who becomes shaken continued to emerge.
When the actor’s account of his filming experience is considered alongside the settings in the work, Jo-won’s anxiety is difficult to view as merely a romantic narrative.
3-Line Summary
1. Ji Chang-wook portrayed Jo-won in ‘Scandal’
2. Jo-won’s 10s scenes were created with CG
3. Jo-won’s anxiety is central to interpreting the work
The Deficiency of Jo-won, the Son of a Prestigious Family with No Gift for Writing
Vogue Korea interpreted Jo-won in the drama ‘Scandal’ as a character from a prestigious family who has no gift for writing. Jo-won presents the writing of his cousin Jo-yoon as his own and receives the family’s expectations, and in the process, he begins to waver over who he is.
In this setup, Jo-won is someone defined first by his family’s expectations rather than by his abilities. He wants to live simply with the person he loves rather than pursue success, but he cannot easily escape the role demanded by his father and family. The work portrays the relationship between Jo-won and Jo-yoon not only as a bet over love, but as a relationship in which talent, gender, and social recognition are entangled.
However, Vogue Korea also added the assessment that this context is not conveyed with sufficient dramatic force within the drama. The criticism is that although clues for understanding Jo-won’s actions are presented, the emotional arc and tension may feel increasingly unnatural as the latter half progresses.
The CG in the 10s Scenes and Anxiety on Set
Son Ye-jin shared behind-the-scenes stories about the work with Ji Chang-wook and Nana in Netflix Korea’s YouTube content on September 21. According to a Newsis report, the scenes of Jo-won and Jo-yoon during their 10s were created with computer graphics. Ji Chang-wook explained that de-aging work was done to create the actor’s younger appearance for the scenes set during adolescence.
In an interview on September 22, Ji Chang-wook said that he had many prior conversations with director Jung Ji-woo about the work and the script, but that the extent to which those discussions were reflected on set was “close to 0%.” He recalled that during filming, there were moments when it was difficult to clearly express what he was doing while trying performances in various directions.
He said that this process was frustrating and difficult, and that there were times when the director did not allow him to look at the monitor. However, he drew a clear distinction by saying there had been no conflict at all with the director, and said that he came to respect director Jung Ji-woo even more because the director’s tenacious approach in a different color was a major experience for the actor. This is a point where the anxiety Jo-won feels in the work and the unfamiliar filming method described by the actor appear to overlap.
The Contrast That Remains When Viewing Jo-won in ‘Scandal’
Rather than a character moving toward social recognition like Jo-yoon, Jo-won is portrayed as someone who wants to escape from the system of that recognition. If Jo-won is the channel through which Jo-yoon reveals her talent to the world, then Jo-yoon is, for Jo-won, the relationship that has defined him and a world from which it is difficult to break free.
That is why Jo-won’s choices cannot be summed up solely as the success or failure of love. The Jo-won portrayed by Ji Chang-wook is a character who continues to waver between his family’s expectations and his own desires, and following this fracture makes it possible to read more clearly the tension in the relationships presented by the work.
References
Tags #JiChang-wook #Scandal #NetflixScandal #Jo-won #JiChang-wookJo-won #SonYe-jin #Nana #DirectorJungJi-woo #NetflixDrama #De-agingCG #DramaInterpretation #ScandalBehind-the-Scenes