Winter Sonata

Overview• Winter Sonata begins

when Joon-sang (Bae Yong Jun) moves to a new high school in search of his biological father.

• Yu-jin (Choi Ji Woo) and Sang-hyuk (Park Yong Ha) have been close childhood friends;

• Though Sang-hyuk wants to be more than a friend, Yu-jin sees him merely as a brother.

Overview• On a trip together with some

other high school mates, Oh Chelin (Park Sol Mi), Jin-suk (Lee Hye Eun) and Yong-kuk (Ryu Seung Soo), Yu-jin is saved after an accident by Joon-sang and after that they get to be really close and she opens up his cold heart.

• However, circumstances and fate dictate that their love will never be. He abruptly disappears from their lives.

Overview• Ten years later the old High

School buddies get together to celebrate Yu-jin and Sang-hyuk's soon to be wedding. Yu-jin who was deeply in love with Joon-sang, still has this fire in her heart for him, even though he's been out of her life for a decade.

• But at this party Oh Chelin's new boyfriend arrives, and he looks just the same as Joon-sang. Could it be him or is Yu-jin only dreaming?

Overview• Winter Sonata was the second part of the KBS TV

drama series Endless Love. • This installment was produced in March 2002 in 

South Korea. • It was broadcast on Japan's NHK and has been a major

part of the Korean wave both there and throughout Asia. • It is known as 冬のソナタ (Fuyu no sonata) in Japanese,

冬日戀歌 (Dōngrì Liàn'gē) or 冬季戀歌 (Dōngjì Liàn'gē) in Mandarin Chinese, Bản tình ca mùa Đông in Vietnamese, and เพลงรั�กในสายลมหนาว (Pleang Rak Nai Sai Lom Naow) in Thai & Endless Love 2: Winter Sonata in the Philippines.

Location• Winter Sonata  takes place in Chuncheon and

Seoul.

Director• Yoon Suk-ho• Born 4 June 1957• Director of four TV series re-

ferred to as Endless Love, each containing the name of one of the seasons in its title.

• The series was immensely popular throughout Asia, especially Winter Sonata, and intensified a surge in popularity of Korean Hallyu, or the Korean Wave.

Main Actor• Bae Yong Jun • Born August 29, 1972, Seoul• Best known for his roles in

numerous television dra-mas.

• He is also known as BYJ to many of his fans, or as Yon-sama ( ヨン様 ).

• The Hanja in his name are: 裵 (gown); 勇 (brave); 俊 (capable).

Main Actress

• Choi Ji-woo • (birth name: Choi Mi-hyang)• Born June11, 1975 in Paju • Actress and model. • Thanks to Winter Sonata,

Choi gained a wide Japa-nese following. Her Japa-nese fans sometimes refer to her as "Princess Ji Woo".

• She has won many awards.

Main Actor 2• Park Yong-ha , Born August 12, 1977. • At seventeen, Park was noted for his acting and

musical skills, as well as his good looks which earned him popularity among fans. • After his debut in MBC drama Theme Theater (1994), Park appeared a range of TV dramas and films.

• In 2002, Park co-starred in Winter Sonata which brought him fame in Japan..

Awards• 2002 KBS Awards: Top Excellence in Acting (Bae Yong Jun)

• 2002 KBS Awards: Top Excellence in Acting (Choi Ji Woo)

• 2002 KBS Awards: Excellence in Acting (Park Yong Ha)

• 2002 KBS Awards: Popularity Award (Bae Yong Jun)• 2002 KBS Awards: Popularity Award (Choi Ji Woo)• 2004 KBS Awards: Special Award (Yoon Seok Ho)

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

What is it about Winter Sonata that touches so many women of all ages throughout Asia?

This TV drama se-ries is not just a complex love story, intriguing plot twists, good acting, memorable scenes and lines, not to mention, breathtak-ing winter scenery backed up by melancholic music tunes.

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

• Under the crafty direction of Yun Seok Ho, the se-ries presented a mastery of cinematic techniques.

• Moreover, it addressed the perennial theme of love in all its complexity in our ever-changing so-ciety.

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

• Winter Sonata reached a bittersweet conclusion even though everyone who had intimate connec-tion with the two main characters paid the heavy price of emotional and mental agony.

• The story opened with Joon Sang portrayed by Bae Yong Jun in his finest performance and Yu Jin, played by the talented Choi Ji Woo, as two high school students who fell in love for the first time.

• Their love suffered a cruel blow as the hero died in a car accident, leaving the heroine heart-bro-ken and dispirited. 

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

• Ten years later, Yu Jin is work-ing on a ski resort project with Min Yeong who looks exactly like Joon Sang.

• He is courting Yu Jin's high school rival, Chae Lin, (Park Sol Mi).

• Yu Jin's uncontrollable attrac-tion to Min Yeong jeopardizes her engagement to her child-hood admirer, Sang Hyuk (Park Yong Ha), who with Chae Lin, tries everything to separate the two lovers.

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

• The truth comes out that Min Yeong and Joon Sang were the same person.

• But there is a suspicion that Joon Sang and Yu Jin are half-brother and sister.

• Everyone involved is thrown into utter confu-sion, resulting in grief and detrimental pain. 

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

• Yun Seok Ho demonstrated his mastery in mak-ing melodramas, using symbolism, parallelism, repetition, and timing to stir emotions and draw tears from the audience.

• The main symbols in Winter Sonata -- the star Polaris (representing Joon Sang), the missing puzzle piece (representing Yu Jin in Joon Sang's life), and the first snowfall of winter (represent-ing the meeting of the two lovers) -- appear repetitively throughout the melodrama to hammer home their significance to the story.

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

• The excellent use of parallelism and repetition compounded the dramatic effects.

• whenever Yu Jin and Sang Hyuk were fighting, Min Yeong and Chae Lin were also arguing.

• Yu Jin and Min Yeong stroll through their high school, each taking a different path, unaware of one another's presence.

• Yu Jin tries to follow someone she thinks is Joon Sang and later Sang Hyuk tries to follow some-one he thinks is Yu Jin, in the streets.

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

Although the drama is ba-sically a love story, it tackles many contempo-rary themes:

1. character duality -- Joon Sang personified the dark side and Ming Yeong, the bright side;

2. identity problems -- Joon Sang searched for the identity of his father and later Min Yeong questioned his own identity;

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

3. different reactions to the loss of love -- Yu Jin's sad disposition, Joon Sang's es-cape to America, San Hyuk's suicide attempt, and Chae Lin's drinking binge;

4. incestuous love remained a taboo in modern age;

5. fate prevailed no matter what others did to prevent the destined lovers from getting together.

Why is Winter Sonata so Popu-lar?

The main reason for Winter Sonata's popularity could be its bold exposition of various aspects of love:

1. puppy love; 2. first love; 3. possessive love; 4. lost love; 5. parental love; and 6. true love.

Everyone has experienced at least one of these different shades of love, so they can em-pathize with the characters in this melodrama.