CineTV Contest || A Mother First, a Queen Second: Under The Queen's Umbrella

Yet again, we've got ourselves another awesome prompt to write about,

This got me thinking, there has to be some fun movies that have outstanding mothers that we could make a contest about them.

Yes indeed, there are so many movies that feature the excellence that motherhood presents. However, there's one in particular that's always stuck with me.

However, before I talk about the movie, let's talk about Mother's Day. Mothers deserve ALL the praises and celebration, but why are there so many Mother's Days in a year, lol. I know one has been celebrated already (Mothering Sunday), however, I had all my mind set on May 30th. I know there's another Mother's Day on that day, now why on earth is there another Mother's Day on the 11th of May of which I had absolutely no idea of.

Anyway, the one on the 30th of May will not catch me off guard and I'll be able to celebrate my mum for the queen that she is.

Talking about mothers being queens, I am reminded of the one movie where the definition of motherhood shook me to my core. Both the protagonist and antagonist acted based on their best definitions of "MOTHERHOOD".

In fact, every woman in that movie played the role of a mother to a fault. Allow me to tell you about the Kdrama, "Under The Queen's Umbrella".

This 16-episode Kdrama showed motherhood in a light I’ve never quite seen before. Raw. Political. Protective. Tender. Unhinged.

This drama is about Queen Hwa-ryeong, a woman who’s not the quintessential and usual soft-spoken queen. She's fiery, intelligent, and most importantly, a mother to several sons, including the Crown Prince. Her boys aren’t perfect, far from perfect in fact. Being the King's direct lineage and not sons of concubines, they're expected to be prim and proper, but not these boys.

Yet, against all odds, she shows up for them, every time, with the kind of love that says: “I will fight the world, and maybe even you if it means saving you.”

And maybe that’s what got me. I didn’t grow up in a palace, and I certainly don’t wear hanboks or royal silk, but I know what it feels like to have a mother who doesn’t do love the pretty way; she's very protective. The kind of love that circles around deep sacrifices and sleepless nights.

There’s a scene in the drama where Queen Hwa-ryeong runs in the rain to find her son, who’s just fled the palace. Her hair is soaked, her guards following behind her pleading “Ma’am, please, a queen isn't supposed to run, you shouldn't be out in the rain.....” yet she doesn’t care. In that moment, she isn’t the queen. She’s just a mother. A mother ready to tear the entire kingdom apart to protect her son’s fragile spirit.

I didn't really think of this at the time, but come to think of it now, one of the things I find the most special about this drama is how every single woman in that palace was mothering in her own way. Even the antagonists.

There was the King’s mother, the Grand Dowager, one of the strongest antagonists. I hated her at first (I still do, to some extent). If you watched historical Kdrama, you'll know how seriously mean and callous the antagonists are portrayed on screen. That kind of selfish, manipulative character who holds a lot of power with an iron fist. She orchestrated deaths, covered scandals, and ruined innocent lives just to make her son King and stay King. But when I watched the final episode and learned her backstory, that she was actually supposed to be queen, but the King that married her at the time died just a day after coronation so she was depose to become the next king's concubine, I find myself realizing... "ohhh, anyone would have been upset and seen that as injustice so I can understand why she turned out she way she did".

Her rage wasn’t just greed. It was grief and bitterness. A woman who gave up everything for the crown and was determined to make sure her son never lost it, even if it meant losing him in the process. She was desperate to secure what was once hers and her son's. She made a lot of horrible decisions; however, underneath it all, she was mothering too. The way a wounded woman does, with fear and desperation.

And then there were the concubines. Obviously, where there's a queen, there's also a hundred concubines with children, lol. One of the concubines almost lost her son to suicide because of the weight of royal expectations. That storyline was another twist on its own entirely. It showed that motherhood isn't just about protecting your little ones from the dangers outside, but also from your very own expectations of them as a body. To ensure it doesn't become a darkness, a voice that tells them, "you either succeed or die trying."

There was also one other concubine whose son was cheated simply because the mother came from a "lowly" background (she was a maid before the king saw her and took her as a concubine) Imagine a scene where a mother is holding her son, both of them crying, both of them feeling like they’d failed each other. That was really heartbreaking.

I particularly like the fact that this drama didn’t just highlight the emotionally glamorous parts of motherhood. It showed the ugly truths. How a mother might sacrifice one child to protect another. How some women become pawns in a patriarchal system that devalues their existence unless they birth sons. How love can become control. How control can destroy.

And yet, through all that chaos, Queen Hwa-ryeong stood triumphant. My favorite thing about her is how she was never trying to be perfect. She just tried to do things right. Even when that meant breaking tradition, or disobeying the king, or letting her sons face the consequences of their own actions, or being seen as the bad person. She had this line that I can't forget:

"A mother’s duty isn’t to shield her child from the world. It’s to prepare him for it. But if the world comes for him too soon... I’ll become the shield myself."

Just wow! 😭🙌🏽 I remember posting that on my WhatsApp status after watching that scene, it was just so profound.

In my culture, Mother’s Day isn’t always a huge deal. We might give gifts if we can, but most people usually post their mothers on WhatsApp, then it ends there. However, I've tried to make it a habit to gift my mother every Mother's dy and May 30th is another Mother's Day to show her, "hey, I see you, I love you, and I'm ever grateful that you channel me into this world and guided me through it."

All Images are from IMDB
The video is from YouTube.

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Posted using CineTV