After watching Moonlight Resonance, I learned a few things about living life. That’s one of the good things about some TVB shows. Despite all the crying and arguing, there is always a lesson to be learned or a point of view of how people should live life. Although, I’m still pretty young and I haven’t experienced as many crises as the older folks, I still think I learned a lot of interesting things from this show.
The idea that an absolute right and wrong existing is false. The only “right” and “wrong” are what one values and believes. Everyone’s opinions toward something differs and everyone has reasons for why they are “right”. In the show, one of the conflicts that the characters had was who really owned the brand name in the moon cake business. For easy naming in this discussion, I will name the two parties Family A and family B. Family A had been using the name Jia Hao Yue Yuan (家好月圓) for decades, while Family B alleges that Family A allowed Family B to use this brand some time ago in the past. But Family A denies this and accuses Family B of swindling the brand name from them. This conflict eventually went to court. Each lawyer made their case with valid reasons. The conflict lay in who was better at convincing the judge using logic and reasoning. A good example that doesn’t relate to the show that many people know is the ending of Inception. Everyone had an idea for whether Cobb stayed in the dream or not in the end. There were reasons for both. Here are some more examples on a more serious note. The Iraq War, gay marriage, abortion, and stem cell research. These are all real controversies, and after looking at the arguments on both sides, they all have valid points. Both parties believe they are right, and that the other party is wrong.
A “right” and “wrong” way to live life exists too. Using the same names for the two families as before, Family A and B are both after happiness. But Family A believes this happiness can only be achieved through a loving family and not by how much money they have. Chinese people have a phrase that says, “人在天堂; 錢在銀行”, which means “The person is in Heaven, but their money is in the bank.” Family B believes that money makes them happy. They believe that by having lots of money, they can buy their way to happiness through material goods. During the show, they see Family A’s true happiness and togetherness as a family and feel jealousy towards them and made it their goal to ruin the happiness they enjoy. This part of the show shows the age old theme that “money can’t buy happiness”, but at the same time they add on to this. They show how to achieve happiness. The way to do it is by loving your family and spending time with them. In Chinese, we call this “家庭溫暖”, which literally means “family warmth”. Throughout the entire show, Family A can be seen to always be happy at the dinner table, when the whole family is together for dinner. Money never mattered to them, so long as the family was together.
Although the family lifestyles in the show are written like that, I still envied their happy lifestyle and togetherness as a family. It gives people something to work towards. It’s true that some people aim to make lots of money, but the amount of money is irrelevant. The important thing is to live happily. Despite everything I said, this is after all, only my perception of what is “right”. I’m sure some people will disagree and also have their own reasons to back up their point of view.