Little Big Things

Peace, order, and good government. This may not be a slogan you've heard before, but it's one that is, surprisingly, quite significant to Canadian history. Versions of it have appeared in Acts of Parliament affecting Canada's administration as a British colony since the mid-18th century and its current iteration was included in the British North America Act of 1867 (a.k.a. the Constitution Act, 1867 ) that established Canada as an independent nation - the very point in history that we now celebrate, understandably, as Canada Day. Now, in its original context, "Peace, order and good government" was an expression of political authority. It was initially a formal concession from the British government allowing colonial governments to enact their own laws, then became an authorization for the federal government to do so for the newly-independent nation as a whole. However, when I hear that statement, federal parliamentary politics...really isn't what comes to mind...

Every nation needs its heroes; real or fictional, we remember the stories of those who have risen above the odds to achieve the greater good and fight back against evil and oppression. Given this, it is easy to see why, at the time of its airing on KBS2 in 2012, the South Korean drama Gaksital was an instant hit with the home audience, achieving high ratings and being nominated for a slew of acting and directorial rewards before gaining government recognition as the Drama of the Year.  Based on the 1970s manhwa [comic] of the same name by Heo Young Man, Gaksital is a classic underdog story set in the 1930s, in the thick of the Imperial Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula. Both the manhwa and its television adaptation tell the tale of Lee Kang To, who lives a double life as Sato Hiroshi - a Korean collaborator with the Japanese police force tasked with crushing the burgeoning independence movement - and the titular Gaksital - a masked vigilante and freedom figh...