“Honey Pie” and Once Upon a Time in High School: Spirit of Jeet Kune Do

Honey Pie | Haruku Murakami's short story,"Honey Pie"

• copyright alija craycroft

“Honey Pie” and Once Upon a Time in High School: Spirit of Jeet Kune Do

As we all may know from experience, best friends share many things. Oddly enough, sometimes even the same love interest is shared. Although Once Upon a Time in High School: Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (let us refer to this lengthy title as Spirit of Jeet Kune Do) focuses more on the coming of age thematic, both Haruki Murakami’s short story “Honey Pie” and Spirit of Jeet Kune Do tell stories of deep friendship, and young  and unrequited love. 

Spirit of Jeet Kune Do is a 2004 South Korean film set in the 1970s that primarily focuses on the life of young Hyun-soo. Hyun-soo, much like Junpei from “Honey Pie”, is a soft-spoken introvert. Because Hyun-soo’s father was a master at Tae Kwon Do and often resorted to violence to discipline his son, Hyun-soo did not care too much about physical strength; he enjoyed watching martial arts in Bruce Lee films, but he preferred writing expressive poetry and listening to romantic music over perfecting his Tae Kwon Do skills. His shyness put him in a tough position when he transferred to a new high school where physical violence was practiced regularly among the school gangs and authoritarian teachers. For one reason or another, Hyun-soo was approached by Woo-sik, a strong, athletic fighter, after he was bullied by a gang leader. Woo-sik advised Hyun-soo to use martial arts to protect himself. The two quickly form a tight bond realizing their shared admiration for Bruce Lee (hence the “Jeet Kune Do” part of the movie’s title). The two of them later meet Eun-ju who attends a neighboring girls’ high school. Both friends befriend and eventually fall in love with Eun-ju, which ultimately tests their friendship.

Many comparisons can be seen between these two works through the personality of each character. Woo-sik is a lot like Takatsuki; he is a handsome extrovert with self-confidence. Woo-sik had enough self-confidence and initiative to profess his love for Eun-ju. Hyun-soo of course, just like the dutiful friend Junpei, voiced no objection to their relationship. Eun-ju, in comparison with Sayoko, always had a deeper connection with Hyun-soo. They both liked reading the same genre of novels, and spent hours listening to romantic songs on the radio together. In “Honey Pie”, Junpei and Sayoko had an actual interest in English Literature, whereas Takatsuki only studied English because it was the only test he could pass. Junpei and Sayoko would trade novels to read and later had deep, intellectual conversations about them.

Not only are comparisons drawn from each character’s personality, but comparisons may also be drawn from their behavior towards the paramount issue at hand: the love triangle. Both Junpei and Hyun-soo continue living their lives benignly accepting that things are out of their hands, yet they feel hurt when things progress apart from them. Junpei and Hyun-soo do not make an effort to tell Sayoko/Eun-ju that they love her, but after their two best friends begin a romantic relationship, they both fall into a depression. During Hyun-soo’s period of seclusion, his behavior is almost identical to that of Junpei’s; he goes through a depression in which he gets drunk (even though he’s underage…) and loses weight due to his lack of eating. He pulls out of his depression after a kiss between him and Eun-ju occurs when she visits him (I swear these stories are practically the same). Eun-ju, similar to Sayoko, accepted Woo-sik’s love because he approached her first aside from the deeper connection between her and Hyun-soo. She visits him to tell him that the friendship among her, Woo-sik, and Hyun-soo should continue. Woo-sik also wished to continue their friendship, thus Hyun-soo continues his life as a third-wheel in placid paralysis dating other girls, but not seriously committing due to his unrequited love for Eun-ju.

Although the endings to Spirit of Jeet Kune Do and “Honey Pie” differ, both works contain strikingly similar characters in the same situation. In Spirit of Jeet Kune Do, there is a sort of physical man-battling-man for her affection type of ending. Ultimately, the three friends part ways forever after Hyun-soo overcomes his broken heart when Eun-ju and Woo-sik run away together. Even though Eun-ju and Woo-sik break up, their friendship is lost forever. They remain as acquaintances, respectful and polite acquaintances, but acquaintances nonetheless. “Honey Pie’s” Junpei differs from Hyun-soo in that he doesn’t battle for Sayoko’s love. In fact, he simply lets fate decide whether or not she will end up with him. Nevertheless, readers and viewers can make parallels with Hyun-soo/ Junpei, Woo-sik/ Takatsuki, and Eun-ju/ Sayoko.