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I found your blog while watching for love's sake splendid drama and nice commentary from you I saw you watch chinese shows and I have a question am I dumb or because why are they so frustrating I don't know if it's because I'm used to japanese ones where there isn't much romance and this is how romance is written these days or is this a cultural thing because why every one of these I watch has such weird romantic relationships where this dude is breaking his back for her from day 1 and this dudette is out here acting like he's number 5 on her priority list?
yaassss Love for Love's Sake representation. I will never rest from reccing that drama 👏👏 you clearly are NOT dumb & have great taste 😘
for cdramas, my beloved, in my experience of watching in recent years is that there is such a wide breadth of genres & tones. There is just SO MUCH. Definitely chinese entertainment has its own tropes and way of portraying romance. And you either like or you don't. But there are many different flavors. If you feel like you were seeing the same dynamic repeatedly, it may have been bad luck.
If you prefer minimal romance, there are definitely options for that in cdramas! There are mystery/investigation dramas and wuxia martial arts dramas with little to no romance. Because of censorship the gay romances naturally are circumspect and light on the romance (see: The Untamed, Couple of Mirrors, Word of Honor, Spirealm, Guardian). Since you like Love for Love's Sake, I'd rec The Spirealm on Viki - also queer love story about a guy who enters a video game and the people he meets there become real to him; though warning it IS censored and that means the ending is more ambiguous. I can't promise you'll like it. (Semantic Error and Eighth Sense are my other 2 fav korean gay romances btw. )
There are also cdramas that do include romance but in terms of screen time the romance is like 30% of scenes and the plot & character arcs are 70% of scenes. Like in Blossoms in Adversity that I'm watching now, yeah there is most definitely romance but the FL/ML romance scenes compromise like 25% of the overall screen time. It's about way more than who she might marry.
But also in terms of cultural differences? hmm idk because I'm not chinese. I really should NOT speak like I understand their PoV. From an outsider's perspective, I have felt like there are many cdramas with overtly feminist themes - commentary about restrictions on women, the challenges of navigating through a society that can be unfair and entrenched with misogyny. (I joke and yet not that chinese entertainment seems to have 3 propaganda drums that it beats: nationalism/unification, anti-war, and feminism.) It's certainly a fact that many cdramas feature female characters that fall in love but they maintain other priorites & don't let themselves be subsumed in devotion to a man. They have romance & find love but "keep their eye on the prize."
My best guess (??) about this is that it's a rebellion against old cultural mores about women's role being subserviant to father then husband, when during imperial times a woman was expected to prioritze her husband and his family above her own wants, health, and happiness. (It was immoral to be jealous or not follow direction from the man.) Modern chinese screenwriters, both men and women, appear to be writing for an audience that will respect & support the idea of a woman who has her own agenda and maintains focus on her goals despite her love for the ML. Perhaps because this is viewed as moving away from "old thinking". idk.
I presume the target audience in china for romance dramas simply doesn't worry so much that the ML is getting loved enough & aren't as sensitive to thinking he might be at a disadvantage... They're aware society is already set up to his advatange & for much of history he would have all the power in the relationship. (He might bend now and be giving it his all, but the audience knows he can tap into more power & control at will. if she gives up control & her goals, it will be harder for her to recover & reclaim status/money/power compared to him. There are dramas I've seen that pretty much explicitly state that FL wants to earn her own status and money that is hers, thru her own efforts, not lent by him - not prestige or wealth that comes through him and thus could be taken away).
Personally I don't view this as unromantic, just the practical realities of existing in a patriarchal society. (cdramas can hit different imo because they can be blunt about how people operate based on self-interest & pettiness, the realities of classism, the ugliness of rumors, how judgmental people can be about appearances, how you can't always get justice when wronged. Reminds me of the Discworld books that were very frank about how the common people commonly are. It's not saying: this is how people should be; it's saying: this is how things are, the bitterness of life, but you can still find sweetness & meaning within it)
There's another aspect: some cdramas have male protagonists (e.g. Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Blood of Youth, League of Nobleman, Eternal Brotherhood) and some have female protagonists. If you're watching a female protagonist, as the protagonist her priorities & goals are the story driver. So her love interest will take a back seat to that even though it's a romance. He's a support role - his job in the story is to break his back for the protagonist. (A Journey to Love is an example where ML and FL share the protagonist role & you can see that in how things play out, how they each have separate priorities that don't get dropped for love.)
At the end of the day, there are plenty of cdrama romances where I ship it hard and feel a mutual love & devotion between the couple. My fav flavor is where both FL and ML have their own strengths and can be counted on to support each other. I'm not keeping score on who owes who, and neither are they.
But it's all not gonna to be to everyone's taste and that's ok. :)
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Zhan Shi Qi making an ✨entrance✨
#ancient detective#侠探简不知#e01#cdramas#gifs#been hit with nostalgia so here you go#may rewatch some more and make more of these#might just drop it and watch some new airing drama
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Rowoon para a Men Noblesse, Bottega Veneta ✨
2024
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i miss "reviewing" dramas but i'd have to watch some to have thoughts about them 🤣
but idk. sometimes i'll get notes on a 3 year old and very niche post, and re-read the thing and it's like a time capsule. i love that. and just writing about a thing i enjoy in general.
at the same time i've been devoting less time to tv shows (vs books) and haven't been in love with anything in a while...
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JEON YEO BEEN and SON SUK KU in
BE MELODRAMATIC (2019)
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I’m here to stick to you. Why won’t I stick? I need to stick to you. Why do I keep moving away from you? You are sticking to me. Hong-jo. No. I need to stick to you. You are sticking to me. I'll stick to you.
DESTINED WITH YOU 연애는 불가항력
2023, dir. nam ki hoon
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All of their interactions in today's eps were perfect (they always are) but for some reason her creating a rainbow for him was my favorite.
I don't know how this drama continues to be this pitch perfect.
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ah, a common affliction in kdramas. let's wait and see if the characters can hold my attention while the plot is on fire. i'm only at ep 5 where i was thinking "this is getting good, but damn these episodes are looong."
i wonder if there can be a satisfying resolution to hae in's illness, something that's not simply an instantaneous medical miracle.
and i wonder if i'll be interested in further struggles for power in the family. there's like 3 different storylines about a person seducing another to gain wealth and/or exact revenge (?). i guess the surprise at this point was to find out at least 2 of them are in league, and all of them will go far to reach their goal. including bodily harm.
feels very much like joseon court intrigue. but i'm only interested in that as a character study, if at all.
ok i didn't want to watch queen of tears because i kinda promised myself i'd pass on any terminal illness drama. for a while there it felt like like every other kdrama had this plot point. and i got really tired of it.
but everyone says this is good so i'm giving it a shot. and at least i'm warned and it's not sprung on me.
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Behind the Scenes of Lee Dong Wook for Vogue Man Hong Kong [April 2024]
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During the thirteen-day campaign, it felt as if it only rained on me. What I wanted the most wasn’t an umbrella. It was someone to get rained on with me. To the nine percent who got rained on with me, I wish to say thank you. I hope that everyone’s tomorrow is better than today.
INTO THE RING (2020)
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Just remembered I first knew Park Sung Hoon as the psychopath in Psychopath Diary. And he was damn good at it. So it makes sense how much repulsion he inspires in me in Queen of Tears. I'm at ep 5 and truly I hate his character. In that way where he makes me angry.
He really does have the range, last time I saw him was in Not Others, and I loved him then. Not to mention Into the Ring.
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Looks like ep4 is where the drama gets good!!
But did we need the orphaned dog-killing psychopath in this drama? I'm sure a less ott villain could've done just as well to inspire protective instincts. But then everything is other the top so I guess it fits. Hopefully this isn't a case of demonstrating"if you aren't raised by your blood relatives you'll turn into a criminal."
ETA: I hate him more with each minute of his screen time. He's so aggravating.
Queen of Tears #2
it feels a bit extreme how happy he is about the diagnosis. they were in love once. but i guess it's funnier that way?
there is such a distance between them. at this point it's difficult to understand how they got to be married.
a competitive family hunting trip does feel like a thing only the ultrarich would think to do. the cgi wild boar tho 😂
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WOO DO HWAN
⇀ Behind the scenes photos for DAZED Korea, Feb. 2024
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Queen of Tears #2
it feels a bit extreme how happy he is about the diagnosis. they were in love once. but i guess it's funnier that way?
there is such a distance between them. at this point it's difficult to understand how they got to be married.
a competitive family hunting trip does feel like a thing only the ultrarich would think to do. the cgi wild boar tho 😂
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ep1: i can tell this visit to the therapist is supposed to be kinda funny since his life is sooo extremely miserable in a specific chaebol drama way. but actually it's making me sad. he's so thoroughly trapped, it's scary.
ok i didn't want to watch queen of tears because i kinda promised myself i'd pass on any terminal illness drama. for a while there it felt like like every other kdrama had this plot point. and i got really tired of it.
but everyone says this is good so i'm giving it a shot. and at least i'm warned and it's not sprung on me.
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LOVE BETWEEN FAIRY AND DEVIL + hands
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ok i didn't want to watch queen of tears because i kinda promised myself i'd pass on any terminal illness drama. for a while there it felt like like every other kdrama had this plot point. and i got really tired of it.
but everyone says this is good so i'm giving it a shot. and at least i'm warned and it's not sprung on me.
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