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myuiis · 4 months

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sally park: a missed opportunity

this is probably going to rot in drafts for a WHILE but i needed to scream into the void about this so let me rant to YOU (yes, you) about how ptj fucked up sally park's writing and purpose in the story so much that she is now just a bundle of missed opportunities. the same could also be said about other characters like crystal choi, luah lim, etc. but i just reread hunt for hostel and i have a lot of insane thoughts that need to be screamed about.

as a character who was the center of attention during her introduction arc, she has been reduced to simply an eli enabler and warren's love interest, who gets about 3 panels to really shine, and then is demoted back into window dressing.

warning: mild eli hate ahead but i do NOT hate eli, i just hate ptj for making everything hostel related eli-centric, when sally is arguably just as important.

so. lets start at the beginning.

from the very beginning, the eli jang arc was told from sally's perspective especially based off the narration, and her character during the majority of the eli jang arc BANGED. initially introduced as a classic demure, feminine savior figure for bad boy warren in the first chapter of the eli jang arc, it's then shown that she isn't as naive or one-dimensional as she may seem.

in fact, shes shown to be fiercely independent and self-sufficient, learning to live by herself and deal with her own problems without anyone helping her, while simultaneously grappling with her grandmother blaming her over her dad's death (side note this plotline, which could've added so much depth to her story was NEVER picked up again)

on my first read of the eli jang arc, this sequence actually punched me in the gut and sally became an instant fav

but i digress. continuing back to the main point, sally was a tremendously well written character (or as good as we're gonna' get when it comes to female characters by ptj) in the eli jang arc, whether it be her narration (scenes like "sometimes i think if i hadn't introduced them to eli back then, our story wouldn't have been such a tragedy"), or her actual actions in the story.

she was integral to the story. in fact, i would say that she was MORE central to the heart and soul of hostel than eli jang was (at first, before she got butchered by ptj and forgotten about) because it was HER that was providing for her family with HER own money, until eli stepped in months later. she was the one that everyone wanted to assist and protect because she was who was holding everyone together through her sacrifice and love.

LOOK AT HER!!! just LOOK AT HER!!! she is so noble and tragic and she does everything for the sake of her family, including starving herself! she is so tremendously loving and sacrifices so much for her family, which is why everyone unites around her to help her!

in fact, the reason warren, eli, and others devolve into crime and stealing is to help her get more money for food, as they can't bear to see her starve herself. while this does come off a little bit white knight-ey (oh a big strong man has to save the sweet damsel), the point is that she has this kind of power over the people around her through her genuine leadership skills

not only that, but she was actually also the one who came up with the idea of using their old building to provide for more homeless kids, showing that she really should be credited with the creation and management of the runaway fams, far more than she is in the story.

even though, immediately after, its shown that she didn't think enough about the financials of the situation, and eli gets his time to shine by coming up with the point organization stuff, the way its framed portrays both sally's idea and eli's financial proposal of the financial system as equally important things. this scene makes me think that, at the very least, sally and eli's importance should be on equal footing: sally is the passion, the heart, the core, while eli is the figurehead, the brains, the fighter.

in summary, sally was the person who united the original hostel A through her leadership, kindness, and sacrifice, and had so much soft power over everyone that the entirety of her family would do anything to help her. she also came up with the idea of helping runaway families, demonstrating her kindness and generosity.

not only that, she was still actively managing the runaway families and making money while eli fucked off to j high to become a barber, allowing her to get closer to the runaway fams and inspire them with her leadership.

with all that said, it's clear that sally should be a three-dimensional girlboss who uses her charisma and good personality to gain soft power and lead the people around her as one of the figureheads and hearts of the hostel crew, right?

well. no.

after the eli jang arc, she becomes close to useless.

i dont remember much of 2A outside of the big deal stuff, but what i do remember is that sally does nothing, wins a singular rock-papers-scissors game, and then becomes a damsel in distress again that warren needs to save and gets to show off his cool fighting skills in the process. (this may not be accurate, feel free to correct me if im wrong)

but my BIGGEST gripe is the hunt for hostel arc. the hunt for hostel arc was very much centered around eli, warren, and even jerry, more than it was sally, despite how much of an integral role she played in the formation of hostel. during the entire arc, she does basically nothing but watch on the sidelines

... and then ptj pulls this on us. they all unite because they admire and love eli jang so much? only eli jang? not warren chae, gangdong's mighty? not max and derek, the two uncles? not sally park, THE big mama?

i cannot emphasize how ironic it is that sally, the big mama, quite literally gave birth to the idea of the runaway fams, and yet nobody mentions her again afterwards, and only ever eli jang. like... what did eli ever do for you? give you a shitty haircut?

and when warren and eli leave, i FINALLY thought that ptj was going to give sally a moment to shine and show her by herself again, like she was all that time ago, and how she figures out how to save her family despite being unable to fight...

but no. we get this sick ass panel and then she is completely irrelevant again

the next example of the sally erasure comes when eugene is talking to eli about him joining workers. he tries to convince eli that this is the ONLY thing that he can do to protect his family, and that, now that he's here and so is warren, hostel is weak and helpless because the MEN that get everything done aren't there anymore and "oh no, what can sally park and the girls do?"

like fym "what can they do"?! sally is a LEADER and she has POWER and INFLUENCE (or at least, she should). but no, the narrative doesn't prove him wrong, and sally does next to nothing in the narrative.

i cannot emphasize how much more of a leader figure she is than eli btw. she took all the runaway kids under her wing. it was her idea to build an organization for these kids in the first place. she was the one singlehandedly raising money for all 7 high schoolers in her family before eli stepped in. she STARVED HERSELF and CUT HER OWN FINGERS trying to make food for her family. she was THE big mama. EVERYONE wanted to protect her and respect and love her. and yet ELI is the main character of hostel that is oh so important and that everyone will unite under????

"oh no without you how will anything get done, eli jang?" stfu

and even when she does do things, later on, it's really more of an excuse for vasco to shine. while she was the one to get heather's mom to forgive eli, as well as the one that got vasco to save eli in the first place, 1) her major role in this part of the story is entirely sidelined and given no narrative weight outside of being the reason that eli's healing arc can happen and 2) the only agency we've ever seen her having since hostel arc is in relation to eli. she only ever acts on her own to save eli. she PROBABLY did stuff outside of that to help hostel, but that is entirely offscreen and not focused on at all, so her leadership and agency when it comes to things outside of a MAN are ignored.

in chapter 478, i thought that she was once again given a brief moment to shine when she looked sad and all wondering what they would do once they didn't have the income workers supplied them with, and i was hoping that she'd get a chance to creatively problem solve around it to show a good character moment for her and the rest of hostel... but who am i kidding this is ptj of course he wouldnt do that. nah, it was just a scene so that vasco could introduce jay again and be like "hey guys jay is actually relevant to the story and he's a nice person, just so you guys dont forget that he's still there! and also ignore this deus ex machina ass solution to a conflict that could've been a really interesting character study!!"

so yeah. that's basically it. in conclusion, i think sally park is a HUGE missed opportunity for ptj to finally write a good female character. kind, compassionate, charismatic, smart, sally's got it all. however, just because she is a soft character doesn't mean that she's a pushover and she held tremendous power and authority because of everything she did for her family. however, ptj decides to do nothing with her and turn her into an eli enabler and a warren love interest instead, ignoring her leadership skills and influence.

and once again, no hate to eli, warren, jerry, jay, or any of the other character i just shat on to make a point!! i like all of them, but i just think that sally's character assassination to allow them to shine was an infuriating decision on ptj's part

#lookism #lookism manhwa #eli jang #jang hyun #eli lookism #warren chae #chae wonseok #jerry kwon #kwon jitae #sally park #lookism rant #literature analysis #(?) kinda #hostel #lookism webtoon #jay hong #hong jaeyeol #i hate how ptj treats his female characters #women deserve better

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nepentheseeker · 1 month

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Lookism Ending

When the mystery of the two bodies end and Charles Choi is finally defeated, I want lookism to go back to the old lookism era where everyone is being silly and doing dumb shits (like Jacedaichi arc or Seonong goes to Seoul arc) and finally pursuing a career as they'll be an adult.

Yenna will be in kindergarten! maybe Zack will gain enough courage to ask Mira out and he'll become the official best boxer of the world, honestly I want to see them getting married (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠), Zoe will probably ask Daniel out too (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠),Jay won't feel lonely anymore , all of his businesses will be successful(⁠ ⁠´⁠◡⁠‿⁠ゝ⁠◡⁠`⁠), Vin wouldn't be scared to walk outside without his sunglasses and only wear them when it's a sunny day or two avoid unnecessary attraction, I hope he becomes a better person- and will apologise to Duke for what he did. Maybe he'll actually focus on improving his rap lyrics and will eventually become a famous rapper :⁠,⁠-⁠). But will still get his ass beaten by Mary for being rude sometimes. Mary supremacy forever ᕙ⁠(⁠＠⁠°⁠▽⁠°⁠＠⁠)⁠ᕗ. And when he'll retire from the industry, he'd go back to cheongliang and teach Ssireum or maybe he wouldn't become a rapper at all - and would go back to cheongliang right after graduation. Mary would probably go back to Cheongliang after graduation to teach judo and compete in Olympics and win <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠>. Excited to see how Leonn and Vasco ship will sail . BNC will be doing what they're doing but I think Jace will become a private investigator . I can literally see Vasco encouraging him to date people - bro is still traumatized for what happened with him last time (ಥ⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠ಥ)

Honestly I have no idea what'll happen to Crystal.¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Samuel's inferiority complex will be gone and he'd be buddies with Jake, Big Deal will be alright again. Maybe Samuel will help them with an excellent marketing strategy so the girls wouldn't have to work so hard anymore. Maybe he'll join Big Deal again? Who knows. Man , I'd love to see Jake, Samuel, Sinu, Jason, Brad, Jerry , Yeonhui , Luah together being funny af again. Big Deal and its bromance - I miss it so damn much.༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

Johan's condition will be cured by Jinyoung. Maybe not totally but enough to live day to day life better than he ever could. And he'd finally see how much Zack actually cared . He'd meet Mira again but this time only platonic love for her . Yup , he's a man of his words so he'd still take care of Mira forever but! as a friend.

Cause ofc our girl Luah would make him fall . He didn't fell first but definitely fell harder. This two would be so cute (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

Thanks to Jay, Hostel would be fine too . Sally and Warren will finally become official. ( It'll be a great opportunity to tell your non lookism reader friend that Uncle and Big Mama are getting married and you're so happy for them without any context ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ ͡⁠°⁠ ͜⁠ʖ⁠ ͡⁠°⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯) Amy and Natalie would be in highschool , may Max and Derek's food truck be famous in Gangdong. And Eli will finally master the art of cutting hair (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠) and have his own salon. And as I said earlier, our lil cute princess Yenna would be a kindergartener (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ

It'd be sooo wholesome man .

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