Tumgik
unnursvanablog · 3 days
Text
Pachinko / tv show review
Tumblr media
This is a pretty much a spoiler free review of the first season of Pachinko
It's not often you get a great adaptation of a great novel that has so much scope and a rich story to tell, but I think Pachinko is a rather successful adaptation and handles the subject matter well. It's a big novel that leaves a lot behind once the reading is over and is a true family story that spans generations through Japanese colonial rule over Korea and then as uprooted and anxious immigration to Japan and what follows that second-class citizenship.
The cast, sets, cinematography, and costumes are all excellent, and each episode feels like a short film in a sense. However, we only got to see part of this big story in this first season. The pace of the story is slow, but the story never seems to drag its feet or lose too much focus on the story it wants to tell us.
How the story moves between periods isn't always too clear, but the show often gives viewers notice of where they are in the story. Even though past and present events certainly mirror each other in certain places and explain the characters and their hidden backstories it does feel a bit choppy at times. But because of this time jumps that the story leaves some of these storylines a bit short or they feel rougher around the edges than one would have liked.
There are also certain characters, moments, or backstories that the story focuses on that are less interesting than others – but there was also a thing I noticed from the book. The story certainly shines brightest when focusing on the perspectives of the women in the story and Sunja, the matriarch, truly has all my heart. How much these women fought for their family's survival even though their lives suffered is breathtaking and it makes sense for the show to not beautify those things too much since they're based on real events.
Both the book and the episodes tell a story that is rather realistically depressing, but not necessarily in a totally crude or bleak way. It's a story about endurance and finding a way to thrive despite everything, and it certainly works for every tear the show squeezes out of you – and oh boy, where there are lots of tears. There really is not a big happy ending for any of the characters, they just have to keep fighting for their lives and hope that's enough until the end.
This is a great exploration of culture and life, but also the loss of it. The story is quite thought-provoking and poignant, pulling at your heartstrings with its realism and resilience of the characters, allowing the audience to confront the reality these characters live in. The scope of the story is epic, although the story manages to feel intimate and personal. This season successfully gives the viewer a pretty open ending to the story just in case there is no follow-up and the story doesn't get another season, despite having so much more to say.
2 notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 6 days
Text
watching that chicken nugget kdrama and I just kinda want it to be even more absurd... and maybe have a bit more to say. I am very much struggling with what it's trying to tell the audiance. What is the heart of the story.
1 note · View note
unnursvanablog · 12 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
when you are one episode in to Queen of Tears, the new highly anticipated and very promising new kdrama and it pulls on of your least fav tropes on you at the end of the episode aka her being terminally ill and only has about three months t live (him being prepared with the divorce papers right at that minute is very amusing tho) but that's on me… because I did kinda go into this drama blind. I do that with quite a few dramas these days.
And while I do hate hate HATE that trope I do also know that there are always exceptions to the trope and in the right hands it can turn out fantastic. And I am just going to have faith in Queen of Tears and let it take me on this ride and hope for the best. I have seen two or three dramas where another least fav kdrama trope (memory loss) was done so so so well. Miracles do happen!
This drama is a soapy tale of crazy rich people being kinda crazy and over the top. And that can be ether super interesting and fun to watch or very very grating and too much. So far it's the former. It's very much used to frame the story and the humor of the show but it I almost wish it was used a bit more sparingly because it did feel a tad heavy handed at times, there are a lot of key players that were introduced and I can just tell how much filler we are going to get with some of these characters and their crazy antics.
And the core family is fun and the cast is very likeable. I am constantly going… on this one! whenever I see an actor pop up. I do suspect that Kwak Dong Yeon playing another dumb but loveable younger brother in an over the top rich family is going to be the death of me again. They can give me some good filler scenes with him just being adorable and I would not complain (too much).
Also the serial killer boss from Psychopaths' Diary is the second lead? ooooh, this is going to get crazy.
I worry about how much they are going to streatch this story and they know they can do that, add in tone of product placement and filler scenes because the two leads are very good and popular and will bring in ratings and viewers. So they are going to make every episode unessiarily long just for the sake of it almost.
I ran into the same problem with Kim Soo Hyun's last drama where I just felt like the theme, the characters and the love story and all that was there but it just felt done to death or drawn out way too much, way to thin towards the end of it and every episode was so long that I just got very very bored with it. It didn't add any extra depth to the characters or the story. It was just dragging on for the sake of keeping the viewers for longer.
I worry about the focus of the story towards the end tbh. I enjoyed the first two episodes a lot, but I felt like it was way too long and probably could have been cut down a bit and keep to the core of the story (and then after that has been established you expand a bit) and I just didn't have the attention span to watch the whole thing in one go. I put the drama on pause in a middle of an episode and then came back once I was ready to finish it.
You can also get a sense of that through how the drama is filmed. It's more just stylish, but I wouldn't really say that it's that focused on stunning scenery or cinematography. I guess we could say style over substance.
BECAUSE KDRAMA EPISODES OR ANY EPISODE OF ANY TV SHOW EVER SHOULD NOT BE OVER AN HOUR LONG unless you absolutely have to. Like if it's a final episode or whatever. It just makes the story not flow as well. It often makes the pacing a bit weird.
Him wanting out of the marriage, but not wanting to get a divorce in this over-the-top crazy family and rather just wait until his terminally ill wife dies, her thinking that he is finally showing her some kindness and warmth after closing his heart on her (probably because she is too busy thinking about keeping up apperances for the sake of her family and duties to them) and them slowly falling in love again over the course of the show is a very nice hook to a story.
And the story sets up both leads up well enough that you feel and root for both of them.
Like you are rooting for him to get out of there, because this life is making him (but also both of them) miserable, but you know he is ultimately going to fail in some way because they are going to end up together in the end. But it's about that journey and not the destination. Unless the drama decides to be very very bold and just kill her off at the end and make is suffer a whole lot. But it also makes you root for her, because she does need that love and support and we see her caring oh so much, in her own subdued way (probably because she sees the crazy in the family and want to sort of be that anchor that's keeping it all together), sort of behind his back. You do want them to sort of just take a breather from it all and slowly come together again.
I do kinda hope and wish that this show picks up the pace a bit and also just truly embraces the crazy and the soap opera aspects of the show and just goes all out. I want to enjoy some over the top nonsense that just makes you laugh and cheer because of how absurd it is. As long as they manage to ground the drama in it's own reality it's going to be fine.
Queen of Tears, please just be fun. I want to not be in a kdrama slump and have something that excites me every damn week.
6 notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 13 days
Text
currently watching queen of tears (I will probably do a first impressions post at some point tomorrow) but I have said it before and I shall say it again... whoever at TvN is deciding to make each of their drama episodes more than an hour long... I want you fired! There is no need for that nonsense. Just make the show 20 episode long. Cut some filler out. FFS.
15 notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 24 days
Text
Dune fans in the 60s: Paul Atreides is a modern literary hero!
Frank Herbert writing Dune Messiah:
Tumblr media
1K notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 30 days
Text
I'm getting so sick of major female characters in historical media being incredibly feisty, outspoken and public defenders of women's rights with little to no realistic repercussions. Yes it feels like pandering, yes it's unrealistic and takes me out of the story, yes the dialogue almost always rings false - but beyond all that I think it does such a disservice to the women who lived during those periods. I'm not embarrassed of the women in history who didn't use every chance they had to Stick It To The Man. I'm not ashamed of women who were resigned to or enjoyed their lot in life. They weren't letting the side down by not having and representing modern gender ideals. It says a lot about how you view average ordinary women if the idea of one of your main characters behaving like one makes them seem lame and uninteresting to you.
14K notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
Netflix, I don’t know how to tell you this but a woman doesn’t have to be self taught to be a strong female character. It’s ok to let her know her limitation and ask for help. It’s ok to let her get angry, it’s ok to let her be jealous, it’s ok to let your female character have flaws and WORK on them. Your female character doesn’t have to become a master on her own to be memorable, it just makes her accomplishment feel unearned.
11K notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
Avatar: the Last Airbender / tv show review.
Tumblr media
This is a pretty much spoiler free review of the first season of Avatar the Last Airbender on Netflix.
I knew as I was going into this series that not every storyline from the original animation was going to be included in the new netflix adaptation and the plot would be at risk of stretches itself too thin, there would be some cramming and mixing of plot points to move the story along in only eight episodes. But it certainly felt a bit painted by numbers and without too much care. Sort of like they had a list they needed to check off some plot-boxes and didn't really care how they did it.
This netflix adaptation does manage to look cool and be action packet (even if the actions that was used for the bending didn't really seems to be very distinct between nations), which is truly what people seem to want out of fantasy tv these days. But any action doesn’t hit as hard without the quiet moments where we build on the characters and let the plot slowly breathe and build. Because in order for the action to have stakes you need to make the audience care for the characters. And therefor Avatar the last Airbender fails a bit with it's very well choreographed action, because so much of it felt rushed.
A good majority of the character’s backstories was shown way too early and then the show having a bunch of characters like Fire Lord and Azula have scenes way to early and it ruins the suspense and fails to make the story build up to something in the end. I can understand that with a lot of the fat trimmed of the now very bare-bone plot they needed that focus to the story, but the mystery behind that 'big bad fire lord' is no longer there and I think it's because the people who made the show didn't trust the audience to get it without showing it to us.
You can tell how little the show actually trust its audience with the way the show very badly infodumps the backstory and the lore onto you and the sheer amount of tell but not show storytelling of the main characters. The characters talk endlessly about things that plague them as characters, how they can't be kids and have fun or the pressure of becoming a leader at a young age, the responsibility they have and the consequences of the war but for all the talk about it we rarely get to see it in action. It's like they don't have the time or the trust in the audience to making the characters too flawed and then go on a journey to change. Because they need to get from a to c and tick all those other plot boxes in x amount of time.
There is a sprinkle fun bits here and there that will undoubtedly excite the original fan of the story because you loved those moments the original animated series. The cast is doing an admirable job and manage to make Avatar: The Last Airbender into a fine, if somewhat mindless TV spectacle. The series never destroys the original story, but there is little there that is a refreshing new approach to the story. It's easy to get the impression that the people behind the scenes only saw the fun action and a story that is still popular on the Internet but did not understand the essence of Avatar: the Last Airbender.
I'm still very surprised how Sozin's comet won't have as much significance in the story in this show, not only because it was such a crucial part of the story in the animated series but because we see the firenation destroy the airnomads and therfor becoming the lords of that universe because of that comet and from such from a narrative point of view, it would be an ideal opportunity to build up to that storyline and go full circle. Letting the power of the comets be what will ultimately cripple the firenation in the end.
But many producers and media executives know nothing about how to tell a story or have much media literacy and just see "Game of Thrones was a hit... because it was gory, full of action and people like to see characters die unexpectedly in a brutal ways" and not because Martin worked hard to buildup the characters and their flaws and make sure that the complex characters made mistakes that they then had to deal with (which the show did well in the first three seasons) and mistakes that often lead to their deaths instead of the plot saving them because they are the main character.
Avatar the Last Airbender is an action-packed little fantasy show that seems to be able to be some surface level fun and an introduction to new audience to the this fantasy universe. You can certainly have fun with it, marvel at the costumes and the CGI and it has its good moments and enjoyable callbacks to the original source material to keep you going all the way to the end. But it lacks care and heart and the warmth of the original that came with its very strong character arcs and fun adventures that this adaptation let's fall on the sidelines for some action and rushed plotting.
5 notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
there’s a reason why the entire story of avatar the last airbender begins and ends with katara. there’s a reason why we are introduced to katara first before we are introduced to any other character. there’s a reason why katara is the narrator. there’s a reason why the creators have emphasized over and over again that katara is just as titular to the story as aang - she’s the other main character.
when you water down katara - remove her compassion, her ability to connect with others, her nurturing role, her ANGER and RAGE and DRIVE - you water down the very fundamentals of the story. you drastically and severely alter the core dynamics of the gaang, because katara was so important to the development of every single one of them. she was the rock and glue that held team avatar together.
katara was unlike any other character to ever appear on television; she was a young brown girl who took no shit from anyone, yet at the same time remained kind and compassionate and nurturing. katara was a force of nature; proud of her heritage and culture, burdened by the responsibility of being the last southern water bender of the water tribe, angered over the death of her mother and everything that the fire nation took from her, determined to help every single person in need, determined to change the world, angry and resentful because old men and rules and laws kept telling her what she could or could not do, thus, she was determined to restructure thousands of years of patriarchy that stood against her from accomplishing her goals and dreams.
watering down katara into at most 2-3 tangible characteristics, stripping her away of all her motivation and agency and nuance, telling the audience that she wants to help and change the world only to have her stand in the background with an air of grief, demonstrates that the writers of the live action fundamentally misunderstand the spirit of avatar. and that’s something so unforgivable. no matter how many changes they decide to make, or how much they decide to stay true to the original story in other areas, no matter how many flashy VFX fight scenes we get - if you fail to properly understand katara, you fail to understand the heart and soul of avatar the last airbender, everything that makes avatar such a timeless classic.
20K notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
why do I see people complaining left and right aboout them cutting sokkas sexism arc but not about them completely cutting sokka out of the jet arc??? which in my humble opinion was much more important to sokkas character development overall and as a leader. sokka being the only one not blindly believing jet and his heroic act and instead trusting his instinct and revealing jets twisted morals and cruel plan that could have led to the death of a whole village full of innocent people??? no one???
10K notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
genuinely one of the worst things that’s happened to television in the last few years (exacerbated by streaming services) is death of Filler. going from 20 episodes to 8 because “we didn’t really need that episode where the main characters went to the beach right? it had no long lasting effect” but we DID!!! we needed to see how they act without the Big Bad Plot and to establish the dynamics between the characters and lay in the sun (do they forget sunscreen? how do they react to a thieving seagull? do they get buried in the sand or do they do the burying?). the plot isn’t everything. the action doesn’t hit as hard without the quiet moments. give us character development and our little scenes back
101K notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
Just started avatar the last airbender adaptation last night and the very bad infodump and show but not tell storytelling aside... what do you mean they aren’t building up to Sozin's comet... because we just see the fire nation destroy the air nomads due to a power of a comet and wouldn't it make so much sense from a storytelling perspective to build up to that final plotpoint and sort of go full circle and use the power of a comet to criple the fire nation in the end?
2 notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
Marry My Husband / kdrama review.
Tumblr media
This is just my opinions on the kdrama Marry My Husband, pretty much spoiler free.
I really enjoy it when kdramas surprise me or sneak up on me like Marry My Husband did. Because I had no interest in watching it until half of it had come out, but somehow it fell into my arms because I needed a cute romcom to watch during the darkest time of the year and I'd heard good things about it. And I don't regret starting that journey at all.
I've fallen a bit out of drama romcoms over the years – in the past it was the genre that I watched the most but now it's sageuks. But despite that, I've enjoyed Park Min Young in romcoms so often over the years, and her warm and easygoing on-screen demeanor tends to draw me well into the characters she's portraying.
Marry My Husband focuses largely on her character, Kang Ji Won, and her quest for revenge and a better life that fills her with more passion and hopefully a better ending – which is a very engaging and compelling story to fallow, and I think the drama does a great job of making us feel for her. Even if it goes a little into too much victim complex and the characters tend to be a little too naïve at times.
Many of the secondary characters and their side stories were also very entertaining or interesting – which I think is essential in this kind of office drama. Both the blossoming friendships in the office, but also villains would completely steal the show for me. Some of the characters are horrible people, like Ji Won's ex-friend and husband, but the drama manages to illustrate well how subtle they are and how they manage to use people. The actors and script made them very interesting to watch while you're praying for their downfall. They feel like complex, multifaceted characters who can look funny or fascinating on the outside like many abusers are. But even though some of it felt a bit over the top at times.
For some time, it seemed that romance wasn't a priority in the story, which doesn't pick up until well around the second half of the drama. But I thought it was a very wise decision while everything else is being set up. It gives the drama time to highlight the emotional abuse Kang Ji Won is dealing with and trying to break away from so she can live. But all these different side stories also give us a little break from the romance that starts to drag on a little towards the end.
To me, romance is actually the weakest part of the drama, and it could just be because I don't think Yoo Ji Hyuk is a particularly interesting character. I thought he was a little dull and I don't think Na In Woo is a particularly charming actor on screen. He's just fine. he's tall and handsome, yet often he feels like he is just there, like a beautiful blank canvas, for a good majority of the drama. The rest of the cast was doing such a good job with their characters and sometimes made his scenes a little stiff in comparison, for me.
He did slowly start to make sense to me as a person and romantic partner when Ji won started falling for him and you get to fall in love with her – which is what the best romance films tend to do in my opinion. You fall in love with the characters and through the characters. But there were parts where I found his scenes, when no one else was with him, a bit full and just not that interesting. Like his backstory and past felt a bit too much of a kdrama cliché for me.
Overall, I found Marry My Husband a gripping and interesting story full of emotions that was far gloomier than I expected from such a romcom drama. But that didn’t hurt the story at all. There were interesting characters that you could hate and lovable characters you could root for, and a fair number of stakes to make the story exciting. The narrative flows well and doesn't drag on too much, which is a bit of a bane for many romcom kdrama, especially towards the end, even if it did turn a bit too melodramatic and clichéd at times at times.
What caught my attention most about Marry My Husband was its use of comedy for the villains of drama. We are often made to laugh at them but not with them, and humor is also used to show how they could seem good and fascinating on the surface. It shows their insecurities and inferiority feelings and why they hold on to other people and drag them down because of them, but also how they manage to deceive the people around them. The way Ji Won saw them before she had another chance to live and gain clarity. That and Ji Won's revenge was what really gripped me all throughout this drama – Ji Won's on-screen revenge was often a certain cathartic release for the viewer, in a good way.
5 notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
it's always "a man falls in love with a man and is scared of being gay until he realizes that he is actually in love with a woman".
why is it never "a man falls in love with a woman and is convinced he is straight until he finds out the woman is a man and realizes that he is in fact extremely gay and okay with it"?
or... better yet... "a man falls in love with a man who turns out to be a woman and [here's the kicker] he acknowledges that he would have loved her as a man, even though he ALSO loves her as a woman."
89 notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 1 month
Text
Is this tree from Captivating the King...
Tumblr media
Mu-deok's tree? (from Alchemy of Souls)
Tumblr media
Yes it is!
70 notes · View notes
unnursvanablog · 2 months
Text
Love consuming european media and then come onto tumblr and find absolutely no gifs of it anywhere
0 notes
unnursvanablog · 2 months
Text
The second to last episode of the newest season of queer eye has a woman who identifies as a biromantic demisexual and honestly hearing those words uttered out loud on a tv show and people treating it respectfully made my silly little heart sing and I teared up
0 notes