EPTKorean Drama Discussion - Page 136
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Nesserev
Belgium2760 Posts
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babylon
8765 Posts
 My bro suggested I take a shot whenever she gets caught by the police again, and another when she gets rescued by Shunji or Kang-to/Gaksital, but I might black out before I finish three eps, lol.I think there are two things going on with the women in Reply 1997. The show indeed portrayed the extreme side of fan culture very accurately -- if it were set in middle school, that is. I actually participated in fandom and hung out with girls who were heavily involved with fandom in HS and even college (y'know, people who did cosplay + dyed their hair weird colors + gay fanfic, the whole shebang), and they were muuuuuuuch more mature and quiet about it. The girls in the show seem to act way younger than they are supposed to (18), which is why I found it hard to believe, but that seems to be typical of KDramas, I'm noticing, esp. for girls. One other thing I found lazy about the writing in Reply 1997 re: the women is ... they are all slight variations on one theme (one theme that did nothing but irritate me). :/ I get what you're saying about expecting too much, but I don't think it's unreasonable to hope for at least a Final Fantasy level of variety in terms of female characters. Final Fantasy 10 literally has a more diverse cast of women than Reply 1997. T__T I've been seeing a ton of recs for that show in this thread, so I'll check it out after I finish Gaksital.  @ andyrau: You're right about the target audience of course, and they are definitely playing on a tried-and-true method. Also, yes, I find the gender inequality complaint likewise irritating. As you say, it's a whole 'nother discussion, but I think the solution is to simply write a variety of women with depth, regardless of their roles in the story. (People tend to get too hung up about "You're writing a housewife, death to you and your sexism!" when it should instead be, "If we remove the woman from the circumstances of the story, would she actually function as a well-written character?") About the brash girls, yes, I agree. I have nothing else to say except that I think they function as a very easy "hook" for viewers, which is why they exist in such large quantities. When you write a TV show, you need an interesting lead. The easiest way to create an engaging lead is to take a quality you would find in an ordinary person and to magnify it x1000, then stick it on-screen, then attempt to balance it out so that she's not too irritating. Sure, no one acts like that, but it's sure fun to watch. Applies doubly so for dramas. Also, the tomboy girls (act like a guy, dress like a guy) are basically female wish fulfillment fantasies: "I wish a guy would like me for my personality, not my looks." | ||
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babylon
8765 Posts
On August 07 2013 14:35 Nesserev wrote: Watch Girl K, and see how Han Groo slaughters everyone... (also, boobs) The 'damsel in distress' has nothing to do with gender inequality... There's always a 'damsel in distress' just because it's appealling to a large public: men, who'd rather empathize with the male character, like it when the character that they sympathize with saves the girl, and girls, vice versa, like it when the girl that they empathize with, is saved by a guy... If you're a guy, you tend to fantasize about how you save the girl; if you're a girl, you tend to fantasize about how're you're saved by a guy. It's not like you always fantasize about how some girl comes to the rescue and saves you, right? If a girl becomes a 'damsel in distress', it isn't because she's weak, but because of the situation. There have been a lot of strong female characters in many different dramas. EDIT: I should've read your other posts, yeah, you get the idea, lol... I don't fantasize about saving people OR being rescued at all. :O I fantasize about wowing people with my Starcraft skills, yo. Anyways. I hate to turn this into a gender inequality comment, but I do think the popularity of the damsel-in-distress trope is definitely a symptom of deeply-rooted sexism in the targeted audience. It is similar to how the popularity of the martial-arts-Asian-ninja trope is a symptom of deeply-rooted racism in the targeted audience.I think you are also generalizing too much. Some female characters are damsels in distress, because they are weak. Some are not, because of their situation. Which one it is depends on a number of factors, incl. the type of story that is being told and the setting. I don't think having weak female characters is an issue, so long as ALL your female characters aren't weak. Then there is also a difference between a badly written character and a weak character. :/ They often overlap, but sometimes badly written characters are strong characters (e.g. most if not all of Moffat's female characters from Doctor Who). And sometimes weak characters are well-written (e.g. Shunji from Gaksital, I can see his arc dipping into madness already). I'm still trying to decide where Mok Dan falls; she is certainly a damsel, but atm I'm way more inclined towards calling her "idiotic" than weak, lol. Maybe my sensitivity to Idiot Plot and Damsel-in-Distress is just combining and making me dislike her. ^^; Having said all that, Gaksital is seriously impressing me. Finished another three eps. today. Minus the occasional Mok Dan fuck up and suspending my disbelief: great plotting, tight writing, pretty good acting, nice scenery and shooting, and spot-on pacing. Also, BRUTAL. | ||
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PepsiMaxxxx
Sweden5452 Posts
+ Show Spoiler + To bad that Song Jong Hos roll turned out so creepy. | ||
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ProV1
United States980 Posts
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
Watched the first two episodes of Two Weeks as well, and its off to an excellent start as well. Beautiful song to open the drama: | ||
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Lokk
Canada635 Posts
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{ToT}ColmA
Japan3260 Posts
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catleaves
United States506 Posts
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Limpet
United Kingdom163 Posts
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{ToT}ColmA
Japan3260 Posts
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Joxx
France82 Posts
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zefreak
United States2731 Posts
On August 07 2013 15:35 babylon wrote: I don't fantasize about saving people OR being rescued at all. :O I fantasize about wowing people with my Starcraft skills, yo. Anyways. I hate to turn this into a gender inequality comment, but I do think the popularity of the damsel-in-distress trope is definitely a symptom of deeply-rooted sexism in the targeted audience. It is similar to how the popularity of the martial-arts-Asian-ninja trope is a symptom of deeply-rooted racism in the targeted audience.I think you are also generalizing too much. Some female characters are damsels in distress, because they are weak. Some are not, because of their situation. Which one it is depends on a number of factors, incl. the type of story that is being told and the setting. I don't think having weak female characters is an issue, so long as ALL your female characters aren't weak. Then there is also a difference between a badly written character and a weak character. :/ They often overlap, but sometimes badly written characters are strong characters (e.g. most if not all of Moffat's female characters from Doctor Who). And sometimes weak characters are well-written (e.g. Shunji from Gaksital, I can see his arc dipping into madness already). I'm still trying to decide where Mok Dan falls; she is certainly a damsel, but atm I'm way more inclined towards calling her "idiotic" than weak, lol. Maybe my sensitivity to Idiot Plot and Damsel-in-Distress is just combining and making me dislike her. ^^; Having said all that, Gaksital is seriously impressing me. Finished another three eps. today. Minus the occasional Mok Dan fuck up and suspending my disbelief: great plotting, tight writing, pretty good acting, nice scenery and shooting, and spot-on pacing. Also, BRUTAL. First of all, there are many many dramas with female empowerment themes. Maybe you have missed them, but there is basically a rom-com sub genre of female 30s office worker characters who are hardly 'damsels in distress'. In fact, it's usually the other way around. Even something as popular as Coffee Prince has a main lead who, rather than allowing herself be 'saved' via her rich significant other, decides to pursue her own career opportunities and passions rather than live the easy life. It's a very prominent theme. So yeah, you are generalizing. Watch less high-school dramas if it bothers you edit: Going back and reading some of your previous posts, I think I probably overreacted. Many of my favorite shows (soulmates, Bottom of the 9th with 2 outs, Coffee Prince, Dal Ja's spring, etc) have either woman empowerment or sex positive themes. Hardly examples of the 'traditional asian women' stereotype. | ||
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anGe
Belgium23 Posts
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LlOoKkIi
Korea (South)473 Posts
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goody153
44020 Posts
so i got really bored and decided that i will try watch a korean series ... but i have almost close to zero knowledge about korean series .. the ones i only watched were city hunter(i thought it was interesting) and lovers in paris(i was still a kid that time and my older sister was watching so i have no choice) can anyone give me a toptier korean romcom ? doesnt matter if its old and please give me something not very cliche and more preferably that the male MC and female MC lives together .. no fantasy please (my girlfriend is a gumiho) and i also dont like historical i also have a question .. is full house good (i know its kinda old)? and i'm a guy so i seriously have no knowledge about this .. so please talk like i'm a little kid .. thanks | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
I would suggest I Hear Your Voice. You're missing out on a lot if you don't give this a try because it contains just a bit of fantasy (mind reading). Playful Kiss and Coffee House are okay romcoms, no where near as good as I Hear Your Voice. | ||
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{ToT}ColmA
Japan3260 Posts
On August 13 2013 10:18 Joxx wrote: No one is watching "Who are you?" , "The Master's Sun" or "Her Legend"? They are ok, though I prefer Good Doctor, got to love Joo Won's acting. already bookmarked them on my to watch drama list ~~ anyone can tell me why those length dramas always go so badly in the end? 100 years inheritance could ve been okay for 16 or so episodes but that was a slugfest in the end. Same goes for Cheer up Mr Kim, first 20 episodes or so it was so awesome, than the first main girl turned shit and everything was weird TT; | ||
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Joxx
France82 Posts
Full House is good even if it was aired in 2004. Top romantic comedies are : Boys Before Flowers You're Beautiful Personal Preference Honeslty though, you are missing on quite a lot of good dramas if you don't like historical, a little bit of fantasy and not cliche's dramas. Even the 3 I listed are kind of cliche, that's how korean / japanese drama are. | ||
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goody153
44020 Posts
On August 13 2013 20:15 skyR wrote: Pretty sure most dramas are very cliche. I would suggest I Hear Your Voice. You're missing out on a lot if you don't give this a try because it contains just a bit of fantasy (mind reading). Playful Kiss and Coffee House are okay romcoms, no where near as good as I Hear Your Voice. my friend was going crazy over I Hear Your Voice .. does it contain action not just pure romance ? cause i could try it .. well could you suggest anything that is not fantasy and historical ? i am okish with it seen the playful kiss in the anime version of it .. | ||
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