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Sexism of Asian drama fans?

MarkJason

It seems Asian drama fans and especially kdrama fans are ok with noona romance, and there are lot of noona romance dramas, but very few dramas where the man is much older. I think it's ridiculous. I love this sexist attitude because in real life, and the western world, older men x young women are common and shown in dramas way more often and people don't care. Jdramas portray lot of relationships where the man is older and people are ok or at least neutral about it. Chinese dramas did lot of older man romances too despite some people hating. 


It seems to be a kdrama problem in general. Is this a cultural thing in Korea or what? 

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Lou

I dont truly think it is a Korean or Chinese thing. It is probably more a generational thing. Most watchers are very very young, and you see that well in the shift of korean dramaland. Productions are moving away from serious topics and more to the typical high school/college themes. And kids who are in their teens and early 20ties are finding it harder to imagine relationships with people that are the same age as their eg. teachers.

It gets easier the older they get. So let's see :) maybe things change again.

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MarkJason
 Lou:

I dont truly think it is a Korean or Chinese thing. It is probably more a generational thing. Most watchers are very very young, and you see that well in the shift of korean dramaland. Productions are moving away from serious topics and more to the typical high school/college themes. And kids who are in their teens and early 20ties are finding it harder to imagine relationships with people that are the same age as their eg. teachers.

It gets easier the older they get. So let's see :) maybe things change again. 

Okay, but how does that explain why  Kdrama fans hate on the older man, but not the older woman In the relationship? 

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Lou

Maybe it has something to do with one being more seen as normative approved while the other is not receiving the same attention.  One is more stigmatised nowadays than it was before. While, if you talk to older generations, it was previously opposite. 

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JadeScrollsInMoonlight

Well , my take is that. When the men are older, its not a big thing because the fls usually call them oppa. Its common so we dont pay attention and drama doesnt focuses enough on it as a barrier for leads to overcome or it as any kind of matter of issue in the relationship, because males in the relationship are expected to be more mature and dependable etc thus expecting them to be older and more settled in their life. Often and moslty the men are older by 2-6 years in most dramas or same age. Its just that noona romance is rare and taboo and exciting so its glorified more. Its similar to the phenomena that dowry abuse cases are a thousand times more than alimony cases. Rare things or uncommon things and sometimes you can say things that are in favor of the powerful are often glorified more than it is. Just because one shouts something doesnt make the matter more important.
Well women as a perceived broader audience of dramas, i myself prefer noona romances and didn't use to watch dramas where men were 10-15 yrs older than fl (suprisingly very common in lots of cdrama). Here i am not counting the fantasy dramas where the ml is 900+ yrs or just one millenia older than fl.

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JadeScrollsInMoonlight

Exactly. I mean if its noona romance isnt the ml supposed to be younger and making mistakes. One can accept stupid fls but not immature mls. Kinda wrong somewhere.

There is one thing i havent yet been able to wrap my mind around and such scenarios have often stopped me from from proceeding more into the drama. Often in dramas that are not natural with noona romance and want to focus on how weird the taboo is and easily make the situation flow. They start the story  with aone night stand or a younger ml who is too much physically attracted to fl. Like a sexier version of the romance. I understand as an older person and much more settled in life than ml, its hard for fl to fall for the ml naturally. I mean once women realise they can do it all by themselves, they dont neccessalrily need men to overcomplicate their lives. So, either they need flux to start the involvement of ml to shake the emotional barrier of fl. IDK why they always choose it to be one night stand, or sexual tension. Well, definetly there are many exceptions and have done outstandingly well. But believe sometimes the cocky younger ml attitude pisses one off especially in settings where the ml is a subordinate of the fl in the workplace and the script is shittily written. I mean how can the rookie ml even try to save the senior experienced fl from some hypothetical office issue?

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Netsuke

I can except more easily older man, younger woman, but older woman, younger man no. Not really.  But it depends on age gaps woman six years older, alright.  Woman ten to fifteen years older no.

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autumn iris

I don't think so. It depends on whether the younger lead is much more popular or not (like idols and traffic actors) and how much is the age-gap. I remember when Cha Eun Woo starring a drama together with Kim Nam Joo, a lot of people hating it but it turns out to be a melodrama with FL treating him as a son. But it's completely okay for Son Suk Ku and some people even hating the ending because he ends up with the younger counterpart on Heavenly ever After. Not watching both.

For younger woman, I think Shen Yue-Jerry Yan pairing? Also not watching it.

As for me, I kinda like age-gap. For example; Story of Minglan (C-historical drama), Majo no Jouken (J-taboo romance drama), and Goblin (K-fantasy drama).

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JadeScrollsInMoonlight

Well said. What I have found is the age gap cannot matter if the direction is wonderfully done! I mean if the director can make us fall in love with villains, make us feel pity for characters who don't deserve it, they often have the ability to romanticise and present the age gaps in a wonderful way. I have fallen for it time and again, only to realise later i am being capitalised

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