Thank you so much for reading even when you're tired, @etheraltaekibum. These articles took so long not only due…
Oh, don't get me wrong, when I ask for a strong female lead, I don't expect perfection. Far from it, in fact! Perfection in a character tends to put me off since I cannot empathize. Just like a fearless character will never get to me like a "courageous" character. Because a fearless character most often than not has so much plot armor I never fear for them... and as a result, I never care for them. Whereas a courageous character acts despite their fear and that makes them admirable.
But I digress. I think for SG you would have to judge for yourself once you've watched the show. The heart of the matter when it comes to romance is that, for the FL to be with the ML she shouldn't have to be "weakened". She shouldn't have to change of sacrifice her dreams in order to "become the male's bride" so to speak. I think that's the issue with older dramas. It always seem like the ML evolved into a better character while the FL either stayed the same or even de-evolved.
On that note, strength cannot be measured under a single parameter. I've often seen people claim that a certain character is strong because "she could kick a guy". But that doesn't mean the character is well-written. Being able to kick a guy also doesn't speak of strength. Just like a character crying doesn't make the character weak. In fact, an emotionally intelligent character is often-time a really strong character. But here's the thing, for a character to be emotionally intelligent they have to know their emotions and how to accept them, rather than allow their emotions to control them.
A female lead loses someone important and she cries, that's fine. That's human even! A female lead loses someone important and cries so much she can't even function. She stops going to work, stops eating and stands in the rain... crying and crying? Well, that's an emotionally incompetent character and, as such, not a strong person yet (last is the key word). I tend to get annoyed with the character doesn't evolve from that "being reigned by emotions" aspect, since it's an unhealthy thing.
Now, if I were to share the parameters I used to measure strength (which I shared in my 5 Reasons the Watch "The Last Empress" Article) they would be as follows.
1. SENSE OF AGENCY OR IMPACT ---------------------- This relates to how important the character we're evaluating is within the story. If the story can survive without the character, then that means her role is of little to no real importance. Therefore, she has no sense of agency. A character without a sense of agency becomes a) a secondary character or b) a background character.
2. PARTICIPATION ---------------------- How active is the character in the story? Did she made things happen (active) or did things happen to her (passive)? If she made things happen, did she do so proactively (she got things done through conscious decision-making, planning, and/or actions)? Did she made decisions or was she reactive? Meaning, she reacted or passively followed plans set by others characters.
3. BALANCE & CONSISTENCY (this is key!) ---------------------- This parameter focuses on the character's personality. First thing is to figure out is if the character is properly balanced. The easiest way to determine this is by listing and comparing her strengths & virtues against her weaknesses & flaws.
A balanced list usually results in a more relatable and complex character. A list with too many strengths and not enough weaknesses may indicate the character has been idealized. This is commonly known as a Mary Sue for women and Gary Sue for men (The Princess' Man is a drama that showcases this).
A list with more weaknesses than strengths may yield an unrelatable character that will frustrate or annoy the viewers.
However, a list on paper may be disproven by actions and this is where consistency comes into play. Consistency is achieved when what we're "told" match what we're "shown".
A perfect example of a passive female lead which is riddled with inconsistencies is Geum Jan Di from Boys Over Flowers. We're "told" that she loves swimming and her dream was to participate in the Olympics. We're shown she trains every day... Anyone who has ever swam knows how good of an excersize that is and how much stamina you'd built if you swam everyday. But when it comes down to proving that: a) she loses against a guy who does pottery and b) she ends up needing saving every time she's in the water (because leg cramps...). That's a character we're told is something but we're shown she's not; a staple of lazy writing and convenience plot-holes.
4.CHARACTER GROWTH ---------------------- This parameter helps determine whether the story had an impact on the character we're analyzing. A way to determine this is by asking: >> Did she change from the first episode to the last? >>Did she overcome something? This can be anything from getting over a trauma, achieving a goal, fixing a flaw, learning something new, etc. >>Was she given dreams and /or goals? If so, did he/she accomplished it or them?
The more parameters the writer gives a character, the strongest the character becomes for me.
And that became a lengthy response haha. I had some of that already written down because at some point, I do want to write an article about it. I just need to find the time to actually compile more examples. By the way, these are the same parameters I use to measure MLs. Though more often than not, a ML will have all of them and it's only the FL who's left hanging.
It did't get scrapped, I just hadn't found the time to write it. It of course didn't help that I had all the data…
>>Hold up, wait. "I started adding the "don't use this, use that" explanation to the ones least used"...
Keep in mind that I only did it when I was writing this article and found tags that were exactly the same thing, such as: "Cold Man/Warm Woman" vs "Cold Man/Warm Girl" -_-. So I had to check the dramas in each tag, compare them, realize that the first tag was more popular than the latter, tag the dramas that were only tag with the latter, go into each drama tagged with the latter and suggest a "delete" of the tag and then I wrote in the tag description the "don't use this, use that..."
I didn't do it for a lot of them, but I also kept seeing the "don't use this, use that..." for other tags (which I assume a mod may have edited). I know that there was a more recent discussion over at the forums on how to handle tags. By then, however, I'd already written my article and that was that, lol.
>> Tags as "trigger-warnings" There was a discussion on my previous article about this one. Some people tag potential triggers because other users sometimes would go into the tags to make sure there are no triggering scenes for them. So I do tend to tag all types of "child abuse", "domestic abuse", "animal abuse" and "sexual abuse" chief among them.
It would be most helpful if the trigger tags could have their own separate space. That way it wouldn't spoil things for everyone.
>> Ending tags There is now a way to mark the tags as spoilers which is great! The only thing marking it as a spoiler ensures is that it doesn't make it to the drama's page (visible below the synopsis). Unfortunately, if you were to click in the "vote tags" you'd be able to see the spoiler (which kind of defeats the purpose).
By the comments and the discussion the analyzing tags articles sparked, I got to see how different people used the tags (and increase my understanding).
The heart of the matter is that the tag system also works as a filter system (without which these articles wouldn't have been possible) for searching dramas. So if someone wanted to find "happy-ending" dramas, they would only need to type that. Or if someone wanted to avoid a sad ending, then they could check to see if it has a "tragic ending" tag. Although you and I may not care about the ending, a lot of people will. And sometimes people may be going through difficulties and seeing a tragic drama may not be helpful.
Again, I would love it if the two things were a separate system. Where we could choose to add something as a tag (visible) or a filter (invisible save for when you use the explore function in the site). But until that happens, we must work with what we have trying to be as understanding as possible D:.
Thank you so much for reading even when you're tired, @etheraltaekibum. These articles took so long not only due…
I think the problem is that K-dramas are sometimes deceiving, especially at first. We may see the FL kicking ass during the first couple of episodes, only to reduce her to a damsel in distress towards the latter half.
Perhaps a drama that jumps to mind when it comes to this "strenght-related inconsistency" is "Secret Garden". We are shown the FL able to handle the ML (physically-speaking) during the first few episodes. Only for her to be unable to shrug off his grip later down the line. We also see her fairly independent, proud and focus on her work; only to see her become dependent (emotionally) on the ML and never talk back to him. It's been a while since I watched the show, but I remember being very disappointed and putting her in my "not a strong FL" bucket hahaha.
Or worse, we tag a FL as strong (because she is) except that her participation wanes and becomes inexistent for more than half the drama. At which point it would've been better to not tag her at all. since it creates an expectation that she would be a strong character (and strongly written character should come hand in hand with activeness and a sense of agency).
I kind of wish this drama didn't have romance in it, because I don't feel like it's well-executed. It almost feels like fate decided that the two leads be together, therefore I didn't see the process of falling in love. So I find the romance distracting.
The antagonist's development, however, is what keeps me coming back.
Hello fellow members!Do you know any other dramas (preferably Korean) that make you pity the villain? The ones…
The Nokdu Flower, Catch the Ghost, Angel's Last Mission: Love (though this one gets a little boring), My Country: The New Age (several antagonists in this one, but the main one has quite a sad story) and Children of Nobody to name a few.
All this talk of protecting Joon Young... I would just love for someone to point out that she's a highly trained…
I know! I was annoyed at this episodes. But you know what the worst thing is? That after "not listening to them" and "claiming she has this under control" the writers decide that she'll end up facing danger.
I would've preferred (I mean things can still change, but I doubt it) if she could get herself out of the pickle. That would demonstrate to her teammates that they should've put more faith in her abilities... That she actually knew what she was doing, she took a risk but had the skills to fall to "plan b" if needed be...
But this is K-drama land. Only men can apparently get themselves out of a pickle, fight an army of mobsters and walk out like a badass... Women, on the other hand, are kidnapped so they can be saved. This is 2020 and we're still seeing this scenario!
I had high expectations for this drama, but I've been getting bored with the latest episodes, especially with the ML meddling and treating the FL as a child. Apologies for my mini-rant.
Thank you so much for reading even when you're tired, @etheraltaekibum. These articles took so long not only due…
Oh, I understand completely in regards to cleaning tags. I do that as well. I also dislike how easy both the "weak female lead" and "strong female lead" tags get applied. Two episodes in, you really can't tell whether the character is strong or weak yet. Better give it at least till half the drama, or at least that's how I feel about it.
Thank you for reading and commenting! Indeed, a good call to tag it as a spoiler since many people could be sensitive…
> Heart to Heart Ah, interesting, so then it's the ethics of the relationship that is the problem coupled with, of course, power dynamics. I tend to dislike when the ML manipulates the FL to get what he wants and then the music kicks in to tell us that that situation is "romantic". The only show I've watched which frames the issue as it should be is "You" from Netflix which I highly recommend! Still on the fence on this one but leaning more towards the "won't bother watching".
>Heal Me Kill Me Of course, that got me thinking back on KMHM where we do see a similar situation. If we stick to the facts, we have a female doctor falling in love with her male patient. Perhaps that's why the introduction of their shared past worked so well in combination with the cohabitation. By getting rid of the "office" setting, she never really felt like a "real psychiatrist" taking care of her patient. However, it does still makes me wonder if we're unconsciously letting things slip because the one with the "power" is a woman. And when it's the man who has more authority/power I always feel like there's a threatening vibe underneath it all.
Some food for thought, it would seem!
>My Name is Nokdu This one was a surprise for sure, and a great one at that! I enjoyed it from start to finish. Never felt the need to grab my phone while watching or fast-forward scenes. It's also a show that demonstrates that even a segoku can have several strong women in their cast!
It was very hard jumping from that show to other dramas where you have between 4-6 male characters and only one women in their midst. I believe unbalanced rations like those are to be blamed for being extra critical of the FL. Sometimes it's not that she's weak, it's that being the only woman we cannot forgive even a moment of weakness.
>Psychopath Diary I also appreciated that the romance was very subtle and the plot was very original. Mind you, you do have to squint at the "romance" because I actually liked them more as friends and felt more of a platonic vibe between them.
You're also not alone in wanting to shake the FL during some scenes. If she's a cop and the ML is a civilian, you'd expect her to be the one squaring off against the antagonist. Or at the very least, to have more participation in the show's resolution.
Of course, my favorite part of the drama was the relationship (bromance) between Dong Shik and Chil Sung. I LOVED the latter so much. He was by far my favorite character and I enjoyed every second he was on screen. I'd watch a spin-off drama revolving around his character with absolute glee!
>Big Issue I think the drama started off really slow and many people might've dropped it then. It didn't help that at first the directing and editing was a mess (much like Forest). But Big Issue got better as the episodes rolled by and I appreciated the role reversal between the FL (confident, cold, successful, boss, morally ambiguous, ambitious, slightly manipulative) and the ML (victim of circumstances, poor, dealing with an addiction, skillful but lacking confidence, with a working moral compass, kind but flawed at the same time).
It did't get scrapped, I just hadn't found the time to write it. It of course didn't help that I had all the data…
Indeed, the nature of giving everyone the power to tag is that, more often than not, people won't try to check the tags that are already there. As such, they create new tags that are essentially the same thing. Or worse, they create tags that really didn't need to be tags such as with the "misunderstanding" tag. Misunderstandings is a key to creating dramas, so why add it as a tag?
As to more general tags, I'm in favor of that one. But whenever I talk to people, some may claim to be in favor of it but when I give examples of "umbrella terms" to get rid of more specific tags they seem against it. The idea of generalizing is to encompass more and get rid of specifications, after all!
Full disclosure, when I was assembling data for this article and I kept finding duplicate tags, I started adding the "don't use this, use that" explanation to the ones least used lol. Partly to make it easier on compiling data, but mostly because it was redundant to have a drama tagged twice with the same thing...
I think I had too much of a heavy night last night to really understand the info here :')But even with that, these…
Thank you so much for reading even when you're tired, @etheraltaekibum. These articles took so long not only due to the process of gathering and analyzing the data, but also ensuring the presentation of said data was attractive and easily digestible. I'm glad we've succeeded :).
Thank you! Every day one learns something new and will keep it in mind next time I write it down :). Unfortunately,…
I used to be able to edit articles and I would do so whenever I re-read them and catch grammatical mistakes. However, at some point, i couldn't save out the changes. Then that became the norm. I can edit my articles, but I get an error when I try to save the changes. I tried different browsers and computers, but to no avail. So I've seen make amends with that, lol.
PS This was initially going to have a third part with bromance/sismance addressed... did that get scrapped? If…
It did't get scrapped, I just hadn't found the time to write it. It of course didn't help that I had all the data assembled but got really busy. By the time I came back I decided to re-check the data and... EVERYTHING changed!
It may be that the article inspired people to tag shows because all the numbers I had and all the hypothesis that came with them went out the window. So I had to start from scratch. Now every-time I think to work on it I recheck the data and it changes again.
I may end up just decreasing the time frame (only focusing on 2018-2020 shows) for that article. But I won't have the time to do it until maybe next month, since I have other commitments I need to attend and these types of articles require A TON of time to complete.
This made me wish the "office romance" tag was instead called workplace romance. It would be able to encompass…
Thank you for reading and commenting! Indeed, a good call to tag it as a spoiler since many people could be sensitive about any plot-related discussion.
I agree that "workplace romance" would be a better umbrella term since it would indeed encompass more shows.
> The end graph was interesting; 2015 and 2016 had overlap in popularity and acclaim while 2017-18 had none within the top 4 shown... I wonder if this is because there are more people watching now (with different tastes) and more variety in the show's plots which means more variety in the popular and highest rated ranks? Of course, we see a lot of k-dramas that follow a predictable path, but every now and then you get something really fresh (like "Psychopath Diary" and "When the Camellia Blooms").
>That said, I also really like shows with no romance or only gentle hints of any of it being a possibility-I don't like it shoved down my throat... Oh, I'm with you on this point! I much prefer a romance that is weaved throughout the plot rather than a plot-driven romance. Though I tend to still watch the latter when I'm getting tired and just want to watch something that doesn't ask too much of me. Right now I'm getting a bit burned out from work, so I'm struggling to keep my attention on darker/heavier dramas such as "Tell me What you Saw", "The Game: Towards Zero", "Hyena" and "Life on Mars". Instead, I find myself really laughing and having a good time with "Forest", "Itaewon Class" and "Crash Landing on You".
>Crash Landing on You I think the reason why this show worked for me was that there was always a balance of power maintained between the two characters. Despite the female lead being stuck in NK for a good portion of the show, she was still very active (making things happen rather than get stuck in "things happening to her). Then, of course, once she's in SK their roles change and she's the one taking care of her friends. I thought it was nicely done. I'm a sucker for shows that display a good balance of power between a ML and FL, I rank even higher shows that ensure the FL stays active and assign to a simple "cheerleader" role.
>Kill Me Heal Me I agree that this is a show where the childhood connection really works out to create a more powerful plot (rather than for the sake of inserting "fate"to the romance equation). Though KMHM has its flaws, it's still a show I enjoyed and one I like to re-watch from time to time. "Come and Hug Me" is another show where I feel the childhood connection becomes essential.
>Heart to Heart You know, I've had this on my PTWL for a while because I usually see people recommending it. But I don't know why I haven't had the interest to pick it up. Could you share your thoughts in more detail? I DETEST with a passion a drama that shows toxicity disguised as romance, so I'd like to avoid them in order to not waste my time. If this show crosses into that realm, I'll probably be better off taking it off of my already long PTWL.
>Sudent/Teacher relationship Yes, I tend to avoid this one as well. It's just not something I enjoy or feel comfortable about. Adults should simply date adults in my books. When you have a romance between a teacher and a student, the balance of power is quite questionable. I have the same issue (balance of power) with the Boss/Employee relationship tag. The only two shows where they managed to create balance despite the difference in authority is "Jugglers" and "Big Issue".
Kinda random and mostly unimportant but there's a wording oddity here:*Recent Dramas Completed dramas from 2015…
Thank you! Every day one learns something new and will keep it in mind next time I write it down :). Unfortunately, I can't edit past articles (the site just won't let me), so the shameful error must stay for all eternity haha.
I've only watched Search WWW and I agree with you. Although the three main ladies were all quite strong in very different ways.
I'm currently watching Itaewon Class and I haven't decided on whether I consider the FL strong or not. So far, I'm more impressed with the complexity of the 2FL. I think I need to watch how the FL develops (IF she develops) to see whether she grows to become truly strong in my books.
As to a second article, my recommendations would be:
>> Choi Ae Ra from Fight for my way. She's my favorite FL out of all the shows. She's relatable, courageous, hard-working and ultimately human. She isn't perfect nor reach nor incredibly smart. But she's focused on her self-imposed goals, unwilling to be defeated, raising to the challenge, unafraid to try again once she's failed. She falls, gets back up, rushes things, slows down and grows with each episode. I loved every second of her development.
>> Ha Jae Yi from Lawless Lawyer. She was introduced with a bang, but unlike the fate of many female leads, she never lost that badass quality. She's a balanced character. Equal amounts capable and emotional; Ha Jae was not only very mature and rational throughout most of the series, but she was also very gentle and nurturing towards Bong Sang Pil (ML). She's also someone who's confident in her knowledge and ability, but who's also humble enough to accept she doesn't have all the answers. When Bong Sang Pil puts her knowledge to the test, she's open-minded enough to tackle every uncomfortable issue head-on, unwilling to compromise the truth for the sake of convenience. She's also always at the center of the story alongside the ML, making her an active participant in what transpires.
>> Kang Kwon Joo from Voice 1 & 2. Unfortunately, her character was done a GREAT disservice by the writer for Voice 3. She became useless because the writer focused too much on the ML and simply didn't know what to do with her, which is a SHAME. It made me hate Voice 3, which already had pretty weak writing overall... So let us ignore Voice 3 existed, shall we?
>> Oh Ri Jin from Kill me, Heal me. I think she's one of the strongest female characters. Interesting, active, independent, confident, smart, fun, sweet, hard-working and with a troubled past that didn't define her. She wasn't written as the ML's cheerleader, but rather she had her own story and sense of agency, which pushed her development. For a 2015 drama, she's revolutionary and can stand up to today's standards.
>> Take your pick from the drama "Mother". You get a calm, strong woman who is willing to put her life on the line to protect a child (Kang Soo Jin). You also get a little girl (Kim Hye Na/ Kim Yoon-Bok) who has gone through so much trauma but somehow manages to move on and grow strong. She's mature and fearful, courageous and innocent at the same time. Last but not least, you have Yeong Shin (Kang Soo Jin's adoptive mother) who is a queen, willing to do everything for her daughters. She's protective and nurturing, but also fierce towards whoever dares try to harm her girls. This show has so many wonderful female characters, that I loved every bit of it!
>> Oh Sunny from The Last Empress. Don't judge her by the first episodes, this is a wonderful journey of a woman who grows into her power. She's active, determined and smart enough to make waves and turn the cage she's in upside down for the sake of justice.
I'll be honest, I'm skipping through quite a bit. It's a bit of a mess so how does this drama get the kiss scene…
Oh, right now I haven't warmed up to the 2FL and 2ML, so if things continue as such, I may end up ff their scenes.
As to the scene you mentioned, it does feel like a different series. Very sophisticated. Perhaps the director finally got inspired or something!
I mean, compare it to the scene when she comes out of the operating room crying and claiming she killed her patient! I am still confused over that one since, clearly, she didn't kill her patient. Even strangely, her panic attack didn't even cause her a suspension or anything. If she thought she killed her patient, was she hallucinating?
Of course, I've decided to just turn by brain off when watching this so I can enjoy it hahaha.
Exactly! i am feeling the same as what you feeling even though the story is not that good i am still having a…
Glad you agree!
At the end of the day the important thing is whether you are enjoying the drama, not whether the drama is well made. Heck, I'd take a bad drama that entertains me over a drama that's well made but doesn't entertain ;).
This drama isn't perfect, far from it. The story seems directionless, the editing is chaotic and the directing is average... but I find myself just having a good time while watching it despite its flaws. Maybe I'm just in the mood for something light considering I've been binge-watching darker series?
At any rate, the ending scene of episode 12 was fantastic in its direction, editing and mood-building. It's a scene that's made so well, I'd be surprised if someone didn't feel the overwhelming tension they managed to build.
1 
2 
But I digress. I think for SG you would have to judge for yourself once you've watched the show. The heart of the matter when it comes to romance is that, for the FL to be with the ML she shouldn't have to be "weakened". She shouldn't have to change of sacrifice her dreams in order to "become the male's bride" so to speak. I think that's the issue with older dramas. It always seem like the ML evolved into a better character while the FL either stayed the same or even de-evolved.
On that note, strength cannot be measured under a single parameter. I've often seen people claim that a certain character is strong because "she could kick a guy". But that doesn't mean the character is well-written. Being able to kick a guy also doesn't speak of strength. Just like a character crying doesn't make the character weak. In fact, an emotionally intelligent character is often-time a really strong character. But here's the thing, for a character to be emotionally intelligent they have to know their emotions and how to accept them, rather than allow their emotions to control them.
A female lead loses someone important and she cries, that's fine. That's human even! A female lead loses someone important and cries so much she can't even function. She stops going to work, stops eating and stands in the rain... crying and crying? Well, that's an emotionally incompetent character and, as such, not a strong person yet (last is the key word). I tend to get annoyed with the character doesn't evolve from that "being reigned by emotions" aspect, since it's an unhealthy thing.
Now, if I were to share the parameters I used to measure strength (which I shared in my 5 Reasons the Watch "The Last Empress" Article) they would be as follows.
1. SENSE OF AGENCY OR IMPACT
----------------------
This relates to how important the character we're evaluating is within the story. If the story can survive without the character, then that means her role is of little to no real importance. Therefore, she has no sense of agency. A character without a sense of agency becomes a) a secondary character or b) a background character.
2. PARTICIPATION
----------------------
How active is the character in the story? Did she made things happen (active) or did things happen to her (passive)? If she made things happen, did she do so proactively (she got things done through conscious decision-making, planning, and/or actions)?
Did she made decisions or was she reactive? Meaning, she reacted or passively followed plans set by others characters.
3. BALANCE & CONSISTENCY (this is key!)
----------------------
This parameter focuses on the character's personality. First thing is to figure out is if the character is properly balanced. The easiest way to determine this is by listing and comparing her strengths & virtues against her weaknesses & flaws.
A balanced list usually results in a more relatable and complex character. A list with too many strengths and not enough weaknesses may indicate the character has been idealized. This is commonly known as a Mary Sue for women and Gary Sue for men (The Princess' Man is a drama that showcases this).
A list with more weaknesses than strengths may yield an unrelatable character that will frustrate or annoy the viewers.
However, a list on paper may be disproven by actions and this is where consistency comes into play. Consistency is achieved when what we're "told" match what we're "shown".
A perfect example of a passive female lead which is riddled with inconsistencies is Geum Jan Di from Boys Over Flowers. We're "told" that she loves swimming and her dream was to participate in the Olympics. We're shown she trains every day... Anyone who has ever swam knows how good of an excersize that is and how much stamina you'd built if you swam everyday. But when it comes down to proving that: a) she loses against a guy who does pottery and b) she ends up needing saving every time she's in the water (because leg cramps...). That's a character we're told is something but we're shown she's not; a staple of lazy writing and convenience plot-holes.
4.CHARACTER GROWTH
----------------------
This parameter helps determine whether the story had an impact on the character we're analyzing. A way to determine this is by asking:
>> Did she change from the first episode to the last?
>>Did she overcome something? This can be anything from getting over a trauma, achieving a goal, fixing a flaw, learning something new, etc.
>>Was she given dreams and /or goals? If so, did he/she accomplished it or them?
The more parameters the writer gives a character, the strongest the character becomes for me.
And that became a lengthy response haha. I had some of that already written down because at some point, I do want to write an article about it. I just need to find the time to actually compile more examples. By the way, these are the same parameters I use to measure MLs. Though more often than not, a ML will have all of them and it's only the FL who's left hanging.
Keep in mind that I only did it when I was writing this article and found tags that were exactly the same thing, such as: "Cold Man/Warm Woman" vs "Cold Man/Warm Girl" -_-. So I had to check the dramas in each tag, compare them, realize that the first tag was more popular than the latter, tag the dramas that were only tag with the latter, go into each drama tagged with the latter and suggest a "delete" of the tag and then I wrote in the tag description the "don't use this, use that..."
I didn't do it for a lot of them, but I also kept seeing the "don't use this, use that..." for other tags (which I assume a mod may have edited). I know that there was a more recent discussion over at the forums on how to handle tags. By then, however, I'd already written my article and that was that, lol.
>> Tags as "trigger-warnings"
There was a discussion on my previous article about this one. Some people tag potential triggers because other users sometimes would go into the tags to make sure there are no triggering scenes for them. So I do tend to tag all types of "child abuse", "domestic abuse", "animal abuse" and "sexual abuse" chief among them.
It would be most helpful if the trigger tags could have their own separate space. That way it wouldn't spoil things for everyone.
>> Ending tags
There is now a way to mark the tags as spoilers which is great! The only thing marking it as a spoiler ensures is that it doesn't make it to the drama's page (visible below the synopsis). Unfortunately, if you were to click in the "vote tags" you'd be able to see the spoiler (which kind of defeats the purpose).
By the comments and the discussion the analyzing tags articles sparked, I got to see how different people used the tags (and increase my understanding).
The heart of the matter is that the tag system also works as a filter system (without which these articles wouldn't have been possible) for searching dramas. So if someone wanted to find "happy-ending" dramas, they would only need to type that. Or if someone wanted to avoid a sad ending, then they could check to see if it has a "tragic ending" tag. Although you and I may not care about the ending, a lot of people will. And sometimes people may be going through difficulties and seeing a tragic drama may not be helpful.
Again, I would love it if the two things were a separate system. Where we could choose to add something as a tag (visible) or a filter (invisible save for when you use the explore function in the site). But until that happens, we must work with what we have trying to be as understanding as possible D:.
Perhaps a drama that jumps to mind when it comes to this "strenght-related inconsistency" is "Secret Garden". We are shown the FL able to handle the ML (physically-speaking) during the first few episodes. Only for her to be unable to shrug off his grip later down the line. We also see her fairly independent, proud and focus on her work; only to see her become dependent (emotionally) on the ML and never talk back to him. It's been a while since I watched the show, but I remember being very disappointed and putting her in my "not a strong FL" bucket hahaha.
Or worse, we tag a FL as strong (because she is) except that her participation wanes and becomes inexistent for more than half the drama. At which point it would've been better to not tag her at all. since it creates an expectation that she would be a strong character (and strongly written character should come hand in hand with activeness and a sense of agency).
The antagonist's development, however, is what keeps me coming back.
I would've preferred (I mean things can still change, but I doubt it) if she could get herself out of the pickle. That would demonstrate to her teammates that they should've put more faith in her abilities... That she actually knew what she was doing, she took a risk but had the skills to fall to "plan b" if needed be...
But this is K-drama land. Only men can apparently get themselves out of a pickle, fight an army of mobsters and walk out like a badass... Women, on the other hand, are kidnapped so they can be saved. This is 2020 and we're still seeing this scenario!
I had high expectations for this drama, but I've been getting bored with the latest episodes, especially with the ML meddling and treating the FL as a child. Apologies for my mini-rant.
Ah, interesting, so then it's the ethics of the relationship that is the problem coupled with, of course, power dynamics. I tend to dislike when the ML manipulates the FL to get what he wants and then the music kicks in to tell us that that situation is "romantic". The only show I've watched which frames the issue as it should be is "You" from Netflix which I highly recommend!
Still on the fence on this one but leaning more towards the "won't bother watching".
>Heal Me Kill Me
Of course, that got me thinking back on KMHM where we do see a similar situation. If we stick to the facts, we have a female doctor falling in love with her male patient. Perhaps that's why the introduction of their shared past worked so well in combination with the cohabitation. By getting rid of the "office" setting, she never really felt like a "real psychiatrist" taking care of her patient. However, it does still makes me wonder if we're unconsciously letting things slip because the one with the "power" is a woman. And when it's the man who has more authority/power I always feel like there's a threatening vibe underneath it all.
Some food for thought, it would seem!
>My Name is Nokdu
This one was a surprise for sure, and a great one at that! I enjoyed it from start to finish. Never felt the need to grab my phone while watching or fast-forward scenes. It's also a show that demonstrates that even a segoku can have several strong women in their cast!
It was very hard jumping from that show to other dramas where you have between 4-6 male characters and only one women in their midst. I believe unbalanced rations like those are to be blamed for being extra critical of the FL. Sometimes it's not that she's weak, it's that being the only woman we cannot forgive even a moment of weakness.
>Psychopath Diary
I also appreciated that the romance was very subtle and the plot was very original. Mind you, you do have to squint at the "romance" because I actually liked them more as friends and felt more of a platonic vibe between them.
You're also not alone in wanting to shake the FL during some scenes. If she's a cop and the ML is a civilian, you'd expect her to be the one squaring off against the antagonist. Or at the very least, to have more participation in the show's resolution.
Of course, my favorite part of the drama was the relationship (bromance) between Dong Shik and Chil Sung. I LOVED the latter so much. He was by far my favorite character and I enjoyed every second he was on screen. I'd watch a spin-off drama revolving around his character with absolute glee!
>Big Issue
I think the drama started off really slow and many people might've dropped it then. It didn't help that at first the directing and editing was a mess (much like Forest). But Big Issue got better as the episodes rolled by and I appreciated the role reversal between the FL (confident, cold, successful, boss, morally ambiguous, ambitious, slightly manipulative) and the ML (victim of circumstances, poor, dealing with an addiction, skillful but lacking confidence, with a working moral compass, kind but flawed at the same time).
As to more general tags, I'm in favor of that one. But whenever I talk to people, some may claim to be in favor of it but when I give examples of "umbrella terms" to get rid of more specific tags they seem against it. The idea of generalizing is to encompass more and get rid of specifications, after all!
Full disclosure, when I was assembling data for this article and I kept finding duplicate tags, I started adding the "don't use this, use that" explanation to the ones least used lol. Partly to make it easier on compiling data, but mostly because it was redundant to have a drama tagged twice with the same thing...
It may be that the article inspired people to tag shows because all the numbers I had and all the hypothesis that came with them went out the window. So I had to start from scratch. Now every-time I think to work on it I recheck the data and it changes again.
I may end up just decreasing the time frame (only focusing on 2018-2020 shows) for that article. But I won't have the time to do it until maybe next month, since I have other commitments I need to attend and these types of articles require A TON of time to complete.
I agree that "workplace romance" would be a better umbrella term since it would indeed encompass more shows.
> The end graph was interesting; 2015 and 2016 had overlap in popularity and acclaim while 2017-18 had none within the top 4 shown...
I wonder if this is because there are more people watching now (with different tastes) and more variety in the show's plots which means more variety in the popular and highest rated ranks? Of course, we see a lot of k-dramas that follow a predictable path, but every now and then you get something really fresh (like "Psychopath Diary" and "When the Camellia Blooms").
>That said, I also really like shows with no romance or only gentle hints of any of it being a possibility-I don't like it shoved down my throat...
Oh, I'm with you on this point! I much prefer a romance that is weaved throughout the plot rather than a plot-driven romance. Though I tend to still watch the latter when I'm getting tired and just want to watch something that doesn't ask too much of me. Right now I'm getting a bit burned out from work, so I'm struggling to keep my attention on darker/heavier dramas such as "Tell me What you Saw", "The Game: Towards Zero", "Hyena" and "Life on Mars". Instead, I find myself really laughing and having a good time with "Forest", "Itaewon Class" and "Crash Landing on You".
>Crash Landing on You
I think the reason why this show worked for me was that there was always a balance of power maintained between the two characters. Despite the female lead being stuck in NK for a good portion of the show, she was still very active (making things happen rather than get stuck in "things happening to her). Then, of course, once she's in SK their roles change and she's the one taking care of her friends. I thought it was nicely done. I'm a sucker for shows that display a good balance of power between a ML and FL, I rank even higher shows that ensure the FL stays active and assign to a simple "cheerleader" role.
>Kill Me Heal Me
I agree that this is a show where the childhood connection really works out to create a more powerful plot (rather than for the sake of inserting "fate"to the romance equation). Though KMHM has its flaws, it's still a show I enjoyed and one I like to re-watch from time to time. "Come and Hug Me" is another show where I feel the childhood connection becomes essential.
>Heart to Heart
You know, I've had this on my PTWL for a while because I usually see people recommending it. But I don't know why I haven't had the interest to pick it up. Could you share your thoughts in more detail? I DETEST with a passion a drama that shows toxicity disguised as romance, so I'd like to avoid them in order to not waste my time. If this show crosses into that realm, I'll probably be better off taking it off of my already long PTWL.
>Sudent/Teacher relationship
Yes, I tend to avoid this one as well. It's just not something I enjoy or feel comfortable about. Adults should simply date adults in my books. When you have a romance between a teacher and a student, the balance of power is quite questionable. I have the same issue (balance of power) with the Boss/Employee relationship tag. The only two shows where they managed to create balance despite the difference in authority is "Jugglers" and "Big Issue".
I'm currently watching Itaewon Class and I haven't decided on whether I consider the FL strong or not. So far, I'm more impressed with the complexity of the 2FL. I think I need to watch how the FL develops (IF she develops) to see whether she grows to become truly strong in my books.
As to a second article, my recommendations would be:
>> Choi Ae Ra from Fight for my way. She's my favorite FL out of all the shows. She's relatable, courageous, hard-working and ultimately human. She isn't perfect nor reach nor incredibly smart. But she's focused on her self-imposed goals, unwilling to be defeated, raising to the challenge, unafraid to try again once she's failed. She falls, gets back up, rushes things, slows down and grows with each episode. I loved every second of her development.
>> Ha Jae Yi from Lawless Lawyer. She was introduced with a bang, but unlike the fate of many female leads, she never lost that badass quality. She's a balanced character. Equal amounts capable and emotional; Ha Jae was not only very mature and rational throughout most of the series, but she was also very gentle and nurturing towards Bong Sang Pil (ML). She's also someone who's confident in her knowledge and ability, but who's also humble enough to accept she doesn't have all the answers. When Bong Sang Pil puts her knowledge to the test, she's open-minded enough to tackle every uncomfortable issue head-on, unwilling to compromise the truth for the sake of convenience. She's also always at the center of the story alongside the ML, making her an active participant in what transpires.
>> Kang Kwon Joo from Voice 1 & 2. Unfortunately, her character was done a GREAT disservice by the writer for Voice 3. She became useless because the writer focused too much on the ML and simply didn't know what to do with her, which is a SHAME. It made me hate Voice 3, which already had pretty weak writing overall... So let us ignore Voice 3 existed, shall we?
>> Oh Ri Jin from Kill me, Heal me. I think she's one of the strongest female characters. Interesting, active, independent, confident, smart, fun, sweet, hard-working and with a troubled past that didn't define her. She wasn't written as the ML's cheerleader, but rather she had her own story and sense of agency, which pushed her development. For a 2015 drama, she's revolutionary and can stand up to today's standards.
>> Take your pick from the drama "Mother". You get a calm, strong woman who is willing to put her life on the line to protect a child (Kang Soo Jin). You also get a little girl (Kim Hye Na/ Kim Yoon-Bok) who has gone through so much trauma but somehow manages to move on and grow strong. She's mature and fearful, courageous and innocent at the same time. Last but not least, you have Yeong Shin (Kang Soo Jin's adoptive mother) who is a queen, willing to do everything for her daughters. She's protective and nurturing, but also fierce towards whoever dares try to harm her girls. This show has so many wonderful female characters, that I loved every bit of it!
>> Oh Sunny from The Last Empress. Don't judge her by the first episodes, this is a wonderful journey of a woman who grows into her power. She's active, determined and smart enough to make waves and turn the cage she's in upside down for the sake of justice.
As to the scene you mentioned, it does feel like a different series. Very sophisticated. Perhaps the director finally got inspired or something!
I mean, compare it to the scene when she comes out of the operating room crying and claiming she killed her patient! I am still confused over that one since, clearly, she didn't kill her patient. Even strangely, her panic attack didn't even cause her a suspension or anything. If she thought she killed her patient, was she hallucinating?
Of course, I've decided to just turn by brain off when watching this so I can enjoy it hahaha.
At the end of the day the important thing is whether you are enjoying the drama, not whether the drama is well made. Heck, I'd take a bad drama that entertains me over a drama that's well made but doesn't entertain ;).
At any rate, the ending scene of episode 12 was fantastic in its direction, editing and mood-building. It's a scene that's made so well, I'd be surprised if someone didn't feel the overwhelming tension they managed to build.