ammmz

i dont usually try and get so caught up in saying "never" but this genuinely makes me upset for her for so many reasons bc people love her and should be exposed to her light more. like i try not to get too caught up and im like yea whatever we're gonna keep trying 2 change!! but srsly it SUCKS knowing that she wont ever head a big big drama. part of it is her choosing i'm sure but at the same time tvn or jtbc doing a lead thing with her could totally be doable right???!? IDK

but ALSO she's fucking gorgeous not that that matters like that but you know? she's beautiful in presence charisma her face everything

no love triangles rly...?

um this was SO CUTE lmao

also the ADR and dubbing were mixed with real live irl soudn and i hope more dramas keep doing this. i am extremely happy to know they were using booms and micing them up too.

im actually gonna surprise myself here but her kissing while flat is actually better than a lot of kisses i thought it was just gonna be the two lips resting lmao.

AHH THANK YOU

yes at this review and i really wish it was as subversive and transgressive as it set up. everything you said about the pain and suffering it could have been a really deep look and a nuanced one but it just wasnt. also because of the failed actress plot i know for damn sure the undertones between the loan shark and DH were purposeful and because of this woman's previous works. it's weird, it's violent but not in an interesting, unforgiving, or trying to twist it way (i think of shows like LIVE and i do not like cops and i also have some issues with that women's writing but that is the definition of portraying constant pain but trying to get out of the hell and subtle character relationships that speak volumes about a wide array of issues a huge one patriarchy and abuse...not done well here)

when you were saying "felt bad for her" i realized that i knew IU's acting nor the story were effective enough (and to be clear sungyun and the shop owner hye bin and the not youngest brother are the best actors the worst is nara, the boss (in this instance he's not as bad elsewhere), and iu but she is nothing here bc whatsherface is honestly nothing) and that's when i had problems immediately. i was like, "ok, so what this girl is poor and?" before anything else because they just go in with the trauma pornesque we explore NOTHING about her inner world and it's shown me a pattern here i think that lowkey it's like disrespectful at certain aspects to poverty as well bc it isnt simply about money it's about the loss of dignity and if this girl has no money and is doing something that people won't do as just normal people we shoudl see a conflict but we do not. also she's not even good at her job you can't act like that so a) i know that these ppl havent been poor or not privileged in a long while b) it makes me think that the only character trait IS being poor bc that's automatic misery city and getting beat. and her taking care of her grandmother isn't even explored emotionally. they're all just THERE and bc of that i was mad.

i'm still confused at how much this show is talked about in huge terms of love. i won't even give my favorite things a 10 and i do have high standards but with this and i notice another oh hae young i think the few of us for this one in particular just took away a lot less positive messaging. i didn't feel an emotional connect and maybe that's because i was extremely stressed at the time and also in film school so i was like BOOOOOOOOO MROE DRAMA

i think a pseudo good ex of a friendship that is unlikely (this oen is strictly friendship/guardianship bc of the age and circumstances but still) is 'nobody knows' this is with a traumatized woman who saw something horrific at around the end of her HS years and bonds with a neglected kid and it's incredibly deep but they also have him have friends with people his age and she pushes him further out ofhis shell eventually (uh sorta idk no spoilers lmao) that is the stuff that makes me cry because i have never been poor like this character but a lot of us have gone through shit because of circumstance, our identities, etc and i woudl have liked to have someone "save" me in a sense—so i don't fall deeper into trauma and can know i'm not alone. in fact so many peopel with immense pain and trauma esp since they were younger (childhood trauma amirite!!!!) are able to form bonds of affirmation and love. but she was uhhhh so u know how sometimes the abused can become toxic and an abuser?

it's just her being traumatized and traumatizing others and not moving an i-n-c-h halfway through the story and i feell what i did in the beginning where i'm like girl you don't want to be happy, u dont want friends, u suck and he's an idiot. when you've been abused and you're closed off like that you aren't a robot because we have inner lives. why would it hurt her to not be able to afford coffee? why didn't they show her being more resourceful on top of that? the toneand the mix and everything idk and also just disrespect for people and struggle bc it doesnt explore it and disrespect for women btu being ok with women INVADING boundaries and i didnt make up her like hugging hinm or something right? idk i had checked out at some point and was sooo like sad not sad but confused? cos i think i've literally seen like idk 10 comments like this or even expressing not a complaint but just being like "eh" IDK IDK IDK

it would have been interesting to see her struggle with wondering about her grandmother because many people cannot take care of the elderly, they may abandon them or they may leave them bc veyr many times the elderly have been abusive and harmful to children. in SK the elderly die alone a lot bc it's smaller and just in gen older people have higher risk for death, people think they are less useful, they are a large portion of those who commit suicide so woudlnt it have been interesting to see her grapple with that? like at least have her contend with what she was doing with her circumstnace so there's even more of a sense of consequence? because if she's willing to do all of that then she's desperate so why wouldnt end of life be in her miind? it's just stuff like this where if we put more actual heart into it and suffering and less to the mood and tone and equate it to straight up misery (parasite is a great example of this subversion but ugh god i woudl pay to have this show turn into that!)

if she's really about that kill or be killed like then make us FEEL it like if ur gonna do this shit then own it fuck bc THATS what desperation and our situations will make us do too. idk if this makes snese there just wasnt the sense of urgency that would be in these actual situations

it's her acting and the writing for it. she could have been more in depth but the script didn't allow for it. her character should have been more powerful honestly and i think sullen characters are a very easy way out when the script supports her silence. it's blurry because she didn't know how to put that force behind her (she is not the worst actor on this show though) and neither did the story it's weird when i think of her in this i just think of ....she's whatever was put onto her in the scenes. she lacked and the character lacked the something that makes her more off and daunting that it shoudl have had

this woman is not a particularly impressive writer and has a limited way of writing a range of emotions and moving forward

this writer has a knack for shows that lack likeable characters and sensical follow throughs with just drab lifeless insecure toxic people it seems and for the life of me it draws people in but idk why! just everything. there's just no payoff and the power imbalances int eh drama are crazy. what's more is that the charcter is so flat and requires nothing so i dont think iu went far with this character but also there was little continuous motivation. it was like well this is it and i was surprised that by ep 10 the story had not budged and they did not develop yet even a bit as humans. it's strange this is one of those shows where really no one talks about how they feel about it and i feel so weird to have the same thoughts

idk if u finished it but it only got worse. even back then i was watching like wait am i missing somethign about this MAN GOING 2 JAIL? still shocked !

agreed and i dropped it when that happened bc the hsow wasnt interested in repercussions. im shocked more people dont talk about that like that is abuse

quit when he had her up against the wall the praise for this and the writers works confuse me. just no sel respect. you hit the nail on the head about humiliating themselves for them. ugh god it was frustrating like this man is in ur SPAXCE girl

YEP

i kinda wanna watch but im reticent!!!!

i avoided it until now like the depth of it and im not gonna look into it any more but i am way more upset than i thought initially and what i heard initially awws enough for me. oh god.

good luck to you on his court case

i do not like her at all and cannot stand goblin but city hall is one of my fav kdramas ever (or it was, idk how i'll hold it up now but it made me a big kim sun ah fan and i'm grateful) but 12 years does a lot. i totally forgot jesus and i was thinking about s+s2 when i watched and i agree she's a great writer and even though life is not up to par she takes a lot of time with acting and character (the show has a lot of flaws but you can tell who wrote it.) but the writing in stranger is impeccable. the person who did it's ok that's life (a drama i h8) comes to mind for me for these as well live is one of my favs

it's not and that's not what i'm saying. i know it may not be a popular thing to say in the way i did anyways and it's fine plus ive lived a short but long life ; i also have a significant unique thoughts just as an individual person and a cis black woman which is a major major part of my life and mode of living because others have made it so and i am proud of who i am and am focused on my and my people's and the globe's liberation. art is the way many of us do that

hopefully you can understand some of it as the days pass as you sit with it because i am not saying that at all and it's an unclear reading but, as you said, half-sense. i can't explain it any other way though so hopefully with time you can understand what i mean to extract your own info but that hypothesis is not compatible with what i said.

lmao yea i figured like they have too many relationship troubles which is only fun if it ends in carnage >:)

i'm chaotic so even the calm things i need a mess of and that's why ITSAY resonates on a production level; i can never talk about writing v. the execution as standalones so forgive me but it's clear where their influences lie like, for example, moonlight and by extension wong kar wai but those stories are not stable and neither is ITSAY so it's messy in it's contained way. i'm 29 so i can remember what it was like being that age and i'm like idk 8 years older than the actors so it's not too far off but because it gets the teenage aspect SO RIGHT i have a problem with how it continued on i think where instead of charming, young, fun etc it could turn into a drag which for me it did and it was too depressing to watch (this is when the pandemic was extremely bad. it's still bad but where i live in the US it was BAD on the east coast in nj and ny like extremely bad and i didnt have the bandwidth to feel that much)

i'm interested in exploring it anyway. i have high expectations and my ideology but i also have to meet the shows where they are at with regards to our broader system. some achieve saying new things and some say they're saying new things and don't achieve that in any material form in their work.

re:gender it is very important but insofar as how you see the world via your identity and act. the oppression is real and we don't like it and those who model the poor behaviors the most are going to be the ones who benefit from the -isms and ills of the world and, although women and all genders live on the same earth, we process it differently from our experiences, influences, parents, etc. you can tell when something is sharper than a man's work woudl usually be and it is a distinctive tone and a real one with artists because of course it is, it comes from our core so our identity will show through.

the thing is for these shows (films have more leeway but them as well int he mainstream) all of htese people have different motivations for doing what they do in the art sphere. for the most part a writer has their goals and expectations and thinks that their work is transformative. unfortunately, i am one of those losers and have thougth that about myself in my egomania and every other person i went to film school with. it's natural. which is why i always think it's interesting when people may not understand how integral identitiy is to an artist. we dont know shit, truly, but the insecurity and ego is part of why we put out what we do so what you display has to for some part of you, if you're doing it for not strictly money reasons. there's a diff between making garbage and people liking it but you know it's garbage—been there done that with my own stuff and on sets. we have to exist and i need work so totally i get that but this isn't that.

so when you're faced with the reality that what your saying is not a commentary on ANYTHING really or done in a shitty way with shitty conclusions, according to the world they wanted to create, that's where these identities come more into play. every artist and i don't care what anyone says even other artists they want some sort of innnovatin and transformation in their work. it's all been done before so we reinvent the wheel. in its current form artists as seen as more "liberal" (a JOKE tbqh) and that perception matters to the artist and the public accepts that but there's layers to it. also no art or "art" (a thing presented as art) is apolitical and i believe that firmly we dont show thigs just for them to float out there they have meaning even in the silliest ones. we clearly live in a society that these people are trying to tangle out on the screen.

i'm not sure if the japanese woman pitched the concept or what but i can guarantee that a woman pioneered the idea of even shopping around that particular script and same with juhan shuttai. and the concept of housewives doing work and that is work and recipricatio and payment has its radical roots. the fact that she focuses on work and the mundane but there's an emphasis on life needing to be lived even in a quiet setting and that within the sphere of work not defining you but your relationships and experiences she adds a component that many others, particularly cis men, may overlook (parasite 2019 does this in overlooking and i mention it again.)

it's in all the details and it's a mark of a good artist when we can tell for the better and also when those expectations are subverted and we think "oh a man lead this team, interesting!" but i have my own set of writers with distinct styles and i was thinking through them and always women have to be on board or were respected and highly collaborative both with the writing department and production. i hope this explains it well because it shouldn't matter that's the point but it does.

people should be able to tell the breadth of experience but if a woman is looking for money and doesn't give a shit about her product which is me with eun sook most of the time then it's empty drivel like heirs is horrendous and i hate goblin and it shows what she thinks of the genre, people's time, money, and women lmao so it doesn't mean they WILL do well but it means there is a pattern and clearly a precedent when you have privilege to put your power first and that comes out in many ways. and this is even with people i like like park chan wook for the handmaiden—a fantastic film, he's a brilliant mind, he supports and helps women and i was introduced to one of my favorite filmmakers bc of him, and he does his best. still in the director's cut of the movie the sex is out of this world over the top and exhaustive now he may find that that's what he wanted which is why the dir's cut has even more sex scenes but many a woman and people took note of that. and i know how much work he put into it from writing to production (he had a majority female or woman id-ing crew, only woman on boom mics, made people leave the room during sex scenes and believe me this respect is NOT common and we can see this with an incident with bong joong ho ironically who is also "in line" with my beliefs.

it's complicated but it should be pointed out and there's a difference between for this part internalized misogyny and then a cis man's misogyny. it matters when it's gotten wrong and it's a feat when it's done right because we are being more understanding and actually WORKING with these groups and is an active vow of respect and trying to change a landscape

we do not hit it out of the park 7/10 times and that's okay we keep learning and people have the capcity to grow immensely if they allow themselves. unfortunately they get stunted and when you have more privilege you have more of a right to not give a shit about anything but your needs and you can overlook a lot of things that may seem normal to you but are, in fact, not which yes a cis man can do unconsciously and women and people as well but i hope you know what i mean. i tried my best to explain.

i could go on but i hope this makes sense?

anyway, thanks for responding! and thank you fro the post! ill put some on my to watch. also sry this soudns patrnoizing i just wanted to explain and if someone stumbles upon this understand what i mean as well

oooh this sounds interesting btu the pic for the drama OMG and cool about it being a drama but is it considered japanes or korean or both also has he made dramas???? id dint know this. COOL

oooh thank you for this!!!!

i didnt finishjuhan shuttai bc it was too slow for me but it was sO CUTE and i might pick it back up again for some relief. i am not sure how i feel about boss because i think that his writing depends a lot on the production value and prowess of those around him because technically and emotionally ITSAY is a knockout (i didnt watch IPYTM nor do i plan on it) but there's layers upon layers of why that is the way that it is but i do find flaws in the pacing (and also my relationship to it as i am an old bitch lol) so a huge leap is from MA to ITSAY and i can see from what i know about IPYTM i would not have enjoyed it well because i felt that though it has insane merit with part 1 it really hits you with CONSTANT walls which do a disservice to the setting in a long-term format but the show should really have only been 5 eps i think anyway i can go on which is to your point about ipytm whch i wonder when they planned it how they divided up the work production wise (IE who sttarted the concept story and hten who was going to pic it up for the latter half and how far in advance it was)

nogi akiko sounds interesting esp when you explain her work surrounds jobs. the housewife thing is amazing because that IS labor and these are interesting topics in gen and it seems that she may be interested in like labor rights which is important to me. taht's really cool so thanks for bringing that into the forefront

nooow....kdramas lol kim eun sook...messy but lee woo jung has a distinct style but her and the teams struggle sometimes i believe that they flex their skills and it shows so it's not that and i believe that with the runtime of the episodes they should be able to write how they want considering it is slice of life but on the other hand you have to wonder about the consistency and i see this with her writing wrt the audience and esp male characters. something i'm mulling over and mb it's bc she's a woman so she intuitively understands being a woman more but there's a clear male preference that i'm starting to notice is a consistent theme but in a way i can't put my finger on so forgive me. they have a knack for casting which is good and htey keep those relationships up and esp with men they find very charming generally talented breakout or leading men (JJS, jungwoo, ryu whatshisface from 88, the dude from PP who i know from stranger only lmao ykwim?)


you can also generally see the projected identity of those behind the scenes in the work so we can get a feeel on if the director is /ids as a man ora woman and if a writer does and often times it's male director, female writer too but if you look at female dir and female writer and even the female writer in terms of the content (IE stranger which is extremely female focused but the amount in which it is is very subtle where you go back and you're like OHHHH THAT'S WHAT THEY MEANT ON TOP OF WHAT THEY MEANT)

thank you for this!!!!!!!!