Mr.Queen triggered dreams I had never had in a long time that screamed bisexuality to me. I had identified as…
@Merp You reminded me of Alayna Joy's videos, she had this self discovery journey where she identified as bi, was in a happy relationship to a guy, engaged to be married....then she realized that she was gay. I love her videos, she's always very open, humorous and I enjoy her content. I'm not saying you're not bi (I hate the idea that ppl know better and they try to cancel bisexuality by saying it's a stop on the way to GayTown), just the part where you suppressed stuff about yourself when you were younger kinda sounded similar. With all these new terms and definitions and the whole spectrum of identities, I was actually researching a while ago what is the difference between a pansexual and a bisexual because they seemed to be overlapping. But I think I am one of those cis normies that is part of the "perceived" majority (because of the whole Compulsory heterosexuality or comphet how the kids call it these days....) so I am constantly trying to educate myself on the ever changing terms and new words that we define and that define us. And as a side note, I was always impressed with how ...relaxed? should I say or very fluid definitions of love, sex, gender, what little did I know about Japanese culture appeared to show. For me, apart from some very scary traditional ghost stories from Japan, the first exposure to a more significant chunk of it was the novel Shogun, by James Clavell (Sailor Moon did not impact me to such an extent). I was so drawn to the culture that I even tried copying all the words and wanted to learn the language - I gave up pretty soon, various reasons :) but yeah, one of the aspects I noted was how different the attitude towards sexuality and sex was in the West compared to Japan (at least in the book) and how the protagonist realized that there is a very definite distinction between real intimacy and say naked bodies... he was describing how he had no "flutter" when he was bathing along with some women (I think they were on a ship as well, not just in like onsen situations) but recognized that he shared a deep connection with someone (his love interest, obviously) when fully clothed and he felt closer to her than ever...
TL;DR: I always though that the Japanese culture (or the little that I know of it) is much more open minded when it comes to definitions of love and gender, just like you said. And I admired that aspect about it.
Interesting article.maybe Korean filmmaker thought girls in men outfit and hair style looks cute. You can write…
@Chia6 And there is a reason for this - apart from gender expression and identity - women dress as men in order to have access to positions, places, education, opportunities that the men have almost exclusively rights to. So at least in most dramas, women do it out of need, to compensate for the imbalance of power in society. But Shiro mentioned men in disguise as well... in the meantime it would be a whole other conversation in C-dramas :)) your statement surely applies for that show biz world, although not sure now with all the Chinese boycott of "sissy men" in the entertainment...
I find this comment confusing, what are you comparing to neon clothing and eating dogs exactly?
@Shiro I think maybe the point is something along the lines of... ideally we strive to accept a different lifestyle than ours (be it cultural, or pertaining to race, gender and so on) but if we are confronted with extremes (for example, in a conservative country the only gay ppl that are "seen" are very "in your face, flamboyant and somewhat visually aggressive" ...like neon colours) then tolerance, not to mention acceptance are not near because ppl are afraid of what they perceive as out of norm, the unknown, and so on.
I love this comment, i love most of the comments here, but this one made me laugh so hard in a puch up kind of…
@Shiro It's called the Cult of the CutiePie JHI and I am a part of it. Yeah, I totally get the "bad from one angle but important"...I was actually thinking of Itaewon Class who had a cis gender woman playing a trans MTF character, but for some reason the whole thing did not seem disrespectful or at least from what image I have from kdramas and SK movies, the main issue would not necessarily be that they didn't get a trans MTF person who played this because maybe SK has more to go on this path compared to Western societies - where the general conversation reached the point of "let's not have all characters played by cis gendered ppl or only whites can play any race"...
So from this point of view, addressing the social issue or making some type of commentary on the situation (like how a dark skinned Korean is treated and discriminated against, of MTF trans person is always embroiled in shame and scandal follows them wherever) is more important than the "perfect" portrayal, or any little step matters. And you can clearly see when a character's preferences or gender identification are made "the punchline" or when this is just another detail about a character that has their own dreams, motivations and their purpose in the story is not mainly that "thing" about them. That being said I think the terms of the conversation are more complex and cross-dressing is more like a symptom that is part of a larger disease or illness that affects the society in general (not just SK) but yeah, now we're talking about kdramas so... in this case it's about a more traditionalistic/conservative society and how the cinematic products evolve. And they do evolve - same gender couples have appeared in several mainstream dramas, there are more and more BL SK titles, and there is somewhat of a lighter shade of the tone of their stories a.k.a. the gays don't always have to die or suffer for their "faults". I keep thinking about how my mind jumped right in the queer issues from cross dressing but I think that it's a niche case from a larger conversation that refers to gender expression, identification and all those nuances that exist rn (I was watching a while ago a clip on YT with 100 queer terms you need to know and that speaks volumes about how intricate and complicated things are within the larger conversation about gender expression, identification and sexual preferences and so on). /ok, rant over I feel like I'm rambling all over now TL;DR - all representation matters as it's a step forward towards (hopefully) acceptance.
Most times I do find myself squirming a bit too uncomfortable in regards to how queer issues or cross dressing (so not even more specifically trans or who know what other nuances) are treated in kdramas generally. As a sidenote, I am glad this is K- and not C-drama, coz they do be having some ridiculous appearances called "disguises" when a woman has some weird mustache/goatee plastered on their face and the hair in the "male do" and we're supposed to be convinced. As for Oh Dol Pyu (Kim Won Hae) in SWDBS, he was a bit too cartoonish or more of a stereotype of the gay flamboyant man, but maybe because of the actor and the subtlety of the pairing with the CEO's secretary it kinda worked - as in the portrayal was supposed to be over the top for comedic purposes. You mentioned Jung Hae In and besides him being the cutest creature ever, I think he is someone whose beauty goes beyond gender - if he were a unicorn, he would've still been revered. Yoo Yeon Seok would be another one and if I dig deep, I would find actresses that "work" in both their fem and masc-presenting persona. Right now I cannot name any (JHI is stuck to my brain). All in all, thank you for writing this article - I totally agree that a more educated audience is a far better one and in time maybe it will increase the quality of the dramas that tackle these gender-presenting, queer issues, men vs. women type of approach (or more "it's a man's world and everything that digresses from it is bound to fail or become "the enemy" or end up destroyed in its individuality, a.k.a. conformism" like how women need to become more "masculine" to make it, or ppl need to present themselves into the world according to the comp het norms). Hmm....my answer is kinda all over the place, maybe because the topic is not a simple one and it has multiple ramifications as it refers to a social construct that affects multiple categories of ppl.
There's a reason Lee Sun Kyun is called the Voice in SK.
@sycillian_onyx I can totally see how he is "THE voice", it's just awesome :) it reminds me of a fan meeting I watched with Tiffany Hadish and Kevin Hart where they were promoting some movie or a project they were collaborating, and they were at the Q&A where the audience asked questions. And there was this guy who when spoke, Tiffany simulated as if she was sliding down her chair (as in what effect his voice had on her, it was really deep and mesmerizing indeed).
@River Cloud Yeaaaah, I don't trust the Romanian postal services here so I would prefer getting them from somewhere closer or at least more trustworthy, through delivery services :) the time will come, I am sure, I won't grow up any time soon :))
@River Cloud Well joke's on them coz I don't buy expensive cosmetics or clothes/accessories so there :)) I go for the cheaper stuff like fooooooood. Oh and I am a sucker for those cute couple clothes or hats with moving ears, OMG I would LOVE those. Gosh, this is very off-topic :)) I will add spoiler tag :))
@River Cloud My obsession with him and his voice started with My Mister. And that instant coffee that IU drank while listening to him. Thanks to Korean + Japanese merch shop in my city I found that delivers online I stocked up on kimchi, ramyeon and all sorts of snacks and sweets, I'm like the perfect target for stuff out of dramas :))
Just added him, thanks for reminding me😊 I was amazed by his deep tone when I first saw him at Coffee prince
@Nushrat Humaira I think I watched him in Pasta first, and then My Mister... I dropped Coffee Prince twice now, maybe I can try to give it a third chance at some point.
I tried adding Lee Sun Kyun but the voting hasn't started yet. If I forget to check back in whatever hours time, please add him, just like IU in My Mister, I could listen to that voice for hours
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With all these new terms and definitions and the whole spectrum of identities, I was actually researching a while ago what is the difference between a pansexual and a bisexual because they seemed to be overlapping. But I think I am one of those cis normies that is part of the "perceived" majority (because of the whole Compulsory heterosexuality or comphet how the kids call it these days....) so I am constantly trying to educate myself on the ever changing terms and new words that we define and that define us.
And as a side note, I was always impressed with how ...relaxed? should I say or very fluid definitions of love, sex, gender, what little did I know about Japanese culture appeared to show. For me, apart from some very scary traditional ghost stories from Japan, the first exposure to a more significant chunk of it was the novel Shogun, by James Clavell (Sailor Moon did not impact me to such an extent). I was so drawn to the culture that I even tried copying all the words and wanted to learn the language - I gave up pretty soon, various reasons :) but yeah, one of the aspects I noted was how different the attitude towards sexuality and sex was in the West compared to Japan (at least in the book) and how the protagonist realized that there is a very definite distinction between real intimacy and say naked bodies... he was describing how he had no "flutter" when he was bathing along with some women (I think they were on a ship as well, not just in like onsen situations) but recognized that he shared a deep connection with someone (his love interest, obviously) when fully clothed and he felt closer to her than ever...
TL;DR: I always though that the Japanese culture (or the little that I know of it) is much more open minded when it comes to definitions of love and gender, just like you said. And I admired that aspect about it.
But Shiro mentioned men in disguise as well... in the meantime it would be a whole other conversation in C-dramas :)) your statement surely applies for that show biz world, although not sure now with all the Chinese boycott of "sissy men" in the entertainment...
@finika Am I somewhat close?
Yeah, I totally get the "bad from one angle but important"...I was actually thinking of Itaewon Class who had a cis gender woman playing a trans MTF character, but for some reason the whole thing did not seem disrespectful or at least from what image I have from kdramas and SK movies, the main issue would not necessarily be that they didn't get a trans MTF person who played this because maybe SK has more to go on this path compared to Western societies - where the general conversation reached the point of "let's not have all characters played by cis gendered ppl or only whites can play any race"...
So from this point of view, addressing the social issue or making some type of commentary on the situation (like how a dark skinned Korean is treated and discriminated against, of MTF trans person is always embroiled in shame and scandal follows them wherever) is more important than the "perfect" portrayal, or any little step matters. And you can clearly see when a character's preferences or gender identification are made "the punchline" or when this is just another detail about a character that has their own dreams, motivations and their purpose in the story is not mainly that "thing" about them. That being said I think the terms of the conversation are more complex and cross-dressing is more like a symptom that is part of a larger disease or illness that affects the society in general (not just SK) but yeah, now we're talking about kdramas so... in this case it's about a more traditionalistic/conservative society and how the cinematic products evolve. And they do evolve - same gender couples have appeared in several mainstream dramas, there are more and more BL SK titles, and there is somewhat of a lighter shade of the tone of their stories a.k.a. the gays don't always have to die or suffer for their "faults". I keep thinking about how my mind jumped right in the queer issues from cross dressing but I think that it's a niche case from a larger conversation that refers to gender expression, identification and all those nuances that exist rn (I was watching a while ago a clip on YT with 100 queer terms you need to know and that speaks volumes about how intricate and complicated things are within the larger conversation about gender expression, identification and sexual preferences and so on).
/ok, rant over I feel like I'm rambling all over now
TL;DR - all representation matters as it's a step forward towards (hopefully) acceptance.
As for Oh Dol Pyu (Kim Won Hae) in SWDBS, he was a bit too cartoonish or more of a stereotype of the gay flamboyant man, but maybe because of the actor and the subtlety of the pairing with the CEO's secretary it kinda worked - as in the portrayal was supposed to be over the top for comedic purposes.
You mentioned Jung Hae In and besides him being the cutest creature ever, I think he is someone whose beauty goes beyond gender - if he were a unicorn, he would've still been revered. Yoo Yeon Seok would be another one and if I dig deep, I would find actresses that "work" in both their fem and masc-presenting persona. Right now I cannot name any (JHI is stuck to my brain).
All in all, thank you for writing this article - I totally agree that a more educated audience is a far better one and in time maybe it will increase the quality of the dramas that tackle these gender-presenting, queer issues, men vs. women type of approach (or more "it's a man's world and everything that digresses from it is bound to fail or become "the enemy" or end up destroyed in its individuality, a.k.a. conformism" like how women need to become more "masculine" to make it, or ppl need to present themselves into the world according to the comp het norms).
Hmm....my answer is kinda all over the place, maybe because the topic is not a simple one and it has multiple ramifications as it refers to a social construct that affects multiple categories of ppl.
Gosh, this is very off-topic :)) I will add spoiler tag :))