Nepeta 22

There is such a thing as trauma porn and the writer was going that angle of equating female strength through endurance. It's basically the struggle olympics. Choosing to adapt these kinds of novels never work if you frame this as a romance story. It may work only as a side story at times of war, but not at the centre, because it only highlights cruelty and stereo typing the warlord era into caricatures.

He was good in The Bad Kids. A drama I would recommend!

I can, because this is a public drama forum. I will post my opinions, just like you have.

Within those opinions, I will judge if it's needed, and in this situation, I think what I point out is valid. You (in my opinion) are inserting your modern day views and then applying it to the characters.

But fear not, I am doing just that myself, but my opinion differs from yours. I am stating the writer is blinded because they are writing a fantasy for themselves. They got so carried away, the FL character is some innocent young woman unaware of her power over ML, and she's going to do a lot of questionable things to make the ML suffer. But the ML will walk through fire for her and ignore all her flaws, because he is hopelessly in love even if she makes a lot of juvenile mistakes.

Writer can only do this because at that time women had less rights so, the only way a FL can have currency is through her beauty and innocence. The more mistakes and short-sightedness is on the horizons. Viewers like yourself will find this hard to watch. That's because you are watching with your modern day lens unlike the author writing out the fantasy of little miss innocent.

Really? From what I can see, the author ( a self-insert style writer) is clearly trying to paint the classic naive Mary Sue character, very 2017 C-Drama-land. The whole idea is she has no clue of the trail of destruction she can cause by her good deeds that is pure in her heart and in the mind, but classically, she will cause ML issues, and of course, he will forgive her because she's loved by all except the ladies that love the ML.

To a watcher like yourself, you won't get that, because you are bringing in your modern day thinking into it. Some will even hate the FL even though she has been a victim of sexual assault, stalking and violence. But, ML is hot so he's not committing any criminal offence.

You have to remember, the author is in fantasy land. The "war" is just a tool to spice up the storyline and cause tension. The spot light is the ML, the female lead is just a vessel. That is why her character and development will always be moving the storyline to make sure the ML gets his development.

You should be asking why the author wrote a FL like this? Or are you watching with a modern day "knowing" viewpoint against someone that's not got access to the internet?

What is new is tinkly music plays with so mo when she falls over him. This after he nearly raped her or sexually assaulted her or squeezes her face so tight her teeth is about to fall out🫪.

The books of films some have mentioned happens fleetingly here and there but this drama frames it as titillation. They are trivialising these incidences and normalising it. It is relentless. That is troublesome. Nothing wrong with dark romance, but not framed and edited like this drama. It's like a chapel soft porn movie.

Did you notice that absence of the usual misogynistic trolls that usually populated these drama pages. They must be punching their fists in the air. Finally, they get to see a FL endure the nastiness and worse still, she has double whammy of men that are total losers. And author says she can only choose one🥺.

I said it before but I'll say it again, comparing this to something like Taxi Driver is laughable. This drama slow mos these moments, plays soft piano music in an earnest style. Not at all trying to paint the world she lives in as scary and predatory. Not even a hint of Stockholm Syndrome. And that is where the issue is. Those that talk it up with foot long essays inserting the whys are trying to read so deep into it they might as well re write the whole drama, or the drama will just look like a poorly written soft porn movie.

Well, you are more hopeful than me. I think the drama adaptation has spent too long on the rabid obsession to an unhealthy level making it feel like they are trying to glamourise it as romance using guided soft piano music.

I have stopped watching now, because I don't think I will forget this part of the drama for a long while. simply because they have (to me anyway) tried to trivialise the violence and invading of personal space.

Anyway, enjoy, and I truly hope they turn the corner soon. I came here for Cheng Lei, and he did not disappoint, because again he has delivered a compelling performance. But, unfortunately, this time, it's not for me.

I have sort of moved on and putting this drama on hold. The subject is badly handled and the romance and the assault and invading of personal space is jarring. If the author or the adaptation was trying to do a deep dive into the ML's complex issues of being overlooked by his family and ended up as this character, it sure has failed for me.

From episode 2 up to episode 14, the relentless close ups of the FL's scared face, her mouth slightly open, and then her walking into danger continuously to me serves as a poorly written storyline hiding behind romance does not sit naturally. Mainly because of the suggestive upbeat music, the slow motion at times that is purely sick, especially of the scene in the library when she falls on top of him. It is problematic because it makes fun of such a situation as someone stalking her and trying to sabotaging her private wedding. It does not matter if she is unaware of what her fiance is up to. The writer is trying to be moral by measuring in millimetres. The FL at this point is only worthy of the best of the bad bunch. What is this?

I noticed on this page, the absence (for once) of trolls that come on to moan about FL dominating men or men doing too much for them. They are not here to condemn ML's behaviour though, so to me, a very interesting insight of the inner dynamics of where we are in dramaland.

I am not against the subject matter. In fact one of my favourite C-dramas (A Love Never Lost) has the ML raping the FL, but it was not about romance or the suggestive light heartedness of the matter, unlike here, they are blurring the line of assault as if it's nothing.

You mentioned her agency, you mean the author's agency? Well, let's discuss the writer in this...Lazy tropey dated writing that firmly puts the blame onto a young woman that is written so badly, it's just a badly written soft porn.

That agency you mention is the author's cobbled attempt at an excuse to make sure FL ends up at his place. I saw someone write about writers of the past attempt at trying to show-case obsession or troublesome love where caging someone or taking (without consent) tokens like the hair pin so he can lust from his privacy. But those adaptations were never prolonged and so obviously teasing and as in this drama. They happened in a flash here and there.

But here, it is blatant titillation at the expense of putting the onus on a young female barely out of school, so that people can say, it's not all him, she's just as silly walking into the lion's den. I argue, this is the author's desperate attempt, and there has been masses of it from episode 2 right up to now, and each time, tinkly music plays along, like it's romantic when it's continuous sexual assault.

There is a difference between using parts of that in the drama to make a point, but this relentless rinse and repeated attempt to assault and aggressive harassing is not done as part of the plot to analyse, but for low-brow titillation.

On top of that, this then shifts the focus onto her asking for it because the writer does not care much about the FL's character. He/she just wants to make an excuse for her to be next to him? This is why I keep seeing viewers annoyed with FL characters of late.

Some of these writers are merely writing their own fantasies through a male gaze. Some female writers cannot and not even aware of how brainwashed they have become. I saw some posters ranting at others about don't watch if you are "woke". You couldn't make it up. They don't even know the real origin of that usage of word, but prefer to take it and use it for something else.

You need to question why the writer has to do this just to initiate forced trope idealistic younglady against the more cunning and manipulative ML. It's really not deep. They resort to making FL choose stupid choices that are simply not realistic or normal. Don't you hate it when writers are so lazy they cobble together an incoherent set of happenings just to get to the trapped intimate scenes. I actually feel sorry for the actress that has to walk through this role.

Can you make sure you add why the writer wrote this? The actors or actresses are performers. I think it's very low brow trying to dress as high brow. This dated trope is as old as the hills. Don't blame women, blame the writers.

Being put in prison for a few months for stalking, harassment, sexual assault would be a more fitting, but I fear that's my wishful thinking. The worst part is knowing after all this, FL will give in to him (after) he changes his way. Why do I get the feeling she only ends up with him after a rebound from her current fiancé? Should FL ever have to choose the best of the bunch? This drama is pure ML development project and FL is just an object. Carelessly written and totally unrealistic. I get the feeling the author only wants to write soft porn.

It's so trying to be soft porn, but inserting silly soup kitchen type scenes in making the whole story more disingenuous.🤔

Let's be honest here, sexual harassment, assault, invading of personal space, creeping stalking, and worse still, trying to sabotage her planned marriage whilst failing to deal with his own planned marriage. Some on that list are criminal offences, but you would brush that aside because he is buffed and not someone double her age and has a body mass index of over 30. If that's not pretty privilege don't know what is 🫪What a complete loser. Love the actor but cringing badly as it's getting harder to root for such a fool.

Sadly I have to agree with you on that. Since this is a ML growth project drama, he has to start at one extreme I suppose... I suspect by episode 39, he would be mending his own clothes while tending to her every needs while acting swashbuckling in the battlefields 😉😆

Why am I not surprised by that spoiler! I have to admit I'm struggling to watch more because like you, I don't feel they should be together. Firstly he is about to be married himself and he has the audacity to sabotage her planned marriage but fails to deal with his own relationship.

This is beyond harassment. He is unfit to be with her. Coupled with his disgraceful invading of personal space this is totally creepy. I will research more on this troublesome author. Actors doing good but I cringe as the drama unfolds. It's so trying to be soft porn but inserting silly soup kitchen type scenes in it which makes it even more disingenuous.🤔

Yes, she is experiencing manipulative behaviour. At such a tender age, in today's world he has committed 3 crimes, stalking, harassment and sexual/assault. But because he is buff and young it's suddenly hot and cool. Is that pretty privilege double standards?

He knowingly trapped her in a situation where she cannot really let anyone know because no one would care or believe her. Using this social surrounding, it is very hard to want her to fall for him because it's not love, but a bout of Stockholm syndrome.

Firstly, I know this is a drama and there will always be over dramatics to push forward a story or situation. But sadly, here, they are trivialising the seriousness or her previous capture and tortured. It is not normal for her to slap him later considering his background and the power he has over others. Unless she knows he has a soft spot for her. But the writer makes it clear she has no feelings for him at this moment in time. So this slap is just a cheap stunt to get going with the aggressive moves he will give her.

Honestly at this point, the author is just writing low brow soft porn, but always making the FL ending in a submissive way with viewers saying she brought this on herself. We must question why the writers spend so much time crafting the ML's back story and anger issues, but skimp on the FL who is hollow with classic naive reactions, considering her better education over others, she is suddenly not able to be smart enough to duck out of trouble. This shows the author treats FL as just a stock foil character to uplift ML.

But the excuse based on the writing of this drama is the terrible warlord background he has come from. His brutish behaviour is average apparently. Yes to some extent, but I fear some of these shallowlistic writers use this to legitimise poor behaviour towards women.

I note that a fair few republican romance dramas love using this backdrop for their soft porn fantasy. But at the expense of writing women in submissive situations and in this one, knowing she has far more to lose than himself so he can toy with her like a rag-doll knowing she will never tell anyone. It's a difficult watch to be honest...

It's all good. Cheng Lei never disappoints. That's why he keeps getting these types of roles. He's also very natural in comedic roles so this character showcases his versatility as an actor.

I get the warlord background family and I also get these scenes but even in dramas there is a line of acceptability for idol style dramas where responsible messages are conveyed. Here it's sailing too close to the wind!