bojojoti

I've watched Bai Jing Ting and Tian Xi Wei in other dramas and enjoyed them. I liked them in this drama, too (their relationship was sweet), but my pleasure was tempered by two unfortunate premises.

I understand the desire to rewrite history in an heroic manner, but the sort of feminist retrofitting of rigid history undermines the actual hardships women had to endure in those times. That a handful of concubines would be allowed to undermine a society without dire consequences to themselves and their families is unreasonable.

I could accept the wish-fulfillment fantasy of sisterhood easily changing society; this isn't a documentary, after all. However, I couldn't stomach the spousal abuse. Third Prince was despised, and rightly so, for his womanizing and treating his wife and concubines as property. Yet, when he realized the error of his ways and tried to make amends, he was still treated with disrespect. It was understandable that Shang Guan Jing was resentful at her forced marriage to the 5th Prince. He was dim-witted and his mouth said things his brain didn't always mean, but that was no excuse for Shang Guan's physical and mental abuse of him. Why is it acceptable to beat a man and leave huge, horrific bruises on him? He'd grown up abused, and he accepted it gratefully from his wife. I found that extremely sad and distasteful. As much as I liked the character of the tough, feisty Shang Guan, there is never an excuse for a stronger person to beat on a weaker one, no matter the sex.