cityhunter

What bothers me about these behaviors is not so much that it happens, it's the way it's received, by other characters in the drama and by fans, many of whom are young and impressionable. Any story, in any medium, would be boring if all the characters were perfect and behaved perfectly all the time. can you imagine that drama? The fantastic Tale of Hee Jin and the how everyone was super nice all the time. ugh boring. i am perfectly fine with all of the things you touched on being present. rape happens, controlling and abusive partners happen, guys that cant take "GTFO!!" for an answer happen. in Asian drama (more so than the western shows) however it doesn't seem like a big deal. in the dramas i watch when girls are pinned up against the wall and a forcibly kissed despite their protestations, no one blinks. she doesn't go home and tell her mom "Li Tang assaulted me!" the reaction is generally no more serious than if they'd had an argument about where to spend the holidays. even this, as bothersome as it is, could be forgiven if there didn't seem to be a parallel in the cultural mindset, both in Asia and in the wider drama watching community. when male celebrities are accused of abusive behavior or sexual misconduct it's not only dismissed out of hand, but the accuser is largely vilified. When Park Shi Hoo was accused of sexual assault at the beginning of the scandal before anything was really made public the fan response was largely 1. Park Shi Hoo didnt rape her because he's so hot he can get whoever he wants, why would he need to rape any one? and 2. why are you complaining? you got to have sex with park shi hoo! even when confronted with a confession and photographic proof the kim hyun joong beat the crap out of his girlfriend on at least two occasion the response from many fans was to put it succinctly "so what? i love you oppa!!!!"
Western entertainment wont be getting any feminist of the year awards anytime soon, but rape, assault and abuse are largely treated as the awful things they are, both in the scope of the show/movie, and within the society. sure chris brown still has a job but you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would publicly say they didnt have a problem with him beating his girlfriend and if you could find that moron there'd be a million memes calling them a moron by the end of the day.
this reminds me of a time long ago when i was 15 and arguing with my boyfriend (18). i walked away from him and he grabbed my arm and tried to drag me back into my room. my father saw it, grabbed him by his collar and threw him out of the house. though we remain friends to this day, it was almost two years before he was allowed to step foot in my parents house again, my parents even called his and let them know if something like that ever happened again they'd press charges. And they could have. i dont think any dude in korea is getting charged for the wrist grab.

i'm on episode 3 and alot of the clothes look like project runway rejects. Fang si and Xiang Nan are mostly ok until they try to dress up, only a few of director Yin's outfits have made me cringe so far, but Jerry Yan has obviously lost a bet. if this show didnt revolve around the fashion industry it wouldn't be so bad but i just can not believe that anyone thought sending Li Tang into a party wearing a denim jack with french bull dog face hanging off of it was a good idea lol. other than that i am liking it so far.

oh Sung Joon, when will you get a fully functioning set of emotions? i cant tell if he's really a bad actor or if he just keeps pulling these monotone roles. either way, he needs to start turning down the romantic stuff because it is not his strong suit, though at this point i can't say i've seen anything i thought he was good in.

i'm watching this on hulu, where there are only 12 eps up. i'm on ep 10 and thought there were only 12, which was a great relief. the chemistry is seriously lacking, which wouldn't be so bad if there was ANYTHING else going on. the plot (such as it is) has been laser focused on these two, and they aren't all that fun to watch except in the flash backs. i was going to hang in and finish when i thought i only had two episodes left, but i cant do another ten.

i feel they struck a really good balance with the female lead. so often when they go for the pure innocent vibe they err a little too heavily on the side of childish which gives me the jeebs. here they manage to give her that vibe without making her feel like a child.

i think we're gonna need a bigger corner! this is killing everyone.

ugh this is why i usually wait for dramas to finish airing before i watch. excuse me while i sit in a corner and cry until the next episode is out.

i feel like the writers are purposely taking the very common archetype of a childlike/ innocent female lead and flipping it. in k-drama countless heroines are portrayed as innocent and childlike, which is presented as romantically desirable. at the same time they do their best to style the actress in ways that make her look like a little girl or that evoke that sort of image. that's what gives me the jeebs, and it's what makes so many people have a negative reaction to NMW's character, b/c that persona of child isnt considered attractive or romantically desirable for a guy.

i find it odd how people are reacting to No Min Woo's character. he's weird or stupid or annoying, but let's face it, k-dramas have been churning out female leads like this for a looong time, characters who's main appeal is supposed to be a child like innocence and ineptitude that makes the other lead want to take care of them. guy or girl i dont find it funny or endearing. a little creepy maybe....

viki and drama fever are both free. you dont have to pay them. as for the speed, you get what you pay for when it comes to internet. often these problems arent the site but consumer connection. $30 dollar a month DSL isnt going to cut it when you're trying to stream in HD, especially if you're using wifi. streaming of HD asian dramas to the rest of the world is still working out some kinks. availability is expanding all the time, whenever one of these big sites gets shut down, you see the legal sites expand. i personally look forward to a day when we all have legal reasonably priced access to asian dramas so the industry can benefit from it's huge international audience. if they are more profitable there will be more dramas and you will see an increase in quality, like we've seen with the t-dramas in recent years.

i tend to watch on the legal steaming sites, but every once in a while there's a show i can only find on the illegal sites. i hope the bank seizure is not true. i understand making enough money off the site to keep it running but if you are making a significant profit off intellectual property that you dont have permission to use, welli just cant feel bad for you when you get shut down. until there is a legal way to access this stuff from anywhwere sites like this will continue to pop up. in recent years access has improved, but it's still no where near where it needs to be to accomodate the demand.

that looks better than i thought it would. anyone know the nbame of the song that was playing?

dubbing that bad takes time :P

some of the dubbing here is just criminal. Jerry's dubbing is particularly irksome, since i really like his voice. the kids are just...{{{shudder}}

it's a special episode that aired during the show's original run when the lead actress was unable to film.

i guess i'm the only one who's feeling kind of "meh" about this drama. the 1st episode felt like they were just trying to pile on flashy or pseudo exciting sceenes in hopes that you'd be too distracted by all the pretty colors to realize that the exposition is seriously lacking.

JJ....guh. i'm so glad to see his acting getting better and better.

i think KJ's perusing a woman he knows is miserable. you can love someone and still be miserable with them. what i see is that IR has been stuffing it down for so long b/c she loves her husband, then along comes KJ who tells her she doesnt have to stuff it down and makes her feel good. i dont think IR's actions mean she will always cheat, i think they mean that people are flawed and dont always do the right or honorable thing.

i watched about half of it, but then the big reveal made me mad so i havent finished it yet, he is pretty awesome in that too, but he's awesome in everything lol

apparently Il Ri is a homophone for the korean word for valid, according to one viki subber at least.