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Three Minutes Were Enough
Three minutes. That's all it took for me to recognize a formula that overly sentimental Chinese romance dramas have been recycling for far too long.
A girl standing under an umbrella, a mysterious young man, an endless exchange of meaningful glances, and, of course, a melancholic guitar playing in the background, desperately trying to convince us that we're witnessing the meeting of two souls destined to love each other forever.
And why exactly should I be emotionally invested? I don't even know these characters yet!
The problem isn't romance. It's this particular way of telling romantic stories, which seems to be the only formula the creators of these dramas know.
Lingering glances, endless silences, sentimental music, and a camera determined to turn every ordinary encounter into a life-changing event.
**When every single moment tries to be extraordinarily romantic, none of them ends up feeling special.**
I'm not going to rate a 27-episode drama after watching only three minutes. That would be ridiculous.
But those three minutes were more than enough for me to recognize a narrative formula I have absolutely no interest in sitting through again.
**I don't need to know how this story ends. I already know how they're going to tell it.**
A girl standing under an umbrella, a mysterious young man, an endless exchange of meaningful glances, and, of course, a melancholic guitar playing in the background, desperately trying to convince us that we're witnessing the meeting of two souls destined to love each other forever.
And why exactly should I be emotionally invested? I don't even know these characters yet!
The problem isn't romance. It's this particular way of telling romantic stories, which seems to be the only formula the creators of these dramas know.
Lingering glances, endless silences, sentimental music, and a camera determined to turn every ordinary encounter into a life-changing event.
**When every single moment tries to be extraordinarily romantic, none of them ends up feeling special.**
I'm not going to rate a 27-episode drama after watching only three minutes. That would be ridiculous.
But those three minutes were more than enough for me to recognize a narrative formula I have absolutely no interest in sitting through again.
**I don't need to know how this story ends. I already know how they're going to tell it.**
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