kirtil

let me say in advance that my knowledge of reverse harems may be lacking.. but; I think that tho reverse harem genre may have formed to empower women, the style it transformed today does not make me feel much empowerment for women.

When reverse harem genre first came out the main idea was to "choose her own fate without any limits. The beauty of the Reverse harem sub-genre is that it is so free and empowering for women… Reverse harem shows that the main character can be a woman, and have several men love her, and she is strong enough to love them all" (direct quote from an author in an interview I think).
Even back then the harem and reverse harem genres different greatly. in harems it was all about superiority, and in reverse harems it was about equality as I understand it.

Sadly now I feel reverse harem genre is also focused on mass consumption in a male dominated society and turned into another form of male fantasy. There is one woman who is the focus of several men, but usually the power between them is in-equal. Most if not all of the reverse harems I saw the power dynamic tilted towards men. The woman is usually depicted as lacking in some way (lacking money / lacking education / lacking experience / etc) and men usually save or protect her.
As female fantasy I don't feel it is an empowering one. But thinking as male fantasy; a woman in need of protection, have a lot of choices but chooses you in the end..

in this list I only was 4 RH titles I watched, and only lunch queen does not perfectly fit my description. She is kinda homeless, close to being penniless and somewhat on a run from some people and men all help her solve these problems but the power dynamic did not tilt against her if I remember right. it's been many years since I watched it, not sure if I remember it right.

I'd be more than happy to learn about titles that empower women in these genres.

Aquarius. not that my selections are bad (tho i prefer japanese version of because it is my first life) but because the rest have excellent choices as well. fun post.

This may be the single occasion in my life that I am jealous of other zodiacs.

I used to love these. Nearly all of the ones I watched have a lot of comedy, was light and fun.

Then as I grow up emotionally I realized the light, the fun, the comedy; most of it (if not all) came from a place of fulfilling male fantasy and misogyny.
Now, we can argue all of the media is kind of focused on these and we would be right, but still, realizing this made the fun I get from watching these kinda conflicted at best.

My comment comes from watching korean media mainly with a large dose of japan and sprinkles of the rest of the asian countries. I apologize in advance if your experience differs from mine.

Still, they can be fun as a "pick me up" when world gets you down. Not everything can be Misaeng quality and there's only so many times you can re-watch 1 drama.

Not in the same context, but I am always happy and expectant when I see Park Jin Joo in a drama. She seems to bring something extra to every role she plays.

haha yes, tho for some reason I only get invited once.

I apologize in advance; Strong Woman Do Bong Soon is a big trigger for me.

from the ones I watched, I have 2 titles that I think is not suitable for beginner-friendly tag.

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo - This is completely personal. I can not immerse in sports dramas if the actors are not role-appropriate. Like tennis dramas starring actors with thin legs or like here; weightlifter characters played by actors more suited to modeling as opposed to weightlifting. I have nothing bad to say about Lee Sung Kyung or her acting. But having her play a weightlifter... doesn't work for me.
I don't think this would be a good choice for recommending to a beginner on the off-chance that they are looking for a base line of realism. This can label all kdramas as unrealistic in their eyes.

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon - I would argue that this shouldn't be in any list, ever. if you are doing a list of bad dramas; perfect fit.
The show is riddled with problems.
The hospitalized gang - people getting hurt, people in hospital, lots of saliva. it was not physical comedy, it was definitely not sad or impactful the way it was presented. they were just..filler.
school gang - At first it seemed they were there to make Do Bong Sun look good. She will reform them, teach them to be valued members (or something) and let us see another aspect of her. Nope; during the entirety of the drama we are shown they act like delinquents, shout and fight gangsters, skip school. All the things she first didn't like in them and the reason she first beat and then took them under her wings. We are basically shown how she enables them instead of being shown how she positively affects her surroundings.
Do Bong Sun's parents - We are constantly shown severe domestic abuse and in the last episode a statement from the "abuser" on being offended when people think like that and no, she is not abusing anyone.
Do Bong Sun - She is a real person with real goals. And agrees to work in that company in that environment. When I saw the desk, her workstation; I got offended FOR HER. She is given a toy desk. Giving her that desk was the same as saying I do not respect you or your work but I am indulging you. It was like those punishment rooms I heard about korean companies that they send people to drive them to quit. How can anyone feel respected and wanted working on a desk like that when everyone else have.. appropriate working environment? it was emasculating.
Also the mechanics and usage of her ability was a big let down for me.
Bong Bong bullied, hurt and scared people using her power from the first episode and the one time she was unaware she was using her power on an undeserving person she lost her power? So it doesn't matter if undeserving people get hurt with her power unless the scene is funny?

I'd like a collaboration with Ms. Park Ji Eun please.

I like her eccentric female characters but when I look at her dramas I see that it's somewhat norm for her now.
I hope we see more/better female characterizations from here in the future. Let us see the best strong female characters.

Or do a collaboration with Ms. Park Hae Young and create the best female characters. Looking forward to something like that.

I don't agree. I think that definition is too broad and not every well written female character is necessarily a strong female character. I think something extra is needed in there. Something like being role-model viable, or something.

8 - full house
7 - goong
6 - marriage contract
5 - something about 1%
4 - fated to love you
3 - marriage, not dating
2 - king 2 hearts
1 - because this is my first life

I strongly agree. I want to see "the index" to make sure I am interested in the video before I watch it.

Another thing that's done A LOT in dramas/movies and would harm us in real life; cleaning open wounds with alcohol. This can cause permanent damage to the recipient, correct way to clean wounds is with sterile saline solution.

I think Do Bong Soon is one of the worst characters one can mention in anything related to strong females unless they are talking about physical strength.

Hold my beer!
Goblin - 900 years and change age gap

Ah; no no you misunderstood. I did not mean I did not like it even tho it was widely accepted as a crowd pleaser. Like I did with shows like romantic doctor, teacher kim, strong woman do bong su, bad guys or good doctor.

No; It is a very good show, I also like the mains, the costumes, the story, and the music (so far). It's just I'm in such a funk that I can't even get into that good a show.

I must be in a deeper hole than you are; right now I am still struggling to get into hotel del luna

really disappointed with her after watching strong woman