raizdeloto

Hello there! I’m raizdeloto, at least for now. I have ADHD, I love making up usernames, and kisskh let’s you switch periodically, so.

NARRATIVE-OBSESSED NERD

I’ve been hyperfocusing on books, movies, and tv since I was little. I’m from the U.S. English is my first language. I speak Spanish and Portuguese with high proficiency, and some execrable French. Whether I’m watching television or movies, I’d always rather watch something that’s not in English and that does have subtitles. 

FRIENDS? 

I'm here to chat about dramas. I can’t express to the people in my life how awesome the creative work going on in Asian tv is. No one will get the appeal, because they like less affecting, more realistic shows that reflect Western culture. Also, they’re mostly not as neurodivergent as I, and they cannot bear the full brunt of my focused interests.

VIEWING HABITS

Dramas float back and forth between my Currently Watching and my On Hold, and sometimes even return from Dropped to the land of the living. What can I say — I have the executive function of a lava lamp.

✮ RATINGS ✮

My ratings take the medium into account. I refuse to rob a perfect tv drama of a star just because it’ll never make it into the Criterion Collection. Okay, objectively speaking, Rashomon is superior to Drama Special Series Season 1: White Christmas. But each is twisty and satisfying and perfect in its own way. 

I rate dramas based mostly on writing, acting, and directing. I'm absorbed by art direction, composition and visuals, but have to make an effort to pay attention to soundtracks. High moments for me are original takes on life, society and history. And sometimes, when a drama shakes me into a new awareness, even if the drama's flawed, I reward it with extra stars.

BACK IN THE DAY

I got started with Asian dramas in 2016, when an acquaintance loaned me the library DVD of I Hear Your Voice. (I miss you, Dramafever!) Starting in the 1980s, I was obsessed with European, Asian, African, and Latin American art films. So I was haunting repertory moviehouses when midnight screenings started to feature Hong Kong movies. I became a regular at a video rental store where the owner spoke Cantonese. These days, I'm meandering from kdramas over to cdramas. Kdramas got a little too Western-facing in terms of content and broadcast standards - damn you, Netflix!

♥️ TROPES ♥️ 

I LOVE ALL THE TROPES because I love having my mind blown. As I watch more and more cdramas, I'm trying to wrap my brain around not only the post-second-act twist but also the jones for an ambiguous ending.

• Breakups and separations in later episodes - How did I ever put up with Hollywood endings where the couple suddenly pivot to happy ever after? Down with that. The relationship must be tested. Only a major separation can prove the couple has what it takes to last. 
• Innuendo - It’s so nostalgic for me, the way some dramas encourage head canon about the characters’ sexual activities while maintaining plausible deniability. Takes me back to the Golden Age of Hollywood and the Hayes Code.
• Toxically masculine red flags. Don't judge me.
• Hypocritically chivalrous green flags. Don't judge me.
• Rampaging second leads. Don't say over the top like it's a bad thing.
• Amnesia. Without amnesia, I Hear Your Voice's Park Soo Ha alone in the rain would not have the same sad puppy power! Also: delicious dramatic possibilities!
• Time and multiverse warps. I love speculative fiction, and I love how time fantasy elements are used to explore karma. 
• Intense parenting - It’s fascinating to watch a society’s dialogue about parenting appear on the small screen. Not that I understand what’s going on in the society, but I do dig being puzzled by it.
• Plotholes - When I’m watching Western media, I don’t notice plotholes, because I’m distracted by a payoff. And that makes me interested in what the payoff is for the drama's intended viewers.
• Talking with Dead People - Deceased family members show up to chat with the living, giving me a sense of what it is to live in a society that honors ancestors. I'm so moved by funerals and grave tending and always cry when someone bows to their departed loved ones.
• Epic stereotypes - Evil mothers-in-law, elders who dispense wisdom before peacefully expiring, nobly dead dads, sunshiny Cinderellas, grumpy CEOs, etc. New dramas build on what came before. Actors add their own personal stamp.
• Wrist grabs - TV is a distorted mirror of a society’s norms, and I lack experience of Asian societies. So when it comes to stalking, muddled consent, &c, I fall back on tolerance of ambiguity.
• Red threads and tangled karmic coincidences - When the childhood connection is revealed, when the karmic dominos spill: that's when I feel  wondering and grateful.
  

Full disclosure, though, I absolutely battle culture shock with Asian dramas. 

CULTURE SHOCK PAIN POINTS

• Animals. 
  1. Fur garments. Okay, there was a fur protest thing in the U.S. in the 80s and 90s. And because of that, when I see a fur coat, I find myself nervously scanning for someone holding a bag of fake blood. But I get that China is dominant in the fur industry, and I admire the period fur costume artistry.
  2. Stressed out animal performers. I see them panting - the whites of their eyes showing. However, that Corgi in Love is Sweet is the most chill animal performer I've ever seen from anywhere.
  3. Attitudes towards pets. Pet dogs that live on porches. Stray cats. Kdrama cats symbolizing abject vulnerability. (I'm looking at you, Mouse! And thank you, Because This Is My First Life, for being the exception to the rule.) In contrast, loved up cats in fluffy cdramas! Thanks Go Go Squid! and Falling Into Your Smile. 
• The hitting. Those casual angry/affectionate slaps. And the flicking each other on the forehead. It's not that I disapprove. I just can't stop being aware that in my culture, that behavior would not fly.
• Plastic surgery. It took me years to get used to the Hallyu preference for an ice cream cone face shape. I know that's my own ethnocentrism. Hollywood is chock full of jaw fillers. It just seems like if East and West could get on the same page, maybe all the celebrities could go under the knife a little less frequently?
• Fan culture. Not gonna lie: It gets to me that celebrities can't publicly date. When that comes up in dramas, I always have to take a minute to grrr. And some fan behavior trips me out. But I realize that there is no way to be a celebrity anywhere in the world without suffering intense scrutiny and being harassed by the "adoring" public.
• Neurodivergence. Neurodivergent-coded drama characters put me in a universe of uncertainty. In my country, people lean into labels and diagnoses. That's not happening in Asian dramas. So I get distracted by my curiosity. For sure I don't want to blindly impose my own society's mental health doctrines. But if I see someone overcoming their disability with willpower, I'm left with questions.
• Last minute separations. If I'm being honest, these took me awhile. Watching one of my first kdramas, I got jolted out of a happy ending haze by learning that someone (who shall not be spoiled) suddenly had to blind off for two years' study in Italy. And to this day I'm actually relieved when two to five years fly by in one episode.

TWO THINGS I OFTEN FEEL LIKE DEFENDING ON HERE

• International English aka Globish - It’s cool how English as a second language users use English/Globish to communicate among themselves and with speakers of other languages. Heads up for any of you English speakers who complain English isn’t spoken the way you like: you are not the intended audience.
• Theatrical acting styles - Western audiences value realism. Growing up in the US, I often heard people dismiss a show with the unexamined judgment: "I just didn't believe it." So understandably, American actors in particular are quite skilled at performing low key realness. But I'm sick of it. In contrast, Asian audiences seem to enjoy realism, but also a range of broad and theatrical acting modes. And when a script gets operatic, the performers have to take it to 11 - it’s the acid test for acting skill, and awesome to behold.

MESSAGE ME BECAUSE:

...you love romantic tragicomedies and you have one to recommend. My rewatches include: Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, Pinocchio, I Hear Your Voice, Healer, Chicago Typewriter, Something in the Rain, Tomorrow with You, and Love Like the Galaxy: Part 1 and Part 2. I've given lots of dramas 10 stars, but the ones I rewatch most have searing slow burns, heightened reality and/or intense mood, and an earned happy ending. The plot, characters and emotions are dramatic enough that the drama could never be described as slice of life.  

…you have any wuxia picks to share or if you want to talk up any on my Plan to Watch. I know, I know, I have to get to The Legend of the Condor Heroes soon! I seriously <3 wire fu.

…you have any recommendations for twisty, dark, or morally grey dramas that contain more than just one teensy sliver of hope. I periodically try to broaden my horizons with dark crime and psychological dramas, but usually can’t finish them. I wanted to watch Mouse so much because the writing is killer, yet gave up because its effect on my anxiety level was also killer, and not in a good way. I need for the protagonist to embody some level of safety, even if they’re morally grey - such as Baek Hui Seong in Flower of Evil. I had to take a few breaks from the drama to emotionally regulate, because I was too skeeved out by the antagonists, but I love Flower of Evil and am glad I was able to finish it.

...you are into the Daimu Biji universe and want to talk tomb adventure dramas.

…you want to compare notes and ratings, or simply nerd out about dramas.