You reminded me of a popular British drama I've been crying over where the main character was pretty much being controlled by prophesies he couldn't change no matter how much he tried. Magical beings in all forms tells him this and that are inevitable or that he can't follow his heart/do what he feels is right or so and so will be his fault and that puts him into self-loathing misery. Whatever actions he took only confirmed said prophesies. It makes my blood boil and I get what you're saying about Dan-oh.

Well-written piece, @turtuallysarcastic. Like you, I am also currently do not have any strings on me, but I don't think of getting a pair of scissors ready. Let me go buy one now. 😉

Really good writeup @turtuallysarcastic. I'd have to say yes this is a fear many of us hold and some have clearly been through it. The issue, as you said , is that maybe when we follow our own will in everything, we still end up taking bad decisions for ourselves. So, at times maybe some people interfere in our lives (usually elders or parents) because they have been through this stage and mostly they want the younger ones to not repeat the same mistake they did. But yeah, if a person only does what they want it is very probable that they are excluded and are left to experience the thing by themselves. At times it's good for them, at times it's also bad.

It's all a puppet show and none of us can the masters! Good point you have with how scary it can be to think or realize something in our lives (maybe our entire existence!) is out of our control or not our doing. There's plenty of kdramas wherein manipulation of characters occurs in some fashion... that just makes it all the more dramatic. However it does stop to make you wonder when you have an entire kdrama contingent upon the premise. But I like to think we watch these dramas because we are inherently optimistic about the outcome. We want to see the underdog and downtrodden defeat the force holding them back from happiness. Unfortunately that happy ending isn't always what we get from a drama, but it doesn't mean we can't try for happiness in real life. I say continue to be horrified by the possibility of being held back from your happiness - it will make you fight all the more to live well!

Woohoo! Thank you for editing and publishing my horror piece, Dramabeans Staff! Finding pictures was another nightmare you saved me from! ;)

Love your harry potter references 🤩@turtuallysarcastic

Wow this was a great read! A couple of my friends are watching this drama so I may check it out now too :D

I liked the connection you made about how society has its own "invisible strings" over our lives as that is something that is so true in a way and it seems inevitable for us to feel like failures if our lives aren't going according to the narrative society has set out for us i.e. unmarried women with no children, very interesting and thought provoking stuff indeed

I am not watching EXTRAORDINARY YOU for exactly the reasons that you describe. Being a puppet on a string is a truly horrifying idea- more horrifying than a slasher movie.

I too do not like to see people being pushed around.

In my first year of Law School I had a classmate who was also a close neighbor. His father was a lawyer and had pushed his son to be the same (note: the majority of lawyers do not want their children to be lawyers). My classmate was certainly smart enough and had every necessary talent for the law. But he had absolutely no desire to do it. He had an engineering degree and that is what he wanted to do. After a year he quit law school and went to work for Boeing as an engineer.

But here is the thing: His father was, in a sense, right. Engineering Degree plus Law Degree equals Patent Lawyer- and Patent Lawyers are the happy lawyers. It is not just good money- it is that you are actually creating an economically valuable thing, while the rest of us are largely engaged in some form of damage control. My friend's father had a genuinely happy vision for his son. This did not come from ego but rather from love and a genuine desire for the success of his son. Of course, the problem was that the father's vision was not the son's dream. And, in the end the father gave his son his blessing and did not try to push him to continue with law school.

Still, we would do well to remember that not everyone who is pushing is doing so out of ego, arrogance or a desire to control someone else- although there are lots of people out there who do have such motivations.

Hello from a fellow Ravenclaw here, @turtuallysarcastic 😄
Now I'm curious about your Ilvermony house too, if you're willing to share, that is. I'm a Thunderbird!
I completely understand. I ACTUALLY stopped writing stories for the exact same reason. Once I wrote a 300 pg fanfic, only to realise what horrors I've put my beloved characters thru under the name of plot. No, I didn't fear my story might be affecting their life in a different dimension, it simply felt morbid to me to write a character in agony and be SATISFIED as a writer that I've written a perfect crying scene and will make my readers cry too.
From then onwards, I only writes happy simple nature snippets like Miss Rumphius (by Barbara Cooney).
And oh, that NEVER stopped me from reading, watching and enjoying sad pieces written by OTHERS, lol!! The irony!😂

Thanks for this! It's such a timely reminder too. My "puppeteers" are guilt: I feel bad about saying No, and disrespectful when I disagree, especially with relatives and in-laws. Oddly I am very vocal at work but not at home. It's even more difficult when the "bulldozing" you mentioned is done by sweet elders who tell you they just want the best for you. Aaah, sageuk politics and government conspiracies are NOTHING compared to the manipulative manouvering of Asian in-laws 😂😂😂