The Crowned Clown is possibly the only show where I can’t fully support the ‘good’ side and sort of understand the ‘bad’ side. Does that make me one of the bad guys? 🤷🏻‍♀️

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    Since episode one, I’ve been bothered by the fact that there’s an alternative retelling of this story where Cray Cray’s stepmother is the righteous one, avenging the brutal murder of her son by an insane King.

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      EXACTLY!!! And a child! They killed a child. I was 50/50 on the Chief Royal Secretary but after the latest episode of him describing, with unprecedented cruelty of how he poisoned a little boy to his mother, totally turned me off him 100%

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        Omg, I was so appalled. That was not strategic, that was pure merciless cruelty. And the fact that Ha Sun empathized his “pain” for killing a young child and a hopelessly ill drug addict made me gag. I thought “finally someone found out” then it gets swept under the rug like he merely squashed a cockroach? WTF?!!! I got so upset at Ha Sun I didn’t even finish ep14.🤯

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          Now let’s have a discussion about gender and sageuks…
          No, let’s not.
          Let’s just point out that point Hasun’s sister’s rape and this murder are discussed entirely in terms of how they affect the male protagonist and not the victims themselves…
          Also, I think I’ve kind of dropped this show. What a shame. I loved the first 8.

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            They can’t introduce that edit button fast enough….

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            I never really saw the rape as a gender issue but more of a lead vs support/side cast issue. It’s downplay is problematic, while not specifically gender related. If she was a younger version of a female lead, it will probably (I hope) be played out differently.

            I keep thinking back to Six Flying Dragon when I watch this and it really pales in comparison on the moral and storytelling scale, though overperforms almost all other sageuks I’ve seen on the visual scale. BTW, the second female lead was raped at a very young age in SFD and they did shed light on how it transformed her life and her love/tragedy was really the best romance story in that drama.

            In SFD we see how the lead’s ambition for the throne turned him into a morally evil king and the writers never tried to convince the audience that he’s doing it for a “greater good”, he simply wanted to be king cuz he didn’t like the one in power. I’m not happy with this writer trying to twist someone doing so much evil into a good person. Nah uh🙅🏻‍♀️

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            Yeah I have to agree with @geliguolu here and think it is more of a high rank low rank issue. There was a law that stipulated how a low born person will be punished if they hurt a high born person. There was nothing the other way around.

            I remember while watching Mr Sunshine as to why, even in a volatile world of chang, the leads couldn’t be together. Even in a world where things were changing the social cast issue was still prevalent.

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            For me the issue is that everything around the Clown only happens to make him react, and therefore drive the plot. That includes, Dal Rae’s rape, EVERYTHING to do with the Queen, and the treatment of peasants like him.
            He only ever REACTS to things. That’s sort of linked to what you’re saying there… that these issues are only ever discussed in terms of how they effect the male protagonist. My issue is less with whether or not it’s intentionally sexist, and more that it’s hack writing. Side characters only exist to make the lead do things, and nothing more, the lead only ever plays the part of a character that was treated as a plot device anyway. The whole thing is cheap. It’s just cheap tricks to try and fake depth, the characters are caricatures, and the plot lines thin veneers, and it looks super pretty so oh look another pretty show! No.
            The cake is a lie. Again.

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            @sicarius he is a puppet king. If the Secretary asks him to go jump off a cliff he will. He also loves another mans wife and would also go jump of a cliff is she asks him to.

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          A huge part of me wants him not to know about the child’s murder. Can I think he arrived a bit late and didn’t hear the full story? Can I?? Please?

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      Right now I really want her to overthrow Ha Sun and bring in that faceless other prince

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    Oh, I don’t fully support the good guys, either.

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    I’m still in it because it isn’t following the usual sageuk formula. I think what I really need is a sageuk told from the point of view of a commoner who has no contact with the royal family or politicians. I always bail on anything that’s all politics and has a guaranteed sad ending.

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