I don’t get when people say ‘strong female lead’ or hate on characters from Misty, WWW and Witch’s court by saying they’re the wrong example of ‘feminism’ or some shit like that.
For me, it was never about feminism or about them being inspiring. TBH I’ve never been inspired by people or by the mere fact of their gender. Hearing something like ‘she’s the first female director of so and so’ does nothing for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not belittling their efforts or hard work. I know it must have been tough (especially since it’s a man’s world) but while I’m happy it worked out for them, I feel nothing else. I just don’t look to tv characters (or even real people) for inspiration or anything. I just like them or I don’t.
Men get a diversity of roles – good, bad, evil or morally vague, stupid or idiots and they’re not held responsible for depicting what a ‘strong’ man should be like. I understand it’s different for women and while I might not be consciously or unconsciously looking for inspiration, I’ve come to realize that representation matters to a lot of people but still it gets tiring always trying to find some deeper meaning or symbolism to a character. Sometimes, she’s written as an asshole because she just is. People like that exist!
A lot of women in dramaworld get typecast as candies or evil mother-in-laws or spoilt 2nd-leads that can’t take a fucking hike! So when a new type of character comes, like Go Miran in Misty – one with layers and faults and is also morally grey – I jump on it.
I don’t think she’s an ideal feminist. I don’t think anybody is. I don’t like what her character does and I don’t agree with it either, I just like that she’s a character with a mind of her own. And they’re many women like that in real life. It’d be naive to think the women who climbed so high up the ladder in their respective fields aren’t people who’d do what ever it took to maintain it or climb even higher. It’s not even a gender thing, it’s an ‘ambitious’ thing.
It’s unfair to constantly try to uphold any female character to be a ‘perfect feminist’! Let them be flawed and evil or morally grey. We don’t do that to male characters – he’s just his character. It’s kinda like how ‘women must always support each other or women are the downfall of each other’ but then two men in position of power fighting is just what it is. I understand why it’s like that – I still don’t like it, though!
Ma Yi-deum of Witch Court is the wrong example of being human. Period.
I enjoy Ga-kyung’s MIL. She’s like the Michael Corleone of Korean chaebols. I’m glad and little bit surprised it’s a Korean drama of all TV shows that created and brought up this character.
My problem with so called strong female characters in k-drama is many of them ended up being caricaturish. WWW has realistic portrayal of professional woman (well, apart from their maseratis and crazy outfits) but many of them are laughable and annoying. Who did scream on the top of a building to challenge her enemy, and what could she gain from doing that??
Dont underestimate the power of TV. I’m reading a book about Asian economy, some part about Korea I’ve already learned from watching K-dramas. We can also learn from their characters. If anyone ask me which character from k-drama that one should aspire, I will answer Bae Ta-mi. Her professionalism is really admirable. I’ve only been working for about 13 years, so I might have less experience from many beanies here, but successfull professional women I’ve known has Tami’s qualities. At least in South East Asia, I never worked in other part of the world.
I agree even though I liked Scarlet more, there are hardly any Scarlet in the world and maybe me liking her is because I want to be like her but I know that the way the world functions you eventually become a BTM. It is BTM who we see everywhere.
99% of male lead characters in KDramas are walking/breathing caricatures of:
the perfect boyfriend/husband
the asshole with a heart of gold
the chaebol iceman
the morally ambiguous bad boy that we can’t help rooting for
the genius in his trade/profession
the guy who can’t seem to catch a break but perseveres
the helpless puppy
the hopeless romantic
the ultra best friend with secret feelings
(I’m sure we can go on further with this list…)
and yet, we watch on, with nary a complaint. Why do we have different expectations for female characters?
I don’t work in a fancy corporation but after years of watching KDrama Men step out of ultra fancy cars, why are the women’s crazy outfits and ultra cars thought of as “too much”? Screaming on a rooftop is not realistic? I’ve screamed in stairwells, to cool off! lol
Iirc people also always have complain about male characters.
Last time I checked South Korea GDP per capita is USD 30K. Even if Ta-mi, Hyun and Morgan are in upper middle income group, with mortgage and other expenses, does it make sense to drive a car cost USD 140-150K? I know it’s PPL, I recognize it’s weird but it is how Korean drama works.
IamPilgrim
August 8, 2019 at 8:40 AM
I don’t get when people say ‘strong female lead’ or hate on characters from Misty, WWW and Witch’s court by saying they’re the wrong example of ‘feminism’ or some shit like that.
For me, it was never about feminism or about them being inspiring. TBH I’ve never been inspired by people or by the mere fact of their gender. Hearing something like ‘she’s the first female director of so and so’ does nothing for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not belittling their efforts or hard work. I know it must have been tough (especially since it’s a man’s world) but while I’m happy it worked out for them, I feel nothing else. I just don’t look to tv characters (or even real people) for inspiration or anything. I just like them or I don’t.
Men get a diversity of roles – good, bad, evil or morally vague, stupid or idiots and they’re not held responsible for depicting what a ‘strong’ man should be like. I understand it’s different for women and while I might not be consciously or unconsciously looking for inspiration, I’ve come to realize that representation matters to a lot of people but still it gets tiring always trying to find some deeper meaning or symbolism to a character. Sometimes, she’s written as an asshole because she just is. People like that exist!
A lot of women in dramaworld get typecast as candies or evil mother-in-laws or spoilt 2nd-leads that can’t take a fucking hike! So when a new type of character comes, like Go Miran in Misty – one with layers and faults and is also morally grey – I jump on it.
I don’t think she’s an ideal feminist. I don’t think anybody is. I don’t like what her character does and I don’t agree with it either, I just like that she’s a character with a mind of her own. And they’re many women like that in real life. It’d be naive to think the women who climbed so high up the ladder in their respective fields aren’t people who’d do what ever it took to maintain it or climb even higher. It’s not even a gender thing, it’s an ‘ambitious’ thing.
It’s unfair to constantly try to uphold any female character to be a ‘perfect feminist’! Let them be flawed and evil or morally grey. We don’t do that to male characters – he’s just his character. It’s kinda like how ‘women must always support each other or women are the downfall of each other’ but then two men in position of power fighting is just what it is. I understand why it’s like that – I still don’t like it, though!
KSKalways
August 8, 2019 at 8:52 AM
louder, for the people at the back!
well said!
mano
August 8, 2019 at 9:51 AM
Ma Yi-deum of Witch Court is the wrong example of being human. Period.
I enjoy Ga-kyung’s MIL. She’s like the Michael Corleone of Korean chaebols. I’m glad and little bit surprised it’s a Korean drama of all TV shows that created and brought up this character.
My problem with so called strong female characters in k-drama is many of them ended up being caricaturish. WWW has realistic portrayal of professional woman (well, apart from their maseratis and crazy outfits) but many of them are laughable and annoying. Who did scream on the top of a building to challenge her enemy, and what could she gain from doing that??
Dont underestimate the power of TV. I’m reading a book about Asian economy, some part about Korea I’ve already learned from watching K-dramas. We can also learn from their characters. If anyone ask me which character from k-drama that one should aspire, I will answer Bae Ta-mi. Her professionalism is really admirable. I’ve only been working for about 13 years, so I might have less experience from many beanies here, but successfull professional women I’ve known has Tami’s qualities. At least in South East Asia, I never worked in other part of the world.
wapz
August 8, 2019 at 10:42 AM
I agree even though I liked Scarlet more, there are hardly any Scarlet in the world and maybe me liking her is because I want to be like her but I know that the way the world functions you eventually become a BTM. It is BTM who we see everywhere.
KSKalways
August 8, 2019 at 11:01 AM
Team Scarlet all the way!
KSKalways
August 8, 2019 at 11:20 AM
99% of male lead characters in KDramas are walking/breathing caricatures of:
the perfect boyfriend/husband
the asshole with a heart of gold
the chaebol iceman
the morally ambiguous bad boy that we can’t help rooting for
the genius in his trade/profession
the guy who can’t seem to catch a break but perseveres
the helpless puppy
the hopeless romantic
the ultra best friend with secret feelings
(I’m sure we can go on further with this list…)
and yet, we watch on, with nary a complaint. Why do we have different expectations for female characters?
I don’t work in a fancy corporation but after years of watching KDrama Men step out of ultra fancy cars, why are the women’s crazy outfits and ultra cars thought of as “too much”? Screaming on a rooftop is not realistic? I’ve screamed in stairwells, to cool off! lol
mano
August 8, 2019 at 1:34 PM
Iirc people also always have complain about male characters.
Last time I checked South Korea GDP per capita is USD 30K. Even if Ta-mi, Hyun and Morgan are in upper middle income group, with mortgage and other expenses, does it make sense to drive a car cost USD 140-150K? I know it’s PPL, I recognize it’s weird but it is how Korean drama works.
Beverly
August 8, 2019 at 4:56 PM
American shows are like that too. People used to figure out the wages vs expenses to see if they could really afford their homes in real life.
wapz
August 8, 2019 at 10:44 AM
You are so right! It is high time people stop expecting women characters to be a certain kind. Either strong or evil or competitive or naive.
zette
August 8, 2019 at 4:34 PM
My thoughts exactly! I got into a fight here because of the women from #SearchWWW. 🤦♀️🙅♀️🤷♀️