Like everyone else, I also watched Meteor Garden a long time ago. Well, for the most part, I watched it because the actress protraying San Chai was cute.
As time went by, I also watched a couple of Asianovelas before gradually but surely losing interest in that genre. I could attribute this to a lot of factors, namely, the monotonous and increasingly generic plot structures, the lack of imagination in the characterization of the story's cast, the generally depressing mood of the story etc. But what really distanced me from the genre was the overall relations between men and women, particularly in Koreanovelas.
I remember my mother once asking aloud why my sister and I kept watching Full House even though the male protagonist kept treating his female partner like dirt (Yeah, I watched that too but only because I unfortunately saw all 5 initial episodes. After that time, I was already hooked and, no matter how much I loved or hated the series, I had to see it all the way to end). Well, that observation was pretty much accurate for all the other Koreanovelas that flourished since then.
The usual male protagonist was the stone-faced, emotionally unstable dude, whose vocabulary doesn't include the word "gentleman". He treats his female partner with the same respect as he would treat a dog, occasionally being rough if the situation demands it. Somehow, the male protagonist "redeems" his brutish behavior towards the opposite sex by finally falling in love with his partner at the later part of the story.
Pathetic, really.
But, putting my mother aside, I blame my Feminism class for this heightened critical attitude towards Asianovelas in general. Aside from that, further research showed that Korea and other Asian countries continue to be the most male-dominated, the most "sexist" societies in the world. That probably explains why power plays and social relations in these societies favor men, a fact that is unconsciously sublimated in the media. So the end result are Asianovelas which more or less portray women in varying degrees of "social oppression", a fact which somehow gets lost as the masses enjoy watching a romantic couple's many crises on screen.
Honestly, I sometimes miss the cheesy Filipino dramas where the boy always tried his best to be his beloved's knight-in-shining-armor. Although you would be hard-pressed to see those scenes in today's TV, those scenes of unrequited care and love always possessed an undefinable quality that somehow makes us Filipinos feel good about ourselves.
True, there are many Filipino men out there who are not only weak but unrepentant playboys. But, rest assured, most of us are certified gentlemen and true lovers too. And that's something I find disturbingly missing in most of the Asianovelas I've watched.
As time went by, I also watched a couple of Asianovelas before gradually but surely losing interest in that genre. I could attribute this to a lot of factors, namely, the monotonous and increasingly generic plot structures, the lack of imagination in the characterization of the story's cast, the generally depressing mood of the story etc. But what really distanced me from the genre was the overall relations between men and women, particularly in Koreanovelas.
I remember my mother once asking aloud why my sister and I kept watching Full House even though the male protagonist kept treating his female partner like dirt (Yeah, I watched that too but only because I unfortunately saw all 5 initial episodes. After that time, I was already hooked and, no matter how much I loved or hated the series, I had to see it all the way to end). Well, that observation was pretty much accurate for all the other Koreanovelas that flourished since then.
The usual male protagonist was the stone-faced, emotionally unstable dude, whose vocabulary doesn't include the word "gentleman". He treats his female partner with the same respect as he would treat a dog, occasionally being rough if the situation demands it. Somehow, the male protagonist "redeems" his brutish behavior towards the opposite sex by finally falling in love with his partner at the later part of the story.
Pathetic, really.
But, putting my mother aside, I blame my Feminism class for this heightened critical attitude towards Asianovelas in general. Aside from that, further research showed that Korea and other Asian countries continue to be the most male-dominated, the most "sexist" societies in the world. That probably explains why power plays and social relations in these societies favor men, a fact that is unconsciously sublimated in the media. So the end result are Asianovelas which more or less portray women in varying degrees of "social oppression", a fact which somehow gets lost as the masses enjoy watching a romantic couple's many crises on screen.
Honestly, I sometimes miss the cheesy Filipino dramas where the boy always tried his best to be his beloved's knight-in-shining-armor. Although you would be hard-pressed to see those scenes in today's TV, those scenes of unrequited care and love always possessed an undefinable quality that somehow makes us Filipinos feel good about ourselves.
True, there are many Filipino men out there who are not only weak but unrepentant playboys. But, rest assured, most of us are certified gentlemen and true lovers too. And that's something I find disturbingly missing in most of the Asianovelas I've watched.
No comments:
Post a Comment