Superheroes: Trying to get LGBTQ+ Representation in Geek Media

Screenshot of Meng’er Zhang, Simu Liu, and Awkwafina from ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures.

Hey! Hallie here!

I’ve been wanting to make a post about this subject for a while. I’ve talked about LGBTQ+ representation in multiple forms of entertainment, but the way geek entertainment has specifically either addressed or avoided this issue is interesting to me. And now we have yet another ship that’s become so popular, the director of ‘Shang-Chi’ himself is answering questions about it. I’ll be honest here and say that I haven’t seen ‘Shang-Chi’ yet. I was very vocal about getting out to see this movie if you could, but I live in a very conservative area where I find a lot less comfort going to the movie theater during our still shaky pandemic situation. But even though I still have to wait to see this movie, I know that many fans came out of it with a specific interest in the chemistry between the characters of Katy and Xialing. Recently, Destin Daniel Cretton, the film’s director, said in an interview that he wouldn’t be opposed to exploring that relationship in the future. He also cited multiple reasons as to why Shang-Chi and Katy’s relationship is important as a platonic friendship between a man and a woman, rightfully shutting down the people who don’t realize that pushing a male lead and a female lead into a random relationship is both unnecessary and frustrating. In other words, he refused the toxic idea that men and women can’t be friends by giving us hope for a possible LGBTQ+ relationship in the MCU in the future. But we all know that Marvel has had a rough past with giving us any representation of this kind. So has Disney. And many other forms of geeky media. So let’s explore some of the biggest LGBTQ+ ships in some of my favorite fandoms and why this community is still struggling for representation.

Marvel:

This conversation was brought up by Shang-Chi, so it’s only fair that I dive into the representation we’ve seen from Marvel. Or lack thereof. The only character that we have confirmed as a non-heterosexual individual in the MCU is Loki. But, famously, this whole situation didn’t go over well. For those who don’t know, in the Disney+ series ‘Loki’, Loki admitted to a woman variant of himself, Sylvie, that he was bisexual. However, this topic only came up in a throw away line about him dating “princesses or princes” before the series paired him up with Sylvie. It shouldn’t be difficult to gather that giving the LGBTQ+ community one small line and then putting Loki into a straight-passing relationship is not good representation. Of course, many bisexual people are in straight-passing relationships. But the point of representation is to demonstrate multiple types of relationships on screen, not simply the ones that involve a man and a woman falling in love. As for what fans have wanted in the MCU, we can sum most of it up to one word. Stucky. Steve and Bucky is by far the biggest LGBTQ+ ship in the entire MCU. And, of course, it’s popularity has lead to creatives and actors alike answering questions about it. But I can’t say any of it has really given fans hope. All of the creatives asked about it have sidestepped the question by saying they appreciate all of the adaptations fans have of Steve and Bucky’s relationship because it means they succeeded in creating a believably close relationship between them. Chris Evans has said that he wasn’t necessarily playing romance but he has no issue with fans seeing a romantic connection between Steve and Bucky. Sebastian Stan has made similar comments. So we haven’t really had anything LGBTQ+ related truly supported by either cast or creatives until ‘Loki’ and ‘Shang-Chi’. We can only hope that Destin Daniel Cretton manages to do better than ‘Loki’ and give the LGBTQ+ genuinely good representation in the MCU.

Star Wars:

Here we step into yet another mess. Star Wars has, of course, had a history of LGBTQ+ ships within its fandom. But none of these really made it into such a level of popularity that the cast and crew were forced to address them. That is, until ‘The Force Awakens’ came out. From there fans could easily see chemistry between the characters of Finn and Poe. And so could the actors. Fans of the supposed relationship between Poe and Finn were almost instantly supported by Oscar Isaac, who frequently spoke about how much he enjoyed the chemistry between Finn and Poe and how he attempted to play into it as an actor. While John Boyega wasn’t as talkative about the relationship, he made it clear that he supported it. When the third movie rolled around, it seemed that both the fans, actors, and some creatives were making enough noise that a relationship might actually be possible between the two. But then Poe got a potential love interest in the form of a randomly introduced woman from his past and Finn doubled down on his unrequited feelings for Rey. The only thing given to the LGBTQ+ community was two women kissing in the background of one of the final scenes. It’s more than Marvel has done, but it’s still abysmal. When Oscar Isaac was asked about this development after the third movie came out, he was very clearly unhappy. He noted that he had pushed for the Finn and Poe ship to be explored in the third movie, but blamed execs for being too cowardly to move forward with it. Fortunately for the fans, Oscar Isaac and John Boyega still cheekily hint at a relationship between their characters when the topic of Star Wars comes up. Unlike in Marvel, Star Wars LGBTQ+ fans have some support. But, much like Marvel, no actual representation at this point. Not even in the animated series, where a relationship between Ahsoka and Trace was hinted at but never actually realized. Do better Disney.

Star Trek:

Here you’re probably expecting me to talk about Kirk and Spock. They are, after all, one of the most popular LGBTQ+ ships in any fandom ever. But really, there isn’t a ton to talk about. The fans shipping Kirk and Spock were by no means ignored. However, at the time the original series was airing, even a hint at an LGBTQ+ relationship would have gotten them off the air. They already had a hard enough time airing an interracial kiss, which was possible thanks to William Shatner making an uncharacteristically awesome move by crossing his eyes during every take they did without the kiss between Kirk and Uhura. By the time ‘The Next Generation’ was coming around though, series creator Gene Roddenberry promised in public interviews that audiences would see LGBTQ+ relationships in Star Trek. He even had one of the writers, who was part of the community, pen a script for the series that would focus on the problems the LGBTQ+ community faced at the time. But then Rick Berman stepped onto the scene and he shut down every attempt to show this kind of representation. Which leads me to the actual ship I’ll be talking about here. Julian Bashir and Elim Garak from ‘Deep Space Nine’. This relationship was supported by almost everyone. The script writer for most of the episodes, Ira Steven Behr wanted to explore the relationship. Andrew Robinson, who played Garak, was clear that he meant for Garak to have feelings for Bashir. Alexander Siddig, who played Bashir, supported the couple as well. But once Rick Berman got the hint that a good chunk of the cast and crew were actively trying to make this relationship happen, he demanded that the characters of Garak and Bashir appear in less episodes together. Fortunately for the LGBTQ+ community, the character of Jadzia Dax did get a few female love interests during the series. And now Star Trek is way ahead of pretty much everyone else with both relationships between queer characters and representation for trans individuals. But you have to wonder what would have happened if Bashir and Garak had been allowed to be a couple back in the nineties, when Star Trek was more firmly in the public eye. At least Alexander Siddig and Andrew Robinson took the whole situation into their own hands and read aloud a fan-made script that solidifies the character’s relationship.

That’s all I’m going to talk about for now. There are tons more examples of LGBTQ+ representation struggles in geeky fandoms. Far too many for me to talk about here. I sincerely hope that Star Trek isn’t the only piece of media we see explore these themes. I love Star Trek, and I will absolutely dedicate a post to it at a later date, but I can’t say the new series are majorly popular. Not even among fans. So while the LGBTQ+ relationships are nice to see in a franchise as big as Star Trek, I want to see LGBTQ+ representation in media that reaches even more people. It’s long past time we see more diversity in the types of people and relationships we see in pop culture. As Oscar Isaac said, the entire problem is cowardly execs. And that cowardice should have been left behind a long time ago.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop: New Idol Mistreatment Debates

Jeong Yunho on ‘City Fisherman’. Copyright goes to Channel A and ATEEZ.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I feel like the mistreatment of idols is always a source of news, but I always think that it’s worth talking about. While some of the time it can be overprotective fans infantilizing idols, sometimes it can be pretty important examples of how K-Pop idols are sometimes treated poorly. Recently there have been quite a few of these mistreatment allegations placed on the behalf of my favorite groups, so it’s really difficult for me not to talk about them. Because some of them definitely made me angry for regular reasons while others made me angry for others too. So before I really get into this, I also want to mention that there will be an important announcement about the future of this blog at the end of the post. Don’t worry, it’s not really bad news!

‘My Universe’ MV and Jin:

The ‘My Universe’ music video came out last night and it’s absolutely amazing. I already loved the teaser photo with the members of BTS dressed as characters from a sci-fi movie I wish actually existed, but the wardrobe wasn’t even the best part. I loved the story about connecting far-off places with music despite it being outlawed. (I’m always a sucker for these storylines- see ATEEZ’s ‘Rhythm Ta’ performance on ‘Kingdom’.) I also really liked the design of the aliens and the creative usage of another fictional band to aid Coldplay And BTS. Despite the fact that the music video had plenty of things to talk about and dissect, there were two major things that blew up about it. First, and more lighthearted, was that part where Hobi was flirting with an alien. We haven’t really seen Hobi do anything like this in a music video before and I thought it was hilarious how much it blew up. Hobi stole that entire MV for me. But you can argue that most of the members got equal screen time- except for maybe Jin. This debate started when the song came out because we could only clearly hear Jin a couple times in the song. But I’ve talked about the line distribution debate before and my opinion hasn’t changed. BTS decides their own line distribution, so we need to respect their decisions. I did kind of agree that Jin appeared far too little in the music video. I will argue that most of the shots of BTS were group ones, but everyone else got longer singular shots than Jin. I think they should have found a way to give Jin more time on screen, even if he didn’t have many lines. It felt like Jin flashed on screen and then was gone, and he deserves more than that. But blaming BTS or Coldplay for this is absolutely ridiculous.

Jungkook and Advertisement:

This one is absolutely ridiculous for so many reasons. Jungkook was discovered to be the director of his brother’s fashion company, which people already knew that Jungkook has recently been wearing a lot of pieces from. Because Jungkook was not clear about being in a position of power in this company, people started accusing him of false advertising. Or advertising without disclosing that he was trying to promote the clothing. But this argument, obviously, doesn’t make any sense. Jungkook was wearing the clothes, yes, but he never drew attention to them or started talking about how amazing they were. Is he not allowed to wear those clothes even if he likes them without telling everyone where they’re from every time he wears them? Jungkook wore the clothes, he never advertised them. I was with the rest of ARMY on this one, but not completely. Many people defending Jungkook in this situation were massively infantilizing Jungkook. Saying that Jungkook was too young to deal with this or inferring that he wouldn’t be able to handle it. If you were one of those people who was saying things like this, you’re infantilizing him. We don’t get to decide his capabilities. He’s an adult. And we’re all fully capable of defending him while treating him as a twenty-four year old instead of as a five year old.

‘City Fisherman’ and Yunho:

This happened a little bit ago, so you might be surprised that I’m just talking about it now. The reason for that is because the situation kind of developed slowly and we didn’t have much definitive proof until recently. Semi-recently, Yunho of ATEEZ was on the fishing show ‘City Fisherman’ as well as several other idols. Yunho was commended pretty early on for his apparent hidden skills in fishing (He did so well!) and an absolutely adorable moment where a butterfly settled on him and didn’t seem to want to leave. (Me too butterfly. Me too.) But as time passed after the show, more and more fans began to complain about a specific part of the show. At first people weren’t updating videos so nobody could confirm if the story was real. But more recently we’ve started getting more of the actual clips. Specifically one where Yunho was cooking for some of the older mentors on the show. Another team was getting their soup cooked much more quickly, prompting many of the older men to complain to Yunho about how slow it was taking. They also referred to Yunho as a “slave” and kept complaining to the point where Yunho began to look unhappy and stressed. Anyone who’s even semi familiar with Yunho knows that getting him to stop smiling is often difficult. So this was a little alarming. One of the mentors began assuring Yunho that it wasn’t his fault and that the gas in their outdoor stove was faulty and to blame for the slow cook time. But he seemed to be the only one attempting to help. This is not the first of this kind of complaints we’ve seen from shows like this. In fact, complaints like this are one reason why idols have stopped appearing on so many variety shows and their companies create specific shows for them instead. The most known example of an idol being treated badly by variety show hosts was when Jungkook bought food for the entire cast of the show and many of the hosts baselessly accused him of bringing them leftovers. This happened years ago and it’s still talked about.

Most people know by now that Yunho is known for being kind to staff. A staff member not long ago credited Yunho for her not giving up on her job, because he showed her kindness and cheered her on when she was having technical difficulties on a set. Yunho also was commended for running around during this fishing show specifically to help several people. The fact that he was treated so badly definitely does not seem like some sort of behind the scenes beef, and appears to just be the egos of the variety show hosts. Which, as I said before, does not seem to be uncommon. I just hope that these hosts know that without these idols they may not have jobs. And if they continue to treat idols like this, then they probably won’t. Idols are already abandoning variety shows for their own projects after the success of ‘Run BTS’. Yunho being treated like this is nothing short of idiotic. Obviously, Yunho’s my bias in ATEEZ which is one of my favorite musical groups, so I’m very angry about this. But I think this further opens a pretty big conversation about the way many variety show hosts, and even interviewers (especially in America), seem to look down on idols. Hopefully something about this will change soon. Whether that means variety show hosts learning from their mistakes or variety shows being completely replaced with idol specific ones.

The mistreatment of idols is always something that feels pretty disheartening to look at. But I hope that people will find hope in that we’re talking about this now more than it has ever gotten public interest. Talking about this more and more is bound to change some things. The hosts who ignored Jungkook were even apologetic and respectful to Jungkook recently because of the fans continuing to talk about the mistreatment. While we need to be careful not to further trash people for acts in the far past that they’ve apologized for, it’s nice to think that maybe we can get idols more respect in the industry by talking about recent or untouched events. And with that, here’s the announcement for the blog! Because of exciting new prospects in the lives of both my sister and I, we will be slowing down our posts. There will still be new content and we have plenty of old content as well for you to revisit! But, for now, we’re going down to posting every other day instead of every day. So it won’t be much of a change! We hope you’ll stick with us through this change and we promise that we’ll continue to post well-thought and really fun posts! Thank you!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Comfort Entertainment: A New Perspective on’Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’

Screenshot of Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, and Matthew Broderick from ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’. Copyright goes to Paramount Pictures.

Hey! Hallie here!

‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ is one of those movies that every 80s fan has seen at least once. It’s a classic movie that’s constantly referenced in pop culture. The movie earns all that hype too! It initially comes across as a regular 80s teen movie, and to be fair, the plot doesn’t really dispute this. It matches plenty of similar 80s movie plots where teens skip class to go out and do something crazy. But this movie perfects that idea and gives us plenty more to enjoy. Fourth wall breaking has never been as excellently done as it was in this movie. Not many protagonists are nearly as charming as Ferris Bueller. And not many crazy teen movies capture teens in a way that’s actually relatable to most teenagers. I obviously love this movie, but my opinions on the events and characters in the movie have changed over time. So without any further delay, let’s go through some of the things I noticed the last time I watched ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’.

Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane Aren’t Just Rowdy Teens:

The three main characters in this film can seem pretty irresponsible. They skip class during their final year of high school without caring at all about what they’re missing, they break rules put in place to keep them safe, and they wave away all repercussions as though they won’t face any. Their actions paint them as rowdy and uncontrollable. But, as the movie goes on, it becomes clear that isn’t true. Cameron is such a goody-two-shoes that he makes himself sick trying to live up to his father’s expectations of him. Sloane reveals that she’s actually expecting commitment from Ferris, even marriage, not just a high-school fling. And Ferris, who is definitely the least responsible of the group, makes it clear that the reason he’s crafting the huge plan is because he knows that life is going to mess up his relationship with his friends immediately after he graduates. He speaks to the audience multiple times about the fact that he might not even be able to see Cameron anymore once he goes off to college. This level of maturity proves that all of these characters are more than they seem. And this is why they’re so relatable to teens. So many adults are willing to take these characters at face value. To brush them off as funny troublemakers and move on. But all teens can relate to the dread they feel when they’re asked to step out of a comfortable space, like high school, and figure out what they want to do with their lives. I’ve completed college and I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. So now, watching this movie again, I look at scenes like the one where Cameron and Sloane confide in each other that they aren’t really interested in pursuing anything and I find something painfully real in it. These characters are breaking the rules in order to cope with an uncertain future. And that angle is much more mature than many credit Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane for being.

Ferris Is THAT Friend:

I won’t go as far as to say that Ferris is a bad friend. He genuinely cares about both Cameron and Sloane and he frequently makes it his mission to ensure they’re having fun. That said, he’s absolutely the annoying friend. The one who constantly needs something, even if it’s not something you want to agree to. Sure, Cameron needs some time to enjoy himself outside of the time he spends sick because of his father, but Ferris forced Cameron to stress himself out even more in order to join in on all the fun. Cameron had to make a fake call to Rooney as Sloane’s father to get her out of school, give Ferris his father’s prized car for the day, and had to fight off feeling sick the entire time. And it was Cameron who ultimately had to suffer the most for their day out. Cameron was the only one who couldn’t hide the evidence of their wrongdoing because of the destruction of his father’s car. Some of the repercussions were brought on by Cameron, but it was Ferris who instigated the situation against Cameron’s will. As for Sloane, Ferris constantly seeks her attention, but he also seeks the attention of other women he meets in the movie. Sloane knows that Ferris is devoted to her, but she’s also frequently asked to support and aid Ferris in his hijinks while he flirts with other women. Ferris’ charms always win his friends back in the end, but he’s indisputably an annoying friend.

Jeanie Has a Right to be Frustrated:

Given the fact that I just spent plenty of time criticizing Ferris for being annoying, you’re probably thinking I’m going to highlight how annoying Ferris is as a brother too, right? Actually, no. To be honest, we get a lot more of Ferris as a friend in this movie than we get Ferris as a brother. But, if not for Ferris, Jeanie definitely has a right to be frustrated because of the way everyone else treats her. Namely her parents. Just look at the way her parents treat Ferris as opposed to her. Jeanie doesn’t skip school. She isn’t that much of a troublemaker. But her parents dote over Ferris, who is a huge mischief maker, while never giving her the time of day. When Ferris claims he’s sick in a very over-the-top manner that Jeanie can see through immediately, his parents don’t question it for a second. When Rooney calls Ferris’ mother to tell her that he’s been absent nine days, she adamantly denies it as if it’s an impossibility. When Jeanie finds an intruder (Rooney) in her house and calls the cops, her mom doesn’t believe her. The police even tell her mother that, though they couldn’t find evidence of an intruder, Jeanie was still obviously shaken up. But her mother refuses to hear any of her excuses and scolds her all the way home for preventing her from closing a major deal at work. Jeanie is clearly tired of trying so hard to get people to like her, including her parents, when it always seems like Ferris wins by default. It’s this exact thing that draws her towards Charlie Sheen’s bad boy when she meets him at the police station. And yet, despite everything Jeanie has to deal with, she still decides to let that resentment surrounding Ferris go. At the end of the film she saves him from Rooney and helps him complete his ruse. I’d say all of that makes her a pretty understandable character.

Those are only a handful of the things I’ve come to appreciate going through this movie again. I love this movie even more every time I watch it. It set a precedent for involving the audience in the story while also directly connecting us to the message of the film. The events of the movie are incredible and insane, but they task every audience member, of any age, to ask themselves a realistic question. Are we stopping to enjoy our lives? Are we taking breaks from our responsibilities to pursue the things that we can truly appreciate and enjoy? They’re important questions and nothing has made me want to answer them more than ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

International Dramas: Part-Time Idol

Promotional image of (from left) Hwang Seungeon, Kwon Young Deuk, Kim Heejung, Lee Suhyun, and Kwon Hyun Bin. Copyright goes to SBS and Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve been on the look out for dramas that address K-Pop as a topic, and have slowly been making my way through the ones on Netflix. So when this popped up and I realized that it was only five episodes that were each thirty minutes long, I decided to give it a shot. It’s more like the length of a movie than an entire series, but it is separated into several episodes. And this does cover the story of a co-ed K-Pop group, from each member being chosen to their eventual debut at the end. And it wasn’t what I was expecting. I still can’t say completely how I feel about this drama. On one hand it was a cute lighthearted drama about a group of friends, but there were also times where it got insanely cheesy and ridiculous. It’s also not a serious look behind the scenes at K-Pop. Without further ado, I’m just going to get into it! This is your MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!! if you’re thinking about just going to watch it first, I would recommend it. It won’t take much of your time and I found it to be entertaining enough.

Summary:

A former popular K-Pop producer barges back into the K-Pop scene with the intention of making the next big group. But his training methods and reasons for choosing members are widely questioned, causing the company to attempt to stop the debut of the group. Meanwhile, each member of the group must learn to overcome their worst fears and flaws in order to debut. Sooah must overcome stage fright, Suhyun has difficulty hitting high notes due to anxiety and low self esteem, Hyunbin is fame obsessed with no real talent, Heejung has a bad temper, and Youngdeuk is a former trainee who has given up on his hopes of debuting.

The Good:

Sooah- I loved her energy right off the bat. The moment you see the pink streaks in her hair you know that she’s going to be the energizer of the group. She is shown to be incredibly sweet and considerate as well as the peace maker of the group. I think my favorite moments with her were when she was bonding with Heejung. Heejung begins believing that her losing her temper is never valid, so Sooah telling her that she would also be angry in similar situations helps her out a lot. And she’s grateful when the others help her with her stage fright. She even chose the group over money despite her poor prospects. She’s centered less than some of the others in the group, but I enjoyed watching her.

Suhyun- I think she has the most characterization of anyone else in the group. She was originally part of a group with her brother but when her brother went to enlist in the army, she found herself completely alone in her singing career. This caused her to lose her self esteem. She’s the quietest of the group, but she’s also incredibly observant of everyone else. She’s the makane of the group, which comes across well, but she’s also possibly the smartest person there. And she definitely has the most rehearsed talent. When the plot follows a singular member, it often follows her. And she’s extremely layered, so she’s always really fun to follow in the story.

Hyunbin- This was a character that I was annoyed with at first. He comes off extremely self-obsessed and believes he’s a wonderful singer and dancer when he’s actually horrendous at both. At first it’s difficult to understand why Taekyung chooses him to be a part of the group when he has such a big ego. But later, you realize that he may not be as self-obsessed as he appears. He wants fame, but mostly because he likes people. And it’s his passion that gets many of the members through difficult or embarrassing situations. Even if he isn’t the brightest tool in the shed.

Heejung- For someone so unreasonable with her temper, she often becomes the voice of reason. That is, when she’s not on the verge of beating up Hyunbin. When it happens that the company sabotages their music video, Heejung is the one who finds a way to make do with what they have. She also often has the best opinions when it comes to group decisions. She suggests they create hip-hop music while the rest suggest some much less popular and more odd genres. Her general music knowledge as well as her calm advice in difficult situations makes her stand out.

Youngdeuk- He comes in much later in the series than everyone else, but the group doesn’t feel complete until he shows up. First off, none off them are particularly good at dancing until Taekyung pulls him in as a dance captain and choreographer. It’s only when he too shows that he can go too far in practice that Taekyung reveals that he’s the next member of the group. He’s definitely the most experienced and the most mature of everyone else, as well as one of the only members who cooks. He feels like a needed member of the team.

The Romance- I actually really loved the small and cute romance between Suhyun and Hyunbin. She’s often too shy to speak, while he doesn’t know when to be quiet. They both learn from each other as well as care for each other and it was frankly adorable every time they were on screen together. Despite the short nature of the show, their romance didn’t at all feel forced. I wasn’t expecting a romance in this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. They were both so cute!

The Bonding- Over the course of the show it really feels like they all become close. Bonding between characters is actually what the show focuses on the most, which makes the characterization and the bond between them feel that much more realistic. I especially liked when Taekyung left the group to their own devices because you could really see how the members worked as a team. A group doesn’t work unless the members are in sync, and the show spends much of its time making sure that they are.

The Music- It sounded like legitimate K-Pop music and I have to give it props for that.

The Bad:

Taekyung- He was the producer and he felt pretty inconsistent. There were times where the show showed you how kind and wise he was and you couldn’t help but like him. But other times he was nothing but the butt of the joke or he felt as though he was intruding on the bonding of other characters. I barely put him in this category, but he wasn’t my favorite over-all.

The Humor- I once again have to ask- who is this humor for? The comedy felt like it was for five year olds when the show itself seemed to be attempting to appeal to youth in their teens and twenties. I definitely appreciated the more serious or general bonding scenes over the comedic ones for just this reason. I cringed almost every time a character made a joke because it always was painfully unfunny. It was almost as if whoever wrote the jokes were accusing their audience of being immature. It just didn’t fit.

The Cheese- Sometimes I like some cheese in my shows. But sometimes this show got overly ridiculous way too quickly. The entire series of scenes that introduce Taekyung as a character just made me cringe the entire time. If it was a bit more well placed, I might have been able to stand it, but it always seemed to occur out of nowhere without warning. And this drama is packed with sometimes cheesily delivered messages about friendship or perseverance. If you watch this drama you definitely have to be prepared to cringe. And because of that, this drama also doesn’t realistically cover K-Pop or many of the struggles involved with it behind the scenes. I wished they had at least attempted a more serious subject.

The Treatment- There were several things that Taekyung forced the idols to do that I really questioned. Especially because the conversation about the treatment of idols by their companies is becoming more and more of a topic of interest, specifically because of how specific companies handled Covid. In the show Taekyung forced the group to go through an absolutely cruel boot camp. And it was supposed to be comedic, but to me it just made me wonder about the morality of Taekyung. There’s also a point in time where Taekyung leaves for the day, so the group decides they should take the day off because they haven’t had one yet. And he threatens to fire them when he comes back. The drama treated his actions as justified, which made the situation worse. Mistreatment is never justifiable. It almost ruined the character of Taekyung for me. There’s a reason he’s my least favorite main character.

The Dancing- They needed more practice in that. Sometimes the dancing looked amazing, but specifically their debut performance at the end felt way out of sync. It almost made me wonder if they filmed the debut performance really early on in the process. It made an otherwise fun looking performance feel a little messy.

The Acting- This is where I had some of the most issues. Many of the people hired for this project were idols, and for good reason. It seems like the initial idea was to make this an actual idol group. Some of the idols used their real names as the characters because of this. I’m not sure if this just never came to fruition or if it’s still in the works. Considering there’s no word on any of this, my guess is that the idea was abandoned. Being an idol first and foremost doesn’t automatically mean that you’re a bad actor. Though I didn’t like ‘Imitation’ as a show for the most part, I thought the idols did a great job acting! But here, the acting often felt pretty wooden. It’s probably one of my biggest gripes with the show.

As you can tell, I really liked the characters in the show and I loved the synopsis. It was not a realistic view of a K-Pop group necessarily, but it was still entertaining. Just don’t expect it to get into many actual serious subjects and also expect it to be chock full of cringe. Personally, I have a soft spot for shows and movies that focus on the gradual bonding of a group of people. And this show has all that lighthearted fun, even if it is not the best drama I’ve seen by a long shot. If you’re looking for something quick, lighthearted, and fun, then this definitely covers that! But if you’re looking for a realistic look at K-Pop or the next great K-Drama to become obsessed with, then maybe skip this one.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

BTS: “My Universe” and Permission to Dance On Stage Concert

Concert photo of Kim Taehyung (V), Park Jimin, Min Yoongi (Suga), Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), Kim Seokjin (Jin), Kim Namjoon (RM), and Jeon Jungkook. Copyright goes to BTS and the Hybe Corporation.

Hey! Hallie here!

I haven’t talked about “My Universe” yet, primarily because I wasn’t sure what exactly to talk about, but I really can’t help myself. The song is amazing and now we have behind the scenes content to talk about as well! All of that is exciting on it’s own, but it doesn’t really capture the excitement a bunch of us are feeling after the concert announcement we got today. The Permission to Dance On Stage concert that was announced, which initially was announced as a virtual concert, will have four live days in LA. Don’t get your hopes up too fast though. For all of us who are interested in this concert, there’s a lot of things to keep in mind. I have many opinions on all of it so let’s get started!

“My Universe”:

Coldplay was so respectful of BTS during the entire process of releasing this song. Before the song released, Chris Martin interviewed BTS for one of their “Permission to Dance” projects. I’ve talked about this interview before, but it was really adorable. It consisted mostly of Chris Martin And BTS trading compliments back and forth. Next we saw that Coldplay decided to make BTS an equal collaborator rather than labeling them as a featured artist. Looking at the artist who released the song will give you “Coldplay X BTS”. It’s a small gesture, but an extremely important one. Then Coldplay flew to South Korea to work with BTS. In the behind the scenes footage we learned that Chris Martin took over most of the directing for the song. The song was a vision he had come up with himself and was very proud of, so it made sense that he took the reigns in deciding who sang what and how each line was delivered. However, the awe and admiration BTS had for Chris Martin was completely matched by the awe and admiration he had for them. Many of the members of BTS talked about watching Coldplay concert footage and listening to Coldplay frequently. For his part, Chris Martin spoke about how impressive he finds BTS’s music and sound. Watching them work together was lovely. Chris Martin was infectiously excited every time a member of BTS went into the booth. And all eight of them seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely when it came time for them to crowd around a microphone together. The song came out beautifully. Jungkook takes the pre-chorus for each verse and it’s impressive each time. Jimin accompanies him on some verses and uses his higher register to add depth to some of the hardest hitting parts of the song. Namjoon sings in this with Chris Martin and their voices are incredible together. Taehyung gets the beginning of a verse to himself and it’s clear his deeper register and calming sound fit the song perfectly. Jin interjects at times to add some really strong vocals to the verses. Hoseok and Yoongi get a verse to show off their rapping skills and they kill it as usual. I especially like how low and relaxing Hoseok’s part of the verse is. Everything about this song is worth praising.

Permission to Dance On Stage Concert:

This concert was announced as a virtual event in line with the other virtual concerts BTS has released during quarantine. But today BTS announced that they’ll have four live concerts in LA. This isn’t a tour. This is only four dates of BTS performing this concert in LA. It’s really exciting news! But keep a few things in mind. First, those who had concert tickets for the Map of the Soul tour that was cancelled get first priority here. Regardless of where they had tickets for. In other words, if you’re half a world away from this concert and can’t reasonably use the code Ticketmaster gave you to get early access to tickets for this, you’re out of luck. This is already frustrating a ton of people. Some are hoping that they’ll still get first priority to BTS’s next tour because it doesn’t make sense for them to travel all the way to LA. However, It seems like this will be the only effort to reach out to those who lost their concert tickets after the recent cancelation. This concert looks very much like it’s trying to appeal to the recently disappointed ARMY specifically, meaning both that they will have by far the best chance of filling seats in that stadium, and they likely won’t be granted something like this again when BTS does an actual tour. Next, in order to get tickets for this you NEED to hope that you’re selected for a presale date. Ticketmaster is already saying that the overwhelming amount of attention they will get for this concert likely means you won’t be getting a ticket if you don’t get selected for either the ARMY membership presale or the general verified fan presale. Those of us who are trying to get tickets for this will essentially be entered into a lottery to see if we can even attempt to buy tickets. And keep in mind, there are A TON of ARMY looking at this show. As I said before, this isn’t a tour. This is an event happening over only four days in only one location. That means there are going to be even more people competing for spots at this thing than anyone could possibly imagine, especially now that ARMY has grown over quarantine.

Should This Concert Even Be Happening?:

This is the question I’ve been seeing ARMY asking themselves on Twitter. Even with vaccination mandates at the stadium, is it safe? According to Hybe, they chose LA because they felt it’s one of the safest places to do a live event at the moment. They’re also taking every precaution they can. So it’s safe-ish. But know that there’s always risk in crowded areas. Next, shouldn’t BTS have done a performance in South Korea before they performed internationally? I was certainly hoping they would. Although we might have some things under better control in California, Americans are still extraordinarily dumb about getting the vaccine. Not only that, but BTS’s priorities for live events should absolutely surround their home country. Not just because they should be allowed to put their own heritage before the entertainment of the rest of the world, but also because traveling is still dangerous right now. For everyone. Having a concert in LA where anyone in the world, with the right amount of money, could get in isn’t safe. We’re going to have tons of people traveling to LA when traveling is still dangerous. This whole scenario could have been prevented if BTS kept their first live event to a concert in Korea where only South Korean residents were permitted. But Hybe decided on LA. All we can really do is hope the precautions they’re taking are enough for everyone.

And that’s it! As you can probably tell, I’m one of the many, many ARMYs who signed up for the presale events and is hoping to get to this BTS concert. While wearing a mask and bringing tons of hand sanitizer, of course. But there’s so much competition going into this concert. Much more than there will be once BTS does a full tour with multiple locations and tons more dates. Not that getting tickets for that will be easy either. I’m still excited though! And if I am let down, I’ll listen to “My Universe” on repeat to cheer myself up and then tune in virtually!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

International Dramas: The Bride of Habaek

Screenshot of Nam Joohyuk in ‘The Bride of Habaek’. Copyright goes to Studio Dragon, tvN, and Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

As I do when I watch K-Dramas, I barely ever just stop with one. So, yes, I did also just finish ‘The Bride of Habaek’ which actually has been on my radar for quite a while. I really couldn’t figure out if I should just watch it or skip over it because this series has such mixed reviews. And I mean, really mixed reviews. It seems like this is one of those dramas where people absolutely love it or they hate it. And the people who say that they hate it really seem to hate it. I’ve heard this drama be called everything from a waste of time to one of the worst K-Dramas you could possibly ever watch. And my opinion of this show is (as my opinions usually are of widely debated shows) somewhere in the middle of loving it and hating it. There were things I loved about this show and things that I didn’t like so much about this show. But over-all I would say that this show kept me entertained. And I certainly do have a lot of thoughts about it. So let’s get into it! As always- MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!!! And I will be talking about possibly triggering things that were featured in the drama. Netflix was really good about listing triggers for each episode just in case. But this is your POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!

Synopsis:

‘The Bride of Habaek’ follows Soah, a psychiatrist who struggles with her business and with past trauma. Soah does not know that ancestors in her family pledged all the generations of her family to servitude for the gods. Habaek is the water god who must ascend the throne and to do so has to find several sacred stones that are down on earth with the god of sky, goddess of water, and god of land. In the process he finds Soah and enlists her to help him on his quest.

Fit For Gods:

CEO Shin/Hooye- One of my two favorite characters in the entire thing and the second lead. Yes, once again, I’m suffering from second lead syndrome. But I didn’t experience second lead syndrome in this drama in the way that I usually do. Normally, for me second lead syndrome means I personally would choose the second lead but I can see why that wasn’t in the cards for the main character and why the writing didn’t steer in that direction. That was not the case here at all. I wanted Soah to end up with Hooye. Much of it was because of Habaek, who I will get back to later, but much of it was because of Hooye and the chemistry between the two characters. Hooye is the quintessential complicated character of the show if that’s what you’re looking for. He’s a good guy but he’s more of an anti-hero. Hooye first appears to be a regular CEO, albeit a very kind one. He has dedicated his life and his company to the service of the poor and struggling purely because of his kind heart and compassion. As the series goes on you find out that he’s a demi-god and the only godly wielder of fire. He is seen by most of the gods as a disgrace and his powers are often uncontrollable and deadly. There are several times where he is made angry by the other gods in this show, sometimes for understandable reasons and sometimes because of stupid things, and he almost lashes out or actually does accidentally lash out. And this poor man is always horrified by his actions. Including this absolutely heartbreaking scene where he wanders into the middle of nowhere so that he can curl up in a ball and cry. My heart broke for him so many times throughout the series. But one of the best parts of him is that even knowing that he’s a god does not change the way he acts. In fact he tells Soah that she’s like a god to him because he comes to view godly actions as good you do for other people. He’s a huge sweetheart. And I could go on and on about him. But seeing this character grapple with his own humanity and his godly powers is one of the best and most interesting parts of the entire series.

Biryeom- The god of the sky. He was interesting to me in a completely different way. There were times where the show made you absolutely hate him or view him as immature because of certain actions he took. Most of the time it was because of how willing he is to kill Hooye and for mocking him by calling him “halfie” for much of the show. But the show always brings you back around to his side. You don’t realize until later that Hooye accidentally killed one of Biryeom’s closest friends. Biryeom is another character that feels like more of an anti-hero. But he’s the mischievous god. And what usually comes with that territory is being the most unpredictable character in the show. I never knew if he was going to threaten someone’s life, make a funny sarcastic comment with a huge heartwarming smile on his face, or suddenly be super kind to Soah and try to defend her. This was yet another character where I felt his writing was brilliant. He had all the carefree nature you would expect from the god of sky, but he was also incredibly grounded. Sometimes he had the wisest advice of everyone and sometimes he wouldn’t seem to care about wisdom at all. I just loved him so much.

The Sub-Plot Romance- This is between Biryeom and Moora and it is adorable. Firstly, Biryeom is always extremely respectful of Moora and some of their most lighthearted scenes for the characters individually happened together. You could really see Biryeom chip back at the resolve that Moora had stuck in place until she was the one pursuing him. Which was so nice to see. The build up of their romance had to be one of the most well done of any sub-plot romance I’ve seen in a K-Drama. When they finally got together it really felt like the culmination of what the series had been working to. It felt so earned. Unlike the main couple. They also unfailingly treated each other as equals and with an incredible amount of respect, even when they were insulting each other. Also unlike the main couple. This was the romance in this show that I liked most. They were so cute!

The Godly Realm- I absolutely loved all of the shots in the godly realm. The godly realm was done much more practically than I thought. While some things were not real, a lot of the set pieces were. Which made everything feel that much more elegant and regal. I also loved the hair and costume design for each of the gods when they were in that realm. It felt both historical and mythical at the same time. For the designs they also seemed to mix several myths and it’s because of that it felt like a lot of thought had gone into the design of that world. I loved every moment it was on screen.

The Action- It’s weird to mention, but all of the action felt earned, well-placed, and kept the show entertaining. There wasn’t a lot of it specifically, but I liked when it was used and I thought it added an extra interest to the story.

Neutral:

Soah- I don’t usually have a neutral section, but there were seriously characters here that I either had too many thoughts about either way or no thoughts about at all. Soah was one of those ones where I barely had any thoughts about her. I suppose in a way I liked her. I didn’t hate her when she was on screen and I love Shin Sekyung as an actress. But I didn’t feel like this character demonstrated enough wit and intelligence for her. Because she’s extremely good at being witty and this character felt like it was written more like a blank slate. I think it was because she was the one playing this character that I didn’t feel like she was completely bad. But her lack of complete story arcs and her willingness to just do whatever Habaek told her no matter how mad she was at him, was not my cup of tea.

Moora- I had a lot of feelings about her. I couldn’t decide whether I really loved how she was written and how powerful she was or if her loyalties seemed too weirdly divided for me to like her. We know Moora isn’t the nicest person from the very beginning. She’s determined to marry Habaek and she throws small fits when she doesn’t get her way. But what made me like her is that when it came to the prospect of harming a human, she was often the most compassionate god present. And yes, that even includes when Habaek was present. The story at one point made me a huge fan, and then she started doing weird things about Habaek and Soah’s relationship that didn’t make any sense. At one point the show tried to wave off her interference as trying to make sure that Habaek didn’t die. But then she still showed disgust towards the couple even after that issue was resolved. I found it difficult to follow her train of thought through much of the show. And she’s not supposed to be a mischievous goddess so I can’t explain her actions that way. But I will say, I did probably like her more than Soah. She was consistently fun to watch even though she was also very confusing.

Psychology- The way psychology is treated in this show is really weird. It gives some really good advice. Such as saying that taking care of your mental health is the same as taking care of physical health. But then it shows most of the patients that Soah takes care of as being pretty insane. Seriously mixed signals here. And most of the time the plot forgets about the psychology thing altogether. Though this show does also mention the near death experience of Soah by her own hand and deals with that well and in a helpful way. Such as encouraging the characters to learn to cherish their lives. I just don’t know why it treats psychology as a whole so badly unless it’s dealing with very specific characters or situations.

Perishables:

Habaek- You probably already gathered from the rest of this post that I was gearing up to roast him. Which is exactly what I’m going to do now. Habaek feels like he should be an interesting and well written character. But he’s too dislikable for me to care. As a boyfriend, he’s absolutely atrocious. He constantly insults Soah, barks orders at her, or just flat out ignores her if he’s mad at her. The scene that insured my dislike of him occurred towards the end when everything in his and Soah’s relationship was already supposed to be repaired. Hooye comes to Soah’s house unannounced specifically to give her the information that he had very generously bought the building her business was in so that she could keep it running. Habaek tries to kick him out, while Soah invites him in for the breakfast she just made. Then, over breakfast and right in front of Soah, Habaek tries to dissuade Hooye from liking Soah by detailing all of what he perceives to be Soah’s faults. Then he leaves Soah to do the dishes by herself and barks at her to make tea for them, which she does. I was seething by the end of the scene. Was that supposed to be romantic? Because I think that might be one of the most toxic scenes of a relationship I’ve ever seen in a drama. It’s interesting because you have this contrast of Hooye telling Soah that she’s like a goddess to him while Habaek spends more of his time listing off her faults. I wonder who the better boyfriend would be? There’s a scene where Biryeom and Habaek are having a conversation about how Biryeom is now dating Moora. Biryeom tells Habaek that he listens to his girlfriend, which prompts Habaek to call him a pushover. I think that says enough about how Habaek acts in a relationship. Habaek is supposed to find the value of humanity on his quest in the human world but it seems like he only finds the value of having a girlfriend. He still treats most other humans like they’re beneath him. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t stand this character.

Objectification- I have to mention this, there is constant objectification of women in this drama. Part of this just comes from the objectification of humans by gods. But some of it happens in the dick measuring between Habaek and Hooye. You know, the typical, “I’m going to steal your girl!” “No you won’t!” conversation that occurs where both parties are making decisions for the woman in question without actually consulting her. The difference here is that Hooye doesn’t actually treat her like this whereas Habeak definitely does treat her like an object. But either way, it’s not fun to sit through.

Twins- Obviously I had to talk about this because it sucked. Biryeom’s friend that dies has a twin brother who he is seeking revenge for. Already an eye roll situation. But wait! They add in the twin brother saying that in the realm of gods one twin is always meant to die because they are only supposed to have one fate! Not only did they use the ‘one twin must die’ trope, but they also inferred that twins can’t have separate lives and basically said it was only natural if one of them died anyways. I couldn’t believe a show that was supposed to be about the importance of human life treated twins so horrifically. If it wasn’t such a small part of the show, I would have stopped watching then and there. I’m still angry thinking about it.

Sub-Plot Romance Two- There was another sub-plot romance between Hooye’s assistant and this one rich girl who did business with Hooye’s company. And every time they were on screen I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why they were there. None of them had anything to do with the main plot or any of the other characters. It felt so disconnected and jarring that every scene with them felt like a commercial before I could get back to the actual show. Seriously, what was that about?

Finale- Yet another K-Drama with a really bad finale! The drama picked up on this story about Soah’s father that we barely explored and made a lot of needless drama surround that. In the end it just felt like a useless way to try and ensure that Habaek learned his lesson. But, once again, it was about him taking care of his girlfriend rather than seeing the value of humanity. I could have been fine with this show ending one episode early. If you decide to watch this drama, I would highly recommend skipping the last episode. It barely wraps up any storylines and it feels pretty useless to the plot.

There you have it! Over-all I enjoyed watching it. The things that I loved about it I really did love! But this drama was also pretty problematic at times. I think in the end I would recommend this drama, with the caveat that there are dumb things about it too and you really have to be prepared for that. But I would watch it again for Hooye and Biryeom. It wouldn’t be my first choice for a rewatch, but maybe if I was in the mood I would. Not the best I’ve ever seen, but not the worst either!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

BTS: “Boy Meets Evil” Five Year Anniversary

Screenshot of Jung Hoseok (J-Hope) in the “Boy Meets Evil” music video. Copyright goes to BTS and the Hybe Corporation.

Hey! Hallie here!

I can’t believe it’s been five years since this masterpiece came out. This intro, and it’s music video, is one of the major things that solidified J-Hope as my bias. “Boy Meets Evil” is one of J-Hope’s best solo tracks and one of the best intros to any album I have ever seen. It perfectly captures some of the darker tones that were prevalent in the ‘Wings’ album. In honor of this anniversary, let’s talk about all of the amazing themes and work that went into “Boy Meets Evil”.

The Song:

This was J-Hope’s first album intro. The rap line was usually given the intros to each BTS album, but these intros were either done by Namjoon or Yoongi before the ‘Wings’ album. Hoseok worked extremely hard on the song to prove himself worthy of opening the album. He was also aware that anything he opened the album with would have to connect to the theming of the rest of the album. This song is J-Hope introducing us to ‘Wings’. Which means it had to stay in line with the “temptation and growth” messages throughout ‘Wings’. This song absolutely succeeds. It covers the feeling of someone falling in love even though they know the situation is bad. J-Hope himself described it as a boy meeting the devil that is love. The lyrics describe a childish love, as well as the greed and ambition it brought, tearing him apart. Though it’s difficult to endure, he expresses that it’s more difficult to give it up. He even uses imagery of his own position in the public eye to convey the feeling of being trapped by his own temptation. This song utilizes a faster rapping style than a lot of his other solo songs do. However, as usual, his style adapts with the melody of the song. It makes this whole piece extremely fast paced, energetic, and addicting to listen to. However, towards the end of the song we get some amazing vocals from Hoseok to slow it down and tie it all together. A lot of people are torn about whether or not Jungkook is actually providing the vocals for the singing parts of this song, but Jungkook isn’t listed on the song. And considering the fact that Hoseok has sung multiple times for other songs, and that the voice in this song does sound like Hoseok, I don’t know why this debate started. Regardless, all of it works together incredibly well. It’s no wonder so many ARMY keep going back to this intro.

The Music Video:

This music video is about the choreography. Hoseok practiced intensely to get the choreography right. He upped his usual one hour practices to two-to-three hour practices. And you don’t really have to wonder why. There’s a different move for each beat of the song. Some of the choreography was even filmed slower so it could be sped up for the video. It’s incredibly intense. Meanwhile, the setting sets the mood for the song. Hoseok starts out in a crumbling building, similar to a subway station, where light shines through the ceiling in only a handful of places. He begins by staring up at the light above him, but the darkness surrounding him makes it clear that he can’t quite reach it. As his dance goes on, we get some incredible effects. The ground cracks beneath his feet. The room flips into one completely devoid of light, save for some glow-in-the-dark paint splattered on the walls and on his clothes. His shadow sprouts wings, apparently revealing him to be a fallen angel. As for his outfit, let’s be honest, the ripped jeans and flowing white shirt look incredible on him. Hoseok was extremely nervous to release this video. As an intro, it came out as a teaser for the entire album before the album was released. In many ways it seemed like the way this video was received would indicate how well ‘Wings’ did. But Hoseok had nothing to worry about. I’ve watched this video so many times I lost count. The dancing is some of the best I’ve ever seen, as is the song. It’s perfection.

I love J-Hope and I don’t think I will ever get over “Boy Meets Evil”. It’s not simply that he looks great in it, which he definitely does. But it showcases his many talents. He’s the perfect dance leader for BTS. His dancing speaks to his experience and devotion, and I don’t think anyone could have pulled off the choreography the way that he did. He also has an amazing rapping and singing range. The song is completely different from his other solo songs but it proves just how diverse his work can be. It’s partially responsible for making me a J-Hope bias. And for that, I’m incredibly grateful.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

International Dramas: ‘Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung’

Promotional image of Shin Sekyung and Cha Eunwoo. Copyright goes to Chorokbaem Media, MBC, and Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’m back with another K-Drama review and, I apologize, it’s not the one I promised next. I know I keep saying that I’ll watch ‘It’s Ok to Not Be Ok’ but I have not been in the state of mind to watch it. I’ve more been into watching lighthearted dramas recently. Hopefully I’ll get around to it eventually, but I’m not sure it will be super soon here. Instead I decided to try my hand at watching one of the historical K-Dramas on Netflix. And of all the ones that came up, this is the one that automatically caught my eye. This drama explores themes of feminism, serious morality, as well as much more along with the romance that it already advertises. With so much going on this was probably amazing, right? Well, kind of. I had quite a few issues with this drama. This is your SPOILER WARNING for up ahead because I will be going into major plot points. And I’m also going to be adding a TRIGGER WARNING that only applies for a couple episodes if you watch this. But they aren’t super big plot points so I won’t be going into them here.

Summary:

‘Rookie Historian’ is about an outspoken woman, Goo Hae Ryung, who becomes one of four female historians in the royal palace. As she deals with the struggles of being a woman in a role traditionally meant for men, she also falls in love with the youngest Prince, Dowon.

The Good:

Goo Hae Ryung- She was an amusing and fun character to follow throughout the series. More than that, she’s an easy character to follow intention wise. I feel like I’ve talked a lot about characters where their intentions or feelings are hidden from the audience. Many shows don’t know how to balance the action of the show with focus on their character and this show does it very well. She’s also one of the smartest characters in the show and is never shown to be meek or unable in any capacity. In fact the show spends much of the time proving how capable she is. I loved every time she was on screen, which was a lot considering she’s the main character.

Yi Rim- Otherwise known as Prince Dowon. He was my favorite part of the entire series. He’s played by Cha Eunwoo who is most known for being part of the K-Pop group Astro. I honestly haven’t listened to much of that group so I didn’t recognize him at first. I had looked up reviews for this show beforehand though, and many of the complaints that I saw were about his acting. I’m not going to say that he’s the best actor that I’ve ever seen, but I definitely don’t think he was nearly as bad as everyone made him out to be. And his character was incredibly sweet! Most K-Dramas aim for this stoic and more guarded main male love interest. And many of those are great! But it was really nice to see an unguarded and overtly kind male lead. One of my favorite parts of him is that this kindness was also a major part of the romance. There’s a moment where his servant, Sambo, tells him to play hard to get and that romance is about playing games. In the next scene we see him instead directly ask Goo if she likes him. Considering the newer (rightfully) negative mentality about playing games in relationships (see Harry Styles’s recent “Trash, trash, trash” comment at his concert that went viral) I really liked seeing this more genuine approach. This character seriously brought me so much joy.

The Romance- I saw a lot of people saying that they wished Goo had ended up with Officer Min instead. Officer Min is one of the head historians and is the typical guarded love interest you would expect. Don’t get me wrong, he is a great character. But I don’t think the show was ever aiming at a romance between the two of them and, even if it was, I don’t think they would be all that compatible. They agree on many points, but what they disagree on are moral questions. Such as, should you stay loyal to your job or the people around you. Which is something they both have different answers for, for understandable reasons. I personally liked the lighthearted nature of Goo and Dowon when they were together. I thought they had good chemistry and it added a refreshing nature to the show when it delved into darker territory.

The Female Historians- One of the best parts of this series is watching the female historians bond with each other. Many of them face the same difficulties on the job. There is more than once when one of them sobs unrestrained because of how they are treated as women and I was glad that the show did not shy away from this. But what’s also nice is that they are always there for each other when this occurs. This show does absolutely none of the common pitting women against each other for no reason. The historians are friends and they work to help build each other up. It was a bond that I loved seeing.

Female Empowerment- I mentioned this above, but I want to speak about this point specifically. This show is very up front about the struggles of being a woman. It holds nothing back. And in the same way, it holds nothing back when empowering the women in the story. Despite their position, the women in this story are outspoken and make themselves heard. One of my favorite scenes in the show occurs when the ladies of the royal court restrain the female historians and try to forcibly induct them into the inner court as ladies. This is complete with threatening them not to speak and with Goo almost getting her mouth seared shut. The male historians come to their rescue once they realize that the female historians have been taken and later scold the women for following the royal court ladies, saying that they should have known about the danger. Instead of taking this, the women bite back saying that if they had been taught by the male historians instead of ignored, then they would have known the dangers of the palace. In this scene we see a very common occurrence that many shows don’t portray. Women experience sexism and then are blamed for having experienced it in the first place. This show can be rather brilliant when it comes to feminism and I loved watching it for that.

The Bad:

The Main Plot- I’ve talked about how I liked the romance and the feminism in this story, so why don’t I like the main plot? Because somehow the main plot has nothing to do with either of these storylines. And when I say nothing to do, I really mean nothing to do. The main plot is a regular historical drama political plot about a former dethroned Emperor and people fighting about who should be Emperor now. We learn very late in the series that Dowon is the son of the former Emperor, but we also know that he never wants to be King so that role will go to his brother anyways. Not only that, but he’s often not involved at all in this plot. At all. There were almost entire episodes where Dowon was in maybe one scene. It felt as though this “main plot” was barely connected with the main characters. It had nothing to do with the female historians and it also had nothing to do with the romance. I’m not sure how this became a plot point at all, never mind what the entire series built up to. And the plot took up most of the last few episodes, which barely made sense with the rest of the show. It also moved very slowly. I would be lying if I said I didn’t skip through some scenes in the last few episodes. This is another show that needed to focus up. Much like ‘Imitation’, it felt like the writers had all the tools there to make a great show when you read the synopsis. But they weren’t sure how to continuously make that interesting so they shoved in a generic plot that ensured drama. It really made me disappointed by the end of it.

The Humor- There’s some witty humor in this. I’ll give them that. But most of the “comedic” moments come from Dowon’s servant Sambo who, in my opinion, is extremely not funny. The humor here is what I can only describe as five year old humor. I can’t imagine most adults genuinely laughing at some of the stuff he does. And for a series that has such adult situations that they tackled, I had to ask myself who these comedic scenes were for.

Abandoned Plot- There were episodes where it legitimately felt like nothing happened. And this series is only twenty episodes, so you would think that they could jam pack every inch of this with story. Unfortunately, that’s not true with this series. There were a few episodes where the show focused specifically on the backstory of one character and then never returned to any of that information. As if it had nothing to do with any of the plots going on. There was also an episode that’s sole purpose was to show the audience that Dowon could be a great King. But he never became King so it didn’t feel like it really mattered. It just felt like constant sub-plots that were abandoned because the writers didn’t know where it fit in either. Also, Dowon was a huge novelist at the beginning of this series and there was a huge dramatic moment where he was forbidden from writing ever again. And that wasn’t really resolved. I guess he just stopped writing? This is sounding more and more like ‘Imitation’ with all the abandoned plots.

I love that this was written by a woman and I loved some of the portrayals of real things women still go through. This tackled many difficult elements very well. I guess that’s what sets it apart from ‘Imitation’. But really, I think this is yet another series just like ‘Imitation’ where the story wasn’t clear enough. The writers for both didn’t seem to know how to turn their pitch into an entertaining and concise story, so they tried a bunch of other things to get it to work somehow. And just like ‘Imitation’ there are several scenes from this drama I really think you should watch! But I’m not sure I would recommend the entire drama itself. It wasn’t horrible, but it definitely wasn’t good either. I think the situations in this drama deserved a better over-all plot to encapsulate them. This drama could have easily just been about the struggles of the female historians. I believe it failed because someone behind the scenes didn’t think that was interesting enough.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Video Games: That ‘Super Mario’ Movie Cast

Promotional image of Bowser, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Mario, Luigi, and Toad. Copyright goes to Nintendo.

Hey! Hallie here!

The Nintendo Direct Event happened today, which means a bunch of new Nintendo announcements! Amongst the exciting trailer for ‘Bayonetta 3’, ‘Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’ coming to the Switch, and Brewster FINALLY coming to ‘New Horizons’, we also got the announcement for an animated film. This animated film is set to be spearheaded by Nintendo as well as Illumination, the big animation company owned by Universal Pictures and responsible for movies like ‘Despicable Me’. It’s also set to be a ‘Super Mario Bros.’ film. This could be really exciting news. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto took to giving this announcement himself and even gave us a December 2022 release date for the film. Illumination has had some duds in the past, but they’re a pretty solid company for Nintendo to partner with for this project. Especially considering the presence of Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios parks. But this cast. This cast ruined many fans’ excitement for this movie all at once. Let’s talk about the cast, the creatives, and why this whole thing is looking pretty bad so far.

Cast and Creatives:

Chris Pratt will be playing Mario. This is already completely ridiculous. I don’t think anyone has ever heard Chris Pratt and thought “He’d make a good Mario”. Pratt at least has some minimal voice acting experience. He voiced Emmet in all of ‘The Lego Movie’ films, Barley in ‘Onward’, and a few small roles earlier in his career. But all of those voices aren’t all that different from his normal voice. I don’t know what’s worse, imagining Chris Pratt as Mario with an Italian accent or without one. Next we have Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach. Anya Taylor-Joy doesn’t have much voice acting experience at all, but she was Brea in ‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’. I loved her performance in that, but we’ll have to see how that transfers over to Peach. Next up is Jack Black as Bowser. Ummmm. I’ve seen quite a bit of mixed feelings over this one. Jack Black definitely has voice acting experience. But, as with Chris Pratt, characters like Po from ‘Kung Fu Panda’ have mostly been done in his regular voice. Does that fit the deep, dragon-like growls we’ve heard from Bowser? Not exactly. It might be funny, I suppose. Although, making Bowser a purely comedic character could just as easily end up badly. Seth Rogan is Donkey Kong. They’ve lost me again. Seth Rogan has voice acting credits. He was Pumbaa in the recent ‘Lion King’ remake and he was Mantis alongside Jack Black’s Po in ‘Kung Fu Panda’. But, here we go again, he only ever uses his regular voice. That? For Donkey Kong? Really? Keegan-Michael Key will voice Toad. Key has done various voice acting projects, many in his own voice, but the ‘Hotel Transylvania’ series in particular shows his range. He voiced Murray after CeeLo Green was fired from the job, and he did a good job of matching the performance given in the first movie as well as operating outside of his usual vocal range. It isn’t perfect, but it’s something.

Last amongst the main celebrities listed for this movie is Charlie Day as Luigi. Once again, he’s definitely not the type I can picture convincingly using an Italian accent. He also hasn’t demonstrated much vocal range between his work in ‘Monsters University’ as Art and ‘The Lego Movie’ as Benny. Sebastian Maniscalco is Spike and I can’t say much about him because he hasn’t done enough to really discuss here. It seems the only saving graces in this cast are Fred Armisen, who is known for his diverse voice over work, as Cranky Kong and Kevin Michael Richardson, who is a famous voice actor known for characters like Gantu in ‘Lilo and Stitch’ and The Joker in ‘The Batman’, as Kamek. As for the creatives, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic are our directors. These two had a hand in both directing and producing ‘Teen Titans Go!’ and ‘Teen Titans GO! To the Movies’. We’re doomed. Screenplay is all being done by men here. What a surprise. One of the writers will be Shigeru Miyamoto, which is a good sign. The other, Matthew Fogel, has written for mostly animated films such as ‘The Lego Movie’, and has now been working primarily for Illumination on both this film and ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’. So pretty much what you would expect for a movie like this. None of it really instills me with confidence.

Casting Celebrities as Voice Actors:

This is the biggest issue with this cast. We only have two actors who are extremely familiar with the voice acting industry among these celebrities. Otherwise, we have a mix of actors who have done one or two larger animated films in their own voices and actors who have done barely anything at all in voice acting. This clearly shows us that all of these people were chosen because they’re big names in the industry and not because they fit the characters. In fact, I’m hard pressed to find one of these actors who I think is suited for the role they’re playing. It’s a star studded cast, certainly. But I don’t think I ever wanted to see any of these actors stepping into these roles. Meanwhile, voice actors frequently struggle with finding jobs and getting good pay because Hollywood keeps shutting them out of projects like this. We all know that trained voice actors would sound much better in these roles. Almost anyone would make a better Mario than Chris Pratt, but there are a long list of voice actors who would be incredible as Mario. But Hollywood has made animated films inaccessible to most voice actors. So we get this. A cast full of big names, all of whom are completely miscast.

I can’t say I’m excited for this movie. I usually try to withhold judgement after announcements like this but… This one was remarkably horrible. I don’t even really want to think about this anymore. I’m just going to pretend that this announcement didn’t happen so I can go back to being excited about Brewster. Anyone want to join?

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Book Adaptations: Unpopular ‘Lord of the Rings’ Opinions

Screenshot image of Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel in ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’. Copyright goes to Warner Bros. Pictures and Weta Digital.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I haven’t made one of these “unpopular opinions” posts in a while, so I figured it was a good time to get back around to it! As we get more into Fall, I see far more posts about ‘Lord of the Rings’. Which completely makes sense! We’re getting to the time of the year where all I want is to dress in clothes that look elven and curl up in my very own hobbit hole. The ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ were all things that I grew up with. I started both reading the books and watching the movies, for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy at least, from a young age. And revisiting these movies occasionally has definitely given me a new perspective on several things. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t mentioned any of these before! So, I want to talk about my current opinions for the movies or books that might not be so popular. Let’s just get into it!

Tauriel:

I know that when the announcements for this movie came out, most people were not thrilled with the addition of Tauriel. And it feels as though most people still don’t like her. There’s definitely an argument to be made when it comes to movies adding unnecessary things not from their book adaptations. For example, Legolas being in ‘The Hobbit’ films was not necessary at all. But I do believe that there is something that was necessary to add to ‘The Hobbit’ story that wasn’t in the original book. A female character. If you’ve read the original book you are probably well aware that female presences in it were scarce. And having any movie without any female characters would have been absolutely absurd. Not only that, but it added to the amazingly badass list of female characters that LOTR has brought us. While I do understand that maybe Kili and Tauriel didn’t need a side-plot romance, sometimes it feels like people forget that this wasn’t all of Tauriel’s character. Tauriel was also an incredible adventurer, warrior, and healer. All of those skills were shown several times throughout the movies, and over-all I think she was one of the best and most explored female characters in LOTR.

Arwen Instead:

In the original books Glorfindel is the elf that saves Frodo from the Nazgul. In the movies, this was changed to Arwen. I was one of the ones who was originally disappointed with this choice. I really liked the character of Glorfindel and wished that I could have seen him in the movies, but now I’m glad that this role went to Arwen instead. Many forget that in the books, Arwen did practically nothing. We knew that she and Aragorn were a thing, but the most prevalent thing she does in the books is gift Aragorn with a flag. In the movies this scene was given to Arwen so that the only female character in the first film could have more screen time, action, and agency. This was another choice that I felt needed to be made for the benefit of female representation. It doesn’t matter how much I like Glorfindel; the focus on a female character was much more important.

Eowyn and Faramir:

I liked the few scenes they were given in the movie, and this isn’t to say that I don’t like the pairing at all. I know there are a lot of people who preferred the idea of Eowyn and Aragorn as a couple, but that was never appealing to me. I thought Eowyn needed more independence in the story than she would have gotten had she turned into the love interest for a main character. And I also think it is sometimes important in literature to portray the rejection of someone’s advances. But the issue is, I don’t like how the relationship between Eowyn and Faramir turned out in the books either. Many people forget that as soon as Eowyn married Faramir in the books she settled down and gave up her status as warrior. The book even claims that Faramir has “tamed” her. Obviously, this is absolutely awful and I’m very glad that the movie doesn’t even hint at this. But all things considered, I can’t count Eowyn and Faramir a favorite couple of mine in any capacity. Because they are either not explored enough or their ending is a little sexist. Which is disappointing to me because I like both characters and I like the idea of them together.

Pippin Hate:

There are a lot of people who irrationally hate the character of Pippin. And while Pippin isn’t my favorite Hobbit (because Sam exists), I actually really love the character of Pippin! Is he a fool of a Took like Gandalf describes? Absolutely! But he’s also a needed lightheartedness in the story and an incredibly kind and selfless individual. Though he’s very clumsy at the beginning, that’s to be expected from the youngest of the Hobbits who’s never been out of the Shire! And later not only does he save the life of Faramir, he also becomes a formidable knight of Gondor. His skills are battle proven and driven by his compassion for others. Of course, Pippin is a little annoying at the beginning. But he’s supposed to be! One of the major nice things about Pippin is that he grows throughout the story. He has one of the most complete feeling character arcs in my opinion, and I feel like that often goes overlooked. Besides, how can you hate a character played by Billy Boyd?

Balin is the Best Dwarf:

I know many people love Fili and Kili in ‘The Hobbit’ films. Especially Kili. But I feel like Balin often goes unnoticed. Balin is the most welcoming of all the dwarfs to Bilbo and by far the most compassionate. I know he’s one of the older ones and he’s also not as attractive as some of the others, but Balin is so nice. It’s his heart that really sold me on him and he’s definitely one of my favorite characters in both the book and movies.

Legolas:

This is an opinion that seems to become more popular as the years go by. Legolas for a long time was one of the most popular characters in LOTR. In fact, many would argue that he still is. And what’s not to like? He’s gorgeous, the elves are really interesting, and…. he makes funny faces. Legolas isn’t given much story wise. In either the books or movies. In fact, the biggest Legolas character moment I can think of is in the movies when he goes against the opinion of Aragorn in ‘The Two Towers’ and then apologizes afterwards. It’s an interesting moment…that doesn’t actually happen in the books. It seems like Legolas is given even less in the books than in the movies. Which sounds fake, but the books focus way more on the hobbits and description of the world. It does focus on the other characters as well, but it doesn’t really delve into their thoughts as much. The movie actually does much of the character plot development that we all know. That’s not to say that the movies are better. The description of the world is worth reading in itself even without the characters. But it’s worth pointing out that Legolas is one of the least explored of the characters in any version of the story. In fact, Legolas’s lack of lines is what made a bored Orlando Bloom pull so many of those hilarious faces in the movies. Legolas could have been more interesting but without a story arc of his own he feels a little half-baked. I love his stuff with Gimli though!

There you have it! Some of these are more unpopular than others and some of these feel a little bit more like fun facts, but I wanted to share these. Especially since we’ll have more LOTR stuff coming out in the coming years. I haven’t watched these in a while because it’s not great that there’s no POC represented here. I really hope that all of this new content will correct that oversight. But the Fall is definitely making me want to return to the Shire and Rivendell specifically. The cinematography in the LOTR movies is still unmatched.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie