![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousie
RAAAAAAGE.
I literally have tears of rage in my eyes right now.
I have just watched (with ffing as much as I could) 4 episodes of Thai lakorn Autumn Destiny.
I have sworn off lakorns (their rape fixation makes me sick) but this was some sort of a Korean co-production set entirely in Korea so I thought...how bad could it be.
Well, it doesn't look like there will be any raping. That's about all I can say for it.
So, let's see.
We have Wendy, a Thai girl who meets and gets engaged to a Korean guy, Chungmin, while studying in Boston. They are...shockingly...functional, happy, and he has no tendency to drag her by the hair, tie her up, rape her, kill various people, etc. In fact, he cooks for her, and says romantic things and, when the inevitable thugs come, protects her and takes bullets for her. It was so surreal and un-lakorn-like that I even let my guard down and assumed the drama will deal with the fact that his family is less-than-pleased about the engagement (amusingly they don't want a Thai girl for him while being played by Thai actors themselves :P) and her family is dead-set against because Wendy's Korean Dad abandoned Wendy's Thai Mom. So, I thought - cute OTP, faces obstacles blah blah nice. Or at least that would be the plot if it was a kdrama.
I should have known better.
When she goes to visit her birth father, she gets kidnapped by evil thugs hired by her aunt who does not want to split the inheritance and Changmin gets horribly injured protecting her. In fact, he's in a coma. His parents are even less pleased with Wendy as a prospective bride and his mother throws down the gauntlet - she will only be OK with Wendy if Wendy gets her son to wake up.
OK, so far, so good.
BUT WAIT.
If you think this is the main story, THINK AGAIN.
All along we have been neglecting a scowly 'tough', vengeance-driven hero. He works for Wendy's real Dad, flirts with Wendy's half-sister, and holds a grudge against Wendy's Dad for murdering his own father. His revenge plan? I SHALL KIDNAP THIS RANDOM GIRL WHO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME AND HOLD HER TIED UP IN AN ISOLATED SHACK AS SOME SORT OF BIZARRE REVENGE AGAINST HER FATHER. Why he doesn't seem to grab the daughter Daddy actually brought up and knows and loves is beyond me. Perhaps all the testosterone is poisoning his brain.
Yes. After arriving in a strange country, surviving a horrifying experience via thugs, having her FIANCE ON DEATHBED, Wendy gets dragged off by the sicko to some cabin. She desperately tries to escape to get to see her fiance. You know - the guy she loves and who may be dying because of her?
Nawwwwwwww. Our "Hero" won't let her. Clearly, if you don't have felony rapist characteristics, you simply cannot be a lakorn hero. He ties her up, throws her down, tells her that fiance's parents hate her, and threatens her every five minutes. In all of this he is ably assisted by a friend who seems to think this is bad but not bad enough to stop anything.
At least...there is no raping? Oh, and our generous hero decides he'll let her go. At some point in the unspecified future. Oh, give me five minutes with him, a rusty pair of scissors, a few nails, and boric acid. I could have SUCH FUN.
You know, by lakorn standards this is fairly mild but it's enraging me so - because by being set in Korea it's actually reminding me of kdramas, where the worst thing a hero would do to a woman is force a kiss on her, and get slapped for his trouble. And because Wendy's fiance is actually a decent human being and what I'd consider a normal kdrama hero and Wendy is a normal heroine and to see these fairly normal people stuck in the horribly mysoginistic crap is ARGHARGHARGH.
All I know is if Wendy hooks up with Wannabe Rapist, I am going to find the maker and tattoo 'loser scum' on his forehead. There are indications that Wannabe Rapist is supposed to hook up with younger sister (who has heart trouble, probably from having to be in this story) and I don't wish the scumbag on her either, but if I had to pick, I like her less, I'll sacrifice her to the wolves. Though personally I vote for the half-sisters tag-teaming to make all of Hero's internal organs external. Slowly. And then Wendy can go off and get her fiance to wake up or go off to kick-ass singlehood or find a nice arranged Thai guy for herself to marry or found a school for acrobatic nuns. I don't care. As long as Hero ends up decapitated and she does not end up with him.
SUCH BLISTERING HATE.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 10:41 pm (UTC)YOUR POST MADE ME LOL THOUGH. I'M WONDERING IF THIS IS AN APPROPRIATE REACTION OR WHETHER I SHOULD BE BEATEN WITH STICKS. Please inform me. :D
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 06:30 am (UTC)I'm actually really really curious now!
BUT SERIOUSLY!?! TYING PEOPLE UP!?!? THREATS AND REALLY RAPE!?!?
no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 10:53 pm (UTC)I do not know why they are so fascinated with torture and rape. I really want to appreciate Lakorns because they have such pretty people... but it always comes down to rape.
My Thai friend says it has something to do with their conservative society, they said they do not want to see a woman willingly do anything intimate with a man because it seems slutty... but they STILL want to titilate the audience... so some genius went, "AHA! RAPE!"
I remember laughing my ass off in one of your random posts about how K-drama men should take advice from Lakorns... and just... UGH! YOU DONT LOVE ME!ISHALLRAPEYOU!WATCH!
Phil dramas used to delve in a lot of rape arcs but thank the lawd that has changed in the last ten years.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:02 pm (UTC)Just think how many drama problems it would solve if kdramas were like lakorns.
* Full House - what do you mean you did not clean the floor and why am I getting so confused between my feelings for you and Secondary Girl? RAPE shall clear my head!
* Chuno - stop holding onto your pet rock, woman! RAPE!
* Winter Sonata - this amnesia is troublesome. RAPE shall fix it.
* Sorry I Love You - I have a bullet in my head and you are the daughter of my Mom's driver. I want vengeance on her so I shall get it by raping you. WOOOOO!
I mean, seriously, WTF!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 12:30 am (UTC)*stuffs fist in mouth*
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:07 pm (UTC). . . Wasn't that the plot of the last lakorn you watched? The tied up in a shack and threatened with rape scene sounds horribly familiar.
Is this the Thai version of tropes such as accidental kisses and piggyback rides?!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:09 pm (UTC)In this one, it's a daughter of the guy he wants vengeance on, and moreover she's never even seen the Dad and Dad doesn't have much interest in her (nor has he sent taunting letters to Dad or anything - I am not sure Dad even knows she is missing). All the while he could have gotten his hands on the other daughter, the one Dad brought up and loves, any time. This makes NO SENSE.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:37 pm (UTC)I read way too many "rape is love" romance novels when I was a teen, and now I get twitchy whenever there's so much as a suggestion of the hero being capable of raping his OTP.
The plot of this series sound stupid as well as icky.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:08 pm (UTC)So from what you and Wolfie have watched Thailand should be full of transgendered ninja rapist ghosts. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:10 pm (UTC)And then I got this.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:16 pm (UTC)Maybe you should try Indian dramas. The heroines in those are stuck in some godawful situations and could probably exchanged with a doormat and no one would be the wiser. It's like i said in my LJ, they make Jandi and Minam look good. AND THAT'S NOT VERY HARD.
You know what? Start Seikei Bijin. It's fun and frivolous and totally 90s. You'll love it. Hopefully.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 11:56 pm (UTC)I know a lot of it's to do with Indian culture (respecting elders, the virtue of the girl etc etc) but sheesh!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 07:00 pm (UTC)different budgets and writers!
and it's the opposite in america really, how much shit does hollywood crank out month after month these days? what's on tv is waaay better.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 07:47 pm (UTC)And ITA on Hollywood.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 10:04 pm (UTC)and I want to say baoyu's got the right idea but putting women on a pedestal can be just as bad as doing the opposite :( (still he sounds interesting shame I'll never get to watch this drama ;_;)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 10:00 pm (UTC)how come i never see stuff like that viikii or mysoju. (or chinky's blog) D:
no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 09:41 pm (UTC)And don't worry about vid spamming. I love it.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 02:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-13 06:49 am (UTC)sorry for just randomly commenting on your page, i found your post by searching thai lakorn. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2010-04-13 03:46 pm (UTC)At least in JLR the guy was hot :P
no subject
Date: 2010-07-24 11:09 am (UTC)Amazing Thailand (http://www.tourismthailand.org/home)
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 04:41 am (UTC)I watched the Defendants of Love first, which was, I'm ashamed to admit, addictive but soooo disturbing (... let's kidnap a girl to an island and torture her as revenge ... something that any real man should have, right?), but it appeared to be the tamest of them.
Reading the descriptions of other thai dramas, 75% of them seem to involve the female lead being raped either by the male lead. Not once does the girl even think about sending him to jail, and the rapist (generally a hot, rich, charming male lead) goes off and lives happily ever after.
WHAT KIND OF A SICK WORLD IS THAT? What kind of example does this set for the viewers? I'm beyond worried for kids who grow up watching things like that. ... why hasn't anyone done anything about this????
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 09:27 pm (UTC)