Of ageism, angsty vids, and canon sanity
Jan. 25th, 2007 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI have just realized something amusing. I was wondering why Loveholic wasn't giving me an instinctive 'I need to get used to it' vibe on seeing the lead pair together (he is a high-school student who is supposed to be 18 or so and she is a teacher in her mid-20s). After all, I had that with jdrama Forbidden Love. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alexandral, it's not because they aren't declaiming the wrongness of societal restrictions in this one, though they don't :D). And then I looked up the actors' ages. Kang Ta, who plays the student, is only a year or so younger than me! He was 26 when he did this drama! In fact, he is only a couple of months younger than Kim Min Sun, who plays his love interest! Yay! No wonder I was finding him hot. I don't generally go for teenagers :D The thing is, the age difference for purposes of the story is believable: he does look younger than she does. But not the instinctive subconscious wtf thing which it took me a bit to overcome with Forbidden Love, where Takizawa Hideaki was 17 and Matsushima Nanako was 26, just like their characters. (And he does have to be older because of the time jumps, in Loveholic).
I must admit, kdramas and twdramas are much better for my self-respect. Guys in them are at least in their mid-twenties or older and some are even *gasp* in their thirties. In jdrama, with the exception of Kimura Takuya and Takeshi Kaneshiro, this isn't the case. I can't think of anyone I like over 25, though there are a bunch of guys who are getting close.
Oh, and in semi-related news, the security in canon is wonderful.
Why?
I was over at one of the drama forums reading the Hana Yori Dango thread and someone mentioned that Inoue Mao (who plays Makino, the heroine of HYD) did an interview where she says she prefers Rui (her first love) over Domyouji (the bad boy she hooks up with). It sort of reminded me of those Kristin Bell interviews in the context of Logan/Duncan.
But you know what was wonderful?
No one went mad. Everybody was 'heh, amusing' and wondering in a laid-back way if it means she prefers Rui/Makino over Domyouji/Makino.
And then it struck me why (because sorry, dorama fandom isn't much more sane than VM fandom).
Not only is Rui someone fandom generally loves (see, RT! It's possible to write a third person in the triangle as this guy who really is awesome as opposed to just the characters thinking he is), but unlike with VM where all the shippy stuff was up in the air, everyone knows how Hanadan ends (hello, manga adaptation!). People have either come to terms or squeed with glee over the fact that Makino/Domyouji are THE otp of the drama. So they don't have this anxiety or worry or anything. Which is nice.
alexandral, it's not because they aren't declaiming the wrongness of societal restrictions in this one, though they don't :D). And then I looked up the actors' ages. Kang Ta, who plays the student, is only a year or so younger than me! He was 26 when he did this drama! In fact, he is only a couple of months younger than Kim Min Sun, who plays his love interest! Yay! No wonder I was finding him hot. I don't generally go for teenagers :D The thing is, the age difference for purposes of the story is believable: he does look younger than she does. But not the instinctive subconscious wtf thing which it took me a bit to overcome with Forbidden Love, where Takizawa Hideaki was 17 and Matsushima Nanako was 26, just like their characters. (And he does have to be older because of the time jumps, in Loveholic). I must admit, kdramas and twdramas are much better for my self-respect. Guys in them are at least in their mid-twenties or older and some are even *gasp* in their thirties. In jdrama, with the exception of Kimura Takuya and Takeshi Kaneshiro, this isn't the case. I can't think of anyone I like over 25, though there are a bunch of guys who are getting close.
Oh, and in semi-related news, the security in canon is wonderful.
Why?
I was over at one of the drama forums reading the Hana Yori Dango thread and someone mentioned that Inoue Mao (who plays Makino, the heroine of HYD) did an interview where she says she prefers Rui (her first love) over Domyouji (the bad boy she hooks up with). It sort of reminded me of those Kristin Bell interviews in the context of Logan/Duncan.
But you know what was wonderful?
No one went mad. Everybody was 'heh, amusing' and wondering in a laid-back way if it means she prefers Rui/Makino over Domyouji/Makino.
And then it struck me why (because sorry, dorama fandom isn't much more sane than VM fandom).
Not only is Rui someone fandom generally loves (see, RT! It's possible to write a third person in the triangle as this guy who really is awesome as opposed to just the characters thinking he is), but unlike with VM where all the shippy stuff was up in the air, everyone knows how Hanadan ends (hello, manga adaptation!). People have either come to terms or squeed with glee over the fact that Makino/Domyouji are THE otp of the drama. So they don't have this anxiety or worry or anything. Which is nice.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-25 10:38 pm (UTC)In real life, I think most sane girls would go for the Rui's rather than the Domyouji's. We just want to watch the latter happen on our tv's ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-25 10:46 pm (UTC)Re: popstars. I was very relieved to find out the ages of F4 :D
no subject
Date: 2007-01-25 11:07 pm (UTC)Oh, yeah. F4's in their late twenties, right?
When I went into the Soompi threads for some of the Korean popstars, and found out they're all between the ages of 17-24, I was pretty floored. Not the actors, they're a bit older, but the singers all seem to be teens. They start 'em young over there... and then it's like 50 pages of OMGZ _______ OPPA IS SEW KAWAIII I LUV U OPPA and I just feel old. It's definitely not as bad in Taiwan, or even Hong Kong.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-25 11:16 pm (UTC)I am not much into any music, so haven't encountered the yong singers phenomenon. Though 'I luv my oppa' posts are prevalent in the actors threads too. I just squeeze my eyes tight and concentrate on the pictures :D