can you list some examples of what you mean? I'm curiousthe only thing I can image being different is there being…
Not just more misogyny. A lot of it comes down to how men were expected to carry themselves: being stoic, duty-focused, blunt, and having more authority in the household. Modern adaptations often only make male leads likable by giving them contemporary attitudes from the start.
In Lonesome Dove, the main guys are practical, sometimes rough, and hold old-fashioned views on women and responsibility, yet they’re written as complex and admirable. Same with captains in older naval stories like Master and Commander — hierarchical with period-typical ideas about marriage, but still decent men.
Plenty of people back then, both men and women, genuinely accepted traditional gender roles. It wasn’t all oppression. I’m not defending real cruelty, but stories lose something when male characters can’t feel like they actually belong to their own era.
Men who are product of their time, whether historical or modern, isn't worth making and watching in a romance…
If you believe the myth that these men were all evil oppressors, sure. But the reality is different. Something can be entertaining and not treat its audience like morons who can't handle history.
This drama is ok, but it falls way short of the masterpiece that is CLOY. CLOY is still the best romcom I've seen. Funny thing is that IU could've made a great Yoon Se-ri. lol
In novel-to-drama adaptations, male protagonists are rarely allowed to behave like men of their own eras. I understand why this choice is made. Still, it would be refreshing to see at least one production trust its source material enough to let its male leads think, speak, and act as products of their actual time.
Edit: A man being a product of his time doesn’t automatically make him a bad guy. The issue is when adaptations judge these characters by today’s standards, like we’ve got everything figured out now. People back then had complicated lives too: not every woman was oppressed and not every man was some evil oppressor.
A lot of dramas only seem to let male leads be “good” if they already think and act like modern guys. It’s not just about the female audience, though that’s definitely part of it. There’s also censorship, wanting to appeal to the widest crowd possible, and this tendency to rewrite characters so they don’t feel “problematic” to modern viewers.
I’d like to see at least one drama that actually shows these men as they were back then: with nuance, without watering them down to make "green flag". The novels usually handle this way better. When dramas turn the male leads into modern-thinking nice guys, it just flattens the story and takes away what made it interesting in the first place.
The sml's reaction to learning that FL is marrying the ML is one of the silliest, dumbest, and unnecessarily dramatic scenes I've seen in a drama in a long time. I know the FL considers the sml a good friend, but her reaction is so over-the-top, too. This is bad writing imo. It's drama for the sake of drama. These are the kinds of writing choices that can ruin a drama.
It would've been so cool if the FL kept her composure and calmly explained to the brat throwing a tantrum that, although she considers him a friend, he has no right to threaten her just because she decided to marry the man she loves. Also, she should've reminded him that he NEVER made a positive step towards changing their relationship from friends to lovers. Instead, those writers have her crying like her grandmother just died. If I were the ML and I found out that the woman I was about to marry was crying like that for another man, I would not be happy.
Let me get this straight: after what Asheng did to Jin Lun, she became a god? I know she sacrificed herself in the end, but it's disgusting how the drama glossed over what she did to Jin Lun.
This show is driven by a boring love story that lacks any real stakes or emotional weight. The show desperately wants you to feel like it's telling some epic love story. It's not. .
The webnovel is completely different from the drama.
Yea, that's usually the case with the majority of these novel to drama adaptation. They mostly use the source material as an inspiration to craft a story that they think will be suited for the c-drama audience. Otherwise, they'd would the majority of their audience.
All dramas with romance are targeted towards the female audience. This show fails to understand that, whoever…
I mispoke. Yes, there are many shows with romance subplots that are male-oriented. But drama where the romance is one of the primary driving forces behind the story is almost always female-oriented. Let's be honest, the male audience isn't interested in finding out the answers tot he following questions: 1. Happy ending? 2. Story? 3. Chemistry? 4. Kiss scene?
I like so much this main couple of actors.. but the script is a disaster for the romanceLove story too unbalancedML…
"ML love the FL so deeply.. he is the perfect simp. FL love herself, her family./matters and maybe she has a little feelings for ML"
These types of dramas are often written for a specific subset of audience in mind: narcissistic women. The larger audience typically loves shows where the romance is balanced.
In Lonesome Dove, the main guys are practical, sometimes rough, and hold old-fashioned views on women and responsibility, yet they’re written as complex and admirable. Same with captains in older naval stories like Master and Commander — hierarchical with period-typical ideas about marriage, but still decent men.
Plenty of people back then, both men and women, genuinely accepted traditional gender roles. It wasn’t all oppression. I’m not defending real cruelty, but stories lose something when male characters can’t feel like they actually belong to their own era.
Edit:
A man being a product of his time doesn’t automatically make him a bad guy. The issue is when adaptations judge these characters by today’s standards, like we’ve got everything figured out now. People back then had complicated lives too: not every woman was oppressed and not every man was some evil oppressor.
A lot of dramas only seem to let male leads be “good” if they already think and act like modern guys. It’s not just about the female audience, though that’s definitely part of it. There’s also censorship, wanting to appeal to the widest crowd possible, and this tendency to rewrite characters so they don’t feel “problematic” to modern viewers.
I’d like to see at least one drama that actually shows these men as they were back then: with nuance, without watering them down to make "green flag". The novels usually handle this way better. When dramas turn the male leads into modern-thinking nice guys, it just flattens the story and takes away what made it interesting in the first place.
It would've been so cool if the FL kept her composure and calmly explained to the brat throwing a tantrum that, although she considers him a friend, he has no right to threaten her just because she decided to marry the man she loves. Also, she should've reminded him that he NEVER made a positive step towards changing their relationship from friends to lovers. Instead, those writers have her crying like her grandmother just died. If I were the ML and I found out that the woman I was about to marry was crying like that for another man, I would not be happy.
1. Happy ending?
2. Story?
3. Chemistry?
4. Kiss scene?
These types of dramas are often written for a specific subset of audience in mind: narcissistic women. The larger audience typically loves shows where the romance is balanced.