I totally agree those scripts are full of misogynistic values and deprive women way too often of agency.When they…
First, hierarchy in romance doesn’t automatically equal misogyny or misandry. I only used “misandry” earlier as a consistency test, not as a claim that those role-reversal tropes are actually harmful in that way. My point was more about how quickly labels get applied depending on which gender is in which role.
Second, I’m not sure romance can realistically exist without some form of imbalance or contrast. Even in “equal” relationships, you still have differences in personality, emotional openness, timing of attraction, who falls first, and so on. That difference is often what creates the tension and development in the story, and I don’t think that automatically makes it misogyny.
So I’d see hierarchy in fiction less as a value statement and more as a storytelling tool. The real question is probably not whether hierarchy exists, but how it’s used and whether it’s meaningful within the narrative.
I totally agree those scripts are full of misogynistic values and deprive women way too often of agency.When they…
If we interpret traditional male power tropes as misogyny, can we also label role-reversal or emotionally softer male leads as misandry, such as CEO female leads with assistant or subordinate male leads, emotionally dependent male leads, or stories where the male lead is one of several romantic options competing for the female lead’s attention, or is it more consistent to see both as romance fantasy archetypes rather than ideological statements about either gender?
True but some kdramas luckily do make the FL the rich and/or super Competent one:for exampleSpooky In Love has…
I was with you until the sexism part. I don’t see how that conclusion follows.
These dramas are primarily marketed to and consumed by women. If the "rich, cold, competent male lead" trope keeps appearing, that doesn't automatically mean sexism. It could simply mean that a large portion of the target audience enjoys that fantasy. Entertainment companies follow ratings and profits. They don’t keep producing the same trope for decades if their audience doesn’t want it.
And if we're talking about fantasy fulfilment, people tend to focus only on the man's status while ignoring what the female lead gets. In many of these dramas, the female lead is the centre of the romantic universe. She often has multiple attractive men interested in her, several potential love interests competing for her attention, and is treated as uniquely special by the story. That’s a fantasy element too, and one that’s very consistently written for female leads.
On top of that, there are plenty of dramas where the woman is clearly the dominant figure: Hotel del Luna, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Encounter, Begin Again, Oh My General, The Legends, Love Beyond the Grave, and others. The industry is clearly willing to produce and succeed with those dynamics as well.
If this were truly “sexism” in a structural sense, you’d expect something very different. You wouldn’t see so many female-centred stories, you wouldn’t see women as the clear emotional and narrative focus, and you wouldn’t see so many dramas built entirely around female wish-fulfilment. You’d expect systematic exclusion or consistently one-sided storytelling with very little variation. That’s not what we actually see here.
So wanting more balance is completely fair. Everyone has preferences. But calling it sexism feels like a big stretch when the genre is largely shaped by female audiences and frequently built around female-centred fantasy. To me, audience preference and genre conventions are a much more convincing explanation than sexism.
Why do they always give the imposing and authorative role to Man like why couldn't that dragon be the FL and normal…
I don't really agree that powerful, authoritative roles are always given to men in dramas. That trope definitely exists, but there are also plenty of examples where the woman is clearly the one with the power, status, authority, wealth, or supernatural advantage.
For example, in Hotel del Luna, the female lead is a centuries-old supernatural hotel owner and the male lead works for her. In It's Okay to Not Be Okay, the female lead is wealthier, more confident, and is the one pursuing the relationship. In Encounter, the female lead is the CEO while the male lead is an ordinary employee. In Begin Again, the female lead is a billionaire CEO and the male lead is a doctor from a normal background. In Oh My General, the female lead is a legendary military commander while the male lead is a prince who is far less powerful. In The Legends, the female lead is one of the most feared figures in the martial world. And in Love Beyond the Grave, the female lead is literally the ruler of the spirit realm while the male lead is a mortal.
Also, these dramas are primarily made for a female audience. If the "powerful man falls for the female lead" trope keeps appearing decade after decade, it's probably because a large part of that audience enjoys it. Romance dramas are fantasies, and one common fantasy is the idea of a powerful, capable, protective man choosing the female lead above everyone else.
At the same time, if we're talking about wish-fulfilment tropes, it's worth looking at the whole picture. In many dramas, the female lead is surrounded by multiple attractive men who are interested in her, compete for her attention, or remain devoted to her. Love triangles and multiple male admirers are extremely common. By comparison, it's much rarer to see a male lead surrounded by several women competing for his affection in the same way, and when it does happen it's often criticised more heavily. So even in stories where the male lead is the more powerful figure, the female lead is frequently the centre of attention romantically and has multiple potential partners pursuing her.
That's why I think it's overly simplistic to focus only on the man's status or authority. These dramas often contain different fantasy elements aimed at the target audience. Sometimes that's a powerful male lead, sometimes it's multiple devoted suitors, and sometimes it's a role-reversed story where the woman is the dominant figure.
So it's completely fair to be tired of a particular trope and want more variety, but I don't think it's accurate to say dramas always favour male characters. A lot of these stories are clearly designed around female audience fantasies and preferences, just in different ways.
This was quite good. I don’t really understand some of the criticism, because I watched the entire thing trying to identify the issues, but I couldn’t find much wrong with it.
It started off strong, and the interactions were engaging throughout. I really enjoyed the romance. It was well-developed and had good chemistry between the leads. The pacing was good as well. They even introduced a second female lead who had feelings for the male lead, which created an interesting and balanced dynamic alongside the second male lead and the female lead. Usually, we see a second male lead with feelings for the female lead, but it’s rare to see a second female lead used in the same way to balance things out. In this case, it was handled well. Neither of them became overly involved with the main leads, but their presence added just the right amount of tension and drama. The sleepwalking storyline was also handled well.
It’s not a perfect 10, but it felt very reasonable and well put together. I’d rate it around an 8, not flawless, but definitely solid.
Pretty good drama. What surprised me the most, and was a very pleasant surprise, something I never thought would happen in this type of drama, was how fast-paced the romance was. It was only three or four episodes in, and they already had feelings for each other. I was gobsmacked. I couldn't believe it. That was great. I loved that. We need to see more dramas doing that.
Overall, it was a pretty good drama. I enjoyed it. It did lose a bit of momentum towards the end and became a little boring at times. Not enough to affect my enjoyment too much, but it definitely wasn't as exciting as it could have been. I think they could have done something to make the later episodes a bit more interesting.
I also would have liked to see more of the relationship between the male lead and the second female lead, and what happened between them. We got plenty of backstory and development between the female lead and the second male lead, which was understandable and important to the story. But I think the other relationship deserved the same attention. After all, both of them were involved, and for most of the show they were living together.
But overall, I liked the romance and the chemistry between the leads. Very good.
Hwang soul ends up in chairman body but he is currently in coma
Based on the actors and what I’m hoping for from the setup, I haven’t really looked into the full story, but I’m imagining something like this.
The body swap happens, and the soccer player ends up in the chairman’s body. From there, I’m assuming the female lead is the chairman’s daughter, so he gets to know her while living as her father, or at least while pretending to be him. During that time, he starts developing feelings for her.
At the same time, she begins to notice that something is different about her father. Not in a way where she develops feelings for him, obviously not, since he’s her father, but more that she senses changes in his behaviour, personality, and the way he interacts with her.
Another layer to this is that the souls don’t just stay swapped permanently. They switch back and forth at different times, so there are moments where the soccer player and the female lead actually get to interact more directly and build a connection in a more “real” sense. But then, at other times, the souls switch back again, which interrupts things and creates a sort of ongoing push-and-pull dynamic between them.
Eventually, she finds out the truth about the body swap. By this point, the male lead has already developed real feelings for her. Then, once the souls finally settle or switch back for good, the situation resets physically, but emotionally they’ve already connected, and maybe that’s when they start dating.
It sounds like a pretty reasonable direction, honestly. It’s the kind of trope you do see in these dramas, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they go down a path like that.
The synopsis explains that the chairman's soul ends up in the soccer player's body, but it doesn't mention what happens to the soccer player's soul. Do they address that in the drama? And does the series include any romance?
It ended nicely but also had an open element. The journey of Judge Bit Na of becoming fully human. I guess season…
I don't like that there's so much gap between seasons. I hope they do a thorough recap at the beginning of season 2. Otherwise, I'll have to watch it again.
There will be a second season? Was that always in the plan? I watched season 1, but i can't remember how it ended. Was it a cliffhanger? If I'd known there would be be a second season, i wouldn't have watched it yet.
I doubt we'll get anything. Jae Yeol and In Ah's relationship was directly relevant to the plot and informed each…
But their relationship is relevant. They're even living together. They were in a relationship, of course they had an impact on one another. The dynamics between the ML, FL, SML and SFL are shown in almost every episode, and they're all connected. If one relationship was shown from the past, then it's only fair the other is also shown.
Second, I’m not sure romance can realistically exist without some form of imbalance or contrast. Even in “equal” relationships, you still have differences in personality, emotional openness, timing of attraction, who falls first, and so on. That difference is often what creates the tension and development in the story, and I don’t think that automatically makes it misogyny.
So I’d see hierarchy in fiction less as a value statement and more as a storytelling tool. The real question is probably not whether hierarchy exists, but how it’s used and whether it’s meaningful within the narrative.
These dramas are primarily marketed to and consumed by women. If the "rich, cold, competent male lead" trope keeps appearing, that doesn't automatically mean sexism. It could simply mean that a large portion of the target audience enjoys that fantasy. Entertainment companies follow ratings and profits. They don’t keep producing the same trope for decades if their audience doesn’t want it.
And if we're talking about fantasy fulfilment, people tend to focus only on the man's status while ignoring what the female lead gets. In many of these dramas, the female lead is the centre of the romantic universe. She often has multiple attractive men interested in her, several potential love interests competing for her attention, and is treated as uniquely special by the story. That’s a fantasy element too, and one that’s very consistently written for female leads.
On top of that, there are plenty of dramas where the woman is clearly the dominant figure: Hotel del Luna, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Encounter, Begin Again, Oh My General, The Legends, Love Beyond the Grave, and others. The industry is clearly willing to produce and succeed with those dynamics as well.
If this were truly “sexism” in a structural sense, you’d expect something very different. You wouldn’t see so many female-centred stories, you wouldn’t see women as the clear emotional and narrative focus, and you wouldn’t see so many dramas built entirely around female wish-fulfilment. You’d expect systematic exclusion or consistently one-sided storytelling with very little variation. That’s not what we actually see here.
So wanting more balance is completely fair. Everyone has preferences. But calling it sexism feels like a big stretch when the genre is largely shaped by female audiences and frequently built around female-centred fantasy. To me, audience preference and genre conventions are a much more convincing explanation than sexism.
For example, in Hotel del Luna, the female lead is a centuries-old supernatural hotel owner and the male lead works for her. In It's Okay to Not Be Okay, the female lead is wealthier, more confident, and is the one pursuing the relationship. In Encounter, the female lead is the CEO while the male lead is an ordinary employee. In Begin Again, the female lead is a billionaire CEO and the male lead is a doctor from a normal background. In Oh My General, the female lead is a legendary military commander while the male lead is a prince who is far less powerful. In The Legends, the female lead is one of the most feared figures in the martial world. And in Love Beyond the Grave, the female lead is literally the ruler of the spirit realm while the male lead is a mortal.
Also, these dramas are primarily made for a female audience. If the "powerful man falls for the female lead" trope keeps appearing decade after decade, it's probably because a large part of that audience enjoys it. Romance dramas are fantasies, and one common fantasy is the idea of a powerful, capable, protective man choosing the female lead above everyone else.
At the same time, if we're talking about wish-fulfilment tropes, it's worth looking at the whole picture. In many dramas, the female lead is surrounded by multiple attractive men who are interested in her, compete for her attention, or remain devoted to her. Love triangles and multiple male admirers are extremely common. By comparison, it's much rarer to see a male lead surrounded by several women competing for his affection in the same way, and when it does happen it's often criticised more heavily. So even in stories where the male lead is the more powerful figure, the female lead is frequently the centre of attention romantically and has multiple potential partners pursuing her.
That's why I think it's overly simplistic to focus only on the man's status or authority. These dramas often contain different fantasy elements aimed at the target audience. Sometimes that's a powerful male lead, sometimes it's multiple devoted suitors, and sometimes it's a role-reversed story where the woman is the dominant figure.
So it's completely fair to be tired of a particular trope and want more variety, but I don't think it's accurate to say dramas always favour male characters. A lot of these stories are clearly designed around female audience fantasies and preferences, just in different ways.
It started off strong, and the interactions were engaging throughout. I really enjoyed the romance. It was well-developed and had good chemistry between the leads. The pacing was good as well. They even introduced a second female lead who had feelings for the male lead, which created an interesting and balanced dynamic alongside the second male lead and the female lead. Usually, we see a second male lead with feelings for the female lead, but it’s rare to see a second female lead used in the same way to balance things out. In this case, it was handled well. Neither of them became overly involved with the main leads, but their presence added just the right amount of tension and drama. The sleepwalking storyline was also handled well.
It’s not a perfect 10, but it felt very reasonable and well put together. I’d rate it around an 8, not flawless, but definitely solid.
Overall, it was a pretty good drama. I enjoyed it. It did lose a bit of momentum towards the end and became a little boring at times. Not enough to affect my enjoyment too much, but it definitely wasn't as exciting as it could have been. I think they could have done something to make the later episodes a bit more interesting.
I also would have liked to see more of the relationship between the male lead and the second female lead, and what happened between them. We got plenty of backstory and development between the female lead and the second male lead, which was understandable and important to the story. But I think the other relationship deserved the same attention. After all, both of them were involved, and for most of the show they were living together.
But overall, I liked the romance and the chemistry between the leads. Very good.
The body swap happens, and the soccer player ends up in the chairman’s body. From there, I’m assuming the female lead is the chairman’s daughter, so he gets to know her while living as her father, or at least while pretending to be him. During that time, he starts developing feelings for her.
At the same time, she begins to notice that something is different about her father. Not in a way where she develops feelings for him, obviously not, since he’s her father, but more that she senses changes in his behaviour, personality, and the way he interacts with her.
Another layer to this is that the souls don’t just stay swapped permanently. They switch back and forth at different times, so there are moments where the soccer player and the female lead actually get to interact more directly and build a connection in a more “real” sense. But then, at other times, the souls switch back again, which interrupts things and creates a sort of ongoing push-and-pull dynamic between them.
Eventually, she finds out the truth about the body swap. By this point, the male lead has already developed real feelings for her. Then, once the souls finally settle or switch back for good, the situation resets physically, but emotionally they’ve already connected, and maybe that’s when they start dating.
It sounds like a pretty reasonable direction, honestly. It’s the kind of trope you do see in these dramas, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they go down a path like that.