[ SECRET POST #5569 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5569 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 20 secrets from Secret Submission Post #797.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I know, it's both baffling AND kind of toxic, but I don't really get into much discussion with other fans about it outside of FS. It's been a case of culture shock, getting used to the casual sexism and antiquated gender roles in cdramas. AT BEST, you still get remarks like, "She couldn't do [something good OR something bad], she's just a girl!" when referring to adult women. And that was in a modern cdrama, mind you, not a historical one.

But I also see some major crushing on the male lead (especially if it's a popular actor) and a lot of the hate comes from toxic jealousy that is (somehow) socially acceptable? I see this more in the actual Chinese-in-mainland-China fandom, not the western portion, though I don't doubt it exists there, too.

It's also really, really rare to see a truly independent female lead. A lot of them start off promisingly, but as soon as the romance arc reaches a certain point they're reduced to the same stereotype of the child-like fragile flower. Any abilities or goals they might've started with sometimes just... vanish? Because their whole world now centers around the male lead, and nothing else. It's one of my least favorite things about cdramas, and this is usually why I avoid the romances.

[(Anonymous)]

You might like Dream of Chang'an/Stand By Me?

While there's a kind of F/M romancey track, by far the strongest relationship is between two longlost sisters - the Idiot Hero one and the Elegant Plotty one - and gosh darn do they circle around each other in interesting ways.

[(Anonymous)]

I had good luck with Hong Kong martial arts movies with female leads for this sort of thing back in the day. "Vengeance of Snow Maid" and "Against the Drunken Cat's Paws" are a couple that I remember liking a lot. Also, "Heroic Trio" with Michelle Yeoh is really, really good, as is it's sequel (but I can't remember the name of the sequel off the top of my head.)

OP/Secret maker

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it's true that independent female leads in C-dramas are not so common which is why I appreciate it when they do exist, as far as it's possible in a typical C-drama script, and aren't merely reduced to being a male lead's love interest.

But English-speaking viewers on YouTube and Viki (I have zero clue about Chinese fans from China since they watch on different websites and I'm not fluent enough in Chinese to read their comments) always have something negative to say about it. It's like they WANT the main girl's whole world to centre around the main guy even when the drama is clearly focussed around the her goals and development.

I'm sure some of it comes from toxic jealousy but is that all?