Mastodawn

Cara Bruar Nov 28, 2024

@liztai I'm a recent convert, 2024. I can only access what's on Netflix or Australia's SBS tv streaming, but there's a lot there. Watching my first Korean one right now. I also like programs from Turkiye, Spain and Italy. Slow pace is a plus, matches my current state of mind 😴

Katztronaut Nov 29, 2024

@liztai I started with Hong Kong movies in the 1990s (A Chinese Ghoststory was my first love), then Korean movies in the 2000s (Bin Jip, Old Boy), but Cdramas have been a new addition since last year. So I'm still a baby novice, but I have some knowledge about the different narrative style from my studies. ^^

Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Nov 29, 2024

@Katztronaut woohoo the classic Leslie Cheung movie can't be beat! Glad to have you here in cdramaland!

Katztronaut Nov 29, 2024

@liztai Aww thank you so much! 😊 It's THE BEST! ^^ I still remember when I first watched it, being really blown away like OMG (which we did not say at the time) what am I watching, this is so good! ^^ It made a big impression on my young self. 😁

@liztai Wow! You have history 😄 I fell down the rabbit hole during the corona pandemic so that would be about 2020? I had become disenchanted with western series on American streaming services and was looking for something different…

#Kdrama doesn’t quite work for me because of my adoption hang up, which has more to do with me than with the quality of the dramas, I think.

I like some #Jdramas, too, but mainly like #Cdrama.

No logic, really 😃

Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Nov 29, 2024

@Sollenbum who needs logic when it comes to dramas! Glad you discovered Cdramas 🥰

@liztai I’m so much happier in Cdrama-land. I think it was Game of Thrones that began my disenchantment with western series. It seemed like they were using graphic violence and nudity to fish for viewers rather than tell a good story. Effects need to be motivated by plot and character, not just piled on because it sells subscriptions to a streaming service.

Sturmkrähe Nov 29, 2024

@Sollenbum @liztai Yeah, I feel similar. And I watched only like half of the first episode. 😅
Unfortunately with its success Game of Thrones was a bad influence on a lot of Western media. 😕

@avradi @liztai You said it! The show spawned similar shows and I simply migrated off to other pastures 😄

Katztronaut Nov 29, 2024

@Sollenbum @liztai ⬆️ This. At a certain point in Game of Thrones one stops caring for the characters because they are only there to provide shock moments or body parts to gawk at.

@Katztronaut @liztai Exactly 🙄 and at some point all bodies just look the same and the violence seems gratuitous. If other people like that, then they can watch it but I got tired of it and moved to #Cdrama 🌸

Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Nov 29, 2024

@Sollenbum @Katztronaut @avradi It was GoT that got me disenchanted too!!! I am usually pretty resilient to tv horror and violence, but the graphic rapes and killing (some of the victims were children) just made me sick. I think GoT was the last drama I chased. The way it ended made the suffering I went through with the violence not worth it 🤣.
But tbh, I mostly turned away cos Hollywood got super formulaic and stopped innovating. And endless seasons! It just got old.

@liztai @Katztronaut @avradi Oh wow! We have had really similar experiences 😄 It was wasn’t a snap decision; we both seemed to have turned our backs on such films and series, because they rely too heavily on bare skin and excessive violence.

#Cdrama isn’t always good and some plots are ridiculous. Censorship is a problem and not everyone can act well, but I’m not subjected to callous exploitation of nudity and over-the-top violence on screen.

@Sollenbum Honestly glad they have safeguards for nudity and violence. I didn't realise how affected I was by them until it was gone. Now it's just very relaxing to just watch your cdrama knowing that it won't suddenly turn to soft porn lol @Katztronaut @avradi

@Sollenbum
_Same_ _So much same!_ Everything turned gritty - which apparently meant grey violence and boring nudity. There's so little fun left in it! C-drama at least allows for goofy moments - and such rare things as colours!
@liztai @Katztronaut @[email protected]

@MarthaCrimson what I also like is that China produces "hopeful" dramas like Minning Town and She and Her Girls, where you see people rise from terrible conditions to something better. I realise Hollywood don't produce hopeful dramas like these anymore. How about slice of life like Meet Yourself? I missed Gilmore Girl type shows @Sollenbum @Katztronaut

Katztronaut Nov 30, 2024

@liztai @MarthaCrimson @Sollenbum I loved Gilmore Girls! At some point it seemed everybody turned nasty on them and you read a lot of criticism along the lines of "shallow" "too cozy" "too white upperclass utopia" and producers dropped the genre like a hot potato. Instead, everything turned gritty.

@Katztronaut @liztai @Sollenbum We can't have girly things - that would give Hollywood cooties. I may be exagerating a bit, but when seeing what companies chose to keep despite criticism, productions that can be labled "for women" "gay" or "queer" usually falls first.

Henriette Nov 30, 2024

@liztai @MarthaCrimson @Katztronaut I like “Meet Yourself” as well, especially since the characters aren’t young. They are trying to find a better way to live life but without grandiose gestures. It’s a slice of life drama.

@liztai @Sollenbum @Katztronaut I'm a fish out of water since I have seen neither Meet Yourself nor Gilmore Girls, but hope used to be a big part of fantasy too. The trope that 'they're always saving the world' did, in fact, mean that the world was saved - and usually the characters met an equal mix of a-holes and friendly helpers on the way. Currently Western fantasy have an overweight of a-holes, even among the heroes.

radioactivestardust Nov 29, 2024

@liztai i started with 16 in 2004 with jdramas, when it was possible to share them through the web (it was Dragon Zakura). Full House was my first korean one in 2006 (for me korean sounded really uncomfortable in the beginning) and chinese dramas were the last ones. And then i probably i watched the Taiwanese Drama Mars, Summers Desire and Autums Concerto (around 2010/11). And then came Scarlet Heart and Lan Ling Wang and my heart was lost 😂

radioactivestardust Nov 29, 2024

@liztai i watched Dramas excessively till 2014 and then i got bored. Idk why, i just shifted my focus on american YA books and did that excessively. But i still continued to watch chinese and korean Dramas. Chinese ones still avoid western influences.
I am just glad it's all easy accssedible now. It was such a pain in the 2010. The videos broke, the subs did not work, loading times sucked. Back then one episode had to be split in 4 parts a 15 mins. It was horrible

阜日木 Nov 29, 2024

@bookstardust @liztai I was waiting for someone to mention Drama🥳🥳

radioactivestardust Nov 29, 2024

@kofanchen @liztai 🥳🥳🥳

I was still in school back then, and i swear i am sure, i just got through some exams just because of this Drama 😂😂😂

villainous friend Nov 29, 2024

@liztai 🤔 I have distinct memories of watching a Journey to the West live-action adaptation when I was a little kid, so late 80s or early 90s, does that count? No idea how that was accessible on UK terrestrial TV, or how much of it I actually got to see! Otherwise, I'm one of the flood of new cdrama watchers who started with The Untamed in 2020.

I have a difficult relationship with watching any kind of series thanks to both neurodivergence and weird family-of-origin stuff, so I've still watched very few series (mydramalist says I've finished 8), but I'm happy to be here anyway!

Ronsboy67 Nov 29, 2024

@liztai My first East Asian Drama (#KDrama My Princess) I started on May 13, 2013. I'd completed 100 KDramas by December 2013, in early 2014 watched my first #JDrama ( Nobunaga Concerto with the outstanding Shibasaki Kou and Oguri Shun) First #CDrama in 2015, Sunny Happiness , one of only 2 Dramas I've finished to be given a score of less than 0/10 - the other is the #KDrama Romance Town. My stats show that #JDrama is my vibe - lowest drop rate, highest average score

@ronsboy67 a spreadsheet! You are full on!

Ronsboy67 Nov 30, 2024

@liztai NOT a spreadsheet, please don't insult me! 🤣

One of the biggest gripes I have is the way people use spreadsheets (especially Excel) where a database would be better. That is a query from my personal Libre Office Base database. I'm in the process of designing and gathering data for a completely new version, one likely to be built in Firebird or Hsqldb

@ronsboy67 I am still impressed 🤣

Martha Crimson Nov 29, 2024

@liztai
Close to a total noob! The first C-drama I watched was Ice Fantasy* that I managed to dig up on Netflix (for some reason N Nordic streams _few_ Cdramas). I got a Viki pass ~three years ago, since I grew tired of trying to jailbreak the former streamer service. So to me most is shiny and new, though I expect to hit the 'X drama did this theme better' any year now :P But I _am_ a big lover of b-media in any context, so it's hard to say what directs my taste.

(*never finished it)

@MarthaCrimson I lol when you said Ice Fantasy cos that one is a doozy