#but I just saw a post where the staple of unhinged mother in law is Asian dramas

[buttercuparry]

...

Listen if you think Indian tv soaps have a feminist aspect because you see a woman scheming...I am sorry but nah...that's not it.

I mean: like the protagonist who would start off as this independent woman will always somehow end up in an unwanted marriage? And she will have to go through literal mental exhaustion and torture before like finding some sort of happiness? And like the other MC, the male ( because in Indian TV there is no other concept than heteronormativity) will have either forced the marriage, or have been forced to marry, or something else and will start out hating this female character 80% of the time. And in every single soap opera somehow love would bloom and win like ????? Ajfjkjklk hello???

And like the MC who had dreams of her own would now only be concerned with untangling family intrigues like bye bye my career, here lemme be decked 24/7, trying to survive multiple attacks on my life and verbal abuse but no I won't raise my voice because I am sanskari as fuck ( sanskari as in having traditional values).

And like you have only one kind of woman as MCs: the one who conforms to society. Like they are people who don't party, who aren't capable of any baser thoughts, who don't pursue male "shamelessly". I mean....??????

Also there's no female friendship on Indian TV. You would see the vamp ( the villain) usually a woman who was a prev love interest to the man- being ridiculously toxic? And she is completely opposite of the MC ( parties, wears risque clothes, conniving, selfish, ambitious, has no sanskar aka traditional values, and lusting after the main man- aka has sexual desire). Like they would destroy their own career to ruin the lives of the couple. There is no feminist catharsis what the fuck. Like I know I maybe shading here: but if you think Alicent/Rhaenyra should have been more like Indian soap opera characters to give it that edge, then oh boy.

I mean yes women are the best upholders of patriarchy and that should have been more strongly portrayed in HoTD since Alicent's character demands so...but this example looked so out of place that I had to write this down.