#disclaimer: i'm not korean. I just have an interest in Korea

[mikas-sketchbook]

Throwback to that time I was obsessively drawing cats in Joseon-inspired scenes and clothes. Actually, I still do that but they’re scribbled inside random pages of sketchbooks.

[lasi-nariyoyoreads]

hi, can you please do “who would date a foreigner” with Seventeen?

Hi everyone, it's been a while :') Life has been particularly sh1tty these past weeks both on a professional and personal level so I had to take a break in order to focus on my mental health and elaborate what was happening. But I think I'm better now.

Professionally, things will still be sh1tty because I'll be busy so I don't think I'll be able to be super active here, but I hope I can manage to drop a reading once in a while.

I hope things are going well for you all!

Disclaimer:

My readings are made for fun and you should read them for fun too. So don't take them seriously. 

S.Coups, 6 of wands [Yes, why not? it’s possible especially if they are someone like a co-worker who lives and works in Korea.]

Jeonghan, rev ace of pentacles [I think it’s more no than yes. He’d have a rational approach and wonder if a long distance relationship can actually work or if they can understand each other properly.]

Joshua, knight of pentacles [Yes. I guess it’s easier in his case since he’s a foreigner himself, he might be interested in people with a different background.]

Jun, rev page of cups [I think he might be hesitant. He’s not totally against it per sé, but he’d rather date someone who can speak his language for example or that can understand his culture.]

Hoshi, 8 of wands [IDUBILY is basically what he thinks about the matter.]

Wonwoo, 9 of pentacles [Yes, to my surprise he doesn’t seem to have anything against it. If there's love and willingness to make the relationship works then the origin of his s/o isn't important.]

Woozi, rev queen of pentacles [No, it seems the strongest no so far, he barely leaves his room do you expect him to date someone that comes from the other side of the world?]

DK, king of pentacles [Yes, I don’t think he would really care about the nationality of his loved one.]

Mingyu, rev 6 of swords [No, I’d say it would be too bothersome to him, it's easier to date someone with a similar backgroun as his own.]

The8, rev 8 of swords [It can be yes, similarly to Jun ig. If he falls in love with a foreigner he’ll just date them, but he isn’t particularly interested in foreigners and his preference leans for people that belong to his country/cultural area]

Seungkwan, 3 of cups [Yes, he doesn’t care at all, if there’s love there’s everything and I think he is kinda interested in learning new things so he might naturally show interest in foreigners regardless]

Vernon, rev 4 of swords [He doesn’t give a f*ck about these things, if he likes someone he likes them, end of the story.]

Dino, rev king of wands [More no than yes, he’d rather date a Korean person.]

[lndsismaeverything]

Wind breaker | mini series

⬤ Jay jo x reader ( Shelly twin sister )

Part 1 : how we met

Note/disclaimer: I do not hate Shelly I absolutely lover her and ship Shelly x jay . I just been having brain rot over jay and I absolutely fell for him.

So I just made reader in shelly position (basically taking Shelly roll as love interest ) and not changing the plot and story of the webtoon bec it's alright a masterpiece . This is just for fun

Sorry for any grammar mistake and credits to the curator of wind breaker

You are in shelly room as usual looking bored and scrowing tho social media until you crossed a post about some South Korean food wanting to eat some authentic South Korean at South Korean you turned to your twin " hey sis let's go to South Korea "

you said out of the blue to your twin sister as she busy on her phone " South Korea ? Where grandpa is? " Shelly said looking up her phone " so u wanna go? " knowing ur twin she would always agree " hell yea ! Let's leave tomorrow! " Shelly said excited already busy pack her stuff in her expensive suitcase

" I'll tell mom and dad that we'll be staying with grandpa for sometkme in South Korea " you said dialing your parents phone number

" y/n help me pick what to wear tomorrow , this black dress or white? " Shelly asked holding two dresses not know which one

" it doesn't matter what u wear bec ur going to be wearing them anyway. But I'll say the black one fits u better " you said pointing the black dress

" thanks sis " she thanked and threw the white dress on the her bed

»»————> after landing in South Korea <————««

Walking out of the airport you see a creep at the corner of your eye looking at your twin up and down

" what are all these creep staring at ? This is why I can't stand men " Shelly said with disgust and you agree with here

" bonjooooor~ " the creep said to you guys while riding his bike and stopping to winking at your sister and then at you " comment vu-ustedes ? Ah...... voulez-vous sortir avec moi ?" The creep said trying to speak French or Spanish

"What the fuck is he trying to do? Insult us?" you whisper toward your sister

" just spread english , would you " Shelly said to him

" ugh what a weirdo " she whispered " totally " you whispered back at her

" oh you speak English? Where are you from?I was drinking coffee when I saw two angles walking by so I just had to follow you " he said stepping back with his bike seeing us trying to get away

" so do you girls have a boyfriend " the creep kept on asking questions " if you don't mind... I'd like to add you two on my app or something. Could I have you guys number " handing us his phone while smiling

" really this is the first time I'm asking a stranger on the street for their number " he adds

You just sigh and took his phone and put a police number and as for contacts u wrote 'fuck off ' , you hand your twin the phone and she does the same and tossed the phone back to him " are we done here ? " she said expressionless

" let's just go " you said and start walking with your twin

"Thank you, I'll message you girls later when I get the chance " the creep said

" you can sure try " before sigh " men... Are such pig these days " you said while your twin agrees

" should you really being wearing out like that? " you said to your sister fearing her bag and luggage would be stole because of the luxurious branding

" wear what? " she asked and you pointed out her chancel bag hanging off her shoulder " it might get stollen " and right on que some scooter men snatched her bag. Both you and your twin are in shocked until u snapped out of it

" HEY GET BACK HERE YOU FUCK HEADS ! " you yelled at them " BLOODY HELL, YOU FUCKING BASTARD! STOP RIGHT THERE! SHIT STOP! " your twin added clearly showing her British accent. your about to go after them giving ur bag to your twin and about to sprint after them , but your sister grabbed your arm " yn watch out " Shelly pulled you back as a you made eye contact with the biker that when after the two men on the scooter

" hey ! What's his problem! Can't u see??" Shelly yelled " I think he trying to get my bag back " you said to your twin

" who the hell is he then?" She ask " I have no clue. Come on let's call a can and go after them "

After a few minutes the we spotted biker " stop ! " you yell at the driver , Shelly gets out and so do you " are you okay? " I said concerned seeing he injured himself , the guy just nodded with the construction worker helmet and gave Shelly her bag back. " let's just get you in the hospital " Shelly said

" I'm fine " he said while picking up his bike

" your fine?? Don't you see blood on your face???" You said in disbelief

" come on that's the least we can do " Shelly added but she got cut off by his phone ringing and he walked away

" damn he's cute " you said with no shame " guess we'll never meet again " you sigh

"I don't think so sis , look he dropped his wallet " Shelly said while picking it up. " come one let's go to grandpa first "

" sunny high huh? " you said looking at the guy from earlier school ID" but that's grandpa high school "

" you know what that means" Shelly smirk " it's time to get your boyfriend "

" what " you said dramatically " boyfriend?? " you both laughed until you hear-

"OH Shelly!! Y/N!! " your grandpa said with full joy seeing his granddaughters again

" grandpa! " you and shelly said seeing your grandpa coming through the door

" oh there my granddaughters, I miss you two " he said lovingly

" grandpa me and yn wanna ask you a favor " Shelly started

" oh my granddaughters wanna ask this old man a favor? Ask anyway anything! "

" we wanna transfer to your school in a bit " you said to your grandpa who was overjoyed

" WHAT??? "

[joyswonderland1108]

You're not part of the community.

Disclaimer : What i'm about to say is of course with all due respect to allies who either do their own research or don't speak a word because they know they don't have the right knowledge about this. But also with all due disrespect to those who do the complete opposite.

This is so very spontaneous and i don't have a lot to say but maybe as i'm writing more things will come up for me to express. Anygays, I've noticed how a lot of straight people like to indulge in this whole "shipping" world and believe me, you do you i don't care who you ship or why you ship them, that's your own business, BUT.

The thing is, some people tend to project a lot when it comes to that, even when shipping people in a het relationship, some people tend to put their own unhealthy ways of a relationship in the image they have created for said ship, but today i'm not here to talk about the het ships but more about the ships involving a gay relationship (I'm talking about the relationship itself not the sexuality of whoever is in it). Actually scratch that i'm not even gonna talk about ships but more about relationships in general since isn't that the point of ships to begin with?

So as i was saying i've seen a lot of straight people having an opinion about gay relationships and it's cool you know, you're an ally that's amazing, your support is welcome thank you for that but some opinions are best kept in your own "straight bubble" cause they do not apply to a gay relationship let's be for real.

Seeing people compare gestures that would be an issue or a good thing in a het relationship to a gay relationship and when you try to explain AS A QUEER PERSON YOURSELF they want to call you out for being a hater, or can't accept the "truth".. Patricia the only truth here as that you're an uncultured twat.

This is basically giving me the same vibe as I-army trying to call out K-army for something that is part of the Korean culture, doing so with so much confidence you'd actually believe that a western person knows more about the Korea culture than a Korean person.

I already know that some straight people sadly have this stereotypical image of what a queer person in a queer relationship (let's just call it that instead) should be looking like, i've already talked about this before but you'd get comments that "Said person can't be queer because he is manly" um? You'd be very surprised at how many very manly men are all the way gay and bottoms too.

I guess i'm straying away from the main subject here but anywhosies, i was saying, projection. When it comes to skinship i'd like to remind these people that we are talking about a man who is interested in men but also has male friends or a woman who is interested in women but also has female friends.

Whether we like it or not there's a sort of standard here that even if i'm attracted to women for example i still have very great friendships with other women i'm not attracted to and i will still behave with all friendliness with them, will i hug my friend when i see her? Yes, will i be playful with my friend? Yes, will i hang out with my friend? Yes, will i visit my friend? Yes, will i take pictures with my friend? Yes, etc.. All while keeping in mind that :

1/ My friend might be straight so she's DEFINITELY not interested in me in that way nor am i.

2/ My friend might be queer as well but we're just not interested in each other, we have our own romantic preferences maybe or we just don't see each other that way.

3/ One of us might already be having a partner and there are already limits and boundaries that are set for what is okay and what is not, everything that doesn't threaten to cross the line between friendly and romantic is set on stone.

Now of course as a Queer person you see it, you get it, you understand it and you acknowledge it. We have our own gaydars and we know how to make a difference between what's normal and what's sus.

The issue here is when it comes to straight people that know absolutely nothing about this and still want to impose their very straight opinion on that, seeing a normal playfulness and call it a "couple thing" no, just no.

It's limit disgusting how some people seem to get off on the idea too, they are convinced they are correct and as i said previously, even if you try to explain this since you are PART OF the community they just won't listen because in a way they're fulfilling a dirty fantasy where the reality of things doesn't matter.

Now i came across a snippet from Ateez's Wooyoung's live and someone asked him who was his favorite member to which he replied that he will no longer be answering this question because then people will start saying that he and San are no longer close.

See the fact that a simple answer that for HIM doesn't threaten his bond with San is seen as something else, taken completely out of context by people.. That is sick. And this is exactly what i'm talking about people just have this tunnel vision where they have this standard definition of what's romantic and what's a relationship that they never see the wider image out there.

I guess this whole post started because of how disappointing it is to see the way this fandom views everything as "something sus" they are limit fetishizing the idea of two men being in an intimate relationship which makes me wonder do they think the same thing when they see friends outside just being.. friends?

When the alarms are ringing about some very sus things they pretend to be blind but the smallest gesture is what gets these people's attention? And God forbid you point out that it's normal because no Sir no Ma'am, a simple hug is a big prove that X and Y are dating and in love but having X's mouth on Y's neck long enough to leave a hickey is what a dear loving sister does when she's playing with her dear loving younger brother (Ew people need to seek help if that's their excuses cause what in the fuck?)

With that being said, i'm tagging this under Jikook because those who know, know.

[weirdratwrites]

Korean Rock Cont.

As a disclaimer, I don't know Korean. I don't know much about Korea. I'm not some Koreaboo who's thirsting for KDA or BTS. My highest level of interaction with Korean is workes like Train to Busan 1(/2), #Alive, and All of Us Are Dead... And judicious googling.

Name:

Far as I can tell, name meanings don't much matter in Black Lagoon. Okajima Rokuro doesn't refer to some hidden depths. It's just a reasonably common name that isn't, like, the Japanese equivalent of Tom, Dick, or Harry.

That said, Okajima can be read as Island Mountain. I'm going with Choi (which apparently means something about owning land near mountains), but I could also go with Jeup, which is apparently a name in NK referring to Koreans that marry Japanese (and could be used to explain away Rock knowing Japanese and knowing a decent amount about the Yakuza).

Rather than trying to learn what each of the Hanja characters means and trying to find a really meaningful name that works to mean Green Son, like Rokuro does, I'm going to be lazy and use a popular name from the 70's, and give Rock two brothers to use the Generational Name aspect of Korean conventions. Specifically, Rock's name is now Sung-Hoon, his older brother is Sang-Hoon, and he has a younger brother named Ji-Hoon.

And, since his name's not Rokuro, so Revy can't shorten it to Rock, and I'm not one to keep details the same between AUs when it doesn't make sense, his new nickname's Koi. Because he bites his tongue when introducing himself, and this way people can make jokes about shooting fish in a barrel and I can allude to the Dragon to Koi pipeline in mythology.

Family & History:

Choi Sung-Hoon is born in August 1970 in Busan. His grandfather tells him war stories, and his uncle and grandfather tell him exaggerated stories about being police officers.

His older brother goes to join the police like his uncle and grandfather. Koi follows his father into business. His younger brother stays with the military after his required service is up.

He grows up idolizing the "action-packed" lives his extended family leads, but he's not quite willing to put himself into that kind of situation without it being out of his control. Because of this, he winds up feeling jealous of his brothers and develops adrenaline-junky habits.

The most exciting time of his life - before joining Lagoon Company - is serving as a border guard during his required service. He even got to be involved in a lowkey border dispute - arguably an international incident that threatened to restart conflicts - during a defection. During this, he sees that he wings one of the enemy, and presumes it leads to the other man's death. He's correct.

It's one of the moments he relies on to keep sane during the drudgery of office work. It's one of his proudest memories.

Then, in 1995, while working for either Hanjin, HMM, or - for some reason - still Asahi, the events of Black Lagoon begin.

Guns and Excitement:

Koi's a bit of a daydreamer when he doesn't have something to focus on. He's also a big fan of Westerns, Noire, and Buddy Cop films. He craves but is terrified of the excitement in his daily life. One of the reasons he takes on some of the more... hasty or idiotic actions in his life is to lowkey chase the thrills he sees Revy regularly take part in.

One of the most apparent representations of this particular interest is his mild obsession with the primary firearm of the Korean police force at the time, the S&W Model 19. He even buys one in an omake-style "after credits scene" for the arc Calm Down, Two Men, where Revy walks in on him posing with it.

Revy showing him the finer points of gunslinging is a consistent aspect of background action. It's a source of noodle incidents and a diegetic explanation for why Rock is able to shoot semi-decently when it finally comes up, and why he's able to keep his cool more and more as the series progresses.

Like Fish Shooting Out of a Barrel:

As to when Rock is shown actively participating in the action... I'm reticent to provide a fine point on this. I think there are a number of good moments that could be used for the overall timeline we're presented with.

Personally, though, I might go with the Dance of Death Arc, to give weight to the people around Koi's feelings that he's being corrupted by his stay in Roanapur. Or maybe Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise, if Koi's still contracted for that job.

It could work for Wire Red Wild Card, too. Have him give the finishing blow to one of the brothers.

whatever the case, I think it's important to show his competence with firearms in this AU. Even if it's only him being shown to be doing maintenance on the various, more generic weapons available to Lagoon company. Even if it's as a final act for the series...

[nutellarchives]

My K-Dramas of June - August (First Half) part 1

As June marked the last month of my classes for the term, I grabbed the opportunity to marathon K-Drama as much as I can. With that goal in mind, I was able to finish 7 K-dramas and would like to give my thoughts with the following. This might be a spoiler full review-ish so disclaimer for that.

p.s. if you haven't watched all of the drama on the list, I recommend just scrolling past that title you haven't watch yet and go back to this blog post when you're already done!

p.p.s. Trigger warning too, I have watched some K-dramas that might be sensitive for others, please read with caution.

Tomorrow

The first K-drama I've watched last June was Tomorrow. I watched this in a whim because even though I have a lot to watch on my K-drama list, I am only comfortable watching K-dramas on mobile, so Netflix and Viu. It was newly released during the time I've decided to watch it and I've heard good things about it so I gave it a go without any information or a tiny bit of synopsis (just watching it blindly ehe). First few episodes and I'm already hooked! Since I am really interested into concepts where it's not part of my culture aka something new (e.g. Afterlife, Reincarnation, Grim Reapers etc.). Learning things about the East-Asian culture has always been a fascinating thing to me and I wanted to learn more.

This drama also touched one of the taboo topics in Korea, which is suicide. It is a very heavy topic to portray in media but I do think that they were able to nail it and was able to convey a message regarding suicide and how to overcome it.

The cast dynamics is one of the factors that made me continue to watch, although everyone is new to me, as I haven't watched any dramas that they starred in, I was able to enjoy their performance and how they are able to pull off each character.

What made me add this drama to my favorites list is how things were connected, how the character's attitudes and perception towards suicide is based on their experiences from their past lives and how the story intertwined with the character's pasts. I especially liked how Ryeon and Joong-gil were lovers in their past lives (even though this drama is not romance heavy, I still manage to get kilig during the time we're they were still together).

One thing that felt short for me is the lack of depth and focus on Junwoong's past life. I do think that him being in a comma for months in the present is a sad thing and I won't question that but regarding his past life, I feel like the integration of that is something that wasn't thought very well. I've expected Junwoong's past life to be more meaningful as he was one of the main leads. But I guess it won't really make sense if he is connected with the other lead's past lives as he just accidentally got into the squad. I honestly wish there was more to it but I'm gonna just accept that he did great things in the past and be contented with that.

A Korean Odyssey

After watching Tomorrow, I immediately started watching A Korean Odyssey. It is a fantasy, lil comedy, romance, horror-ish, star-crossed lovers K-drama. This drama has been added to my list for a bit, maybe a year ago, because of that short preview from Netflix and that intrigued me because of well... it's a bit of a jumpscare so I was curious. (If you have watched that preview video, you know what I mean plus I watched that like 10pm so it scared the sh** out of me)

All I can say is that this drama deserves more recognition. It's a good balance between the good stuff and the tragic happenings and it is also accompanied by a comedic relief which somewhat gave a light tone. It is romance heavy and when I say romance heavy I meant that kind of romance . The cast are all so good in portraying their characters and they aren't that forgettable. The actors really nailed their roles and it also added to the cohesiveness of the drama as a whole.

After watching this K-Drama, I have found another actor to look out for, which is Lee SeungGi. He is actually a household name in the Korean Media Industry and I have heard of him many times, due to the famous My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and him being able to sing, but this is the first time I've actually watched a drama that he is the main character. Given I've really liked his acting here, I've added him to my favorite actors list! which btw is non existent but let's pretend it does Because of that admiration of his performance, I did watched another K-drama that he starred in in this list.

I recommend this drama if you are looking for a binge-worthy fantasy with comedy, horror-ish and also tragedy on the side. However though, I'd say the ending is a bit unfortunate. It suggests a season 2 but 5 years after it's release, I doubt that there will be a season 2 unless...

Two Cops

While watching Tomorrow, I also watched this drama with a friend; Two Cops! I'd say its a fun watch, generic but still worth the time.

It's about a police and a con artist that got into an accident and then the con artist possessed the body of the police. Sounds scary? It's not under a horror genre though. The purpose of the unexplainable possession is to uncover the truth that lies between the two leads and the other characters related to them. This follows a similar structure of intertwined lives as they have crossed paths once just like tomorrow minus the past lives as this one is from childhood to adulthood.

It's my first time watching Jo Jungsuk even after the famous hospital playlist which btw I haven't watched yet. I like the duality in his role here and his performance is convincing. He has the serious side and the goofy side which I enjoyed watching. It's also fun to see Hyeri here as I haven't watched her in a while after dropping Reply 1988 please don't come after me, a lot has enjoyed that drama but during the time that I've watched it.. I just didn't feel it. She's still the goofy and fun Hyeri that I've watched in Reply 1988 though, which is not really bad but nostalgic. As for Seonho, I did watch this drama because of him. My friend was a super fan of this guy, we call this oppa (and our other oppas) samcheon, due to having 10+ age gap between us and our favorite actors, and I've decided to binge Seonho dramas with her to let the lady enjoy and as for me I wanted to see more of his acting.

This drama is okay though, not something that made my mind blown or something. As I've mentioned, it's generic but still worth watching especially to Seonho fans. Though I can say that I'm quite disappointed that Seonho had a lil less screen time compared to Jungsuk but nonetheless they both carried the show well.

Mouse

Here is another Lee SeungGi drama as promised, (from that A Korean Odyssey post). Mouse. After watching A Korean Odyssey and enjoyed SeungGi's performance, I followed it up with another one of his dramas.

Mouse is a thriller, mystery, twisty and dark drama about psychopaths and whether or not they are born not made. This drama focuses on discovering the Psychopath gene, due to Korea's advancing technology, a Doctor was able to detect a gene that is present among Psychopaths to fetuses. It is an interesting concept but as the disclaimer in every start of the episode, it is a work of fiction, so Psychopath gene ain't real hopefully.

I'd say throughout the whole 20 episodes that I've endured, it was interesting rather than enjoyable. Giving you a grave warning that this drama isn't for the light-hearted, it's always about murder and killings, since the story focuses on Serial Killers.

Aside from the serial killings and psychopaths, Of course it focuses on a handful of characters and let's the viewers know their inner conflicts and struggles. There's no room of certainty in this drama as every episode ends with a question.

After a few episodes, I thought that this drama would overthrow my favorite K-drama of all time which is Law School but after the second half, it didn't. I had high expectations with it but after answers were revealed, it felt confusing and overwhelming as for the first 14 eps, they left me with questions and suddenly they bombarded some answers which it was too much for me to comprehend. Adding to that, there were too many characters to focus on, though the main focus would be the two main leads, there were other side characters that are also related to the story line that were also given too much stress and that made the experience dense. I'd say 16 episodes would be sufficient as the duration of 20 eps felt dragging but alright I guess they need that many episodes for the narrative.

Overall, if you are ready for a heavy drama with killings involved, I recommend this. It will make you question whether what's shown is the whole picture or details were left out. Kudos to the actors, I can really feel their stress and conflicts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That would conclude the first part of this post. I decided that 7 dramas in one post might give a cognitive overload so stay tuned for the second part!

Thanks for making this far, it's a long post but I hope you find it interesting (or I hope it makes sense hehe).

Click here for part 2.

- ella

[sxfik]

let's talk about the parallels between vincenzo kneeling in front of the gun and joon woo kneeling front of the gun:

disclaimer: some of these might be a stretch lol but i'm just writing as my brain comes up with stuff so read with like a heap of salt. as always, feel free to add on!!

As @kestrel-of-herran pointed out in this post, Vincenzo and Joon woo/Han-seok are narrative doubles and it wasn't until she pointed it out that i really took note of how paralleled their stories are.

Han-Seok is the son of a powerful man, with a half-brother, Han-Seo, that has dragged him down/that he is better than at every turn. Similarly, Vincenzo's adoptive father is a powerful mafia man, and he has a step? brother (i'm not sure what to call him) Paulo, that has dragged him down/Vincenzo is better than at every turn. Both Vincenzo and Han-Seok has a soft spot for their mothers, who were wronged by a man and both of them got revenge: Han-Seok killed his own father, and Vincenzo screwed over the son and wife of the man who jailed his mother.

Han-Seok is a foreigner, a man who studied and was assumed to be in the States, that sneakily arrived in Korea to reestablish his hold on his goal, the Babel group and the Babel tower. Vincenzo is a foreigner, a man who grew up in Italy and arrived in Korea to get his hold on his goal, the plaza and the gold. Han-Seok refuses his true name and goes by Jun-Woo/Jason whereas Vincenzo refuses his true korean name and goes by his Italian one. Both Vincenzo and Han-Seok presents themselves as something they are not: Han-Seok as a lowly intern at a law firm and Vincenzo as a simple Italian man who is there to take care of his investment. Both have a reveal that they aren't who they say they are, one during a game of mafia and the other while exchanging information with Cha-Young and another time in front of the world.

Both of them work with two stubborn, dramatic women who are willing to be ruthless to get their way: Choi Myung-He and Hong Cha-Young and both of them are vying for Cha-Young's attention. Their stories parallel each other in every turn but they are standing at different points in the story. Both of them are also presented similarly in clothing after the reveal happens: Vincenzo's clothes gradually switches to lighter colors and Han-Seok's clothes gradually get darker. Both of them are presented in a Boolaro suit when they make their "true" arrival into Korea to establish that they are equal/at the same level as each other.

Vincenzo and Han-Seok are willing to do anything for their goals, but Han-Seok is focused on playing god in this story or attempting to reach that level (there was a post? or a conversation? about this earlier with Han-Seok/Han-Seo and Babel being like an allegory for stories from the Bible).

So it's very interesting to see that when Vincenzo kneels, the gun pointed to his head, he parallels Han-Seok's expressions. In Han-Seok's scene, the one holding the gun is his weakness and the one he cannot beat whereas, in Vincenzo's scene it is his own family holding the gun (albeit, it is the part that turned on him after he left Italy).

Han-Seok will harm anyone, except directly harm Cha-young (so far), so it makes sense that his true opponent and the one person who has him beat is Vincenzo, who is equal to him/is like him. This is why I think that Han-Seok is accepting of his death when Vincenzo holds the gun to his head, and speeding the process up. He is able to accept death because it is being dealt by a figure that is close to his status/what he considers his equal.

What I think would be interesting, or truly more painful to him, is Han-Seo delivering a final blow towards his head as Han-Seok does not consider his brother his equal and it will crush his whole "god" status he attaches to himself if he is killed by someone of "lower" status. (You can also say that Vincenzo looks less accepting of his death because it is being dealt by Paulo, someone that is of a "lower" status, but I don't think he'll die in this anyways) After Han-Seok scene, the story changes into him developing into his role as the true villain and I anticipate that after this scene, Vincenzo's story will also twist and the show will go deeper into planning the downfall of Babel.

[nightswithkookmin]

JIKOOK: SOMETHING HAS CHANGED-Jikook Shading Eachother pt2

Disclaimer:

This is for entertainment purposes. Nothing expressed in here is to be taken seriously. Everything expressed in here is my opinion and is not intended to be malicious or disrespectful to any of the parties involved.

So what's tea....

I stated in my previous post on how Jikook aren't always-Jikooking. There's been fights, breakups, make ups, tensions and a whole lot of crazy going on with those two over the past couple of years. Some of course you know of- because they are blatantly obvious like Manila etc; some you'd have to be a bit of an inquisitive, highly OCD, nerdish to a fault, have a long history of anxiety disorder and lack any form of social life to catch- not saying I am any of these things... I AM. SEND HELP!

Following the theme of my previous post, today I want to discuss some of the things I believe have changed within BTS in general in regards to how they behave or have behaved towards Jikook. This discussion is relevant because it will help you understand the changing dynamics of Jikook's relationship and why I think they are at where they are now: subtly throwing shade at each other in 2020. Bless them.

In a recent interview during this Japan comeback, JK openly admitted to how the members of BTS aren't the same as when they started out 7 years ago and he wasn't wrong. Things have changed. I just don't know if this change is necessarily good- in Jikook dynamics I mean.

For one, RM used to treat Jikook's relationship with some level of reverence. Especially in regards to how he acted around Jimin. He seemed to subconsciously acknowledge an unspoken rule that Jk had some sort of autonomy over Jimin and he had to respect that even as an elder and leader.

It was one of the early clues that gave Jikook away.

Remember this moment?

JK got mad, angry and couldn't even hide his emotions when he noticed RM doing- whatever that was- with Jimin.

What's interesting to me was how RM behaved in the moments after that incident. He touched his chest, almost like he was hurt by JK's reaction to his little minimoni moment with Jimin and then turned to Jin to explain what had just happened.

Jin looked equally surprised by JK's behavior. Surprised, not mad. They both should have been angry enough to scold JK given as they had said openly how they disapproved of JK's possessiveness and greediness. It was expected of them at least.

Sure, perhaps they didn't want to cause a scene but still, they are the hyungs not the other way round. And given how age difference is such a big deal in South Korea they should have exerted their superiority over JK in this instance and put him in his place even if they should about it playfully like we've seen some of them do when a younger drops honorifics etc. After all JK doesn't own Jimin... or don't he? *Wink.

If you fail to see my point, here. This moment should clarify things better.

This is RM patting Jk on the shoulder a few moments after he had wrapped his hands around JM and saw JK's shook face in the view finder.

He patted Jk immediately as if to say sorry I didn't mean to dude and JK just nodded. He nodded people! He fucking nodded!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That nod was him giving his approval to- whatever that was RM did to Jimin. He was a little pissed following that and went on to do his tongue in cheek thingy but it still doesn't take away from what that moment signified.

There are many moments like these where RM and even some of the other members have been seen to bow figuratively to JK when they had had to interact with Jimin in a way that may come across as offensive to Jimin's intimate partner if he had one.

This act of acknowledging JK's authority over Jimin is part of their culture. It is expected of Koreans to respect the sanctity of another's relationship. It is why JK received a ton of backlash from K-army and antis when he was seen back hugging that tattoo girl in September 2019. They even went as far as to 'report' JK to the guy the girl was believed to be allegedly dating at the time.

And the guy's response was equally telling. Even though he denied he was in a relationship with the said girl, he did acknowledge the disrespectfulness of JK's conduct and said JK was grown enough and should know better. (The emphasis is mine)

Thats their culture. You just don't touch other people's girlfriends or boyfriends, hug them, act affectionate with them without their permission. It is seen as disrespectful in the and would explain why RM and the others have acted that way towards JK in the past and most importantly it explains why JK acts or has acted like he owns JM most times. He do. Bless him.

Sisters and brothers, aliens and Lizards; JIKOOK IS REAL. Praise the Lord!

But don't get excited just yet. All that was before and during 2015/2018. Flash forward to 2019/2020 and that dynamic is almost extinct. Almost.

Now we have moments like these where RM 'feels' Jimin up with no apprehension what so ever. This man be feeling ghetto around Jikook lately. Always moving like he about to let lose some nuke codes on them.

EXHIBIT A:

This is their 2020 VLive reaction video to their debut video. JM made a negative comment about his body and RM and JHope immediately 'felt' JM's body up complimenting him for still having an impeccable body.

Jk glanced at them briefly, his nostrils flared a bit and he had a look of disdain on his face. He sort of rolled his head in a way only a scorned woman would understand and then remembers there's a camera watching him so he tries to tone it down immediately.

But still you could tell he wasn't ok with what had happened as he began fidgeting around a lot, smacking his lips together and touching his clothes impulsively.

EXHIBIT B:

This was during their Grammy VLive, when RM felt up JMs thighs and JK had to side eye the moment and smack his lips again. At this point I won't lie I feel sorry for JK. It hurts me to see him go through all this.

So the question remains, WHAT HAPPENED in 2018 to cause this drastic shift in the way RM behaves towards Jikook?? TEA: it's not just RM!

Why are they all of a sudden not giving JK his due respect like we've seen them do in the past? Why is RM suddenly feeling so confident in interfering with Jikook moments, separating them and what not?

This is where I insert his legendary standoff moment with JK at the MMA 2019 but I think I've made my point. No?

FINE. HERE:

So there you have it. Something has definitely changed in Jikook dynamics and I'm gonna tell you what just stay with me a little longer alright? It's gonna be a slowburn.

MUHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry.

Signed,

Goldy

[lj-writes]

I'm nervous to even ask a question that I need to give a disclaimer to, but my intention with this ask is only to learn about representation in media, and what to look out for in the things I enjoy as well as what I create. Given the recent reveal of Nagini by J.K. Rowling, it's been on my mind a lot what is racist and problematic representation. We want to see difficult, nuanced roles given to POC. Unfortunately, some of those roles by nature will include sketchy backstory and/or (1/)

irrefutable analogues to real life or history that makes that representation icky or racist. Let's take Nagini for instance. Imagine a raceless character for a moment. A girl is born into a magical world with a disease that will slowly transform her from a human form. As she grows up, she learns this is passed on from her mother, who knew this would happen, but had her anyway. She grows to resent her mother as she starts to turn, and begins to buy into a blood purity narrative she hears from(2/)

the corners of society. She finds someone in Riddle who simultaneously loves her and understands her in her new form and shares her purity beliefs. She devotes her life to him and views carrying a piece of his soul as the deepest form of love he knows. So, I've read now from countless Asian people why this character is so problematic, and it seems so obvious to me once I heard from their point of view. Yet the ignorant part of me wants to say, "This could be such an incredible character. (3/?)

Why shouldn't she be able to be played by someone of Asian descent just because the real world sucks and has disgusting parallels." So my ultimate question is, is there a point where we are so aware of problematic representation that we miss out on opportunities to represent? If the creator is of a particular culture or color, does that change what is acceptable, because we can trust them better to represent without leaning on inherent biases? (4/4)

I think a work or character can be profoundly moving and deeply problematic all at once. For instance we can criticize the ableist implications in Gollum’s depiction while still enjoying the character and his story. Maybe Nagini’s will similarly be a well-told story that rings true like the one you describe, even if it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

The questions you raise are ones I’ve struggled with, too, as have many others. We want marginalized identities to be represented as complex and meaty characters, obviously, not just bland, smiling tokens. That complexity includes great evil. I myself envisioned Bellatrix as a Korean-Chinese woman in a fanfic written between Books 4 and 5 before her name and details came out, and readers commented positively on how scary she was even as a teenager. Her brand of violent fanaticism from the Book 4 trial scene really resonated with me, and I drew from Korea’s post-liberation history of ideology-driven atrocities for her depiction. All this is to say I am most definitely not averse to evil characters who look like me, and I imagine this is true of many others who criticize Nagini as Asian representation.

So what’s the line between racist demonization and full, rich depictions of evil characters who happen to be minorities? I think one major issue with Nagini in the context of the HP franchise and the media environment in general is lopsidedness. If Western media had many examples of positive as well as negative representations of Asians and one of them, Nagini, happened to have taken up beliefs about blood purity as a wrongful response to understandable resentments and being preyed on by a powerful Dark magic user, I don’t think I’d mind as much. I mean I’d still be weirded out by her being a Korean woman with a Sanskrit name, but that could be Voldemort being a racist shithead because quelle surprise. Heck, if HP itself regularly treated Asian characters as complex and complete characters instead of bit parts and misogynistic caricatures torn down for the sake of the main white girls, I would not mind as much either. Instead, one of the very few times there is a major Asian character she’s the animal thrall of a magical fascist and thaaaat's pretty uncomfortable.

Your question about the creator’s identity is an interesting one, too. I mean maybe I’d feel more comfortable if the creator were Asian herself, but that’s more as a matter of statistical probability since a lot of biases get internalized. Personally I think empathy, a sense of balance, and humility go a heck of lot farther than identity alone. What’s really terrifying about societal bigotry is that it allows people in the dominant group to get a pass for underdeveloping and underusing these qualities when it comes to people different than them. Empathy is not inherent in any one race but if you’re, say, a white person in the West you are encouraged in large and small ways to withhold empathy from racial minorities and you can function without being empathetic to their marginalization. The same goes for representation--there’s nothing saying that a white woman can’t depict a fictional Asian woman with sympathy and nuance, but societal racism means that she can get away with not doing so and will still be praised for it.

[diaryofanangryasianguy]

(1/?) i'm so sorry angry asian guy. really i am. you must be like soooo sick of me in your inbox but- the korean peace treaty discourse on tumblr is... bad. like so bad. just... y'all really don't understand. simple as that yOU DON'T UNDERSTAND the MAGNITUDE. what this meANS. so allow me, a humble user, to just contextualize some of this. disclaimer, i don't have a korean history degree. however, i have a modicum of knowledge on this subject that by the looks of things is rare on tumblr.

(2/?) the korean peninsula, my homeland has been brutally colonized for Quite Some Time. namely the japanese through the 20th century (and bits before that) (korean-japanese relations however are discourse for another time). so when ww2 ended and the nukes dropped (again, discourse for another day) korea found itself in a power vacuum. lemme start off by saying no- the americans/soviets didn’t CAUSE tensions. left/right wing conflict of interest pre-dates even our independence.

(3/?) tensions peaked around the time the West and USSR was embroiled in the Cold War. and the US with their dumbass truman doctrine was prepared to “contain” communism at all costs. the south and north were ready to go into civil war at this point. from here- the US involvement in korea becomes deep and dangerous: the south at that point was largely nationalist and pro-Korean. a People’s Committee was running the government ofc with few prominent individuals. the US becomes suspicious of the…

(4/?) people’s committee REMOVING THEM FROM GOVERNMENT POSITIONS. let this sink in- the US had the audacity to FORCIBLY REMOVE korean nationalists from the korean government. the US appoints Syngman Rhee (who is an americanized ex-japanese sympathizer) the first fucking president of south korea was AMERICAN APPOINTED and a colonial sympathizer. the US forced a COLONIALIST SYMPATHIZING leader onto korea in the name of democracy. let. that. sink.

(5/?) obviously this meant we didn’t have elections. or autonomy. rhee (to nobody’s surprise) was a brutal dictator. this is internal history so i won’t go much into it but he was brutal and didn’t have korean interests in mind and truman was allegedly “uncomfortable” with it but still secured rhee’s leadership of the south. the US forced S. Korea into an unwanted, unauthorized dictatorship that would cost korean blood and lives.

(6/?) oh yes and the jeju massacre. jeju island (isolated from the peninsula if you couldn’t already guess) had a communist insurgency apr 3 1948. obviously they were brutally massacred. opened fire and everything, this happened under the US military’s control of Korea. 30 000 people died. 30 000. btw there has been 0 formal apology on the US’s culpability on any of this. not a damn peep.

(7/?) overall, this led to… the next 40 or so years of south korean government in turmoil and militant dictatorship of switching hands. every korean in their 40’s to 60’s have living memories of a violent government (and probably, of actively protesting as well because koreans have a long history of resistance that i think all koreans should be proud to carry forward). there’s a lot of other military/economic stuff that the US did but i’m telling the part of the history, the part i know best.

(8/fin) do you SEE why the peace being an internal affair was so instrumental? given what the US forced korea’s government to start with, do you see how insulting it is to give trump credit for this peace? korean citizens fought for this peace. our ancestors were shot for this peace. korean resistance and the drive for co-existence brought this peace. the AUDACITY of western reporting and discourse to credit the US for this is sickening. don’t joke about this- it’s not your history to laugh at.

It’s okay. No need to apologize for being true to how you feel and honest in what you say. But yeah, the posts I see going around in circulation aren’t even by Koreans nor involve Koreans. So I’ll just leave this here.

Angry Asian Guy

[goyangii]

is it okay if i ask u about your experiences with being fetishized in online and offline spaces?? i deactivated my social media over this but i feel like a lot of non-Koreans make random Korean people feel like we're the spokesperson on all Korean issues??? i've noticed this fetishization happens a lot so i kinda avoid non-Koreans if they're kpop fans or if they act weirdly (they have a way of treating us like fantasies but also act very weirdly toward us)

oh my god yessss. for a disclaimer, i grew up in kr/kr american neighborhoods or at least very predominantly asian neighborhoods for almost all my life so most of my experience with ppl being gross was online and in school only and tbh until like, maybe ~2010 i never had a problem with ppl being weird about korean stuff specifically, mostly just weebs/yellow fever types. but when that started becoming a problem i just never said that i was korean specifically and if i ever made reference to my race i'd say "asian" or "east asian" only lol. if i was around other asians i'd be more open but it's definitely tough, as i've had non-kr asians be kind of weird about it too sometimes unfortunately and i really don't know what to do about that either bc i do not do that to others?? it's so bizarre to me. and yes omfg i definitely see wym about ppl acting like One Random Korean Person is somehow Representative of All of Korea and has to educate/have opinions on every korean-related topic under the sun too, i've had friends (even non-kr asian friends!!) always ask me about any korean related topic as if i was the expert on everything korean or assume i care about X korean show or Y kpop song or Z korean issue or will teach them about [___] korean food or whatever.

it reminds me of white friends expecting me to teach them how to use chopsticks in uni or always asking me how to pronounce any asian name (even if it wasn't korean!) and honestly annoys me a lot bc i would never do this to someone of another race. like i would never go to a chinese person and treat them like chinese person instead of chinese person so idk why they act like this????? and online dating is AWFUL esp as kpop got so big, i legit have had ppl immediately open with "omg i love kpop/kdramas/kimchi 😍" as if i'm supposed to care????????

also i'm korean american, not born in korea so i'm 2nd gen but my korean is awful (i learned japanese growing up instead bc my elementary school had very limited options...my mom is still giving me grief about that 20+ yrs later oof) and i don't consume much korean media outside of what i watch/listen/see with my family, so i'm often a "bad" korean or not korean enough to some people. it's one thing if my family jokes about it bc i can't handle spicy foods but it does hurt when it comes from like, ajummas at church or something. i'm also not "traditionally" a good woman — i have darker skin (maybe from growing up in a tropical area?? i used to be even darker and my mom would always comment on it negatively), i am more masc/gnc, i don't date men, i don't/won't have children, i have no interest in becoming a doctor/lawyer, i am not christian, etc. so my mom has gotten a lot of flak from other koreans for raising me "wrong", even from her own extended family. it really just sucks bc it made me hate her and korean culture when i was a kid and it's taken so long to understand why she tried to pressure me to fit an ideal mold. then on the flip side i can't even just be a "normal" american, i've had ppl assume i don't speak english (i speak fluent english!!!!), say i sound esl (i literally don't T_T this one feels kinda racist ngl), ask me where i'm from, stare at me in more white areas, white ppl randomly try to speak (really, really bad) korean to me, etc so i find i don't really fit in comfortably anywhere but with other asian americans in the end. it's a kind of awkward in between two worlds where i'm never enough of either to count. idk if you experience that too. it sometimes bums me out bc i have friends who are, say, 2nd gen filipino or chinese or viet and we all share that feeling to varying degrees. like a fish out of water kind of feeling.

specifically in trans spaces i've had a lot of issues with fetishization, esp from white tims (though i've had my unfair share from tif kpop stans) but also from non-kr asian tims, but thankfully it's been long enough that i've been out and cut most tims out of my life that i could w/o getting cancelled as a terf that most of my day to day is just frustration with irl (this is like 90% of the problem) and more casual online spaces like twitter, reddit, tumblr, etc. (which i try to be kind of anonymous in nowadays). still i do have to interact with some tims and tifs and it does make my stomach crawl to see full ass white women larping as kpop boys or men posting about how asian women are the ~peak of femininity~ and they just want their ~kpop goddess~ or whatever and nobody calls this shit out for what it is. it's so demoralizing and i'm happy i left the trans community. i just wish there was more of an asian/asian american detrans community (hah...if only) or at least lgb community, bc i only know a very small handful of lgb asians and most of them are bihet women......

interestingly outside of kpop and kdramas most of the fetishization seems to be just bog standard asian fetish/yellow fever, idt most of the idiots who try to hit me up with "i've never been with an asian before ;)" even know what i am lmao. so i guess there's that? i've always had a weird frustration w/ this bc it's like korea is invisible except for kpop/kdramas so they can't even be more specific in their fetishization lmfao

this turned out super long and idk if it helped but if you ever want to message me off anon abt this pls feel free to!! i try to be kind of vague on here bc i am scared adding details will dox me. but i would be totally open to off-anon messaging as this is smth i feel strongly about esp as i've gotten older and moved to whiter areas. hoping to move back to at least a more asian neighborhood soon bc god i am sick of going to the gas station or whatever and being full on stared at by the white ppl there. it makes me very uneasy tbh. unfortunately am stuck rn for work.