#they're literally really obvious and I've never had a single other person complain about them

[grimandghoulish]

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[homunculus-argument]

Americans complaining about added ethnic representation in foreign moves/shows/etc adapted into a US setting is strange to me. The whole point of adaptations is taking the subject from one environment and then adapting it to a new environment. This is beyond obvious.

And it's always about people. If the original story was set in Australia and the characters hit a kangaroo with their car, adapting the story into a setting elsewhere would obviously involve the characters hitting some other animal that's more normal to hit with your car. If the original story is set somewhere where snow storms are common, and you change it to a place that never sees any snow, then obviously a snow storm as-demanded-by-plot would need to be changed into something else.

When I visited the US, seeing the variety in people was something I didn't expect to be surprised by. I've lived in fairly large cities - by finnish standards, anyhow - and it's not like I had never seen someone who isn't white before, but looking at a crowd in a completely average Wal-Mart in the middle of Kentucky felt like looking into a bag of m&m's - every single person seemed to be a different colour than the one next to them. That's literally just what the place looks like.

Speaking as an european who is terminally online and therefore constantly encountering americans and their opinions on things, I really can't stress enough about how goddamn absurd their complaints of "forced representation" actually are. They aren't complaining about being exposed to something that's made-up and that they've never seen before. They're complaining about a fictional environment that is meant to represent their real life surroundings actually looking like their real life environment.

[hello-nichya-here]

Every time I see you talk about the whole fiction≠reality thing I'm reminded of this shitty anime YouTuber I watched years ago that went on a smug rant about how siscon sucked because "it's obvious the writer doesn't have siblings, siblings would ~never act like this" and it's like??? No shit??? It's fantasy. I'm not here to watch siblings act realistically, I'm here for siscon. That's the point

Exactly! They're basically the people that sit down to watch a movie they KNOW is a musical and complain that the characters randomly started singing because "That's not what happens in real life" NO SHIT, DUMBASS!

Honestly, from what I've seen, antis are the group where you can instantly tell who did or did not have siblings growing up, or at the very least don't get what differentiates a romantic bond from a platonic/familial one, because they think that simply slapping the label "siblings" on any dynamic (regardless of whether the characters are really related or not) automatically turns every interaction between them into a familial one, and that's just not how this works.

By far the best exemple I can think of of a show that was CLEARLY not made for antis since it had A LOT of "incest" bait (the characters were step-siblings, but the show was, allegedly, about them learning to see each other as FAMILY) yet somehow you still find people saying there was nothing even remotely suspicious about the way the main leads acted with their "sibling" was Life With Derek.

The pilot episode literally has Derek solving the classic "Fighting over who gets to use the bathroom first" by nearly pulling his dick out of his pants in front of Casey to make her leave. She dresses up like a video game character she KNOWS he has the hot for, he looks like blood is about come out of his nose when he sees her, and he gets really bothered when the boys at school start hitting on her. She is obsessed with him to the point that, every single episode, she just HAS to know what he is doing, even if it has nothing to do with her, and Paul, the school counselor she talks to every day, repeatedly has to tell her to chill and think of something besides her step-brother, does a spit take when he finally meets Derek (who introduced himself by saying something like "We don't know each other, but you definitively heard of me. I'm Casey's step-brother") and at one point Casey is complaining about having dreams about this guys she totally should not like but can't help having a crush on (and that is a total Derek rip-off) and Paul seems legitimately surprised when she says the boy's name and he realizes she's not talking about Derek.

They supposedly hate each other, but are always doing stuff together and have no concept of personal space. They act like a married couple when baby-sitting their younger siblings. Derek once imagines Casey being forced to act as his secretary, and then episodes later admits he has a secretary kink. He is so bothered by her dating his best friend that he asks her best friend out to "get back at her" (aka make her jealous) and it totally works. In a flashback episode we see how they met, and Derek says Casey didn't want to tell the story to their siblings because of their inappropriate behavior, he intantly started hitting on her the second their parents broke off their engagement, and when Nora and George get back together there's an "indirect proposal" through Casey and Derek. For fuck's sake, he makes out with her cousin, who looks exactly like her, was wearing her clothes, and who we later found out had a habit of stealing the guys Casey liked.

HOW do antis look at all of this and go "This is perfectly normal sibling behavior"? I see no explanation other than "They don't actually know the difference between regular siblings and siblings that want to fuck unless it is explicitly, repeatedly stated in the text, in the clearest way possible, that the two siblings are incestuous. If you told them about any of the non-explicit, but still obviously inappropriate things you've seen characters do in any siscon you liked, and just added a "It was obviously purely platonic" at least half of them would believe you and maybe even scream at anyone who told them "Dude, those two clearly want to fuck"

[terubakudan]

This may be an old article from 3 years ago, but these cultural aspects/observations still apply even today. And though this is strictly a Chinese perspective, a lot of these everyday life bits are observed in Overseas Chinese communities in countries such as The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. as well as countries heavily influenced by Chinese culture like Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.

I've always liked learning about other cultures and making comparisons between how things are done East vs West. Which probably stems from growing up with two cultures and Mom raising me on American movies xD

So the irony is if you asked me how many Chinese, Taiwanese, or Hong Kong actors I know, chances are I know as much as you do xD Like Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, and that's about it. But if you asked me about Western (specifically American and British) actors, then I have a useless brain dump of movie trivia and who was with who in what movie xD

Hmmm, both Taiwan and the Philippines are two distinct cultures but both look up to a certain country and are fascinated by that. In Taiwan's case, Japan and the US for the Philippines. In both cases, this is due to being under the rule of those countries in their history. Taiwan being under Japan for 50 years, and the Philippines being under Spain for 300+ years, followed by periods of American and Japanese rule. To put it simply though:

Taiwan is "mini-Japan with a very Chinese culture".

The Philippines is "former colony of Spain with lots of American influences".

But unlike the author, I've never set foot in any Western country, so my understandings are strictly what I've observed in media, which while it can be accurate, doesn't compare to actually experiencing the culture.

Some further elaboration on most points:

#1 We quite literally use chopsticks for everything. We use it to pick rice, viands, vegetables, fruit, smaller desserts, almost all the food you can think of.

But where do you put your chopsticks when you're not using them? Just put them on top of your bowl or flat on your plate. But do not ever stick them vertically. It's taboo, since it looks like incense sticks, which we use to pray for those who have passed, like our ancestors or during funerary services.

#3 The majority of Asia is obsessed with fair/white skin. In my time at the Philippines, I grew up watching all these Dove Whitening commercials and my classmates often commented on how fair my skin was, how they envied it etc. In Taiwan, girls often say they don't want to 變黑 (biàn hēi) 'become dark'. Japan and Korea too are not innocent of this either (if their beauty/skin products weren't a dead giveaway).

People here at Taiwan often mistake me for being from Hong Kong or Japan (as long as I don't speak Mandarin with my heavy accent xD). A Taiwanese classmate of mine joked that she often gets mistaken for being from Southeast Asia due to having a darker complexion. And while I laughed it off with her at that time, looking back, I now realize she was lowkey being racist. xD

And believe me Filipinas have mentioned literally being told 'your skin is so dark' here in Taiwan, or being given backhanded compliments like 'you're pretty despite having dark skin' and...*facepalms*

My point is, beauty is not exclusive to skin color. People who still think that are assholes.

#5 Not to say we don't have salt and pepper, but yes soy sauce and vinegar are the classic condiments you see on the table, be it at home or at a restaurant.

And if I may add, Taiwanese love their pepper. xD If you ever get to eat at a night market or a smaller "Mom n' Pop-style" restaurant here, some dishes/soups tend to add quite an excessive amount of pepper. Not like anthills, but quite liberally and way more than average. Enough that you see traces of pepper at the bottom of the food paper bag or swirling in your soup. xD

#6 I know this all too well from personal experience. In my years of studying at Taiwan, I always had roommates. 3 in my first school (I graduated high school in the Philippines pre K-12 so I had to make up 2 years of Senior High), followed by 2 in college, with the exception of 1 in freshman year.

My college did offer single person dorms but at around 9000 NTD ($324) per month compared to around 6000 NTD ($216) per semester. Because I wanted to save, the choice was obvious for me xD. But ah, this doesn't mean I don't value personal space, in fact I love having the room to myself, and since both my roomies would go home to their families every weekend, weekends were bliss for me xD

And you don't have to be friends with your roommates (that's an added bonus however), you just have to get along with them. I was quite lucky to have really great roommates all throughout my schooling years.

#9 In the Philippines, we do. Owing mostly to American influences and maybe being predominantly Catholic? xD

#10 *sigh* Chinese parents and parents from similar Asian cultures tend to put too much emphasis on grades, so much that kids could get sent to cram school as early as elementary. This is because what school you get into could literally affect your future job opportunities, and while that's not exclusive to any particular country/culture, I feel it's especially pronounced here in Asia. I'm really lucky my own parents weren't that strict about it. However, if your parents don't point the mistakes out to you, chances are you'll do it yourself, if you're an Asian kid like me anyway. xD It just becomes a habit.

#11 My family is an exception to this. xD We do say 'I love you' directly, but complete with the 'ah eat well ok?', 'don't scrimp on food', 'sleep well' and similar indirect words/actions of affection. We were doing 'Conceal, Don't Feel' before it became popular. xD

#13 I'm kind of confused about this but this has sort have changed over the years in which eye-contact is now more encouraged. But don't stare, especially at elders and authority figures. Sometimes it's just shyness though. xD And I've observed this with my own Taiwanese friend, especially when I'm complaining or ranting to her about something. xD I'm a person who likes to express my opinions strongly, which tends to scare/alienate some of the locals here, as doing so is kind of frowned upon. Thankfully, she does listen and offers her take on things.

#14 Ah this. xD In the Philippines, this is a common greeting known as beso-beso, and I freaked out too when an auntie did that to me. xD Needless to say, Mom lectured me later on what that was. ^^"

#16 Along with #3 another crazy beauty standard. In my view, people always look better with a little meat on them and when they're not horribly thin. Asia still has a loonng way to go with accepting different types of bodies if you ask me. This combined with modern beauty standards has made the pressure for women especially to 'look beautiful' higher than ever.

I know many people love them but please, starving yourself or glorifying eating disorders is never OK just to get this kind of 'ideal' body. I'm not part of the Kpop fandom, but even I think when idols get bullied just for gaining the least bit of weight among other insensitive comments, that's really going too far.

#17 'If you want to make friends, go eat.' <- I couldn't agree more. In the Philippines we have a greeting: 'Kumain ka na ba?' (Have you eaten?) . Similarly in Taiwan, we have 吃飯了沒? (chī fàn le méi), both of these can mean that in the literal sense but are often used as greetings instead. By then which invitation to having lunch/dinner together may or may not follow. Food really is a way for us to socialize and to catch up with what's going on in each other's lives. Not to say we don't have regular outings like going out to the mall, going shopping, etc. but eating together is a huge part of our culture, be it with family or friends.

And while I'm at it, some memes that are way too accurate good to pass up xD

Parents, uncles, aunties alike will fight over the bill xD

Alternatively:

You just space out until your name is called xD

My parents are guilty of the last one. Logic how? xD

#18 True. xD I like giving compliments out to people but I have a hard time accepting them myself, though I've learnt how to accept them much more now than before. We're kind of raised to constantly downplay ourselves so we often say things like 'ah no no' or 'I'm really not that good'. The downside of this of course is that it can come off as somewhat fake. xD

Again from personal experience, that same classmate who made the lowkey racist remark, she was good, she was on the debate team, was a honor student, knew how to mingle with people, but she downplayed herself way too much, while praising me but I honestly thought that she never really meant it from how she treated me. She wanted to keep me around her yet make backhanded compliments at me and she didn't want me socializing with my other classmate who is now my friend. *sigh* It was only after discussing this with one of my roomies did I realize how this 'excessive downplaying' might come off to people like me who more or less grew up with a more 'Westernized' mindset. I'm not saying brag about your achievements but don't be overly humble about them either, which can also be a turn off.

#20 We do tend to be a lot more realistic on how we view things, neither entirely optimistic nor pessimistic. We try to think of things practically and often analyze things on pure logic. A downside of this however, is that Chinese people can be overly practical. Taiwanese for instance don't like to 'find inconveniences' and generally keep to themselves, meaning, they won't help you in your hour of need even when they do have the capabilities. Sounds really harsh I know, but in my 6 years of living in Taiwan, while this doesn't apply to all the people, a lot of them really do only find/talk to you when they need something.

So for some people saying Taiwanese are 'friendly', that's BS xD If you ask me, Filipinos are infinitely more friendly, and again while not all, generally make more of an effort to help you when you need it. I really felt more of a real sense of community during my years growing up in the Philippines compared to Taiwan.

#21 Children do tend to stay with their parents well into college and adulthood, since Chinese families are indeed very family-oriented, in a lot of cases, grandparents often live under the same roof as us as well! And it really does save a lot of money. I see there's a real stigma in the US when it comes to "living with your parents", but that's starting to change especially because of Covid and having more and more people move back in with their parents.

Housing unfortunately is pretty much hella expensive no matter where you go, and Taiwan is no exception. Steep housing prices and the very high cost of raising a child (schooling + buxiban fees, etc.) contribute to a very low birth rate and thus an aging population like Japan. It's not uncommon to see both parents working in Taiwan.

#23 I'm an overthinker myself, but I totally agree with the author that the best is to strike a good balance between these two. Which I guess is why I love drawing or any other related creative attempts, it helps me be more spontaneous or well, creative! I like to remain intellectually or artistically inspired.

#24 Is French high school really like that? xD My friend did watch SKAM France and more or less got a culture shock from what was depicted on the show. I can confirm however that most high schools both in the Philippines and Taiwan require students to wear a uniform, only in college is everybody free to wear casual/civilian clothes.

#26 Ah this is part of our Asian gift-giving etiquette xD We always open gifts later after the event/meeting and in private. Never open them in front of the person who gave it to you or in front of others. This is to prevent any 'shame/embarrassment' that may result both to yourself and to the gift giver. I know this may come off as something weird since some people may want a more honest response or immediate feedback when it comes to gift-giving, but that's just how it is in our culture. You're always free to ask us though (in private) if we liked the gift or not ^^"

#28 I want to say the same goes to drinking, partying, and drugs however xD Those are things which are still frowned upon in our culture. And to be honest, whenever I see those in movies, it does kind of turn me off xD It doesn't mean that we're "uncool" or "boring", we just think that there are much better or healthier ways of "having fun".

#31 Is this true in France?! Man I would kind of prefer that instead of people being on their phones all the time xD This kind of goes with #20 in that Chinese are overly practical or logical, and don't read fiction as much as nonfiction. My Taiwanese friend is an exception though, she's a bibliophile who loves the feel of paper books compared to e-books, and it's a trait of her that I like a lot. Both the Philippines and Taiwan however have a huge fanbase when it comes to manga and anime though.

I'm all for reading outside of "designated reading" at schools especially. Reading fiction improves your vocabulary too, and can be quite fun! It helps you imagine and really invest in a world/story, and if you ask me something that I feel Westerners are better at, they're more in touch with their emotions and creativity, and are thus much more able to write compelling or original stories. Believe me, I've seen a fair amount of Chinese movies that rip off Western movie plotlines xD

#33 Nothing much to add on here..except that since I'm a "weird" person, Mom often jokes that she got the wrong baby from the hospital. xD

#35 True. While I agree with the care and concern that your fellow community can give you, the downside of this is we tend to only hang out with our own people, e.g Chinese with Chinese, Taiwanese with Taiwanese, etc. I've seen too that it's especially hard to make friends in Japan and Korea as a foreigner. Not only is there the language barrier, but the differences in culture too. In a way, Asians can be pretty close-minded on getting to know other cultures or actually making friends with people from other countries. I know this all too well being half-Taiwanese/half-Filipino, being neither "Filipino" enough nor "Taiwanese" enough. xD It's more of people here being too used to what they're comfortable with.

#36 Oh this is something I feel that Chinese students and other students from similar cultures should really improve on. xD How will people respect you if you don't speak your mind?

I felt bad especially for my Spanish teacher in college, granted it was an introductory course (Spanish I and II) but the amount of times that our teacher had to prompt a student to recite/speak even with clear hints already made her (and me too) extremely frustrated. The thing is, these are college students, I personally feel they don't have any reason to be so shy of speaking and technically by not doing so they're slowing the pace of the class too much and a lot of time is wasted.

Unfortunately you can't always be very vocal with your thoughts and opinions in most Asian cultures. I would say strive for that, but at the same time, play your cards well, especially if you're in a workplace setting.

If you made it to the end, thank you for reading and here's a cookie! 🍪 I'm not perfect and there's bound to be something I missed so please let me know if you spotted anything wrong. Feedback/questions are very much welcome and please feel free to share about your country/culture's differences or similarities!

[astroportals]

my personal theory is that the people who didn't like the ending simply didn't get it or weren't paying enough attention because every time they criticize it it's supposedly because it "made no sense" but like??? it did?? it's not the writers' fault that you forgot major plot points from past seasons lmao (also they're the same people who complain about all the questions left unanswered but there's literally like one or two jdjdkdnk lost has fewer plot holes than any show i've ever watched)

lol i just finished it and i actually loved it??!! So i completely agree w/ you like the ending made perfect sense and it was actually super obvious to me like from the start i was saying they’re all actually dead and this is like limbo place but i thought that was TOO obvious lol and i was expecting the “bad” ending to be like it all never happened or was a dream or something that would end up negating everything that happened to them, like how they originally wanted to set off the hydrogen bomb so that they would have never crashed there. But the actual ending didn’t wash away everything that happened to them at all!! Everything they went thru on “the island” still happened and it was all part of the journey to get them to “moving on.” 

Like I never once while watching the show expect them to actually ever get off the island and return to the real world and their normal lives. I was actually so shocked and a bit disappointed at first when “the Oceanic Six” got off the island bc I was like “no??? this isn’t supposed to happen??” lol so I guess for viewers who were expecting them to actually leave and live or something then it must’ve been disappointing but to me it always made sense. And sure there are some unanswered questions but I don’t think everything needs an answer. I felt like some of the Jacob / Monster stuff was a little cliche and under-developed but for the most part the show stayed fairly consistent w/ the island’s history/mythos and like you said there are so many other shows that have had bigger plot holes. And I remember when GoT ended, LOST fans were like “we’ve been there” so I was expecting something utterly nonsensical and like having everyone’s character arcs destroyed or something but the characters were consistent to the very end??? (the characters were literally the best part of he show like. i was rooting for every single one, i love them all so much!) 

This is getting super long and rambly but i loved the show and i think the ending was v fitting, and I really couldn’t imagine it ending w/ them just making it off the island or something. It’s bittersweet, since they’re technically dead, but somehow it still felt like a happy ending. The way the show portrayed death, it really doesn’t feel like it’s the end for them, they’re just going somewhere else, together. IDK. Anyway, I loved it. I love this show. It’s become one of my all time faves. 10/10 would watch again haha