#and can we be surprised that ppl prefer the story that has the most positive/funny stuff in it? (connor's)

[cow-wizard]

like i know it’s annoying that Connor seems to be everyone’s fave and I am 100% certain there are people looking at DBH uncritically (which...it’s a game, cmon, no ethical consumption under capitalism anyway, least of all a fucking game) -- but his story/arc is the only one that has an iota of emotional impact once the entire game is finished and you look back at the choices you made.

spoilers under cut

Kara’s story loses almost all emotional impact once you realize Alice is an android. There’s nothing being said about the relationship of androids and humans there, not even really anything being said about a mother and her child -- Alice was designed to be the perfect child, and even if she deviated her instructions by leaving Todd to go with Kara, she is still programmed with “perfect child” tendencies (and I’m not sure she really went deviant, if Kara has the option later to turn off her thermal sensing and that’s like...an issue? Alice knows she’s an android but all androids do. idk, point lost I’m tired) Kara was designed as a caretaker, taking care of a child is one of the things she intrinsically knows how to do, so her becoming Alice’s mother means little to nothing. The other androids that Kara is a model of are more than likely acting as mothers to their owners’ children as well, this isn’t something groundbreaking (kind of the opposite from a narrative standpoint, actually, to have your only female main character be a caretaker is hmmmm how you say, sexiste?).

Markus’s story has all of its emotional impact in the very beginning. Markus becoming deviant and calling Carl “dad” is the last time I personally felt emotion while watching his story play out. The romance with North is forced, and everything with Jericho happens so quickly it’s unnatural. Having Markus become the leader of the android resistance after helping them accomplish, what? Two things? Makes no sense. North should have been the leader if anyone, since she wanted to fight back in the first place. And then to have Markus, a person of color, be the resistance leader and that fact about him just...doesn’t matter? (as I’ve stated previously Cage must be off his rocker if he thinks no one would be upset about Cyberlife creating servile androids that look black -- and to have North say what she says to Josh is the most tone-deaf thing I’ve seen in a video game in my entire life)

Screenshot for reference! (North, a white android, to Josh, a black android: “Because if you’re not willing to fight for your freedom, maybe you don’t deserve it!”)

Anyway got a little off-track there, but my main point is this: Connor’s story actually has a believable arc. His interactions with people are varied (we see more reactions to androids than pure adoration (Carl) or pure hatred (protestors, Todd, etc.) - we get a disgruntled Hank who, if you befriend him, slowly warms up to Connor and says the line about “maybe we’re on the wrong side” (in reference to hunting deviants -- something about how they just want their freedom). Connor does not start the game as a deviant. He gets there slowly, incrementally, and even though this happens because Cyberlife designed him that way, his story still shows more thought and care put into it than the others. Kara and Alice get hit by blow after blow and it becomes nothing more than torture-porn after a point, and Markus’s position as leader of the resistance is totally undermined by the fact that his blackness is never mentioned yet they usurp slogans and logos from real life groups such as BLM. 

Meanwhile, with Connor, the player gets to explore a more nuanced world and discover all of the different ways in which androids are being exploited, and is the only character to even minutely convince me that maybe he’s right, that Cyberlife is right, about what’s happening -- the androids becoming deviant are simply experiencing an error in their code, the things they feel aren’t real, etc. This is simply due to how genuine Connor is presented (and how good of a job Bryan Dechart did portraying him). With Kara, Alice, and Markus, the idea of whether you should believe them or not is already decided. You experience their self-actualization so early on in the game that you have no choice but to root for them, the question “are androids people?” is already answered (first off, by giving a human player agency over android characters -- you’re making the decisions, therefore they’re making human decisions, they’re people. end of story -- that goes for Connor as well but you can choose to play as a more “by-the-book” android, whatever that means). 

All of that being said, the game just has shitty writing overall. We all know this, people have talked about the faulty premise, and that’s all fine and good, but I guess my point is that the only character who has any stakes here (will he become deviant or not?) is Connor.

[what-the-witch-stuff]

Allright. Elliott thread that nobody asked for. Part 4

The words you read seem to be some alien gibberish? Try these first:

Part 1   |    Part 2     |   Part 3      

Don’t worry guys. It will be over soon, I promise.

Bevore we start: This happened yesterday.

And I basically turned into that iCarly gif, where she’s on the Computer, sippin’ her drink and goes: interesting.

Because look who we have here. Our future husband acting all self-aware? Right after I assumed in my last post that he never talks about the possibility of his failure...

Elliott, do you know that I talk shit about you on Tumblr?

Please stop breaking the 4th wall...

To safe at least some of my ‘credibility’, he followed this up with something along the lines of:

“No, no...I am not fishing for compliments. Which does not mean I don't appreciate them ;) “.

Sure. Whatever.

In comparison to that:

A few in-game days previously, I had a cut-scene with Leah, where the player can suggest that she should organise an art show. And there, Leah openly communicated her fears of ppl not liking her art. I was surprised about how open she was, given that it was probably her 2nd heart event or something (?). It's interesting, how Leah (who I perceived to be more reserved than Elliott), was so willing to let us know about her insecurities. Meanwhile, Elliot seems to brush these thoughts aside rather quickly and returns to his nonchalant, graceful self.

I always thought that from the two of them, it might be Elliott who is more vocal about his emotions. But now, Elliott doesn't seem to wear his heart on his sleeves as much as I thought he would. Which changed the way I think about him quite a bit. Maybe he is more likely to hide behind platitudes and a self-assuring smile, after all.

And what can we take from this, when we would want to write, let’s say a scene with Leah/Elliott friendship dynamic?

What do you guys think?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyways, before I was so disgracefully exposed, I was roasting Elliott’s life choices. To which I now gladly return to.

You see, the "issue" I see with Elliott is, that he plays into a trope:

The brooding hermitic author, who turned his back onto society in favour of finding inspiration in nature.

While this might sound thrilling and "romantic", we know that Elliott is not the best candidate to conform to this lifestyle. Just compare, how we as the player, manage to form quite strong relationships with everyone in Pelikan Town just by talking to them regularly.

We see Elliott outside the beach-area quite often. But aside from Leah, he does not seem to interact with anyone much. I don't know if there are statements about Elliott made by other characters, to have some inkling on how they feel about him. But its quite remarkable, how all other friendships outside to his connection with Leah, are not explicitly known as canon (?).

After a whole year living in this town, previous to our arrival, I would suggest, that Elliott might still be very much an outsider. He even remarks how, with our arrival, it will be nice, to no longer be "the new guy" in town.

But the problem with that might have been Elliott's reservedness, to begin with. Polite, but yet, maybe, quite impersonal. All pleasantries and platitudes as mentioned above. It all plays into Elliott's refusal to experience the comforts of a normal lifestyle in favour of pursuing his art.

And I love how Elliott just brushes that aside as if its nothing. I'd really love to know: what would have been his plan b, if his debut failed?

Worst case cenario: What would he'd done, if he ended up stranded in Pelikan Town, penniless and unsuccessful?

Where would he go? Is there a place he can return to? A previous home, previous friends?

I don't think so.

But, dedicated, impuslive, sweet, dumb Elliott just thought to himself:

“I can do that. How bad can it be???, it will be fi~ne.It will be marvellous!

Authentic, truly!

It will be superb pictouresque and that is all I need to write my novel....”

Thanks Yoba. You’ll keep doing that please.

And then we also have interactions of the likes of:

“People have scaped a living off the sea for thousands of years....

I just go to the grocery store.”

A different thought I had on Elliott kind of plays into what I already said previously. But I will adress it as its own topic.

The downside of Elliott’s ego.

As much as we explored the rather whacky / chaotic elements of his character and how he does stupid shit for prestige itself, it is interesting to see what happens when the player challenges his self-dramatisation.

I keep re-thinking if and to what degree Elliott can laugh about himself.

He is not one for self-deprecating humour, I think.

I can imagine that to be more Shane’s thing.

We see different scenarios, in which Elliott reacts differently to things not going his way. One of the positives is the whole “A tiny crab made a home inside his coat pocket”- story. I have seen two interpretations of this scene. And both are dependent on the tone, in which you read his dialogue. One group thinks he is just complaining yet again.

On the other hand, you could read it more like:

“My, look what we have here. Can you believe that [y/name]?!“.

I think that Elliott does not appear to be angry or annoyed at all in that scenario, too. He could have vented to the player, how he needs a new coat, now.  But he simply leaves it at that. And you know what?

But, there are other times, where Elliott reacts negatively to the player not doing what he wants you to do. Meaning:  your reaction to him or your behaviour in a specific situation. Let's look at his 2nd (?) heart event at the Stardrop Saloon. He comes up to the bar, finds himself in the mood for company, and orders wine for you and ale for himself. 

New Headcanon:

That little crab still lives there! It will probably live there long after you two get married. And he will feed it scraps from the dinner table even though you ask him not to.

Whatever...Sounds Cute. 

My first reaction to that was: “aw, wHaT a GeNtLemAn!!!”. My second reaction was my inner feminist having a temper tantrum because: “how dare a man, to assume what I want to drink!” 

New Headcanon on Elliott and gender roles, anyone? Or is it given, that with him being a good old fashioned lover boy, his expectation on any relationship dynamic might be more traditional?

As much as I find Elliott charming and all, this could be a great red flag and, again, beautiful material for character-conflict. Maybe Elliott needs to learn to not take everything at face value. Maybe he needs to learn, how to take a joke. Especially those made at his expense.

However, when the question arises, what the two of you should drink on, he will not laugh if you say “your doom”.

This is not something he sees as sarcasm or as a joke. In fact, you lose 50 friendship points! Like holy shit. That in itself is not much, but its a game-penalty. He is actively reacting negatively toward you. This is one of the few times, where your decision actively has an impact on the friendship-metre. Of course, that statement could be delivered in a non-joking matter. Which then justifies his reaction.... sure.

But even the fact that Elliott chooses, to not downplay or gloss-over your comment, leaves me with the following interpretation:

He hoped for a charming, flirtatious interaction. All you had to do, was to play along. But you ruined it.

Just imagine a situation with a little bit of miss-communication and a version of Elliott that is a little too proud for his own good and *chef's kiss* we have drama.

Me to Elliott and Farmer-OC: fight! fight! fight! fight! :D

All of you reading right now:

omg can't you just chill??? We are here for the fluff :(((

Also: depending on how it's written, that could be one of Elliott's major character flaws. The one that is not cute at all!

__________________________

I wanted to take some jabs at Elliott's likes and dislikes. But as it turned out: Yes, you can turn Duck feathers into quills. I had this funny headcanon that Elliott wanted to be extra special by choosing duck feathers as his preferred writing instrument. And I was all like: “use a pen!!”.

But then I found out about the Unobtainable Weapons-List and Elliott’s pen is one of them. Okay, whatever. 

And then I asked google how to make quills. And while duck feathers are not the preferred or most popular option, there is also nothing that would speak against it, as long as the feather’s shaft is durable enough. So that theory has flown out of the window pretty quickly as well.

The only thing that comes to my mind instead is, how Elliott would still need a digital manuscript for publishing. But me screaming: “Where is your Laptop Elliott??? You need a computer! Its the 21 century!!!” is not half that funny anymore.

I guess I’ll end it here.

I hope you enjoyed this completely useless stream of consciousness.

I will now continue playing Stardew Valley and indulge in all my other quarantine-born obsessions.

I wish you a wonderful day and happy farming.

[overthinkingkdrama]

10 Answers, 10 Questions

This seems like a lot of fun. I was tagged by @brainless-out.

Favourite rising actor / actress?

Up until recently I would have said Park Bo Gum, because I've loved him since his turn in I Remember You, but after his explosion of popularity with Reply 1988 and MoonClouds I don't know if it's still fair to call him a rising star. I think he has officially risen.

Do Kyung Soo is someone I'm looking forward to seeing more from in the future. He's really quite talented in movies I've seen and some minor roles, he had a web drama recently that I have yet to see. I'm waiting for him to graduate out of his promising idol actor stage and start getting meatier roles.

Park So Dam also really impressed me in Beautiful Mind, and even though the male leads in Cinderella 4 Knights made me gag, I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next.

A drama that traumatized you, not just because it was bad but because the content / subject was very heavy and dark?

Hmm, I feel like I've been more easily traumatized by bad dramas than gruesome dramas. I'm the kind of person who eats dinner while she watches Hannibal, I'm not very squeamish. I did drop Voice because of the violence, not because it traumatized me, just because it seemed over the top and pointless.

I think my best answer is Love Me If You Dare, the Cdrama with Wallace Huo and Wang Kai. The primary antagonist of that show was just so creepy and his pattern of crimes so unnerving that I had a hard time finishing the show.

Which puppy is better : Lee Seun Gi, Kang Ha Neul, Park Bo Gum?

While I don't dislike LSG, I don't have a particular fondness for him like I do the other two. Having to pick between Kang Ha Neul and Park Bo Gum is cruel and unusual though. I think I have to go with Park Bo Gum, who I think is just a smidge more puppyish than Kang Ha Neul. They both have the potential to swing from complete sociopath to total marshmallow at a moments notice, though, and I love that.

A kmovie you can’t forget and why?

I have several kmovies that I keep coming back to over and over again for various reasons, but the one that really caught me by surprise recently and I can't seem to stop thinking about is The Wailing. I like thrillers and the gothic, but I have a hard time with horror movies usually. This movie really doesn't have much in the way of jump scares and cheap tricks. The horror is much more conceptual and the "scary things" are right there out in the open, hiding in plain sight, making you question your senses. I really like the way the story taps into different religious traditions to discuss primordial doubt and the fear of the unknown.

Which actors and / or actresses do you absolutely need to see work together one day ( preferably before you die of boredom while waiting for them to move up their lazy asses)?

Omg, I have so many of these it's not even funny. I don't even know hot to begin to narrow it down. @brainless-out is 100% to blame for me thinking Kim Woo Bin and Eunji need to be in a drama together before I die. I have this idea that Bae Doo Na and Do Kyung Soo need to make a noona romance of some kind. I partially blame @agaggleoffandoms because she encourages these flights of fancy (a directly Sense8 inspired story line about an impoverished errand boy who falls for the second daughter of a conglomerate moonlighting as a underground kickboxer when she saves his life.) As Hwang Jung Eum-ed-out as I am at the moment, I would still pay good money to see her in Siwon in something again, because they're so funny and cute together and it would heal my broken soul. I also think it would be wonderful to seen Park Bo Gum and Kim Go Eun make a drama, something with a more positive outcome than Coin Locker Girl.

Like I said, way too many.

Did the owner of Subway sold his soul to a kdrama god?

While it may seem that franchises like Subway and Quiznos are really trying to make the sub thing happen in South Korea, what we are really witnessing is the visible manifestation of the battle between good and evil in the kdrama heavens. The very fate of dramaland is being decided through PPL, whether we will enter an renaissance of peace and enlightenment or another dark age of problematic jerkass leads, creepy age gaps and horrible wigs. It all rests on Subway now.

When do you think Gong Yoo is going to reveal that he has been secretly married and is now on his seventh child, date / year / month? ( this one is too good to not re-use @alakoba )

11/09/2019

What is you opinion on Cha Tae Hyun? ( beware for this could break our tumblr-friendship bond…)

I don't watch variety shows and I came to dramas fairly recently, so I've only seen him in a handful of cameos and The Producers which I liked very much, not so much because of him, but he definitely didn't detract from my enjoyment. Beyond that I don't have an opinion on him.

What kind of kdrama heroine do you dream for in the future?

A professional gamer. A gisaeng who becomes a powerful information broker.

Choose between The Heirs, Scarlet Heart Ryo, The Legend of The Blue Sea or Goblin.

I feel like I'm the wrong person to ask this question, because to me there's an obvious winner and I think I'm supposed to detest all of them in equal but different ways by fandom logic. But I unabashedly loved Scarlet Heart Ryeo in a way that was very well documented, janky editing, scary lead, tragic ending et all. I thought it was wonderful.

Bonus confession: Heirs is an objectively awful show that I have, of my own free will, watched twice in its entirety as well as foisting it on other people. I have no shame.

My questions:

What's a drama do you hate that everyone else seems to love?

What drama do you love but everyone else seem to hate?

Who is the most unfairly maligned idol actor you would defend to your dying breath?

What's do you consider the most important fact for your drama watching enjoyment: a unique/interesting premise, good pacing, a satisfying ending? (You can only pick one.)

Is there a show you watched toward the beginning of your kdrama career and you opinion has since changed drastically for better or worse since then?

When would you say kdramas became a regular part of your life?

Which common kdrama romantic convention have you seen a million times but you still can't get enough of it? (Tying shows, drunken piggyback rides, umbrellas, buying medicine for the love interest, first snow kisses/confessions, etc.)

Which common kdrama convention do other people go gaga for but you just don't get?

Which actor do you avoid like the plague?

Is there a particular writer's body of work you find yourself drawn to? Who and why?

I probably should have gone back and checked if my questions overlapped with someone else's, but I didn't. My apologies for repeats. This is fun though. I tag @agaggleoffandoms,​ @while-i-procrastinate, @vernalagnia-blog, @sweetgirl-haz, @mywebfoot, @kdramafeelings  if you feel so inclined.