#jiho park lookism

[yessvlo]

my roman empire

ifykyk

[blankperiodssn]

Its hard being a jiho stan

[sscarletvenus]

one thing about ptj's writing that always leaves a bad taste in my mouth is sometimes i feel he doesn't completely grasp the issues of abuse and sexual trauma, mostly and majorly for the female characters, but the male characters too.

take for example mira getting sexually assaulted by the cult leader and camp instructor, zoe's transaction with logan, club vivi, vin'mom being raped and killed by the shaman, sujin being abused and preyed upon and sexually assaulted before getting beaten to death by taejin... ALL of this feels so catatonic, almost unnecessary in its cruelty. this is a horrible world no doubt. but whatever he inflicts to his female characters seems to be done purely for the sake of shock value, almost like an indelible grief or hurt or helplessness a MALE character has to overcome in his path to nirvana. it is never shown what the woman feels about her own violation, no impact of it can be seen on her own life before she dies or simply forgets and moves on (kinda telling of the author's attitude towards how victims ought to react...).

then lets talk about the male victims. daniel gets stalked, goo and gun and eli were all minors who trained under a man who unironically touches people's genitals and brags about doing so, olly gets raped, eli gets groomed (i will not argue here about this one), sinu is shown naked often with the woman who brainwashed him. not mentioned in the comic but should be pondered upon is the fact that jake and jiho were in juvenile prison, a place with alarmingly high rates of sex crimes. dg is an idol who deals with invasive fans (sasaengs in real life are legitimately terrifying). seongji and vin were the ritual vessels for a cult. but this aspect of their trauma gets completely brushed under the rug, as if even alluding to it would take away from their strength and uhhh, masculine nature.

much to be thought about his treatment of his own characters...

[firstaffiliatepatient]

[ventivente]

Back on my Lookism bullshit

[gimyung]

hot doc got glasses <33 there's 1% hope he's gonna do villain shit in the future! ☺️☺️

these are his glasses peers after all:

adding him cus he be scheming sometimes:

[ifuckinglovelookism]

I've got stronger feelings about Jiho. I really do.

I feel for every character lile Daniel, who faces his bullying and becomes a great person, we need to keep on mind there are often people who turn out like Jiho.

I understand that he's an extreme case, but it sheds light on a very real thing: bullying and the mindset that comes with it.

Daniel's mindset was to become strong. He was always a reliable person, before he ever got his new body. (Except to his mother, but I feel he way more than makes up for it later in the story)

But Jiho

Jiho was desperate. He tried everything he thought he could (albeit all awful choices) and still continued to sprial.

But it was always everyone else's fault.

He blamed everyone around him for his actions, and was never able to see Daniel ad a friend.

I'm still unclear why he was killed off? He was such a great character. Probably my fourth favorite in the entire webtoon.

Honestly, I could go on and on about this character, but I'll stop here so im not ranting.

In a world full of bullies, be a Daniel, not a Jiho.

Self reflect. Apologize to your friends when your bad to them, instead of using them. Him and Daniel could have been beasties, but he was unable to see Daniel for who he was.

Sorry for the rant. I just got reintroduce to this character again, and forgot how strongly I feel about him.

I love him in thw way most people have a favorite Villan. Maybe it's because when I was bullied, for a while I was just a trash person.

Not saying the bullying was my fault, or I deserved it. But u could have been kinder to those who actually cared about me, and I stead saw everyone as an enemy and pushed them away. Thankfully I've grown as a person and cherish my friends now. But it was hard when I viewed everyone as a possible threat.

Thanks for listening

[alliumike]

I got bored, enjoy

[shesalewa]

This is the relationship Daniel and Jay have.

Jay: ... (Daniel, do you wanna eat at a restaurant instead of the cafeteria with me today?)

Daniel: really!? Oh wait. I don't have money on me right now...

Jay: ... (Don't worry I'll pay.)

(Jay manages to bring Daniel to a restaurant and pay for it)

Daniel: the food here is good! The service is nice too! And It's not as expensive so I get to pay you back next time!

Jay: ... (Yeah! Haha... How the F-CK are you guys here.)

Vasco, jace, Zack, Zoe, Mira, Vinjin, Mary Kim, Duke, Jiho, Eli: ... Hi.

(I'mma bet that Jay tries to bring and spoil Daniel on fake friendship dates but it gets ruined because other people end up joining them.)

Basically this picture. And Zack is just there to leech off of Jay.

[lookismstuff]

458 Chapters Later, Lookism Webtoon/Manhwa is Still About Lookism (Posting About This Again)

Apparently the discourse that "Lookism is no longer about lookism" is so dominant in the fandom. But I disagree with this take. I don't think the lookism theme is gone.

For a longer, more detailed argument please read my older post here.

But for a shorter argument (SPOILERS ALERT):

Do you think Daniel is now free from lookism, when in the current arc, Logan still calls him Pikachu because it's easier for Logan to see him as Pikachu no matter how far Daniel has come? That even when Daniel had to defend himself he had to call Logan "pig" like those bullies in his past?

Here are some of the evidence of lookism theme across the story in the recent arcs (some I have talked about in that old post, some I haven't).

D.G., one of the main villains, is a juvenile criminal masquerading as an idol. And is worshipped in and outside of the webtoon for his beauty.

Daniel is only treated better by his relatives after he slimmed down and even then they still can't believe that he made such a tremendous effort to grow.

Vasco and Burn Knuckles are still stigmatized because of their looks, that's why Eugene could co-opt/abuse the cops' authority to round up Burn Knuckles and Big Deal, you see. It's because the general public and the cops sees the two groups as criminals.

The businesses that Ilhae (Workers) crew are running depend on various facets of lookism: using a pretty girl to run an underground fight club, another pretty girl to cover up sexual assaults, drug trade, and illegal imprisonment (Vivi & Mitsuki, Ms.Raccoon of One MCN),

Hangyeol OF WORKERS IS ALSO RUNNING A PLASTIC SURGERY CLINIC THAT COVERS UP AN ILLEGAL ASYLUM & MALPRACTICE.

Charles Choi, a 0th generation killer, has been using his facade of genteel respectability and his daughter's beauty to appear as a legit businessman.

Channing of Ansan Public branded his opponents with a tattoo pen to humiliate them. Because tattoos are still stigmatized in many places worldwide including in Korea.

Johan and Vin hide their disability because society sees it as a shame or a blemish. This shame is related to lookism. At one point, Vin even stated that he had abandoned his dream of becoming a rapper because people at the illegal fight club saw his impaired eye, while Johan insists that nobody should know about his visual impairment (and is angry that Zack knows).

Jake and alternate body Daniel could enter and work at a nightclub because they don't look like minors, while the real Daniel (before Gun's training arc) does look like one so he couldn't enter before he showed his Workers pin.

The reason why Jiho was imprisoned after a series of crimes was his insecurities about zero acceptance in society from lookism-related reasons.

So the fate of Big Deal was indirectly related to lookism because: A) it was related to Jiho's illegal gambling case and B) Sinu was trafficked and enslaved by Workers through a deceptively pretty girl (Mitsuki).

Olly of Hostel A was thought to be insane because of his looks when in fact he was both a sharp, sly leader and a traumatized kid.

Mary had to cover up her judoka past because of lookism (she used to be bigger than she is now). And she could only rely on Vin, who knew her back then and helped her during a traumatic event.

Yet now there's Taejin, someone who's possibly related to Mary's and Vin's traumatic past. EDIT: And he is both able-bodied and good-looking (seemingly flawless from the start compared to Vin and Mary).

Taesoo, Hudson's teacher from Ansan, has a trauma about his missing eye (specifically the loss of it through his duel with James Lee/past D.G.) so much that it affected his self-confidence and destroyed his faith in his technique. He also retreats from society (and enjoys wealth, but still).

Jerry of Big Deal is often thought and treated as older than he is, which makes him uncomfortable because he's still a teen. I think there were several ocassions when he was called "uncle" or was even thought as someone (Jake?)'s dad.

EDIT: Jin Jang, formerly of God Dog, Big Deal and now of K House, is underestimated because of his unassuming looks but is actually a ruthless gang leader and analyst.

EDIT: Luah of Big Deal is petite and pretty, so she's underestimated a lot. But she's actually a great investigator for her crew.

Hope this helps.

[whore4zoro]

I’m about to write some Jiho fanfics cause I can barley find any. If anyone has any requests feel free to comment them. I’m open to character x character, x reader, and smut, I’ve only wrote one shots 3 times before so my writing may not be the best but I’ll improve with practice.

[squishyneet]

I know everybody jokes that the “lookism” is lost and there is less meaning. and people complain that PTJ focuses on too many side characters. But there is a certain beauty in all the different characters. Lookism shows us how different people respond to lookism and to bullying.

We have Daniel who gets to see the other side through his handsome body and chooses to be the best person he can.

There’s Jiho who kept trying to get in the with cool guys and later the bullies. He ends up going crazy, suffering even more in prison, and committing suicide.

Duke, who was only more motivated to pursue his dream.

Eugene, who fucking hired his bullies?? and chose to pursue a life of happiness and safety without caring for anyone other than himself and Yuseong.

And all the other characters who haven’t been bullied but go through serious hardships and we get to see how their personalities develop and how they make different choices.

Edit: @whyreyousoobsessedwithme I say that because Eugene was getting bullied at school and it appears that the students work for him instead of going to class?? If you can’t beat em, make sure they work for you i guess.

[sweetmctart]

emo jiho

[monochromaticbutter]

(CW: Mentions of rape)

Source: @welovelookism on twitter | Original post

Image transcriptions:

"My favourite character was Jiho tbh. I drew Jiho as the 'dark side of PTJ', so I expressed my inferiority, sadness, shame and all the thoughts that I couldn't speak up to others through Jiho. Basically my inner self. I originally had Jiho's own story ahead and his backstory, but the main story had so many big turns. Which is why Jiho's role kinda disappeared. He was the antithesis of Daniel Park. I can't really write them out because he is dead. Anyways, he had a definite role and clear situations in the story, but as I was writing the story I started to have another storyline and ending in my mind, making Jiho a little uncertain. I might be the saddest one to feel about Jiho's death. To conclude, he wasn't the type of guy to die in that way, he shouldn't have died like that. Readers were asking if Jiho is going to resurrect… but no, he is not going to. But 'this' guy is going to resurrect. He is going to resurrect in the most bs way possible. There is a character that is going to resurrect in Lookism. Jiho got a lot of hate when he made an appearence. I always felt sad about it but at the same time I liked it because I knew I wrote this character well. Jiho is like an inner self of everybody at least to a certain extent."

"Juvenile prison arc was the arc where I was so greedy about it. Tbh, there were a lot of things that weren't available for the Lookism age limit. Readers only saw 60% of what I wrote. It is actually very dark and full of speechless stuff, I knew Naver would ask me to edit it. But I just drew. I even drew the panels that I knew that would not be available to readers with all I got… because I was hoping if Naver would allow them. But they rejected them as I expected. Jiho actually got raped by Darius. I drew it to show that it is a very terrifying thing, but there were a lot of changes in the end. From removed dialogues to panels… a lot of edited panels. The Darius dialogue 'I will come back later' before Jiho's one when he fought got edited too. When Jiho said 'I made sure I washed motherfucker'. Darius's lone was originally 'I will come back after I wish'. That is why Jiho went for a revenge match against him, where Jiho's mindset of actually killing someone was fully completed. Jiho says 'I made sure I washed motherfucker' after seeing his lowest point of himself and his misery. It didn't really manage to connect with Darius's previous dialogue. The dialogue 'I made sure I washed motherfucker' is for Jiho to say to Darius, but I put a meaning of where Jiho washed his old self away. But I think not a lot of reader noticed it."

Although the translation seems a bit messy, there's a lot to unpack here. This is a very interesting piece from PTJ's writing.

The parallel between Jiho and Daniel has always been there. It's more obvious some times than others. Both of them suffered a lot at the hands of others and both of them were offered "a light" (a positive situation to make things better), but the main difference is: Daniel managed to hold onto it, Jiho didn't.

Daniel's insecurities are, most of the time, internalized. The one time he lashed out at his mother, it stuck with him and made him value her more than anything in the world. It's easy to like and relate to him, because he's the palatable side of trauma-related issues.

Jiho isn't. He always takes the worst decisions possible, he lashes out at his parents and friends, he acts selfishly many times. Even after attempting to murder one of his closest friends, he's desperately thinking of a way out for himself, not the guy in a coma. His arcs are frustrating to read through at first, because his worldview is so distorted and his actions are hard to digest.

And at the same time, it's clear Jiho really hates himself. From start to finish. But he spirals and never stops; even at his last appearance, he can't acknowledge that Daniel took better decisions (and ultimately is "a better person" in the world's eyes) and boils it down to him "being luckier".

So, he's easy to hate. Even if you relate to some of his attitudes, you might end up disliking Jiho, because deep inside you know those are wrong.

However, there's a deeper reason for that.

(Other than us being conditioned into empathizing with people who match Daniel's profile of mental illness and trauma and casting those like Jiho aside.)

And the reason is: people don't like seeing the ugly side of themselves on the screen. They don't like the senseless aggression, lashing out or other behavioural problems that are common in humans. Being unnatractive, being physically weak, being paranoid, taking bad decisions at every corner, misreading kindness, fucking up even the purest of relationships, those are all very human "flaws" that might not be easy to fix. Jiho checks all of those items.

That's the same reason so many people hate on Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both of these characters are traumatized and abused, but the audience frequently turns to the "pathetic" or "insufferable" aspects of their personalities.

Anyways, this was a short analysis I needed to do after seeing this post. Good night 💜

[nomnomdiary]

Daniel falls from the building : coma

Jiho and Olly fall from the building : died

Jake and Xiaolong falls from the building : still concious

*No hate, I just think this is funny...

What's do you think guys?

[angelsshades]

i drew jihos two bodies fr

l