Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
How long have I been watching #Cdramas ? Since the 1980s.
How long have I been watching #Kdramas ? Since the early 2000s.
That's a LOT of dramas watched. If you have been watching for a long time you tend to get fussier and pickier, and your taste is definitely different from newcomers' 🤭
How about you?
Henriette
@liztai Wow! You have history 😄 I fell down the rabbit hole during the corona pandemic so that would be about 2020? I had become disenchanted with western series on American streaming services and was looking for something different…
#Kdrama doesn’t quite work for me because of my adoption hang up, which has more to do with me than with the quality of the dramas, I think.
I like some #Jdramas, too, but mainly like #Cdrama.
No logic, really 😃
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@Sollenbum who needs logic when it comes to dramas! Glad you discovered Cdramas 🥰
Sean 📱
@CaraBruar @liztai Netflix AU has a good selection, it took me a solid 3 years before I felt like I had to look elsewhere for more dramas (around 60 dramas after)
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@sirsean woooow you went through the whole catalogue?? Dedication! @CaraBruar
Cara Bruar
@liztai I'm a recent convert, 2024. I can only access what's on Netflix or Australia's SBS tv streaming, but there's a lot there. Watching my first Korean one right now. I also like programs from Turkiye, Spain and Italy. Slow pace is a plus, matches my current state of mind 😴
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@Katztronaut woohoo the classic Leslie Cheung movie can't be beat! Glad to have you here in cdramaland!
Katztronaut
@liztai I started with Hong Kong movies in the 1990s (A Chinese Ghoststory was my first love), then Korean movies in the 2000s (Bin Jip, Old Boy), but Cdramas have been a new addition since last year. So I'm still a baby novice, but I have some knowledge about the different narrative style from my studies. ^^
veer66
@liztai I watched 1986-version of New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre by TVB in late 1980s or early 1990s, and Jewel in the Palace in 2005. Maybe, they were not first cdrama and kdrama that I watched.
I'm more picky when there is no Thai audio. 😛
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@veer66 aha! So u watch most of your Cdramas with Thai audio?
thepoliticalcat
@liztai I love both, but my brain likes to accumulate large collections of things that I then forget about. I'm at that age. Time to clean out everything!
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@thepoliticalcat lol
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@sirsean better than me anyway lol @CaraBruar
Sean 📱
@liztai @CaraBruar Unfortunately not all, just a solid half, maybe most at best 😂
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@AnnaAnthro wow long night and bad kids! Internationals usually get started with xianxia but you veered towards dramas favoured by China and is considered premier shows. Very cool
AnnaAnthro
@liztai I was an E & SE Asian film buff since 80s (Yes, watched A Chinese Ghost Story too!) after living in Indonesia.
Covid lockdown got me hooked on kdrama (first watched k-remake of Designated Survivor which was so much better than original) then My Mister… an addict was born! I’ve watched hundreds!
Jdrama depictions of women often bugs me. But oddly really like live-action manga works like Kenshin, Bleach or High & Low.
My cdrama plunge began with The Long Night & The Bad Kids!
Henriette
@Katztronaut @liztai Exactly 🙄 and at some point all bodies just look the same and the violence seems gratuitous. If other people like that, then they can watch it but I got tired of it and moved to #Cdrama 🌸
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@Sollenbum @Katztronaut @avradi It was GoT that got me disenchanted too!!! I am usually pretty resilient to tv horror and violence, but the graphic rapes and killing (some of the victims were children) just made me sick. I think GoT was the last drama I chased. The way it ended made the suffering I went through with the violence not worth it 🤣.
But tbh, I mostly turned away cos Hollywood got super formulaic and stopped innovating. And endless seasons! It just got old.
Henriette
@liztai I’m so much happier in Cdrama-land. I think it was Game of Thrones that began my disenchantment with western series. It seemed like they were using graphic violence and nudity to fish for viewers rather than tell a good story. Effects need to be motivated by plot and character, not just piled on because it sells subscriptions to a streaming service.
Katztronaut
@Sollenbum @liztai ⬆️ This. At a certain point in Game of Thrones one stops caring for the characters because they are only there to provide shock moments or body parts to gawk at.
Henriette
@liztai @Katztronaut @avradi Oh wow! We have had really similar experiences 😄 It was wasn’t a snap decision; we both seemed to have turned our backs on such films and series, because they rely too heavily on bare skin and excessive violence.
#Cdrama isn’t always good and some plots are ridiculous. Censorship is a problem and not everyone can act well, but I’m not subjected to callous exploitation of nudity and over-the-top violence on screen.
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@Sollenbum Honestly glad they have safeguards for nudity and violence. I didn't realise how affected I was by them until it was gone. Now it's just very relaxing to just watch your cdrama knowing that it won't suddenly turn to soft porn lol @Katztronaut @avradi
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@AnnaAnthro it does the same to me lol. Xianxia these days are based on webnovels which are influenced by western fantasy tropes so it's pretty weird to me lol. I grew up watching Legend of the Eight Immortals, where the gods do not care about romancing each other and are far more invested in saving mankind. Creation of the Gods is a return of that xianxia for me. Literally wept with joy when I saw it
AnnaAnthro
@liztai I love mysteries and ended up devouring the iQiYi ‘Light On’ series. Truly some of the best I’d ever watched.
Slowly picked up wuxia such as Blood of Youth & Joy of Life & historicals like Winter Begonia & Advisors Alliance.
To be honest, Xianxia flummoxed me initially- way too many reincarnations!
Katja
@liztai @AnnaAnthro the bad kids started so 😦, 😂 7 years ago, I started learning mandarin late in life to exercise my aging 🧠 and thought of watching mandarin staff, as when younger lernt french with TV support and film “la boum”, so for learning purpose it’s Peppa 🐷 and for entertainment first one was tientsin mystic, 🥰 it, and after came princess agent, a bit of a weird combo 😬
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
@Kaetchi very nice! There are no materials for mid folks like me so I went straight to advanced lol. I am lazy tho I watch w English subs most of the time, but I catch all the inaccuracies in the subs, which is a kind of learning I guess lol @AnnaAnthro
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