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  • Last Online: Nov 9, 2024
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Italy
  • Contribution Points: 61 LV2
  • Birthday: August 30
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  • Join Date: February 21, 2019

EllisDream

Italy

EllisDream

Italy

Ciao! Hello there!

I'm a 33-years old from Italy who currently passes pretty much all of her free time watching dramas.
I'm not exactly confrontational, but I do like to discuss things out. I think it's worth learning other points of view and also sharing mine. We might come out with unchanged opinions, but richer nonetheless :)

 DRAMA PREFERENCES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I like romance and I generally look for shows which have at least some minimal aspect of it. I also like action, mystery and comedy.
I dislike pure tragedies (dramas for me are all about escapism...I might as well see some happiness on my screen), but I do not mind open or bittersweet endings.

I tend to watch dramas with characters that are in their late 20s or older. I both find it easier to relate to them and I really don't care for having school as a drama setting...I'm just so damn glad I'm out of there! 
If I'm really curious about the plot, I can bear with a young cast as well, but it doesn't happen too often.
I do like noona romances, so I usually always give them a chance, but I'm the first to admit that most of the times they aren't very satisfactory. I'm a little bit warier about having a male lead who is a lot older than the female, but it's more because of the power dynamic than the age gap itself. 

 HOBBIES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beside watching dramas I like cooking, baking, trekking (for mushroom gathering, yum!), going for museums (all kinds, but mostly Natural Science and Archeology) and generally either working with my hands or with a computer (I love figuring out new softwares).
In my younger days I loved reading books and mangas, but I admit I do not read much at all nowdays...beside subtitles, that is! I also played to several RPGs online games for about 8 years.

 MY MAIN CUSTOM LISTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm currently obsessed with keeping track of all my watched dramas and my comments on them in my custom lists.

➔     My 20 top favourite drama of all time
➔     Popular dramas I wasn't able to complete
     All my dropped shows
➔     All dramas I watched in 2020
➔     All movies/specials I watched in 2020
➔     All dramas I watched in 2018/19

Feel free to let me know if you agree or disagree with any of my opinions or if you have any recommendations! I do welcome pretty much all kind of discussion :)

~confirmed bingewatcher~

My 5 Most Hated Romance Tropes

These are my most hated romance tropes. Does it mean that I hate all dramas that use them? No. Not really. I actually do quite like some of them. But they either need to have some good points to balance out the use of these tropes or they had to use them in a forgiving way...
WARNING: by providing examples I might spoil some aspects of the dramas I mention. Most of the times it's barely a spoiler at all, but if you're particulary sensitive on the matter, you might want to avoid reading further and especially passing the cursor on the grayed text.

1. The leads being presented as Fated Lovers / Soulmates

I loathe this trope quite a bit. It might simply mean that I'm getting way too old and cynical, but I do find fated love to be an extremely shallow theme.
I include in this category also the dramas which do not entirely deal with fate per se, but whose leads are still exasperatingly presented as if sharing an unnatural bond that in context makes little to no sense.

 Worst offendersYou Who Came from the StarsGoblinMoon Embracing the SunDevilish JoyHealer
 Exceptions: I think the only drama I could consider as exception is 
Destiny-Like Love since it explores this trope from a different angle than usual. In any case I do not mind some minimal hints to fate (i.e. the 'magic' rings in Go Back Couple) as long as the relationship itself isn't seriously portrayed like some sort of mystical alignment or similar bullshit.
Kudos to
The Princess Man for tackling the whole Romeo & Juliet plot without using this trope.

2. Hidden Childhood Connection between the leads

Once upon a time I actually liked this trope...
There is something appealing to it but it's so overused in K-dramas that now I barely tolerate it, especially when it's forced and doesn't serve any purpose other than push the message of how much the leads are made for each other. 
Because we all know it has been scientifically proven that you can't fall in love with someone as a adult unless you were both somehow linked together as children...

  Worst offenders: Shopping King Louie, Cinderella and the Four Knights 
 Exceptions: I consider exceptions all dramas that start with the leads as children or in which the childhood connection isn't hidden at all (i.e. 100 Days My Prince, Can You Hear My Heart), since they usually have the leads' childhood relationship as a central plot catalyst. I also usually can forgive most of the dramas in which the past relationship is indeed hidden and gets revealed later in the drama, but is still a central point of conflict in the story (i.e. Kill Me Heal Me and to a lesser extent Heart to Heart).
☆ Kudos to: Children of a Lesser God for subverting this trope, making it sort of creepy. This isn't exactly a romance drama...but well, still counts for me! 

3. The ML being an extreme jerk

I actually don't mind arrogant MLs. I admit I can even sometimes be fascinated by them a tiny little bit. But there's a line there: one thing is being a bit conceited and overconfident, another is being a downright ass without even a valid reason.
To be honest, this applies to some FLs as well, but it's much less prevalent.
 Worst offendersSecret GardenDrinking SoloMy Lovely Sam Soon
 Exceptions: I am forgiving of the trope if the ML is still at the age of immaturity, like he's a highschool or maybe even in college (i.e. 
Hana Yori Dango / Boys Over Flowers).
I also don't mind the use of the trope when we're clearly shown somewhat valid motivations for ML's reprehensible behaviour and he does actively work on changing his attitude by the middle of the drama (i.e. 
Falling For Innocence, Heart to Heart and to a lesser extent The Master's Sun).
 Kudos to
Feel Good To Die for having a quite unconventional jerk ML that is not romanticized at all and gets actually penalized several times for his poor social attitude before he finally learns to change.

4. The oh-so-special (but not really) FL

If the writers keep hammering on and on about how nice, strong, skilled, 'special' a character is, I get a bad taste in my mouth.
These FLs either tend to be good at everything the drama throws at them (even if often with some 'endearing quirky habit') or, if they are not even particularly good, you may count on someone pointing out how special they actually are anyway...
A similar type of FLs that I include in this trope are the ones that start up a bit overly nice, but overall sort of relatable, only to end up feeling preachy and unsufferably self-righteous because no one is as perfect/nice/good as them. 

  Worst offendersCheese in the TrapHealerPerson Who Gives HappinessMoon Embracing the SunSave the Last Dance for Me
  Exceptions: dramas that do not take themselves too seriously usually do not bother me as much even if the FL is overly nice and shows some unrealistic skills (i.e.
 Nice Witch).
I admit that for me sometimes an actress' perfomance can by itself save a character on the verge of falling into this pitfall (i.e. Cinderella and the Four KnightsShopping King Louie).
 Kudos to: all romance dramas (there are a lot luckily) that manage to create FLs that are both capable, strong yet undeniably flawed (i.e. 
I Hear Your VoiceI Have a LoverWitch's Romance); or kind, but competent and never treated as 'special' - these FLs are usually portrayed with more emotional inner strenght than any other particular skill - (i.e. Your HonorFalling for InnocenceThe Princess' Man). And let's not forget the FLs that simply do feel like they could be real (i.e. Go Back CoupleJust Between Lovers).

5. The All-solving Time-jump endings

You're ready to accept a bittersweet ending...and you're mostly fine with it...then, out of the blue, we're whatever months/years later. And poof! We get a rushed, somewhat open but suddenly positive ending. 
Because, you know...time passed and all the relationship issues they had up till now have magically been obviously solved...off-screen, of course. We're in Dramaland after all, who needs to actually work on them?!

 Worst offendersSomething in the Rain,  Dal Ja's Spring, Cheese In The Trap 
 Exceptions: I'm fine as long as this trope is only there just to confirm/overturn how things went when the 'first' ending was a cliff-hanger (i.e. 
Just Between LoversFantasticThe Princess Man) or if time was needed to pass/overcome a situation mostly external to the romantic relationship (i.e. FaithFirst Love Again). I also partly excuse the use of a time-jump in case of work-related separation, even if I'm personally not particularly fond of this trope either (i.e. Witch's RomanceLove Rerun).
 Kudos to
Flower Boy Ramen Shop for actually solving most conflicts in a quite refreshing manner, yes, even if it used a time jump.

My history with Asian Dramas

My first experience with an Asian drama dates back in 2007 during my second year of university with It Started With a Kiss. I completely fell in love with the show and I think I watched it back to back a couple of times in a row. After that, I watched a few Japanese dramas inspired by manga adaptation since I used to be very much into manga: GokusenHanaKimiHana Yori Dango...and probably quite a few others which I can't remember. They were fun, but I found them inferior to the original versions, so I soon moved on to other hobbies.

11 years later, in the second half of 2018, I somehow remembered Asian dramas were a thing and out of boredom I tried looking them up...I discovered Korean dramas and...well, the rest is history!

Statistics

135d 5h 47m
ALL TIME
3,571 episodes, 276 shows
2d 1h 27m
ALL TIME
28 movies

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