Jan 01, 2009 04:00
Happy new year!
Ok counting down was rather anticlimatic, mostly because we were engaged in other things.
Some members of Japclass came over to my house for a countdown party, and to watch the annual 紅白歌合戦.
There was too much food. We did some webcamming as well, and played cards/mahjong and other random games. It was quite fun.
Today I was wondering why jun'ai novels/dramas/movies are so popular. Sekachuu - the mother of all jun'ai dramas, and its various clones/spinoffs have hooked many a teenager, both in Japan as well as the rest of the world.
Personally, I don't see what's the draw of these media. All they seem to accomplish is set teenage girls up with utterly unrealistic expectations of love and life, a phenomenon that is sure a bane to their boyfriends and future boyfriends. Forgive me if I generalise here. Often these dramas/novels have several elements in common, namely physically attractive and nubile leads, ridiculously short periods of time needed to fall in love (though I suspect this is a necessity due to the technical constraints presented by filming etc), as well as completely unbelievable coincidences and more romance than is logically possible/withstandable by normal human means. A few formulas that have made many a producer rich are 1. guy and girl get together, girl is stricken by lifethreatening illness, girl dies (sekachuu, 1litre) 2. guy and girl get together, horrible incidents occur (koizora, akai ito). After a while it gets old. And boring. The only thing that has a remote chance of holding my attention till the end is the relative attractiveness of the leads.
However, I must clarify that I am not some old fogey bashing romance and everything sugary and sweet. While I do not believe that romance is quintessential for a relationship, I do recognise and appreciate the value of romance and how it does happy things like brighten up peoples' lives and such. I just don't think that a continuous stream of happy romantic coincidences a good relationship maketh. It's one thing to receive surprise flowers, and another thing to expect them continuously. And just because a shooting star flies across the sky when you kiss, doesn't mean that you'll be together for life. I feel that there is enough sweetness and beauty in daily life if you look at it from a different point of view. Some people tend to focus too much on contrived romantic situations and ignore things that may seem plain at first glance, but actually make for very good memories. There is something rather alluring about abandoned railways at sunset, when the sun seems to disappear into the horizon where the train tracks lead to. There is daily beauty around us. That's why I have a certain soft spot for works of art and music which focus on interpreting minute, commonplace details. I prefer preludes and nocturnes to symphonies and concertoes; likewise I take pleasure in savouring short descriptive novels and black and white photographs of daily objects. So much lies in the things that we take for granted, especially since people have begun to compartmentalise romantic love into the realm of flowers and pink candy hearts.
Jun'ai media, while often keeping to plausible themes such as indomitable love, often tend to focus too much on the superficial (and eyecatching). I disagree with the portrayal of love in movies and books as something colossal and excessively passionate. True, sometimes these things can reach such heights of feeling and passion, but it is plain ridiculous to expect a lunar eclipse each time you pine for your lover, or to even believe that just because you love someone, the world will have to change to suit you. I want to see something more real, more adulterated and mundane, because that's the way it is.
On the other hand, I -can- see how jun'ai dramas do have a place in the media market. Many watch them as a form of escapism from their own lives, which they perceive to be extremely mundane and boring. I must admit that such shows do make good fantasy material. They provide opulent doses of romance and fluff, which is what many seek in their media consumption. A significant number of people also watch such shows so that they may emulate the leads in their own lives, I believe. It is my view that romance serves several functions, namely as a means of impressing one's partner, as well as for couples to create something that is uniquely theirs, thereby fulfilling a key human instinct of differentiating oneself from one's fellows and giving the couple a reason to believe that their relationship is more cemented and stable. More importantly, on a more personal level, romance and romantic activities create pleasant memories for the parties involved. The romance found in jun'ai shows provides viewers with an outlet through which they can feed their addiction to romance and the emotional rollercoaster it offers, and for some, a source of romantic moves which they can copy. T_T
Personally, when I watch something about love I prefer it to test the boundaries and limits of love, as well as to seek to define love. I really liked Byakuyakou because it presented the twisted love between the leads in a way that allowed the viewers to empathise with both leads and how they bore the burden of their love for each other. Tada, kimi wo aishiteru portrayed the sacrifices that love requires, though I felt that said sacrifice could have been less lame than...the female lead shortening her life in order to look more -womanly- . Still, both shows presented a more mature definition of love as compared to the OMG I HE PICKED UP MY PHONE I AM FATED TO HAVE LOTS OF SEX WITH HIM Koizora, which was nothing more than a showcase for the rather hot Aragaki Yui and the awesome cinematography. (I liked watching it though, the movie just gave me a very soothing feeling). Sekachuu the drama wasn't too bad on its own, though I felt that the relationship between the leads needed some development. One doesn't go from OMG GIRL IS HAWT I DARE NOT TALK TO HER to I WILL CARRY HER ON MY BACK TILL INFINITY in a matter of 3 months. I preferred the movie , despite its weaker teen appeal and relatively less hawt leads. The movie, unlike the drama, had a greater focus on the male lead's living on after the female lead's death, which I felt was a theme worth exploring.
Unfortunately, the sensationalism and eyecandy found in both Koizora and Akai Ito (both originally keitai novels, which explains why) will probably continue to sell, in spite of the WTF factor that is ever-present in both storylines. People love sensationalism, a too-perfect love story replete with multiple coincidences and superhuman abilities bestowed by the power of LUV. Who would give up the chance to watch an action-packed show chock-full of nubile females and hunky young males, for something along the lines of El Amor en los Tiempos del Colera? But give me the latter any day. Much as I don't really want to watch old people getting it on in a yacht, I'd like to see something that is the product of decades of mutual affection and understanding, rather than something that can almost entirely be attributed to hormones. I don't believe the male lead in Koizora even knew what the female lead's favourite colour was.