Another in depth critique on the writing of Hae Soo.
An argument I've been seeing a lot of in defense for Hae Soos character in tears on a withered flower is that the reason she is so one-note is because she's traumatized and thats why the plot has to move at a snails pace because she hasn't taken the time to recover. I won't deny, that is actually a good argument, Gae Nim does properly take the time to show the audience that living your entire life walking on eggshells around other people does something to you, it doesn't get "fixed" out of the blue just because you kicked those people out of your life.
But my problem is that while Gae Nim did a good job explaining the reality of what untreated trauma can do to future relationships, they haven't actually tried to expand Hae Soos character BEYOND her trauma. Trauma victims are still people, and while it is needed to show that what happened to them can't be easily forgotten, it is just as important to give them other moments where they get show off the other aspects of who they are, typically you should do this when your goal is to create a nuaned narrative and also so the readers have more reasons to connect with the character before it starts to feel like said character is relying on how much you can pity them as a shortcut.
Here are some examples of female characters whose trauma has impacted the way they act throughout most of their respective plot while still having other aspects to them that make them compelling
Now yes, I understand that Tears on a withered flower is no where close to complete, but on the other hand, Its been over 70 chapters now and Gae Nim has spent at least a dozen of them repeating the same exact formula over and over until very recently, and so far, the only reasons given for Hae Soo being a boring lead to follow is:
"Look guys! Her dad beat her when she was a kid! Look at all the other younger women trying to win over her man with their youth! Look at all the people calling her ugly and completely ignoring the kind and gentle girl she really is! Oh! And a random goon was taking lewd photos of her too! You should be ashamed for ever criticizing her character!"
What I'm trying to say is that the only way for Hae Soo to be rooted for is based on how much the audience can feel bad for her. She's just that, a caricature of a "perfect victim" who's only personality traits are her self depreciation and her messy relationship with Tae Ha. This isn't to say that Hae Soo should have been written as a strong girl boss who beats the hell out of everyone who ever wronged her, again, the way she was written as a victim of abuse is well done, but thats the thing, Gae Nim did a good job writing her as a VICTIM but can the same be said about the way they write her as a PERSON?
Let me put it through this perspective: Would A step mothers marchen be anywhere near as phenomenal as it is right now if the entire series spent more time telling the readers how sad Shuri's past life was instead of showing us what makes her strong even when she can't immediately win the day just like that?
Would Anya still be as popular as she is now if a certain portion of the Mouthwashing fanbase had their way and reduced her from "Anya" to "The woman Jimmy sexually assaulted"?
Hell, even some of the badly written examples are still easier to connect to and care about. Rashta might be her authors punching bag but she still has shown many other reasons that ultimately have convinced 2/3 the TRE community that she is one of the most complex characters in the book.
And Layla, despite being written far worse than Hae Soo in my opinion (which lets be honest, we shouldn't even be congratulating Gae Nim for not romanticizing abuse), still has other loveable personality traits, hobbies, and goals that make her more than just an orphan who was abused by multiple different guardians.
See, even though half of these examples are worse than Tears on a withered flower, they still offered more to the table in terms of characterization, none of them really feel like they're trying to beat you over the head, forcing you to like these characters because they had a very tragic backstory (or at least, they mostly don't in the case of COBYB and TRE)
Some might also want to tell me that "Not every story has to have super complex and realistic depictions of people!" Which is very true in the case of a lot of fast food media like Marry my husband or Panty and Stocking, but Tears on a withered flower is NOT fast food media, Gae Nim has made it abundantly clear that their work is supposed to be a super complex narrative with a gritty storyline, nuanced characters in the form of Mincheol and Tae Ha, and an abundance of the show don't tell rule.
With all that in mind, I feel like its reasonable to be a tad disappointed when almost all of the female characters so far barely even pass something as minimal as the frickin Bechdel test. Writing characters with trauma isn't the problem, there's a reason why its so popular to do so, it makes room for several paths to an interesting and fun story, it especially isn't a problem if that character has to spend a long period of the story recovering, but if you have to keep slapping in scenes of your protagonist being abused to make up for their lack of anything else, then you're going to have a character people will inevitably get tired of following.
On the positive side for once in my life, we are now getting to see a little more of Director Baek, and I'm excited to see so far how she will turn out.
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