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In the playlist of queer youtubers that hbomb shared in light of the Sommerton situation, there was one about danmei that used wangxian as a thumbnail so, yeah, I watched it.
While it is deeply ironic in the context of why that playlist was put together that the video is full of inaccuracies that betray a lack of research, the thing I simply cannot forgive is that he recommends MDZS as a "SIMPLE" and "EASY" story.
ive found that most youtube analysis of queer asian media is hugely lacking. james somertons (I would guess also largely plagerized) video essay on killing stalking was also mediocre and largely a platform to take shots at 'straight women writing gay men', with very little love or understanding for queer and gay asians and the circumstances around the art they create. not surprised that he would steal from a video essay that largely extorted banal opines about mdzs and danmei. doesn't make stealing it right, or mean the original creator doesn't deserve analysis, but it would be nice to see voices who take danmei on its own terms
Hi anon,
I don't think the video is one that was plagiarised, it was just part of a playlist showcasing queer creators (in a 'there are other queer creators who aren't lazy stealing hacks, don't despair and give them attention!' kind of way).
At the heart of it, a very small creator who seems to be an undergraduate made a video that stemmed from his enthusiasm around having recently discovered and dived into the world of danmei and writing an essay about it in his uni class (nothing wrong on the face of it). So it's not surprising that his research skills are lacking or that he has a very under-developed understanding of danmei, especially because he seems to have mostly accessed danmei through the official translations and what he watched on netflix/yt versus the trove of information that are the fan spaces that have existed for many years and help the uninitiated understand more about danmei in a more organic manner? It's just 🤷♂️ disappointing because 1) he's included on the same list as a creator like Matt Baume.... we are talking wildly different calibers.... 2) this video being on the list might become some people's introduction to danmei which uh oh... 3) i am so normal and so sane about mdzs and mxtx (:
EDIT (since i saw this second ask too late):
Rather than questioning his taste, for me I guess it's more proof that even people who like things to be accurate will not be able to notice inaccuracies when it is a topic they are less familiar with (the obvious solution is for him to become obsessed with danmei webnovels). I have never personally looked for queer creators on yt doing video essays about asian media, but there must surely exist videos that are better-researched than this one.
😔 cringe of me to want to read stories about the characters I liked, and not some OCs wearing their names
what is going on twitter that people are now presenting mdzs as the chinese equivalent of a self-insert wattpad story written by a 14-yo
I guess I agree that lwj and jc are intentionally written as foils but love the sentiment that jc’s characterisation was mxtx being mean to him just for the sake of making lwj look better
I find the brand of lowest-common-denominator criticism of tgcf and hualian in particular that goes ‘mmmh but that level of devotion is unhealthy???? and would be creepy in real life????’ extremely funny because mxtx explicitly addresses in her author’s note ‘when i was younger i hated these types of relationship because they seemed too obsessive but then later i realised how interesting and productive they can be in fiction and allow you to explore fun themes and questions’
You were pre-emptively called out for being arrogant and single-faceted :/ sucks to be you
are there any absolutely buck wild wwx takes that you still think about to this day
I love this version of reality where "so many” of the male actors who got cast for c/ql were apparently interested in the material enough not only to all read the full novel but look for interviews, then misinterpreted that interview the same way terminally online people misinterpreted the imperfect translation of it and finally chose the side of gay love by sneaking in subtext into the production under the gullible eyes of everyone involved.
