WHY THE AUDIENCE FAILED TO UNDERSTAND HAE SOO: PART 1
*If u do not agree with my views on Hae Soo and think that she’s undeserving or not well written character , I hope you can still read this post .This is a post that is meant to analyse Hae Soo and defend her. I’m writing this based on my personal observations after seeing so much hatred and vicious name-calling against her character, so it will be a bit emotionally charged.
In part one, I will analyse the audience expectations for her character with a detailed look into the circumstances and her position in the drama to give better insight into her choices.And in part two, I might delve into analaysing her as a character
Out of every single post I’ve ever read written about Moonlovers, from the absolutely cynical to the intense emotional ones, they all seem to have one thing in common: A disdain and displeasure towards Hae Soo for seemingly not living up to their expectations: being weak, too kind, not cunning enough, being undeserving of the male leads and not “loving” or “understanding" of the male leads. I suppose the above-mentioned reasons are enough to hint to explain why I’m writing this post. Thee are so many expectations that she has been placed with that she cannot satisfy all of them, at least without breaking character consistency.
To understand where these expectations come from I think people need to look deeper into the stories and media we consume. I think if when examined, it will become apparent that most stories are set up around this epic battle that the leads are supposed to win. I believe by seeing stories like this through and through audiences easily root whoever they think are likely to come out on the winning side. The other supplementary characters are always decided if they are “good” or “bad” if they are on the heroes’ side. But the thing is, the whole story of the hero and journey to success is always skewed towards his perspective, and since he’s the winner he’s always painted as the good person. He's painted to be too good to the point that they sometimes lack flaws. The plot sometimes is designed to let them get away with anything and they always have the best lines, best timing, best entrance etc..just to get the audience to root for them.
In regards to moon lovers, in the beginning, it was touted as a show that this was a show about the fight for the throne where one would emerge the winner: The one who has it all. And Hae Soo a modern woman from the twenty-first century gets thrown into it, without a choice or resolution.
The reason I’m bringing that up is that there’s little true analysis and efforts to understand her perspective underneath and I find that it contributes to more misunderstandings of her character.
Back to my point about stories making you root for winners or those who “ potentially” seem like they have it under control, who’d win. They’re relatable and easy to root for, and do not require deep thoughts on in-depth analysis on why they make the choices they make. It’s easy entertainment.
But moon lovers is not easy entertainment. It’s a show that requires you to take a step back and look at the circumstances of each and every minor character, to fully understand the motive of their actions, as it easily spells it out like most kdramas do.
So, when one takes a step back, lets go of their anger, and takes a look at her circumstances, they realise that her actions actually make a lot of sense. Hae Soo or Ha Jin is a modern woman stuck in the tenth century and she is out there, without her consent. A lot of people call her dumb and ditzy for her antics when she first arrives in Goryeo.
But the thing is, in the case of transmigration, no Modern person will adapt to it as easily , because let’s face it, any Modern person that transmigrates back in history will have trouble adapting into those times, and they will make mistakes and they will have a hard time adapting.
No matter how smart they are, they will not appear as smart or reasonable to the people of that era, because to them their ideas wouldn’t make sense.
. This is why when Hae Soo makes mistakes by the count, it’s not unnatural or “dumb”, it’s the most realistic reaction anyone who got transported to an era thousands of years back will have. Her making mistakes is natural and is a very realistic depiction.
She tries to adjust by observing and make her time in Goryeo worthwhile by developing authentic human relationships and finding a hobby that she can develop. Which is fair enough and not a bad strategy for trying to fit in. Since the beginning she has trouble fitting in because she hasn’t grasped the social sanctions of that time, we find that she treats the experience with a sense of curiosity and fascination, which also in my opinion is quite accurate for a person who’s travelled back in time. People get frustrated yes, but the thing is for one to adjust to its surroundings they should get comfortable with it.
She takes in her Cousin’s advice and tries to fit in, finds a hobby and tries to adapt her passion for cosmetics in Goryeo society. She never intends to hurt her cousin in any way but she finds herself getting attracted to Wook because he seems kind, safe and trustworthy. She doesn’t have anyone to depend on and he seems very dependable and eager to help her settle in. Wook is very attracted to her because she seems very different from the women around him and she is very carefree and cheerful, which excites him and intrigues him.
Many people blame Hae Soo for hurting Myung Hee, but the thing is unlike Soo, Wook actually understands the social sanctions of his time and knows about his wife’s feelings very well. He knows how it affects him and he proceeds with it anyway. And he does know how dangerous it is for Hae Soo. While Hae Soo doesn’t know how dangerous it is for her reputation, she only avoids it to not hurt her cousin. The people around Hae Soo rarely give her good advice on how to deal with life in Goryeo and more focus ed on what she can offer and how she can cheer them up or play with them. Only Myung Hee cares about her as a person and for her safety.
The Princes that care for her do try to help her, but what they all do create more problems for her. They are happy to be entertained by her and play with her, but when it comes to helping her they are powerless. In some cases, where they do try to help, it always ends up backfiring and they end up digging up their own grave and in those cases, Hae Soo ends up taking the bullet for both herself and the princes. This is very clearly demonstrated when she was to be married off to the king. The princes try to help her but end up angering the king and she has to cut off her wrist to save both herself and the princes.
Notice how the King immediately forgets his anger at the princes and all the focus shifts to Hae Soo, who’s being blamed for the whole ordeal. And what’s worse is that is SHE IS WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE. This is a very important element of her character and I believe it is basically the reason why she was bought to Goryeo. So that she could be easily used and exploited. Whoever or whatever it was that brought her here, brought her here so that she could be used to influence and made to take responsibility that she is not responsible for. It/They know that Hae Soo is not the type to seek vengeance or develop greed at any given moment. A slight tug at her guilty conscience and she stops herself from doing anything she set out to do. And this sets up her circumstances and explains her actions throughout the show.
Unlike her Chinese Counterpart Ruoxi, Hae Soo is not allowed complete control of the scene and she is not given the privilege of being involved in politics and certain luxuries that Ruoxi was given. In the Cdrama, people listened to Ruoxi and took her input on many things and right from the beginning, many characters willingly gave her agency that its clear the plot is set up for her to shine. Her character is technically written to give her spotlight in many scenes and she easily fits into the “Strong female lead”. But Hae Soo on the other hand is shut down the moment she enters the Palace. Everyone from the King, Court Lady Oh to Yeonhwa is keen on reminding her to “Know her place” and focus on being a servant and to stay away from the Princes.
People expect her to change, to become the woman that can survive the throne politics and model herself around it so that she could become “queen” material and live happily with Wang So. But the thing is, to see why she never became ‘queen”, instead of solely judging her and hating her, one needs to look at her circumstance, her personality and the situations she was put in to get the full idea.
From the beginning, her life in the Palace was fraught with disasters. The only thing is unlike Wang So, she did not get all gloomy or complain about her hard her life is. Since she always is so positive, people often overlook the struggles she went through. All she wanted was a peaceful life, different from the life she’s led before and she wants to do it her own way, with independence and freedom.
The thing is the audience love to criticise her for not ‘having ambition’ but the thing is she cannot have ambition like the Royals do, precisely because, at the end of the day, she is not a Royal. She cannot openly scheme and show greed because if she did, her position will only become much worse. She will only be in even more danger if she vies for the throne while being close to the Princes while at the position of a servant. Besides, this is not a drama that is set in modern times where she can be all arrogant and sassy as she likes. If she were to act arrogant around people like Yeonhwa and Queen Yoo , then she is just giving them a reason to punish her as she lives in a time where I can be executed for offending a royal.
The entire drama goes on to Prove that the game of thrones is very much a royal game where only the Royals involved in the schemes tend to gain something.Every other servant (Chaeryung, lady that Yeonhwa bribed ) or clan member (Eun's family ) stand to lose everything by being affiliated with them and gain very little.
Bottom line is , when it comes to the choosing of a Queen, individual attributes do not matter as much as the birth status of a person (as in clan backing)which constitutes the main criteria for Queen selection because it guarantees troops and staus during emergency and power in court. It’s not just eliminating enemies at hand and taking the throne for herself. Because even if she were to become evil and eliminate Yeonhwa and Yo, she still wouldn’t be qualified to be Queen because she lost the backing of her clan when she refused Taejo and doesn’t have any other clan backing her up.
The only way she would have a fair chance at politics and become “queen material” is if she had agreed to marry Taejo and pulled a Wu Zetian, marrying his sons after his death. But then it would be a completely different drama, not to mention, it would totally distort Goryeo history.
It’s very clear that Hae Soo is put in a very dangerous and suffocating position and she has to fight for the little freedom that she can afford. Add complicated relationships and trauma on top of that, and the list is complete. The People around Hae Soo want her to play various different roles that suit them.
Besides, I highly doubt a romance of what would basically be an illicit affair between stepmom and stepson would be digestible because that's what it would be had she married Taejo.
Hae Soo& The people around her
In the show majority of the decisions she makes and the circumstances she ends up with can be directly linked to the people she cares about. As mentioned above, given her character, she always ends up taking the bullet for both herself and the princes, but her relationship with the princes is the sole reason why she gets bullied and framed.
Because of her relationship with the princes, all the forces in the palace manoeuvre against her starting from King Taejo, who deliberately kept trying to separate her from the princes. Queen Yoo, who kept trying to extort information from her, Wang Yo who used her and people like Yeonhwa, who saw her as a threat from the get-go.
But the relationship she has with each prince influences her and affects her differently.
The Princes are still very keen on maintaining a relationship that they used to have, while people like Queen Yoo are keen on using her as bait and extorting information from her, precisely due to her relationship with the Princes. While being close with the Princes does earn her some favours, it also puts her in danger and she easily becomes the target of bullying by her fellow Court Ladies.
Willingly ,she tries to help everyone and live for others. She thinks as long as she is kind, the world too will be kind to her. But inside the Palace, where everyone is out to get each other, her kindness makes her out to be the scapegoat more than anything else.
But to top that, her closeness with each prince makes her more vulnerable and stressed because each prince have their own expectations for and the role they wished her to fill. Eun, Baek Ah and Jung wanted her to play a friend, Wook wanted her to be a lover, So wanted her to be a confidante and the crown prince wanted her to cure him. And she had to balance all of it besides being a court lady.
So, to stay closer to them should she have been more ruthless? The answer is more complicated than it seems, but I think there’s more it than what appears and I think to look into why Hae Soo cannot say no to them and be ruthless, we need to look into her social standing.
Ha Soo's Position as a court lady
Like I've mentioned before, Hae Soo's chances of becoming Queen are affected by her being demoted to court lady and all it took to become a queen in those times, is to be the daughter of an influential family. It doesn't matter if she's cunning, beautiful or dumb, if her family is powerful, she can marry into the Royal family. But now that she's a court lady, she cannot marry into them and for worse, she is now their servant. What’s way Worse is, she's a servant who has powerful enemies and lovers who can not help her in any way.
If she were to scheme, like the others suggest, she has to be very alone in it because her Princes can not help her. Remember how they reacted when she was kneeling? Even Wang So can only do so much because even he has to remain in good graces with the king. She was and still is spied upon by many people, all of whom were eagerly watching her every move so it will not be easy for her to simply plot and frame someone. Because at the end of the day, to plot or scheme, you must have a powerful family and a title to back you up.
Notice that all the great schemers in the series are powerful, with a powerful family or person to support and protect them. And it’s important to take into context that Queen Yoo, Yeonhwa, Wook are all people of power, who have nothing but endless free time to sip tea, sit at the library and devote it all to their schemes.And if caught, they will never be properly punished because “reputation of the royal family”. At worse, they'll face an exile.
But Soo gets framed and she is tortured before people can confirm her part in the crime. And though there's little evidence, she is still sent to be executed.
But other than the precarious position she is in, unlike the royals she doesn't have time in her hands, because again, she is a court lady. And as a court lady, she is to fulfil tasks and duties every day and tend to the demands of those living in the palace.
The audience seems to have an extreme expectation of her but I don't blame them. After all, it's hard for them to grasp the reality of the situation because it isn't spelt out. But at the end of the day, there's only so much she can do. No one can balance the duties of being a court lady, fill the expectations of being the most devoted passionate lover while remaining an ingenious schemer who plots to end her enemies. No one has the energy, time or thinking ability to do so.
Queen Yoo and Yeonhwa can scheme so well because they have nothing but time to devote themselves to it. They live a pampered life where their every need is catered to by servants. Hence, they can dedicate all their time and energy to scheming effortlessly.
But Hae Soo already has a lot going on her plate than any other character on the show. She is a modern person stuck in medieval times, a court lady stuck between multiple princes, a court lady caught in schemes of people above her, stuck helplessly in love with people she cannot be with. Yeah, it's safe to say what she's essentially playing here is a losing game. It's a game she cannot win, nor is it a game that allows her to make any moves. Because unlike what most viewers, including myself, assumed in the beginning, things would not have changed if she became more "ruthless".
Hae Soo's position in the game of thrones
As mentioned above, her position in the game of thrones cannot be through an official position. She cannot scheme and bribe servants easily like the royals do, because, at the end of the day, she herself is a servant. From the position of a servant, she can only influence others and give her words and advice. The closest she can ever get to being a member of the Royal family is if she settles into being one of the many women of the King. She cannot become queen and she does not have the power to be a major player in schemes.
But besides that, I have to emphasise the fact she is someone who's already been framed multiple times before with spies around the corner, watching her every move. She has been a target and she still is a target under the eyes of many and is still being closely watched. So if she were to continue to stay in the palace or resort to scheming and come up with ideas and plots to destroy others what it means is, she has far fewer chances to get away with it than others. And if she were to be caught she would be subjected to far harsher punishments than the others, because she doesn't have the power or privilege to allow her to get away with it. She has far better chances of getting caught than getting away with it, and in the most realistic scenario she would just end up supplying her enemies with what they'd been hoping from her all this time: a legit reason to punish her and kick her out of the palace.
So for her , the question of what can she do is really a question of what is allowed to do with little power and freedom she is afforded. She doesn't have the power or privilege, nor does she have the freedom to pursue her own selfish desires out of her own free will like the others in the drama. Though moonlovers is a love story and drama of political intrigue, it doesn't forget the class and unequal social structure of it times and all the characters in the show either benefit from it or are affected by it. While Queen Yoo and Yeonhwa benefit from this unequal, patriarchal system that allows them to get away with it while avoiding suspicion, Soo and Court lady Oh live a life where they keep getting crushed under it. The affection they receive from the King makes them a target of the Palace women and servants alike, while affecting their reputation and making them an easy target of many. They cannot scheme when they barely have any power to protect themselves.
So the best they could do is stay relatively calm, grounded and safe while they stick to their convictions and choices. And that's exactly what Soo does, she stays calm and grounded while sticking to her convictions and choices. She never pressures anyone to doing anything and she never compromises herself in any situation. She only ever comes close to scheming and supporting someone when it comes to So, and she does it out of love.
Hae Soo the empathetic mediator
Out of everything Hae Soo has been through, being the mediator between the princes influenced her life and position the most. It was definitely a decision she made on her own accord, but it was definitely the reason she was bought all the way from the future to this place to meditate and serve as the catalyst for the things that are about to happen.
Her empathy sets her apart from the rest of the characters. Many complain about her lack of a backbone to pursue her own selfish desires, but in my opinion, I think the position she was placed in and her instinct to help and assist others contributed to the very illness that ate her sense of self and her health away. Unlike what most others think, it's not that she lacks an indomitable spirit or a sense of judgement and practicality, it's just that position she was placed on consumed her and destroyed the fiery and free spirit that she once possessed. That is why in the later parts of the drama she appears to be weak, unresponsive and almost characterless.
The weight of her position and the constant unrelenting demands it took coupled with the guilt and trauma and the blame that was always placed on her put her in a state of emotional numbness and withdrawal. I've seen people use this state of her being to cite or argue about how useless or weak she is as a character. The thing is, this is basically a trauma response to everything she's experienced in the palace. From the heartbreak, loss, bullying, torture to the constant pressure she has to face living every day in the palace, it's clear that it has taken a toll on her, causing her to burn out and break down. The weight of the burdens she has to carry is boundless, as since she is the mediator, she also has to carry the emotional burdens of others she cares about, causing her to pent up frustration to the point it becomes a life-threatening illness.
This is what Court lady Oh meant when she asked Soo if she could survive between two princes. Because being a mediator is essentially being the rope that is used in a tug of war between the princes, and she can never properly pick a side or a stance without facing the pull or force from the other side. When she picks So's side, Wook and Jung accuse her of favouritism, when she picks Jung and Wook's side So accuses her of, you guessed it, favouritism. But when she refuses to pick a side, she gets accused of not picking a side. It's pretty clear that whatever she does or chooses, she will always face consequences. For her, there are very few benefits to reap and little to gain. At the end of the day, no one can truly understand the pressure and precarious position she is in because they only see her from the outside. Her struggle is more psychological and internal. Unfortunately, this affects the relationships she has with the princes, most notably with So and Wook, as both of them perceive her mediator status as an act of betrayal.
Hae Soo the victim of royal greed and hypocricy
As I mentioned before, Hae Soo was brought her to accomplish something that people in Goryeo could not achieve. I mentioned how she's been bought here to be exploited and used. The thing is, as a modern soul involved in medieval court politics, her end was always destined to be tragic. There's a scene in ep 18 Jimong says this.
What he's essentially saying is this : Your selfishness will be the cost of everything that follows because of it.
So basically, according to Jimong, Hae Soo cannot afford to be selfish.
But the thing is, she is never acknowledged for her selfless efforts either and has nothing to gain from that too. So, she cannot be selfish but will gain nothing if she sacrifices herself for a bigger purpose.So at the end of the day, her choice is between what has the least tragic outcomes.
Based on what I've said above, from her position as a court lady to her role as a mediator, it is clear that she will never have the benefits and the privileges that other characters in the show might have most because, at the end of the day, she is a fish out of water. No one asks Yeonhwa, Yo or even So to be less selfish and "give up on things. Instead, they are encouraged to pursue their selfish interests.
But people will also never acknowledge her efforts or empathise with her struggle because doing so hurts their pride and exposes their mistreatment towards her. The people I'm referring to are of course the royals, who are keen to blame her and accuse her as the reason of everything that has happened in the palace. In both cases, both Jimong and the Royals hold her to a moral standard that they don't hold themselves to. Yeonhwa easily accuses her of warning her brother and betraying him while she literally did the same thing in a calculated manner while being fully self-aware and choosing that path. Yo willingly schemed, belittled and killed his brothers but blamed her for fixing Wang So's scar. They clearly made their own choices but they refuse to face the consequences for it. And each time it's always Hae Soo that is forced to bear the brunt of it.
And whenever she does something worthwhile it's always treated with envy and suspicion. Primarily, because the fact that a court lady is moving the palace is a threat to the social hierarchy in itself. But the fact that her mere presence and involvement in things forces them to grapple with the truth and the consequences they refuse to face is enough of a threat. So of course, they resort to blaming and lashing out at her because it's the easier thing to do.
And hence, as long as she lives in the Palace, she will fall victim to the double standards placed on her, while being constantly asked to give up things and do the maximum for the people who constantly abuse her. She will always live a life where she falls victim to the greed and hypocrisy of the royal family.
Even if she chose a more selfish and scheming life, besides being held accountable and poweless, she will probably be held to harsher standards than the others and will be blamed and punished.
This is why I think it's better for her to be selfless because while she gains nothing, she at least has a clean record. And her enemies don't have much ammunition left.
Going back to the discussion of "why the audience failed to understand her", I will say that this is not an attack or criticism against anyone of a different opinion. It's certainly a bit emotionally charged and is the result of my exasperation with the amount hate her character gets on the internet.
The thing is, her character is complex but she is not difficult to understand.To understand her character you just need to try to see things from her perspective, but as I was skimming and reading through way too many pages and blog posts dedicated to Hae Soo on the internet, I found that there were many who designated her character to be too "weak" or too "dumb" without even giving her the benefit of the doubt. The reason for titiling this post on how the "audience failed to understand her" is to analyse why many still refuse to give her the benefit of the doubt.
As I've mentioned above, most of the stories we see on screen is geared around rooting for the character who succeeds or "wins".
In those stories, there’s usually an objective and an obstacle, and the plot revolves around how the leads overcome them and “win”. They are usually given traits that are positive and make them “likable”.Especially if it’s a female character, there’s always a love line involved, which leads them to be put under the microscope and be judged for both the love line and the way they overcome the obstacles, thus having a double standard of judgement and perfection imposed on them. The bottom line is, a female character is only considered to be a “strong female lead” if she wins against the odds and achieves both love and power.
There’s this underlying expectation that asks them to play this role of a feminine, supportive lover in love and this practical, hard-headed ruthless pursuer of goals/ambition together all at once.And if the character ends up losing one of those or both, she’s quickly labelled a damsel in distress or a “weak character”.It’s like to be a “strong female lead” you have to win on both counts.But the thing is, this specific requirement , besides narrowing down the possibilities of exploring more complex characterisation, also makes it impossible for these characters to be vulnerable or flawed. Because their “strength” is linked their ability to achieve and remain undefeated.
And this pursuit of extreme perfection on both counts turns into this sort of trope and cliche and it leads to the audience having a bunch of expectations and fixed idealisms of how a “strong woman” should be, which is essentially the opposite of “weakness”. But the thing is, the concept of strength and weakness is quite abstract to begin with, and there's different strengths and weaknesses and there are different definitions and different measures of it.
But the truth is , years of commercialisation of this strong female lead trope has also led to the strong female persona becoming a trope. Usually a "strong female lead" without much substance is simply written to win and overcome a certain obstacle. She is usually "not like other girls" and is not into the typical feminine stuff, she is headstrong and brave , and is smart enough to save herself and throw in a smart punchline here and there.Besides, she very likely checks all the boxes that is considered attractive and "interesting" ,be it being funny or ambitious. What she doesn't have however is any noticeable character flaw or depth and contradictions that you would find in a real person. And though this is apparent , people find it easy to root for her because she ends up winning in the end.
The problem with these expectations, it sets a precedent in stone. Both for how characters behave in the story and how female characters are viewed in general. There's this expectation for female characters to fit into either of these two dichotomies: Either the '"strong female lead" or the naive "girl next door/damsel in distress".
This is why when characters like Hae Soo, people are so divided and she ends up being so misunderstood, with a pile of hate along her way. Hae Soo at her core is a complex individual who fits both into the definition of a strong female lead and the damsel in distress.Sure,she may not be your typical determined ,smart mouthed and organised who's effortlessly intelligent and always wins but at she's not the pliable, uncharacteristic predictable female lead who's purely a reactive figure dependent on other characters and circumstances to drive the plot and save her either.
In essence, she is a complex character with noticeable flaws, that technically posses traits of both "damsel in distress" and " strong female lead" as she's written to be real person than to fit into a wish fulfilling trope.Years of commercialisation and creating "girl boss" characters has sort of given more legitimacy to these strong female characters and have led to the assumption that these characters are infact, the true blueprint for more strong female characters to come.
However, it should be noted that this glorification of the unbeatable women is grounded in trivializing femininity and feminine traits and internalized misogyny. It focuses on simply defeating everything and becoming "stronger" , which has often allowed writers to simply write off any traumatic incident ,(be it muder, childhood trauma or most famously,sexual assault) the character goes through as some sort of initiation process they go through in order to become “stronger”.
If I were to give the audience the benefit of the doubt, there certainly should've been more than twenty episodes to explore the nuance of every character they want.
However, when it comes to analysing characters , it is also essential to take their circumstances into context. A lot of hate towards Hae Soo or other female characters in popular culture always is the result of people attempting to either put female characters into boxes or judge them based on their actions rather attempting to understand their position and perspective.
I'm not sure if its the result of internalized misogyny or the commonality of cliches and tropes in popular culture (or both) but what i've noticed is people love to put female charecters into boxes and then they hate\judge them for it.
And besides being written to fit into boxes, she is almost always written to be likable and wish fulfilling within the limits of that said trope. A good girl must be good but not too boring, a bad girl must be interesting but not crazy and smart girl must be smart but not too smart than the other characters in the show. And they must always have a love interest that they prove that they are always capable of being a loving partner. In case they dont have such a love interest, they will very likely be a side character.Without much change, for quite long, female characters on screen have always been judged and narrowly defined by their romantic pursuits and the “type” of female character they are written to be.
Also, a lot of hate towards Hae Soo also comes from the widely popular notion that she wasn’t a “good enough” partner to Wang So and blaming her for literally everything that happened in the game of thrones even though many characters are far more corrupt and complicit in the tragic outcomes of the power struggle. I believe this is because , besides not being the ideal romantic partner that stays together with the man she loves , she is also not the female character that the audience can vicariously live through to experience and express their love towards their favourite male lead. Sometimes when people like a male character too much , they put their expectations on the female characters to give them a romantic fantasy which involves her reacting to the male lead character exactly the way they would react. This is why many people complain about “not being able to understand her”.
Personally, this is why I find a character like Hae Soo to be so refreshing and likeable. To be contradictory, rather than a female character who is perfect, I quite like the idea of female character who is flawed and vulnerable. A female character who is not solely defined by an agenda or relationship, but has both of those and is complex , flawed , vulnerable and authentic is more definitive of well written , fully fleshed out character who makes her own choices, with or without regards to popular opinion.
Rather than a character who is behind her times , I think she is ahead. A lot of the hate besides internalised misogyny , biased expectations and the constant categorisation of female characters comes from the fact that she is not written to be wish-fulfilling character. A major expectation that contributes to the skewed /biased writing of female characters is the wish fulfilment attached to their likability/worth.
People expect female characters to fulfill atleast one of their wishes, be it winning or romance. A female character (like Hae Soo) who doesn’t win or achieve a happy ending is instantly casted of as worthless or “bad writing “. To them she is not a capable heroine simply because she is not worth rooting for.
This however begs the question that while she may not worth rooting for , is she however , worth the sympathy ? The reason I’ve written this tediously long post examining the circumstances that stopped her from getting what she deserved and analysing the various reasons that led to the audience hating on her hard is that when looking at many posts commenting on her character is that a lot of them fixated on hating on her without giving even the slightest benefit of the doubt. Not many posts that were critical of her tried to understand her character or circumstances and that is the thing that got me thinking .
I guess in a way it's a question of why character likability and their sympathetic outlook go hand in hand, especially for a female character, in order to gain sympathy they must be liked. Unlikable female characters are often targets for misogyny and vitriol , and it's that since they're unlikable, they can't be sympathized with.
But the thing is , unlikablity isn't limited to a particular definition. A character can be branded as unlikable under various circumstances. And sometimes it can be just that they don't act or react and make a choice that's not fan favourite, be it in romance or winning. Especially if that choice is self destructive, then it has a less chance of being forgiven,most notably in female characters. At the end of the day ,It's absolute truth that self destructive male characters will easily be forgiven more than female characters.Especially put in a romantic context with a fan favourite male lead .
This in my mind , poses as a dilemma because while I've heard people say it's up to the writer to properly flesh out a character, I think it's very likely that tropes and prejudices that we've been socialised into internalizing do influence the interpretation of characters and cause a widely different interpretations than intended.Sometimes, it can prevent us from empathising and reaching a full understanding of the character and their circumstances . So I guess the dilemma/or question that I have is , should it be to the writers or the audience to challenge this perception?
Personally I think it’s a two way street and we can’t leave it all to the writers to keep challenging the concept of a character because especially in kdramas and television, audience wish fulfillment plays a huge role as they are often taken into consideration. Even When Moonlovers was airing , many scenes were edited and scenes of Hae Soo were cut to accommodate more scenes of other characters and lead actors. So the truth is , what audience expect or react often influences the way a script is written.
And hence I think it’s possible that the reason Why many characters resemble a trope is because of the favourable reactions towards it . So when a character like Hae Soo, who isn’t written to achieve a fan favourite outcome or has self preservation as her top priority enters, people either struggle to understand her or hate her for not acting or achieving what they want or expect from her. She is new and is like a puzzle they don’t want to solve .
However , we should consider and be open to the fact that sometimes , stories aren’t meant to achieve a grand or happy ending and characters aren’t for the audience to cheer over . Sometimes we need something challenging and questionable or heartbreaking. And in stories like that, rather than rooting for the character or outcome, I think it’s better to understand , empathise and reflect on the story or characters involved. I think that’s the point of it. I always thought moonlovers was one of the stories , with the point of it being not who wins everything or gets what they wanted but rather an exploration of how people make choices and deal with them. How they reflect on it and make decisions that affect others and really, question the point of it all, from power to life.
So the point of understanding the drama is to understand the characters, not hate them or sympathise with them in a level where they seem to do no wrong. Doing this will make this drama seem more confusing and characters hard to understand because this drama unlike others is not designed to live up to expectations.
Sometimes when people say they want a character to develop, they want them to change completely and act in a way that eases their expectations. But with Hae Soo, as so many people hated on her / blamed her from the get go , I don’t see people instantly liking her character even if she changes to fill their expectations because they already hold grievances against her for not acting the way they wanted or “loving Wang So” as much “she should”. The only way to love and understand her character is to love her the way she is .
People pick sides and paint one character as good who’s so innocent and is only capable of doing the right thing / being the voice of reason while the other side is painted as evil / dumb and undeserving of the male lead and thus deserves everything bad happening to them .This at the end of the day is damaging because, especially in a relationship, no one is a saint and no one is truly a winner . Even if they leave the partner and find someone else, the personal issues that they have not fixed will crop up again .And a show like moon lovers can never be fully understood or gotten over if u don’t understand each characters struggle and view it like like it’s a good guy/ bad guy story where people win or get the “karma” they deserve.
In conclusion, I think we need to give characters the benefit of the doubt before we judge them so callously . Because sometimes such judgements can create misconceptions about the character and the story. Years of watching the same tropes play out in media have allowed us to hold certain expectations for characters and when they don't meet that expectations , it triggers a popular outcry.Especially in female characters, because for long they always have been written for wish fulfilling purposes. Most think they way treat or perceive fictional characters is harmless but the thing is, these perceptions mirror what's common in society. If we are comfortable harassing characters for failing to live up to our notions, then it means we still have a long way to go to when it comes to overcoming our own pre conceived notions in real life.And as long as we stick to the same tropes over and over and expect the same happy ending , the stories we consume will remain the same and to open up the venues for more different stories and drama, we should open our mind to the possibility that things aren’t always meant to progress the way we expect it to.
