I've been thinking about Desire's 'romanticization' of Hua Yong's toxic / abusive behaviors. I think it's interesting how the story remains self-aware of its toxic content without being apologetic about it.
As a forced love story, his insanity is framed as romantic: the stalking, the obsession, the complex psychological manipulation. It's all because he 'loves' SSY.
There's also the romanticization of SSY's lack of free will. After the reveal of HY's true identity, he isn't with Hua Yong freely. He's with HY because that is what HY wants. He's given a permanent mark without consent (though it is to save his life). His biology completely changes because of HY. And then he learns he's carrying the man's baby. All of this is portrayed as the result of HY 'loving' SSY. (And SSY still somehow, loves HY).
But HY's behaviors are also consistently labeled as problematic in the narrative. Hua Yong is told off by Wenlang and SSY about his crazy ass behavior. You're never under the impression that he isn't a fucking lunatic. And he's not labelled as less of a crazy man because of his love. He's seen as crazier because of it. SSY's literal term of endearment is calling HY a 'maniac.'
The story itself romanticizes his insanity while also having the narrative remind the audience that he is, in fact, still crazy.
Its clear the author and the narrative understand the point of Hua Yong. They know what he is, and what he's capable of.
He's crazy, the other characters know he's crazy. But this unhinged, obsessive behavior is exactly what is supposed to make him romantic.
I read "Outlaw" by Kapichu (法外之徒by卡比丘), the book ABO Desire 'allegedly' plagiarized from! If you want more information about that, click HERE for my previous post.
I wanted to see how true those allegations were, so I went right to the source. Note: I read the novel online with auto-translate guiding the way.
My Longwinded Verdict (TLDR at the end):
Bad News: I think the authors (NJ) did plagiarize key plot points and some scenes from "Outlaw". The similarities include:
Having their seemingly 'weak' main character fake his identity to make the main lead fall in love with him.
Having the 'weak' main be in love with the main lead since childhood, consistently obsessed over him. (In the source novel, the 'weak' main collected any news about the main lead and studied photos of them man's exes.)
Having the 'weak' main pretend to get raped to get ML's attention.
Having the 'weak' main tasking his business partner to act as a fake 'love' rival, purely to make ML jealous.
Having rival business tycoon main characters (in the source novel, both the 'weak' main and the ML are some type of business execs and are direct rivals.)
Less prominent but still red flags from the source novel:
The 'weak' main consistently called the ML, "Mr. Luo" throughout most of the novel (similar to how HY calls SSY Mr. Sheng)
There is a scene where the 'weak' main is seemingly getting assaulted at a private night club that the ML frequents, and the ML ends up saving him. (Similar to what happened to Hua Yong).
The ML has a horny friend (similar to Li Boqiao) that tries to link up with the 'weak' main (and the scene where he tries to pick the 'weak' main up has almost identical dialogue and descriptions)
there is a scene where the ML proposes to the 'weak' main (before his ruse is exposed) and essentially says, "You are Mrs. Luo now." (similar to "You are Mrs. Sheng now.")
With all of this said, it's not all black and white.
Good News: Despite the plot similarities, the characters were different, and the meat of the story was different. This is mainly because Desire is mostly about Hua Yong's manipulation, whereas in the 'source' book, the initial 'fake' relationship is the focus. The manipulation is a plot twist near the end. The majority of the 'source' book is a standard BL romance.
For the ML's part in the source novel, he is an awful prick and a player. Once he saves the 'weak' main from seemingly getting assaulted, he knowingly takes advantage of this person he thinks is a young, broke and troubled college student. He has (rough and uncomfortable) sex with him and then takes him in his house. Once there, he disallows the young man from doing basically anything other than hang out / have sex with the ML, talks down to him and is overall a huge prick. WORSE, he's fully against caring about the boy. So when he fears he's caring too much, he sells the young man (and yes, i mean SELL. for money) to the 'weak' main's business partner (its a setup ofc). Then he regrets it and buys the 'weak' main back later on.
Sheng Shaoyou is also an asshole and a player. He initially tried to take advantage of Hua Yong, as he was selfishly helping him in hopes of sleeping with him. But once HY told SSY that he couldn't have sex with him, he is annoyed but backs away and ends up enjoying their domestic time together. He doesn't do this weird song and dance about liking HY. So he's still a prick, but just a bit less so.
For the 'weak' main's part, he is literally a wet paper bag, both before and after the reveal. He just follows what the main lead says (including demands for sex and whatever other bullshit the ML wants from him). He doesn't really have any personality other than being 'wet and teary eyed' for most of the book. Even after the reveal, he's literally still 'wet and teary eyed,' he just can use a gun and fight lol. He's also a bottom.
Hua Yong noticeably is NOT like this. HY plays hard to get. He refuses Sheng Shaoyou sex and he acts reluctant in basically everything (in his omega era). HY, before and after the reveal, is also more manipulative, psychopathic, and obsessive. (All the things I love about him). He's also a top.
Regarding the meat of the story, trust me. The novels are not the same, even excluding the omegaverse elements. Like I said, it's mostly due to how the novels go about fleshing out their story and characters. Aside from some few scenes mentioned above, the stories are very different.
All of this considered, I feel NJ (Desire authors) copied the very basics of the 'source' material's plot. Using that, they were able to create a new story focused on Hua Yong and his psychotic, obsessive behavior.
It basically feels like a fanfic of the source material.
TLDR VERDICT; In my view, the authors of Desire did moderately plagiarize the main plot of "Outlaw" by Kapichu. They basically put their own spin on the source material (adding omegaverse & beautiful top x masculine bottom dynamics) while keeping many of its elements.
EVEN SO! While it's unfortunate and disappointing that they did this, I think Desire is still unique in its own way. The meat of the story isn't the same, and the relationships aren't the same. Hua Yong is an obsessive freak, and SSY is a freak for liking him back. I do think that them being freaks is seemingly NJ's own input.
Plagiarism is bad folks, and I condemn NJ for seemingly participating in it.
Still, I still love Desire for the interesting things it put on the table.
was just thinking about one of many manipulations done by hua yong:
sheng shaoyou's company is on shaky ground entirely bc of hua yong.
he's spending so much money trying to find treatments for his father's cancer, and X holdings + HS Group have been formulating one.
Not only that, but x holdings decided to fuck over sheng fang at every chance.
by repeatedly fucking with sheng fang and denying Sheng Shaoyou any type of collaboration on the drug that can save his father's life, hua yong is making sheng shaoyou extremely desperate. he's breaking down every aspect of sheng shaoyou, because if he's vulnerable, the easier it is for hua yong to get into his life.
this aside, he literally relies on X Holdings (hua yong) to help him with both his father's illness and his struggling company,,,at this point he NEEDS hua yong to help him.
hua yong wants this man to beg for him in every way possible.
he wants him vulnerable so he can do what he wants with him.
What do u think " man or machine." To know more aboit it read my essay. Link in bio.. #throwback#myessays#manvsmachine #essay #writer#writing#reading #techno #technology #computer #readers https://www.instagram.com/p/B_wE8XHANBK/?igshid=zrtxk9f27qpo
Thanks for all the support guyz. 50 essay series completed😃. #myessays #myessaynotebook #50seriescompleted#bye bye 2k19#welcome2k20. https://www.instagram.com/p/B6uyZzahoT8/?igshid=asgat1891adu
Literature is an art which makes a person happy when alone, feel confident when in public and different when in crowd. #myessays#myeesaynotebook#literature#writing#yearendessay #thewokofart#poetry#fiction https://www.instagram.com/p/B6uxP66hBgv/?igshid=16r9gkcpqqaiw
Sustainable development"need for the present to save for the future". #sustainabledevelopmentgoals #myessays#essay#essayoftheday#conservation#preservance#protection#environment https://www.instagram.com/p/B6GQEVvgco4/?igshid=1ffn1yrth59r0
