The treatment of ‘mean’ prostitute/concubine in damnei novels
This is a subject I wanted to yap about since finishing reading The Disabled Tyrant Beloved Pet Fish, since it’s not the first time I see this and it bothers me a bit.
Disclaimer, SPOILER FOR BOTH ERHA AND TDSBPF
Ok. So. Tell me if I’m crazy or being disrespectful here, because this is really not what I want. And I’m open to debating with people who have a different opinion, just please be respectful 🙇♀️ But why do we vilify so much men (or women, but both cases here are men) who try to better their horrible personal circumstances, even if it means betraying people around them ? Specifically, I’m talking about Rong Jiu and Chu Yanyu. I couldn’t help drawing parallels between them, even if their circumstances are a bit different.
They have one common point : both have some sort of sexual/romantic relationship with one part of the main couple and are basically given the treatment of villains, even though they are mostly trying to survive.
For Rong Jiu, he was literally paid to sleep with Mo Ran for a long time. Yes, he betrayed him in the previous life, but he didn’t do anything this time, and more importantly they don’t have the same privilege at all. Rong Jiu was given the opportunity to have a better life than what is basically sexual slavery (he doesn’t have a choice of selling himself) by betraying a guy who perpetuates the horrible system he is suffering from by paying him for sexual relationship. Seriously, who wouldn’t accept ? He doesn’t own Mo Ran anything (as much as I love Mo Ran). Just because Mo Ran wasn’t violent with him doesn’t change the fact that he paid him to have sex. He died after Mo Ran stole all the money he made towards freedom, being betrayed, and his fate in death is to STILL be used as a sexual toy by men in a much higher position than him ? At least give him dignity in death. I think he deserved a lot better. And I get that it might be a critic to society, but the narrative clearly treats it like something deserved and funny when he STILL get betrayed and used at the end, which always made me uncomfortable.
Chu Yanyu is in a similar position. He’s not of high birth at all, and he fell in love with the 6th prince when he was younger, and is totally loyal to him and follow his orders. He hopes that in the future, they would be able to be together, even if he has to use his body for this. But, again, the villain here is STILL the 6th prince ? He’s totally manipulating Chu Yanyu, and yes he does shitty things, but it’s out of desperation. He doesn’t have any guarantees that he’ll survive if he fails his mission to seduce Prince Jing, and what is position would be if he does survive. Both the 6th and 3rd Princes, who are using him, always have their royal status to rely on, but Chu Yanyu doesn’t have that, he knows it and it’s clearly proven by the way the 6th Prince treats him after he fails : he slaps him when Chu Yanyu asks for help (yes to keep up apparences but STILL), the man he loves marry a women for the throne and basically ignore him after. Again, it doesn’t justify trying to drug Jing Wang, and I do understand that society back then has different standards, but I didn’t feel any satisfaction when he was forced to take and aphrodisiac and humiliated himself in front of everyone, I really just pity him, especially since the narrative do acknowledge that he is already feeling very much guilty about what he did. For this one, I haven’t read the fourth volume yet, so maybe it will surprise me by giving him an ending not too harsh, but I don’t have much hope.
To be clear those are not characters that I particularly liked when I was reading the books. Both annoyed me, but it doesn’t mean that I think they deserved what they got at all. Just because I don’t have particular affections to them doesn’t mean I can’t defend them when they get such unfair treatments (according the me again it’s my opinion).
ANYWAY could we stop putting the all blame on people who didn’t have much choice in their actions to survive and have a decent life and instead put the blame on the REAL villain (aka here the society that created the circonstance where people have to do these kind of things to survive and the powerful men who used them)
Again, I’m always up to discussing these themes if you have a different opinion (as long as it is respectful) ! It’s only my opinion, and I get that not everyone agrees and that some people probably think that they both get the ending they deserved.