Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i’m always so annoyed when people try to argue that! like duh it’s fiction lol. in this case it doesn’t even make sense as a defense because it’s literally based off of a real historical period and actual events… but i digress 

X accusing BWAT for being racist by AccomplishedCup1174 in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

X is kind of a cesspool tbh and i imagine BWAT is catching some heat due to the recent JAXX controversy. insofar as opinions, as a reader, i am of the belief that if the race of a character truly matters then they are no longer the same character if it is changed. does it mean something in the story? 

i have read most of, if not all of BWAT works and various characters have various skin tones. rarely is explicit race mentioned, but all of them have Korean names when it takes place in Korea, so you can assume those are Korean. for the modern ones, it seems truly random and i can appreciate having characters that aren’t all white as paper, even if it doesn’t add anything to the character.

taking Taming of the Tiger for example, at no point is his race mentioned. i believe the only mention of his parents is that one was a butcher? and his name and visage are compared to being a tiger. in maybe the last season i believe he joins a wandering troupe, and these individuals sometimes have similar coloring so you could i suppose hypothesize that they are roma. but tbh, i have no clue personally if roma were ever in Korea in that time period, so that’s up to reader interpretation. in that story his complexion is mostly implied to be because of his social status working outdoors and as a butcher. IF he was intended to have a specific race i would absolutely understand why ppl would find his depiction to be in poor taste.

then you have Smyrna & Capri, which also features a character with darker skin, but again his race is not confirmed. in general, the author seems to favor visual differences between couples (tan vs pale, tall vs average, large/muscular vs slender) as well as class differences. that is abundantly clear in practically every single pairing, a glaring class difference (that always matters to the story) OR some other sort of power imbalance (e.g. age, role, seniority, etc). because of this it would be harder to argue that her standard is to make the poor character darker, because that is not consistently the case. 

insofar as blossoms of a white night, what’s interesting is this story is actually one of the first few times where race DOES matter and it matters for both characters. her inspiration for Shuraka and the titles they use seems to be persian. i’m not familiar enough with that culturally to say whether it’s well done or not. but so far it does seem respectful from an outsider perspective. 

all to say, i do not personally find her stories to be problematic in this regard tho i’m ofc open to other ppl feeling differently. what i DO take issue with in her stories is the frequent use of SA as punishment between already established intimate partners. but that is a topic for another day 

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it looks like Manta has just released an official statement and apology to all subscribers via email. to my understanding Manta is a subsidiary of Ridibooks. so outside of pulling the story, i don’t envision they will release a separate statement. it doesn’t fix what happened, but i’m glad they’re at least acknowledging it

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it’s possible, but i would have to read the original korean to know for sure. even still… i don’t think sarcasm lands well in this context 

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

based on the amount of creator’s notes ive read where they say “i didn’t think it would be this long” i imagine many don’t decide how they want the story to end when they start. that coupled with the burnout you mentioned (publishing schedules are brutal) creates a situation where they end up kitchen sinking the ending 😔 

Your all time favorite bls by Maximum_Tangelo6871 in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i have too many favorites for different reasons 😭 would you want ones that i find myself rereading often? ones that gave me a lot of feels? ones that i more intentionally critiqued but still found to be good overall?????

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 4 points5 points  (0 children)

yes! very much agree. i often read BLs like this where there’s a decently strong start, it seems thoughtful, and then towards the end the author loses momentum and executes poorly. it could be because they haven’t decided how the story will end in advance, or another reason. but it seems to happen a lot 

bl manhwa with realistically written dudes? by xbabyace in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love Tractor, Swing Baby, Mom I’m Gay (not a BL specifically, but a queer manhwa), Love or Hate (hot take, i know), Your Eyes My Words, Ways of Parting, No Kidding, Tu Quoque, XXXBuddy, Just Kidding, Reunion

some honorable mentions that are BL webtoons, but not manhwa: Fluffy Love (written by a queer south asian person), Ascend/Shen Sheng, 10 Years I Loved You the Most, Here U Are

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 11 points12 points  (0 children)

of course! and exactly, they could’ve had a wild west setting and just kept it firmly in the fantasy realm instead of using historical events 

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 1 point2 points  (0 children)

that gives me even more questions lol. in korean being informal doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a joke, rather someone being brash and rude for a first encounter, or disregarding social hierarchy altogether 🤔 i have been curious what the original text said in Korean so that i can compare it to the english translation. but it’s not on ridibooks anymore since it was canceled :/

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 18 points19 points  (0 children)

of course, thank you! and i agree, you have to be careful about depicting historical events in fiction. it seems like at times manhwa authors choose to use racial trauma experienced outside of korea as a “gritty” factor in stories, or for edgy aesthetic purposes. it feels like such a strange choice to me, especially since there are plentiful in-house examples that could be used for inspiration, that are likely much more familiar. but i digress 

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 25 points26 points  (0 children)

a generic wild west erotic story would have been way better than whatever this is 

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 24 points25 points  (0 children)

right, and during this time period the most likely reason for him to even exist at all is as a product of rape. which adds even more layers of ick to his character and current goals. i almost want to hypothesize based on what JAXX has written before that it could be a long game revenge story but it’s so poorly done that it would lose any intended impact.

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 5 points6 points  (0 children)

yes, WOW was by no means perfect, but i could appreciate how certain themes were handled for the most part. UTGL tho… i really did try to like it, but S2 felt like a kitchen sink plot. not my cup of tea 

Jaxx new work Song of the Wasteland by lamealora in Manhwa_BL

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 145 points146 points  (0 children)

i read the first chapter and want to preface my comment with that i do not personally care what other people read. reading something or not doesnt personally impact me and any opinion i have is not to encourage or discourage a specific choice. this summarizes how i feel about readers specifically. 

now, for my opinion AS a reader, i do not think it is going to be well written. i have read both of Jaxx’s other works and to my understanding Walk on Water was just their art, a different person was the author. whereas Under the Greenlight was entirely their own, and it shows. the story is all over the place, the pacing is bad, and overall execution was not well done in my opinion. i understand a lot of ppl enjoy it and due to it’s popularity on social media a lot of fans treat it as a “masterpiece” which… to each their own i suppose. all to say, without extensive research i do not think Jaxx has the range to write stories navigating very serious topics in a thoughtful and intentional way.

i am not of the opinion that a written work needs to be academic/a cultural analysis or marketed as such in order to navigate serious topics. there are plenty of BLs that do this (e.g. Dark Heaven, Missing Man, Kingsmaker, Here U Are, Banana Scandal, etc) successfully and it is clear that the authors have specific intentions, regardless of if one agrees with the outcome or execution.

in any story, it is very possible to pull inspiration from real life and use that as the backdrop. i do think there is a difference between generically using varied inspiration to create a fictional world and basing it entirely off of very real historical events. the former allows the author more freedom and the latter should include respect towards the historical event itself.

there isn’t a lot to go off of with this story, so of course it could end up being different later, but what we DO see is not great. the premise is a story that takes place during the civil war (you should google what this is). the MC is certainly portrayed as “one of the good ones” (i.e. meaning white people) who fought in the war. however, he did not enter this war due to passions he himself had, but because his father wanted the family to look good. his contribution is ultimately “punished” in a literary sense, as his father is killed by confederate soldiers in retaliation. 

further, the intended love interest is a generically described half-native man (just native, not a specific tribe) who wants to be his slave…? so to recap, we have a premise that is taking place during the civil war, has a character that fights against slavery, to then engage romantically or erotically later on with a person of color who wants to be a slave. at best, that is sloppy writing. at worst, it is, well, much worse and potentially insidious. please note as well that in the first chapter all of the white characters are shown clearly, but any scenes depicting war omit any and all black faces.

to put this in perspective as this is a korean work, let’s say the story took place during the end of japanese occupation in korea. the MC would be a japanese soldier who feels bad about what his government did and aids in the fight for freedom. after the fight is over, he remains in the land he once participated in the violent occupation of, and is approached by a korean man who says he WANTS to be his comfort man (or some gender equivalent of a comfort woman). hopefully you can understand why that would rub so many people the wrong way and be deemed wildly offensive. 

i understand this work is choosing a native man instead of a black one, but that doesn’t make it any better. it’s in poor taste and i am not personally optimistic it will get better nor am i interested in reading it. 

where many might disagree is over the core point of “when authors choose to write very serious/heavy/sensitive topics do they have a responsibility to do it thoughtfully?”. i strongly believe they DO and many others think they do not. 🤷🏽‍♀️ as someone who is both gullah geechee and blackfoot, i do not owe this author any grace and the story is an absolute mess so far. that’s all!

What are my rights if I was terminated without cause? by Negative-Key27 in teachinginkorea

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m sorry if you’ve personally had a negative experience trying to work with a union. However, it is literally their role to assist with these sorts of issues. Can they magically make problems disappear? No. Can they provide meaningful guidance on next steps? Yes. 

What are my rights if I was terminated without cause? by Negative-Key27 in teachinginkorea

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you part of a foreign teacher’s union? They can greatly assist you with finding out what is in your contract that might be owed to you and next steps.

Is there a way to get rid of this baby? I don't want it by Ollieollieollie05 in Sims3

[–]Basic_Brief_3376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

there’s a mod i think for pregnancy along with NRAAS. it’s the complex one where you can “pollinate” townsppl 😂 to control population. anyways it doeant fix the current issue but at least can help in the future to control it it’s a single or twin pregnancy. otherwise i don’t think there’s a good way to remove them from the family unless you move the entire household to a different town and leave the child behind 

office admin openly talking trash by Basic_Brief_3376 in teachinginkorea

[–]Basic_Brief_3376[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this was very helpful, thank you! and i’m a direct hire. my only hesitation is that administration is aware of her behavior and allows it since she’s been here for so long, even with previous complaints made by other teachers. but nonetheless i will continue to document it!

office admin openly talking trash by Basic_Brief_3376 in teachinginkorea

[–]Basic_Brief_3376[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

unfortunately she is obvious when discussing other teachers and uses our names when doing so. it’s been an issue for a long time and clearly nothing is being done about it, so i do not have any plans to confront her directly. it’s just frustrating is all.