Some Of My Favorite Characters To Experience Are Those That Wield Themselves Like Weapons For Someone

Some of my favorite characters to experience are those that wield themselves like weapons for someone else, for the simple reason that someone was warm and kind to them when the world hasn’t been.

Characters that are not malicious but can be cruel in their practicality. Characters that will make not the morally right choice but the smart choice, except when it comes to that person. Characters that aren’t kind but work to be just for and to that one person that was kind to them. Characters that wouldn’t care but are made to because that person does. Characters that are unmovable and don’t let themselves be swayed by anything except for the one person they let sway them. Characters that made someone their whole world because they trust in their kindness more than the world’s cruelty. Characters that are quiet and unobtrusive but steadfast like nothing else in their loyalty. That don’t, and will never, need recognition or acknowledgment as long as they are useful and that person is happy.

You know. Those kinds of characters.

There's a scene in Pride and Prejudice that I'm relieved rarely makes it to adaptation because my secondhand embarrassment can't take it – it's where Elizabeth is staying at Netherfield to look after Jane and Mr Darcy randomly asks if she wants to dance a reel, but she doesn't reply so he asks again, and she's just like "no I heard you the first time, I just thought you were taking the piss" 💀

It's you. My wife.

No Gain, No Love (손해 보기 싫어서) 2024

The On1y One visual analysis (Ep. 5): Seeking an opening

Something I really enjoy about The On1y One's visual storytelling is how it uses framing to represent the tentative way Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang embed themselves into each other's lives. Through their interactions, we see Tian learning to let people in while Wang gives himself permission to trust those around him, and that fraught journey towards connection is beautifully captured by the show's cinematography choices.

From the first episode, we see the show using architectural framing to represent Tian’s aloofness, whether it’s the walls of his old neighborhood that tuck him away from his classmates or the closet that hides his always packed suitcase. So I find it really interesting how the architectural framing of his homeroom’s classroom window serves a completely different purpose: to showcase Tian’s ability to fight against his instincts for pushing people away and gradually open up to Wang.

As noted by @heretherebedork, that open window changes the (physical and emotional) wall between them. Ever since he acknowledged their relationship in Episode 3 through this window, it's here that Tian continues to signal the changing boundaries of their relationship.

Each episode he slowly transforms from a silent observer removed from the world around him to someone extending the care Wang so desperately craves, and the window, as a frame within a frame, directs our attention to the significance of these moments. Tian not only offers Wang physical relief but also emotional relief--he sees Wang despite the latter having experienced a lifetime of being ignored, and this all happens through the window.

Moreover, the camera language The On1y One uses to frame Wang's response reveals how heady that recognition feels.

One of my favorite examples of this is when Wang confronts Tian about helping capture the thugs who had attacked him. Tian denies having been involved but Wang refuses to believe him, playfully pushing him against the wall as he lists all the evidence to the contrary.

What makes this sequence of shots so compelling is how the framing changes as the two characters become more aware of the significance of Tian's actions.

The sequence is just a series of single shots (meaning each shot only features one person), but we can feel the tension between Wang and Tian because of the shift in balance and shot size. The shots start off-balanced and dirty, the characters' faces off to the edge of the frame and obscured by the other, but soon the framing closes in on their eyes gazing directly at each other. The extreme close-up is strangely honest and intimate, evoking a sense of wonder and nerves.

Being confined to such a tight frame proves to be too much for Tian, however, and the camera responds accordingly by shifting to a medium shot, as if to give him a breather. But from Wang's small smile, you can tell he feels pleasure at the idea of someone caring enough to protect him, and the camera language for the rest of the scene uses several techniques to visualize the emotional connection he allows himself to indulge in.

(See the lovely rack focus during Tian's "I was just thinking you must have been very scared" speech". Rather than editing together separate shots of Tian and Wang, the camera keeps both characters in frame and smoothly changes the focus between the two, visually linking them together. Their vulnerable conversation has fostered an irreversible shift in their relationship.)

So it's notable that when Tian tells Wang he is thinking of leaving Wang home to stay in the school dormitories, we get this absolutely devastating shot from outside their window, the closed frame now creating a stark line separating the two:

Tian: Why do you want to stay at the school? Wang: ...I wasn't familiar with you. Tian: How about now? Do you still want to stay at school? Wang: No, now that I'm more familiar with you, right? And you? Do you still want to stay at school? Tian: I think I will in the future.

Wang interprets Tian's decision as a rejection of him, and the shot is cold and isolating to reflect that. Their last few interactions were one step forward and two steps back.

What smart visual storytelling.

i am a tragedy enjoyer before i am human

No Gain No Love is actually one of the best dramas I've watched in a long fucking time and I am so shocked that more people aren't watching it and talking about it

The female lead is an older woman (in that she's older than her love interest and most of your run of the mill female leads who are young and naive and inexperienced) who prioritises money and her career over all else and the show goes out of its way to show us how these traits make her seem unlikeable to the society she exists in while also doubling down and using those very traits to endear her to the audience

They're literally like "look at this woman she's self-centred she cares too much about her career she's too obsessed with money it makes people dislike her bc she seems cold and calculating but being cold and calculating never stops her from caring for and understanding the people around her isn't she so cool and misunderstood don't you just love her don't her flaws make her so much more intriguing and relatable look at her she's incredible"

It's just???? So rare and awesome for a show to do shit like this I love it so fucking much