soricel

arguably this can't be generalized to the whole genre of fantasy because today's subject is only a branch of that, but i think there's a lot to be said about historical fantasy as you see it in manhwas/gas. for those unfamiliar, there's a lot of webcomics and webnovels that circulate around which are generally women-targeted. i can't recall if i've ever posted about those here, but i think about them all the time and i love doing trope dissections with them in mind.

some key aspects of these sorts of works are usually a monarchy, some sort of magic-based societal hierarchy, some religious institution, and some blend between the medieval prioritization of local lords over the land's "king" and renaissance-typical advances in art and architecture. naturally, these romances tend to fall into wish fulfillment and don't prioritize historical accuracy (which, in fairness, is hard to consider anyway when you're also dealing with magic, as i've detailed in my previous post surrounding the conditions of the world in a magical setting). however, i still think there are interesting things to consider about this. number one is that, when working with a historical setting like that (and admittedly today as well), there will always be a degree of exploitation baked into the story. it's most obvious when looking at a historical setting because, well, serfs exist. some rofans tend to ignore the existence of serfdom as a facet of european history. that's okay, but even then, there's still this perpetual group of peasants who buzz about in the background, dressed in drab clothing. that's the undeniable fact, and so the next question is: does that matter? like i've said, even anything in a modern setting will have the capitalism-typical exploitation of workers and miserable working conditions, and there's not really a shortage of stories that surround high-profile businessmen falling in love. sure. the case i'd like to make regarding why rofan and isekai are special is that the female protagonist will often be set up as some sort of angel. not literally (most times), but there'll always be an aspect where you're meant to praise the main character for their altruism. i don't mind this either; when you're dealing with a story fundamentally built around wish-fulfillment and which is marketed to romance enjoyers, i think it's mainly natural to want your main character to be of some moral superiority. i think that the setting undermines this, though. as established before, there's prominent serfdom, or at the very least a prominent inequality, that doesn't ever and can't ever be resolved in a rofan manhwa because a fundamental selling point of the genre is its luxury and its impermeability to the regular joe. this is even acknowledged through the isekai portion: the people who get transported to a new world are never at the top of the socioeconomic food chain. they're wage slaves, and this is naturally intentional and meant to feed into the luxury of the world they then are transported to. like most of my posts that revolve tropes and their mechanics, there's not much i have to say regarding what happens next. nobody's going to stop wanting their main character to be portrayed as an angelic giving person just because i'm suggesting that there's further exploitation that goes unacknowledged in the work. i don't mind that, either, but something that does genuinely tickle me is when the main character is said to want to change the system; things like feminism will go acknowledged without any attention paid towards the intersectionality of feminism and classism.

on the subject of misogyny as well, there's another interesting part of fantasy romances to me, which is that the female main character will, basically without fail, always be of a lower standing than the male lead. admittedly, many of these stories and webnovels are written by women, so it's not as though it's an intentionally insidious move meant to make the case that men are always superior to women. nor is it a case of critique wherein the easier access of men to these higher positions is called to attention. it's a facet of the genre, and ties back into the basic idea that outlines every creative's work: wish fulfillment. i still think that there's something of interest within that guideline, though. as in, even within their fantasies, it almost seems to be an incredulous thing that a woman can reach such a high standing of her own ability (ridiculous thing to say within such a bloodline-dictated setting) that i think reflects on the actual society in south korea especially a lot, given sk's rampant and dire misogyny. while i don't think that any of this is intentionally touting misogynistic ideals and that a large portion of it is simply wish-fulfillment in having a handsome guy save you from a miserable reality, i think that it's undeniable that a lot of it is baked on a misogynistic premise.

onto religion. this is a more varied thing; a common similarity is that all of the religious organizations are vaguely christian (more specifically catholic, given the kind of luxury you see in churches that's less fitting of the protestant-style utilitarian nature). the prominence in society, relation to the main character, and nature of the church (as good [usually] or evil [less likely, but still exists]) tend to vary a lot. if i spoke too much on this, the post would dip away from the rofan/isekai subject matter into a discussion on christianity in general (about which i'm decidedly less versed in), but i do have a few pennies to offer regarding this matter. the first is that, in a classically religious manner, there's an upsetting amount of purity culture being touted. lots of protagonists in a religious story will eventually bear the moniker of saintess, and i'm kind of irked by these stories because i dislike the fixation of a woman's so-called purity and moral virtuousness (which, i mean, i guess is a fixture of christianity). that's one thing i dislike. the other thing i dislike is that this is a really odd part of a magical society. aside from the typical questions of how magic exists in the first place and is regulated, i think the existence of a church with such prominence becomes something to question. how does faith play a role with the existence of magic? is it something credited to their god? i'd be interested in the mechanisms of that, but most of the time, it seems to be something that coexists without much interrogation, which bores me, frankly.

this is more abrupt and fits more earlier in the post, but i also like that a facet of the setting is that main characters tend to be categorized as a villainess. this is a secondary reason to why i think the fixation on morality (from earlier, with the serfdom & peasant discussion) is so funny. the way stories are set up, with having the original character be a villainess (often misunderstood, but the villainess title holds nonetheless), there is almost a trope-dictated necessity for the protagonist to then be really morally good. there's a contrast inherently set up and expected in these sorts of cases: the original person was a villain, so naturally the protagonist has to shine and be better in response. that's my little tidbit, at least. there are a lot more aspects to rofans & isekais that i like to mull over, so consider this a part one. i just think that it's always so fun to see the way subjects like classism and misogyny will bleed into the fiction that surrounds us.