Media Round Up: Women Scholars and Travel
Jan. 22nd, 2025 10:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestofgloryI have been watching a lot of TV the last couple of weeks. I seem to be on a kdramas about women scholar kick (If two dramas in a row counts as kick) Here's what I've read and watched recently:
The Anonymous Letters of C Forestier by Felicia Davin — The third and final book of the French letters series, this one was grimer than the first two, and it took me a bit longer to get used to the characters' voices. Probably my favorite part though was Victor’s and Isabelle’s relationship with each other.
Keep Running Special Season ep 2-5— This continues to be fun! I want to make my own personalized tea cake. Not exactly a content note but there are some very touristy bits with ethnic minorities, and I don’t know enough about how racism against these groups functions to say anything about how well they are represented here.
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung ep 16-20— AHHHH! This was really good! I loved it so much! I had so many feelings about so many things! History! gender roles! Siblings! I liked how the show depicted monarchy while not endorsing it, I guess some people might find it too on the nose, but after a lot of media that is not very critical of monarchy I thought it was a nice change. There are also a ton of great characters! I just really loved the whole show. (I think I could be really fanish about this in the right circumstances but, well, small fandoms are tricky, and I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment)
Sungkyunkwan Scandal ep 1-12—After I loved Rookie Historian I decided to watch another Korean historical drama about a woman scholar. I was a little worried that it would suffer in comparison, and it probably does a little bit, but they are different enough that it's not a huge deal. This drama is about a girl who has to crossdress to attend a prestigious all male school. So far it's very fun! There’s lots of roommate shenanigans, and school story tropes, but also a bigger political story that hasn’t come fully into focus yet. Though I liked the earlier bits where everyone was very passionate about ethics and scholarship more than the current storyline which is more romance focused. So far it feels less critical of monarchy than Rookie Historian did but I’m excited to see where it goes.
Do any of you have other recs for historical dramas about women scholars? They don't have to be kdramas.
The Anonymous Letters of C Forestier by Felicia Davin — The third and final book of the French letters series, this one was grimer than the first two, and it took me a bit longer to get used to the characters' voices. Probably my favorite part though was Victor’s and Isabelle’s relationship with each other.
Keep Running Special Season ep 2-5— This continues to be fun! I want to make my own personalized tea cake. Not exactly a content note but there are some very touristy bits with ethnic minorities, and I don’t know enough about how racism against these groups functions to say anything about how well they are represented here.
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung ep 16-20— AHHHH! This was really good! I loved it so much! I had so many feelings about so many things! History! gender roles! Siblings! I liked how the show depicted monarchy while not endorsing it, I guess some people might find it too on the nose, but after a lot of media that is not very critical of monarchy I thought it was a nice change. There are also a ton of great characters! I just really loved the whole show. (I think I could be really fanish about this in the right circumstances but, well, small fandoms are tricky, and I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment)
Sungkyunkwan Scandal ep 1-12—After I loved Rookie Historian I decided to watch another Korean historical drama about a woman scholar. I was a little worried that it would suffer in comparison, and it probably does a little bit, but they are different enough that it's not a huge deal. This drama is about a girl who has to crossdress to attend a prestigious all male school. So far it's very fun! There’s lots of roommate shenanigans, and school story tropes, but also a bigger political story that hasn’t come fully into focus yet. Though I liked the earlier bits where everyone was very passionate about ethics and scholarship more than the current storyline which is more romance focused. So far it feels less critical of monarchy than Rookie Historian did but I’m excited to see where it goes.
Do any of you have other recs for historical dramas about women scholars? They don't have to be kdramas.
