Review to other reviews of a Taiwan TV series: Taipei women illustrated handbook

A Taiwan TV series named Taipei women illustrated handbook was widely discussed in Taiwan a few months ago. There are many reviews of this TV series. I do agree with some of the reviews; however, there are some of the reviews I disagree with. I think there are some things that many Taiwanese should understand in terms of reviewing a TV series or movie. So I decided to write this article. Before you read this article, I recommend you read another article of mine: The problem and the solution of having an inferior status as a screenwriter in Taiwan first. You will have a more deep understanding when reading this article after reading another article of mine. Ok, in the following, I will list out reviews from audiences and provide my view accordingly.

1. “Since you can’t get into NTU, you just go to a school near home (Referring to National Cheng Kung University).” This is a line that is commonly hated by people living in Tainan. They think this is discrimination toward National Cheng Kung University while it’s also a very excellent school. ^[1]https://www.facebook.com/tainanstyle2020/posts/pfbid02Gqoo7iExHX73LWVuTpuebMHkv2UtkZyUshTKPsbkJqvq7GaCi7ZStjKZwFuLrJJFl
Note: NTU is the No.1 university in Taiwan. National Cheng Kung University is one of the top universities in Taiwan.

My view:
This isn’t discrimination toward National Cheng Kung University. Many Taiwanese are overreacting. Yes, National Cheng Kung University is a good school in Taiwan that is difficult to get in. However, NTU is the No.1 university in Taiwan is an undeniable fact. There are indeed many students who put NTU as their No.1 option instead of National Cheng Kung University if they can get into NTU. In addition, some students do choose National Cheng Kung University over NTU, but that’s not all students. As I said, many students put NTU as their No.1 option.

Let’s see the background of speaking this line. This line comes from the mom of the main character. The main character wanted to leave Tainan and study in Taipei to enjoy city life. However, she wasn’t enrolled in NTU. Thus, her mom said, “Since you can’t get into NTU, you just go to a school near home (Referring to National Cheng Kung University).” Her dad said subsequently, “National Cheng Kung University is also a good school” to comfort the main character. A Taiwanese said, “My mom indeed told me “just go to National Cheng Kung University” when I wasn’t enrolled in NTU…Speaking like that is really terrible. The screenwriter really shouldn’t write such a discrimination line.” No. I have a different view.

First, which is the most important point, there are no other plots related to “just go to a school near home” to state that “National Cheng Kung University is a bad school” in the entire drama, and there is no other plot stating that “National Cheng Kung University is a bad school” in the entire drama, either. ( Although I didn’t watch the show, if there is one, it definitely would be pointed out by Taiwanese audiences given the big reaction from Taiwanese audiences to this line.) The whole plot is about the disappointment of the main character that she is not able to get into NTU, and the main reason why she wants to get into NTU is only that she wants to enjoy the city life of leaving home – that’s why she was disappointed. This is nothing to do with discrimination. Moreover, what’s wrong if she really thinks NTU is better? NTU is indeed the No.1 university in Taiwan for many majors. Thinking NTU is better doesn’t mean that thinking National Cheng Kung University (one of the top schools in Taiwan) is a bad school; it simply means NTU is better in the eyes of the main character. As I said, many students put NTU as their No.1 option.

Second, in this case, if you feel it’s terrible for saying “just go to a school near home”, that’s the problem with your mom saying such words. If you have such a feeling, you can think the character of the mom is a terrible person for saying such words to make the main character unhappier just as your mom made you unhappy by saying such words, rather than thinking this plot is discrimination. It’s simply about a disadvantage of this mom. Moreover, another character – the dad – also said “National Cheng Kung University is also a good school” to comfort the main character. The plot is really not about saying National Cheng Kung University is a bad school.
As the screenwriters and the director didn’t reply that it’s simply a disadvantage of this mom, they don’t know that they can view saying “just go to a school near home” means someone has a disadvantage. Many Taiwanese indeed don’t know saying such words is terrible and shouldn’t be acceptable when they hear such words. The screenwriters probably are in the same case as these Taiwanese; that’s why they can’t explain this line is not discrimination. Accordingly, you can’t say this is the screenwriter’s view of this line. Still, you can have your own view by thinking this is a disadvantage of this mom if you think it’s terrible for saying something like that.

The plot illustrates the disappointment is about the main character can’t go to Taipei, not that she thinks the school (National Cheng Kung University) she will be going to is a bad school. Thus, it is pretty clear that there is no bad intention nor discrimination against National Cheng Kung University in the plot. In fact, a more serious problem is that when the negative reaction toward this plot is very strong, the screenwriters or the director didn’t come out to explain that the actual meaning of this plot is about the disappointment of not being able to go to Taipei just as the plot illustrates rather than the National Cheng Kung University is a bad school. The screenwriters and the director need to improve their expression abilities; as a screenwriter who is good at writing or a director who needs to frequently communicate with various types of persons, your expression ability shouldn’t be so bad that you can’t even express your meaning of this plot is about the disappointment of not being able to go to Taipei.

2. “The heroine said she lived in the Yongkang district, which is close to an urban district, but the background of the drama’s homecoming scene was presented with fish farms, which was criticized by many netizens for treating the Yongkang district, the largest district in Tainan with a population of more than 200,000, as a countryside.”

My view:
This presentation of the scene is indeed terrible. I agree with this perspective. I would like to particularly discuss a concern from some Taiwanese screenwriters here.
Some Taiwanese screenwriters point out that the ideas of many plots of Taiwanese dramas come from the boss or the director instead of the screenwriters; screenwriters in Taiwan are just typing machines. However, suppose the plot that a main character’s hometown iin the countryside comes from the boss, in my view, screenwriters and the director may still need to take partial responsibility. For instance, the idea from the boss may only be “the main character must come from the countryside in order to contrast her dream of living in Taipei”. Did the boss say the main character “must live in YongKang district” except for demanding she must be a Tainan people? If not, why did you set the hometown of the main character as “YongKang district” when the requirement is only “countryside”? Unlike YongKang district, there are many districts in Tainan that look more like the countryside; the place where you shoot the fish arms is one of them. Why don’t you set the hometown of the main character in such areas of Tainan? I believe some Taiwanese screenwriters can still have this little freedom in writing plots. Not to mention that it seems that some of the screenwriters of this drama come from Tainan, so they should know YongKong district is a rather urban district compared to the real countryside. In addition, when the screenwriter wrote the main character comes from YongKong but portrayed YongKong as the countryside, the director should also do some homework because he/she needs to find an appropriate spot for shooting that plot and therefore find out YongKong doesn’t look like the countryside, therefore suggesting the screenwriter change the setting of the hometown to YongKong. Neither the screenwriters nor the director did enough homework and raise concerns. The director needs to take partial responsibility, too.
Moreover, even if the boss demands the main character must come from “YongKong district”, did you as the screenwriter or the director discuss with your boss by pointing out that YongKong district is not suitable and suggesting using other districts in Tainan? That’s also your problem because you didn’t do enough homework, discuss it with your boss, and provide an alternative suggestion. I personally think some bosses will agree with using other districts in Tainan as the idea of the boss is probably only “live in the countryside”. Only if you did suggest using another district in Tainan but the boss rejected it, that’s indeed the boss’s problem.

3. The motive of drifting to the north
“I think it’s a pity that I can’t see what the motive of Guilan Mei (The actor of the main character) is for her insistence on going to Taipei ( The capital of Taiwan) “^[2]https://www.facebook.com/takecareofyourknee/posts/661705465315250, which is a hot criticism that many Taiwanese audiences have or agree. Let’s see other similar criticisms.
“The protagonist of the original “Tokyo Women Illustrated Handbook” was from Akita-ten and ran to Tokyo to work in the fashion industry…….Akita’s main industry is agriculture……But take a look at the industries that Yisan Lin (the main character) has worked in since she arrived in Taipei. Are jobs such as marketing in beauty and customer service rare in Tainan City? What about making Yisan Lin a person from Yunlin? This will be more convincing. (We really have very few marketing jobs in Yunlin……)“ ^[3]https://vocus.cc/article/633bb186fd897800017439f5 
*Note: “If your goal in life is to be in the first row of pop culture, especially in the fashion, media, and entertainment-related industries, you may indeed have to ‘drift north’ (Move to Taipei, a city in the north).”^[4]https://www.facebook.com/imginoy/posts/642398017248951 
” ‘Only Taipei city has big corporations!’ There are also some big corporations in Tainan, such as Uni-President (統一企業). Why didn’t she work in Uni-President or some big corporations in Tainan?” – A Dcard comment.
“In the first episode, it only took five minutes to complete Lin Yishan’s propulsion of drifting northern with a monologue “Taipei girls are so different; they all have their own style” and other such literary styles. But in those five minutes, we can’t see her motivation. ( But I guess it’s because the investor has a requirement for rhythm ) – the author’s satire that the investor has an “unreasonable” requirement in the rhythm and therefore deleting some plots.” ^[5]https://www.thenewslens.com/article/174341 

My view:
First, the question asking why the main character doesn’t work in Uni-Corporation in Taiwan is actually a common question that many old Taiwanese ask young Taiwanese. Old Taiwanese often ask “Our XXX city also has YYY corporation (Just name any big Taiwanese corporation). How about you move back and work there?” Taiwanese who work in cities other than your hometown, let me ask you, did you move back because of listening to your parent or older relatives? Some Taiwanese did move back for such a reason; however, some Taiwanese didn’t, right? Therefore, although this motive is indeed ambiguous, the reason that this motive is ambiguous is not entirely due to the screenwriter’s poor writing of the protagonist’s motivation in drifting to Taipei.
In fact, in an article on Dcard “asking why do you work in Taipei instead of other cities?”, many Taiwanese did answer “There are many big corporations in Taipei”. Many Taiwanese clicked Likes on this comment. Nevertheless, when asking them “XXX city also has YYY corporation. Why don’t you work there?”, they couldn’t answer it. In one respect, the screenwriter of this TV series simply used a very common answer “There are many big companies in Taipei City”, while they are actually also clueless about such Taiwanese’s motives for working in Taipei and even do not think about why they (the screenwriters) want to work in Taipei. The main problem is that many Taiwanese who work in Taipei do not clearly know why they work in Taipei or lack the expression ability to clearly state why they choose to work in Taipei; that’s why they couldn’t answer the question “XXX city also has YYY corporation. Why don’t you work there?” Many Taiwanese simply copied other people’s thoughts “Only Taipei city has big corporations!” to answer the question “Why do you want to work in Taipei” without thinking what’s their reason for working in Taipei; for some Taiwanese, they even don’t have any reason. They just go to Taipei and work there without thinking about what they want and about whether it is necessary to work in Taipei for what they want.

One person did clearly answer such a question “XXX city also has YYY corporation. Why don’t you work there?”. She said, “There is not enough to go around”, which means that only a few big corporations in other cities in Taiwan aren’t enough for all Taiwanese who want to work in big corporations. This is a good answer, but not many Taiwanese understand this idiom without such an explanation as mine above, and most importantly, not many Taiwanese clearly know why they want to work in Taipei, unlike this Taiwanese.
Ok. Here is my view of how you should express your reason if your reason for working in Taipei is ”Only Taipei city has big corporations!”.
One, the thought from the above-mentioned Taiwanese who said “There is not enough to go around” can be viewed in this way: There are only a few big corporations in other cities, but there are many big corporations in Taipei city.
Two, it’s true that there are some big corporations in Tainan, including Uni-President. However, why must a person work in Uni-President or the very few corporations in other cities? There are many choices and types of jobs that a person can choose; he/she doesn’t have to work in the Uni-President corporation simply because Tainan is the hometown and there is a Uni-President corporation in Tainan.
If your goal is not to work in big corporations, you better clearly state what your own reason for working in Taipei is. It is obvious that you are the same as the above-mentioned people who can’t explain “why you don’t work for YYY company in XXX city”; there is a problem with your independent thinking and an expression problem, so you don’t even have the ability to clearly state your own reason. For example, the above comment of the type of jobs which you want to do are rare in your hometown, or the industry you want to work in is rare in your hometown…These are all great reasons that clearly state why you want to work in Taipei.
In addition, I mentioned that “In one respect, the screenwriter of this TV series simply used a very common answer ‘There are many big companies in Taipei City, while they are actually also clueless about the motive”. That’s one respect. The other respect is that the reason is conveyed in the wrong line. If the screenwriter wrote, “There are big companies in Taipei City” as some of the common answers from the Taiwanese said instead of “Only Taipei has big corporations!”, the line would be justified. The remaining problem is the problem of both the audiences who ask “XXX city also has YYY corporation. Why don’t you work there?” to question the writing abilities of the screenwriters and the Taiwanese who can’t answer such a question when their reason is “There are big companies in Taipei City”. Yet, the line is “Only Taipei has big corporations”, not “There are many big companies in Taipei City”, so still as I said before, the screenwriters are clueless about the motive of such Taiwanese who have this reason, and possibly the expression ability of the screenwriters are not good enough in addition.

Second, the most important thing you should notice is that the motive of the main character which is stated by the plot is the main character thinks that “Taipei girls are so different; they all have their own style”. According to the above comments, many audiences are not convinced by such a motive. The reason that the main character thinks that “Taipei girls are so different; they all have their own style” is a scene she saw on 101: A Taipei girl’s heel of her high heels is broken. She took off her high heels and continue to walk as if nothing happened. Many Taiwanese women disagree with such a scene as they think they will be very anxious that their high heels are broken when they are outside. Yet, I have a different view.
It is true that many Taiwanese women will act differently when their high heels break. There is a Youtuber pointing out that many Taipei women have some common attributes which the drama didn’t mention ^[6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEi6SjSu5LY . I agree with her. However, in terms of the above comments regarding the motive of drifting north, I disagree. Whether most Taipei women will take off their high heels and act like nothing happened when their high heels are broken or not, and whether Taipei girls are so different or not have nothing to do with thinking “Taipei girls are so different; they all have their own style” and therefore wanting to work in Taipei because of seeing such a scene. Why? Because the scene of a Taipei girl continuing to walk like nothing happened after her high heels are broken indeed happens in the plot. The main character thinks that “Taipei girls are so different” because seeing such a scene is a very reasonable thing when such a scene indeed happened in front of her eyes.
More importantly, thinking “Taipei girls are so different” and therefore wanting to go to Taipei is nothing wrong. Although the motive is not about the goal of a career, having a motive of wanting to be “a Taipei girl” who is so different and therefore wants to go to Taipei is nothing wrong.

Third, I also would like to particularly discuss the comment “But I guess it’s because the investor has a requirement for rhythm”. I disagree with this view of blaming people who have a requirement for rhythm. In fact, in many movies or TV dramas in any country, there are always some requirements for the rhythm of the plot due to various reasons. Maybe the reason is that the director feels cutting out some of the plots will make the whole play better for some reasons; maybe the reason is that there is a time length limit for each episode of the drama or a movie; maybe there is a limit in the number of the episode for some reasons. For example, the movie series Harry Porter remove many original plots in the novels; otherwise, the entire movie probably is longer than 3 and a half hours. Having a requirement for rhythm does not make the plot difficult to be understood. The crucial question is whether or not the meaning the screenwriter wants to convey is still delivered clearly after deleting some of the plots.
The above part is only expressing that having a requirement for rhythm does not make the plot difficult to be understood. Although I said that you should check if the meaning of the plot is still delivered clearly after deleting some of the plots, what I said doesn’t mean that the meaning of this drama (Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook) is not clearly delivered after deleting some of the plots. As I said, the motive for “wanting to be a Taipei girl” is pretty clear. Anyway, even if there is no such motive of “wanting to be a Taipei girl” and the motive is about “wanting to work in a big corporation”, can the screenwriters convey the meaning clearly when some of the plots are deleted and they only can use one line to convey the meaning? YES. For example, just saying “I want to work in a big corporation of XXX industry. XXX industry develops very well in Taipei” is enough; the meaning of this line is similar to the purpose of someone who goes to New York is that he wants to work in Wall Street, or the purpose of someone who goes to Silicon Valley is that he wants to have a great career in the software industry and there are many tech companies in Silicon Valley. Is this line “I want to work in a big corporation of XXX industry. XXX industry develops very well in Taipei” too long to meet the requirement of rhythm? NO. Not at all. Expressing “such a simple thing” doesn’t even need a great expression ability. It’s okay to have some more relevant plots. However, if you as a screenwriter can’t deliver “such a simple thing” in one line after being requested to delete some of the relevant plots, you should review why your expression ability is this bad to this extent instead of blaming the requirement of rhythm. I didn’t watch the drama. I don’t know whether there is a line indicating a specific career goal of the main character before she went to Taipei. If there is such a line, that’s the audience’s problem; if there isn’t one, it’s the screenwriters’ problem.
(This part is under the assumption that there is no motive of “wanting to be a Taipei girl” but only the motive of a career goal, and is about screenwriters shouldn’t blame other people for having the requirement of rhythm. As I said, the motive of wanting to be a Taipei girl is pretty clear, so the screenwriters already convey the motive clearly. However, screenwriters shouldn’t blame other people for having the requirement of rhythm, and there may be a problem that a screenwriter himself/herself does not express well enough when deleting some plots for the requirement of rhythm. )

4. “In early January of this year, I (a psychologist) received an invitation from the production company to participate in a script development meeting…….The meeting was rigorous and fulfilling. In addition to the direction of the script, it was more about clarifying the clinical scene with the professionalism of a psychologist to avoid unrealistic scenes and imagination. It was a rare experience. It is a pity that there is no subsequent work regarding the script development work; probably because I do not quite meet the requirement…..The development of a play usually requires a lot of fieldwork, so in addition to me, the production company has previously invited five psychologists to discuss it. All of this is only for a concept that has not yet taken shape; the scriptwriter is responsible for filling in the flesh and blood after setting up the tone……If the lines and details of a play go wrong, the scriptwriters certainly hardly can absolve themselves from the blame……But before we uncover the war criminals, if we take the time to understand the ecology behind the scenes, things may not be quite as what we thought. (The psychologist agrees in the article with the view that ideas of a Taiwanese drama come from bosses instead of screenwriters in most cases ) ” ^[7]https://www.thenewslens.com/article/174341 

My view:
I don’t object to part of the perspective of this psychologist that audiences shouldn’t blame screenwriters when the idea came from the boss or another person. However, two things I need to point out.

First, as I said in another article of mine (You may skip this part if you have read it), “indeed, screenwriters in Taiwan aren’t taken seriously in the industry and the point that is criticized by audiences may come from the modification of the boss and the director instead of the screenwriter; however, firstly, even if the screenwriter wasn’t taken seriously, the plot that is criticized by audiences could still come from the screenwriter instead of coming from the boss or the director. In this case, criticizing the screenwriter for writing this part of the plot has nothing wrong. The screenwriter should listen to the criticism, think about whether the criticism indeed makes sense, and improve himself/herself if it makes sense. Secondly, audiences did not participate in the work of this TV series or this movie; they, therefore, do not know whether the part of the plot they dislike still came from the screenwriter or actually came from the idea of the boss, the director, or the producer. If an audience criticizes parts of the plot, she/he certainly can criticize the screenwriter. If you are the screenwriter but it isn’t you who came up with the idea of that part of the plot……you can explain it, and audiences indeed have to accept that it’s not your fault. However, you can’t blame the audience for criticizing the wrong person in the first place. No one can know who should actually be the one to be criticized before you see their criticisms and provide your explanation.”

Second, which is the most important point I want to discuss regarding this comment, this comment is written by a psychologist (which is clearly mentioned), and it’s also about how the production company has invited some psychologists to discuss the concept and development of a script. It’s not clear whether the main subject of this script development meeting that this psychologist joined is about this TV drama: Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook, or about another TV drama. Yet, since the production company invited psychologists to join script development before setting up a tone, it looks like the production company and the boss of that are pretty serious about the concept and the development of a script and really want to understand the mindset of the majority of Taipei females. So why does the script of this TV drama ( Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook) becomes so unrealistic compared to the real situation of many Taiwanese females ( Including Taipei female )? It’s possible that not all of the problems regarding the ideas of the plot came from the boss; after all, the boss is willing to spend money on inviting psychologists to join the work. He probably took some of the advice from the psychologists he invited. Since this psychologist said “The meeting was rigorous and fulfilling” if the parts contributed by the psychologists are criticized, the psychologists and the crews should be thinking about “What went wrong” makes a meeting that joined personnel feels “rigorous and fulfilling” does not achieve the result they want.
Anyway, it’s not clear which parts of the plot the invited psychologists took part in or what psychological mindsets in the plot the invited psychologists contributed. Maybe the parts of the drama contributed by the psychologists are other parts that have not been criticized; for example, the main character is disliked by many audiences because of some of her disadvantages. However, many disadvantages of the main character that are disliked by audiences actually can be seen in many Taiwanese. If these disadvantages were contributed by the psychologists, in my view, I will say they did a great job. After all, the name of the drama is “Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook”. Maybe the parts that are criticized – For example, the discrimination of makeup, and the frequent sex life with random people – come from the boss instead of psychologists and screenwriters. Then it’s indeed possibly the boss’s problem. There are indeed some great psychologists in Taiwan. This point is simply a reminder or a heads-up as I don’t the actual situation of the script development of this drama.

5. The lines and the plot are full of stereotypes, which make Taipei people cry out that Taipei people are not like this: Makeup
“You’re not from Taipei, are you? With this makeup, it’s useless for you to apply for even one hundred companies.” ^[8]https://www.facebook.com/balaq.hsieh/posts/pfbid0u2PZ8AVFRtHNuvmfbtXk4S7LRNive7ZbJAwaXt7k844P2bf4Gg1eRuvSr1UUj657l
“See your makeup. I guess you are not from Taipei?” : Many Taiwanese states that Tainan city also has many beauties. It’s discrimination. ^[9]https://www.facebook.com/tainanstyle2020/posts/pfbid02Gqoo7iExHX73LWVuTpuebMHkv2UtkZyUshTKPsbkJqvq7GaCi7ZStjKZwFuLrJJFl ^[10]https://star.setn.com/news/1185792?from=y 
Many Taiwanese state that no one will put up such terrible makeup in real life and many people are from the countryside but live in Taipei and are good at makeup. Some screenwriters state that the terrible makeup comes from the actor herself; the relevant personnel did convey that the makeup is too terrible, but the actor still wants to put up that terrible makeup in that plot.
“And that Taipei makeup is really exaggerated. It has nothing to do with Taipei; it’s just using exaggeration and comparison on the setting.” ^[11]https://www.facebook.com/takecareofyourknee/posts/661705465315250 

My view:
First, it’s true that no woman will put up such terrible makeup in real life, even women who are not very good at makeup. However, let’s put the comment “Many females from Tainan are also beautiful or are good at makeup” aside, the plot is about the main character doing terrible makeup and therefore being made fun of by the supervisor who interviewed her. Let me ask you: How do you demonstrate terrible makeup? Some females are not very good at makeup, but they can still do some simple makeup – eyeliner and mascara..etc, that simple makeup is light makeup, and doing such light makeup for office looks is nothing wrong. What could go wrong with simply a simple eyeliner and mascara? Some females may have problems in drawing eyebrows, but imperfectly drawn don’t make makeup “obviously” terrible. If the actor doesn’t do such terrible makeup, audiences will probably ask, “Is this makeup terrible? Can the relevant staff work more attentively?”
Therefore, it’s mostly not the problem of the actor who demands to put on such terrible makeup. It’s simply an impossible task to come up with a terrible “light” makeup when there is such a plot. If you say a female isn’t good at a certain style of makeup or even some difficult styles and thus mess up, that makes sense. But the plot is about wearing makeup for a job interview; there is no need to wear any particular style of makeup. Doing terrible “light” makeup without focusing on any particular style of makeup is simply impossible even for females who aren’t good at makeup. Again, what could go wrong with simply a simple eyeliner and mascara?

Second, since there is such a plot but it’s an impossible task to come up with a terrible “light” makeup, the problem is the plot itself. So the crucial problem is who comes up with such a plot. The boss? The director? Or the screenwriter? That’s the question that the screenwriter needs to ask himself/herself rather than blaming the actor who wants to have more exaggerated makeup. If it’s from the boss or people other than the screenwriter, did you discuss this plot as unreasonable by saying “there are many people who are from the countryside but live in Taipei and are good at makeup” or similar words with the person who demanded to have this plot? If you as the screenwriter did express a reasonable opinion of why this plot doesn’t work to the one who demanded to have this plot, that’s the problem of the person who demanded to have this plot. Nevertheless, if you didn’t express that or the idea of the plot initially came from yourself as the screenwriter, that’s your problem.

Third, concerning the last comment “And that Taipei makeup is indeed exaggerated. It has nothing to do with Taipei; it’s just using exaggeration and comparison on the setting”, I want to discuss the problem of this comment.
This comment either states that the makeup is too exaggerated to a point that audiences shouldn’t accept this makeup in this plot, or states that the screenwriter simply uses exaggeration which is a reasonable method, and therefore there is nothing wrong with this plot. I don’t know which meaning is the meaning that the commenter wants to express. Still, I disagree with either meaning. Although using exaggeration is a good method in writing, the theme of this drama is to depict the real life of women in Taipei; such terrible makeup indeed won’t happen in real life. It’s reasonable for Taiwanese audiences being so angry about it. Again, in my view, the problem is that this plot doesn’t work at all because it’s an impossible task to do a terrible “light” makeup.

6. The lines and the plot are full of stereotypes, making Taipei people cry out that Taipei people are not like this: High Heels
“Taipei girls walk a lot and their high heels break off easily”
Some Taiwanese argue that many Taiwanese females including Taipei women don’t wear high heels; some Taiwanese argue that Taiwanese females will be anxious when their high heels break during walking rather than just walking as if nothing happens ^[12]https://m.facebook.com/klaw1207/posts/527014282759724/ .
“It’s not likely that the high heels will break because of the amount of walking… As for the aunt who shared in the drama that she would use three-second glue to continue to wear high heels, this is because everyone’s level of treasuring the pair of shoes is different and has different habits of using the goods, so they naturally have different ways of handling them. Especially nowadays there are many choices of shoes and they are affordable, many people will just buy new shoes to avoid similar dilemmas again.”

My view:
First, it’s true that many Taiwanese females including Taipei women don’t wear high heels and will be anxious when their high heels break during walking. In terms of the two perspectives, I agree. However, just to be clear, since the word “stereotype” is a negative word, I personally speculate that the reason that some of the Taiwanese audiences don’t like this line is that they are angry at being viewed as “someone who wears high heels often”. Ask yourself one question if you are such a person: What does it wrong with wearing high heels often? Why can’t a person wear high heels as long as she likes? There is nothing wrong with wearing high heels often. If you are not such a person and simply think this is not the case for the majority of Taipei women while you don’t have any angry emotion resulting from being viewed as “someone who wears high heels often”, you can skip this part.

Second, with respect to the comment about the trick of using three-second glue to fix high heels in the drama, I want to particularly discuss it. Since you say everyone’s way of dealing with their shoes is different, there is nothing wrong with a plot that describes the way the aunt is using three-second glue. you don’t have to object that the drama describes such a way; it’s just not your way. In fact, in my generation, many people who are older than me did suggest me use three-second glue to fix high-heels. When Yahoo knowledge was still running, there were many answers from Taiwanese suggesting using three-second glue to fix high heels. Although I personally never adopt this method, there were indeed some old people who did suggest this method. It’s a common method from older Taiwanese, so conveying that an aunt who is older than the main character suggests this method is nothing wrong. Again, since you say everyone’s way of dealing with their shoes is different, even if many people choose to buy new shoes, there is nothing wrong with a plot that describes the way the aunt is using three-second glue.

7. “The third episode is so ridiculous… Why did you go from being a pure Tainan girl to a slutty and unruly woman? ….. Are Tainaners like this?” ^[13]https://www.nownews.com/news/5942913 
“Every time the main character gets drunk, she meets a man! Anan, Hua-qing Shen, Xiao Luo. How many times does this drama have to use this routine? Not everyone who gets drunk will be lucky enough not to have an accident. Is the crew of this drama trying to convey that life in Taipei will become chaotic (Means a lot of sex) ?” ^[14]https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/TaiwanDrama/M.1664355316.A.232.html 
“Obstetrics and gynecology clinic is such a cliché. When Huiru Xu said, ‘Can you accompany me to a place I thought, ‘are they going to the obstetrics and gynecology clinic?’ Then they really went to the obstetrics and gynecology clinic!!!! To be honest, if I want to see drinking, singing, abortion, and fast food love, then I just watch Light the Night (Another Taiwanese drama)! What image does this drama has portrayed of the people who go to Taipei? I feel that foreigners who watch this drama will feel that ‘going to Taipei will become flashy and unreal’. This is a drama that destroys the image of Taiwan! ” ^[15]https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/TaiwanDrama/M.1664355316.A.232.html 
“Not everyone in Taipei is like this.” Having sex with many people and having a very casual attitude toward relationships. These are “personal choices” and are not related to where you are from. Taipei may have a lot of temptations, but not everyone will make such choices. Similarly, even in the south, there are people who live a more chaotic life ( A life with more sex with many persons). These are almost all the same old stories that viewers are tired of watching. “^[16]https://www.beauty321.com/amp/post/50958 
”Being pregnant is indeed a difficult problem that women may encounter in the workplace or life, but these incidents in the drama are dealt with in a way that is too simple and “brutal (Here the commenter’s meaning is the way is too terrible)”, and even the way they are handled is easy, which makes it impossible for the audience to relate to the plot.” ^[17]https://www.beauty321.com/amp/post/50958 

My view:
First, let’s discuss “a life of frequent sex with random people” first. True, most Taiwanese women won’t have such a sex life. However, what does it wrong with having a life of frequent sex with random people or often drinking at night clubs or KTV with men? I think many Taiwanese are too conservative. The problem is that this TV drama’s name is “Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook”, so Taiwanese audiences have expectations of portraying the majority of Taipei women accurately, while this plot portrays a life of frequent sex with random people that the majority of Taiwanese women including Taipei women don’t have. Saying “Taipei women or Tainan women are not like this” is okay as the majority of Taipei women are very conservative unlike Americans in the U.S dramas – the majority of Taiwanese females really don’t have sex with random people very often; however, you shouldn’t criticize such people who have frequent sex with random people including saying such women are sluts. There is nothing wrong with having sex with random people instead of a boyfriend. Why can’t women enjoy sex with random people? The main character doesn’t have a boyfriend or a husband; in other words, she is not in a committed one-on-one relationship with anyone. Many Taiwanese are too conservative.

Second, with respect to the clichéd topic of being pregnant, yes, the topic of being pregnant is very common in Taiwanese dramas. It’s understandable that some Taiwanese audiences are tired of watching this same topic. So it’s okay for some Taiwanese audiences to say “It is such a cliché” or the view that the way such incidents are dealt with is too simple and “brutal” as the last comment points out. However, some criticisms relevant to this topic have the thought that being pregnant before marriage and doing an abortion are bad things. For example, the third comment above has this thought. The commenter said “abortion…What image does this drama has portrayed of the people who go to Taipei? I feel that foreigners who watch this drama will feel that ‘going to Taipei will become flashy and unreal’. This is a drama that destroys the image of Taiwan!” This thought of thinking being pregnant before marriage and doing an abortion are bad things should also have been outdated for a long time.
(By the way, thinking that the plot of drinking, singing, abortion, and fast food love destroys the image of Taiwan is the same. It’s true that the majority of Taiwanese females don’t have fast-food love, but there is no need to feel ashamed of fast-food love or be angry about it. You are overreacting. )

8. “When she became a freshman in the society, smartphone already became popular, but she was looking for an address of a place with a notebook, which made many viewers quite dismayed. ” ^[18]https://www.upmedia.mg/news_info.php?Type=196&SerialNo=155545 

My view:
The disorder of time and space which is commonly pointed out by audiences is indeed a problem. I agree. This article points out many essential problems; if you are interested, you may read it ^[19]https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/TaiwanDrama/M.1664375045.A.6B4.html . However, in terms of the plot of using a notebook to look for an address of a place, I personally think it is a bit of over-picky. It’s true that nowadays people use smartphones to look for an address of a place. But using a notebook to record some important things is still a thing that some people do at current times. Moreover, there are uses of smartphones in other plots of the drama when the era of the drama is the current era. It’s not that smartphone nevertheless completely disappears in this drama when the time background of the drama is the current era; it’s not that a character uses a tool that completely doesn’t match with the background of the era in the play, either. So just one use of a notebook is actually not a great matter.
( By the way, you can also see this as an incident; maybe her smartphone is out of power. Many people will prepare a portable charger; you can just think that this main character doesn’t prepare a portable charger. There is nothing illogical about that. )
Still, it’s true that using a smartphone to look for an address of a place will be better and more fit to the background of the time and the space. But my point is that this problem is simply a tiny and unimportant problem as the notebook is still being used nowadays. There are other problems that are worth to be pointed out and criticizing than this problem, including problems that are relevant to the disorder of the background of time and space in this drama and problems which are unrelated to the background of time and space; the problems pointed out in this article I mentioned and some problems I pointed out in this article are some of them.

9. “Tainan people love to eat something sweet”^[20]https://www.facebook.com/tainanstyle2020/posts/pfbid02Gqoo7iExHX73LWVuTpuebMHkv2UtkZyUshTKPsbkJqvq7GaCi7ZStjKZwFuLrJJFl

My view:
Because many such criticisms didn’t express clearly why they dislike this line and I didn’t watch the drama, I am not sure why this line is disliked by Taiwanese audiences. The only clue is that this is a stereotype. Is it that this stereotype makes many Tainan people angry about they are being viewed as “someone who likes to eat something sweet”? Or it’s simply that not every Tainan people love to eat something sweet, so it is a stereotype, but you don’t have any angry emotion resulting from being viewed as “someone who likes to eat something sweet”?

As I didn’t watch the drama, I don’t know if there is any relevant plot in this drama indicating discrimination toward people who love eating something sweet. Anyway, suppose that there is no relevant plot in this drama that indicates such discrimination, three things you should note in this assumption.

First, there are indeed many Tainan people who love to eat something sweet. Google “Tainan people love to eat something sweet”, you will find a lot of articles mentioning that. Many of you even read some comments regarding the impression of Tainan: When people think of Tainan, one of the impressions is also that foods in Tainan are pretty sweet compared to foods in other cities; such a comment are very common in such articles. ^[21]https://pttstudy.com/womentalk/M.1609585781.A.607.html  ^[22]https://www.facebook.com/gushi.tw/posts/2522761354628856/ .

Second, whatever reason makes you dislike this line – even if you see this as a stereotype but you don’t have any angry emotion resulting from being viewed as “someone who likes to eat something sweet”, ask yourself one question: Is there anything wrong with “loving to eat something sweet”? Isn’t it common sense that people have different preferences for what they eat and it’s okay – some people love to eat something sweet; some people dislike that? Isn’t these all okay? To audiences who are angry because they as Tainan people who are being viewed as “someone who likes to eat something sweet”, I really don’t know what you are angry at. There is no discrimination toward people loving to eat something sweet in this drama, and no one points at you and says you like to eat something sweet; it’s simply a general impression. Accordingly, there is no need to be angry at that.

Third, such a general impression shouldn’t be viewed as a stereotype and criticized for that. For example, in a U.S. TV drama: How I Met Your Mother, there is such a plot: One of the main characters, Robin, comes from Canada and was a popular pop star in Canada when she was a teenager. When she changed her style in both music and the whole outlook, many Canadian celebrities told that they remember what flavors of the donuts they were eating when seeing the news that Robin changed her style. This plot indicates that Canadians love to eat donuts and Robin changing her style is a big event. Does every Canadian love to eat donuts? NO. There must be some Canadians who don’t love to eat donuts – Maybe they just don’t love donuts; maybe they don’t love to eat something sweet so dislike donuts. Does saying Canadians love to eat donuts discriminate against Canadians? NO, not at all. Instead, many audiences in the U.S. feel this plot is very interesting and humorous. Moreover, I personally think portraying Canadian people all remembering what flavors of the donuts they were eating are pretty cute.
Many Canadians live and work in the U.S., and this drama was very popular in the U.S, so probably many Canadians also watched this drama, too. However, did Canadians complain that “this is a stereotype”? No. Many Taiwanese overreacted to the line “Tainan people love to eat something sweet”.

Conclusion

In conclusion, first, although there are indeed some problems with the plot of this drama: Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook, Taiwanese audiences should correct some thoughts, too. Second, despite the screenwriters in Taiwan don’t have a say in a script and many ideas come from a boss or a director in many cases, screenwriters still have some problems and need to take partial responsibility for some of the problems with the plot of this drama.

---

透過捐款和在社群媒體上關注我來幫助我

我撰寫的每篇文章在撰寫前都經過我數天的研究和思考。如果你喜歡我的文章，請不吝捐款支持我，這樣我可以撰寫更多有品質的文章。
注意: 捐款的單位是美元 – 美元兌新台幣約為 1:30 (1美元=30元台幣)

如果你喜歡我的文章，請分享此篇文章到你的社群媒體頁面，這樣我的文章就可以被更多人看見。
同時也請透過點擊下方連結來關注我的社群媒體(包含Facebook)，這樣你就可以收到我最新的文章。
關注我的社群媒體: 臉書Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin

文章禁止轉載