ElijahRyne
A Hermit that is NOT that Lazy…
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2021
- Messages
- 1,086
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- 153
I have recently gotten back into reading Chinese & Korean web novels. But, I am hesitant to continue because of the face slap. Every work I have started the past couple of weeks has had this to some extent. They start off good, but slowly begin to degenerate in to the Magic Era curse. It was in the summer of 2020, when I read End of the Magic Era. iI had okay world building and a good power system, but every character interaction was the same.
1. You look weak, I am rich bow you peasant, &/or you are wrong so I will humiliate you.
2. Look, there is no way I can be wrong.
3. What?! How could that be, you must be cheating/lying.
4. Face slap + repeat of steps 1-4 until the character is killed, becomes a loyal servant, or becomes a love interest/ally.
I realized this pattern pretty early on, about chapter 30, but continued going because of the quality of practically everything else. In the first 100 or so chapters there was a face slap every ~15 chapters, that would last 2-3 chapters. Then it was every 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4… By chapter 1100 there was practically a face slap arc every other chapter and it became extremely intrusive to the good points of the novel. My morbid curiosity could only take me so far, so I dropped it. When ever a face slapping arc begins you know how it is going to end, it is typically unrealistic and emersion breaking, and it can often assasinate a character’s characterization. So why are there so many?
After that, I searched for a while for a good web novel without them, and eventually found this site. Now, I never completely stopped reading said Chinese & Korean works, but I drastically decreased the amount I read. 5~ weeks ago I started getting into them again and am already slightly regretting it. There have, so far, only been three series that avoided this pit trap. The rest have all had a sense of face slappery and/or been drenched in meaningless conflicts. As if the only way for a character to exist is a mortal enemy, a pathetic mortal, or a meaningless love interest who loses all independence when the protagonist is introduced. All friends have to be reminded that the protagonist can crush them under their boot if they step out of line, if the protagonist has friends in the first place. …
This is not even mentioning the over abundance of One Punch Man & SAO hybrid knock offs, the endless cycle of violence reminiscent of the ending of the Odyssey, the system that makes no sense in its existence, the propagation of racist and sexist stereotypes, Homophobia and Transphobia, the glorification of slavery & the general control over other people, meaningless edge, the fact that they have all been MTLs, & so much more. Yes, these issues exist here, but not to the extent of what you will find MTLing for a good novel. Yet, I will probably go back to them because there is nothing else that I have found, so far, and not already read, that is long enough to really satisfy me.
I have spent the past week trying to find something new to read and, when I do, I either drop it because of the amount of face-slapping, drop it because it is boring, or finish it in two hours only to go back onto the quest for something else.
So… what are your opinions on face slapping? Is it novel ending when it becomes more than one arc? And, if you have any recommendations, please leave them, although I probably won’t read anything with less than 100,000 words if it is not completed.
Oh and the thing that sparked this rant was reading this, it is not as bad as the magic era, but this has already become my ‘reverse scale’ for lack of better terminology:
1. You look weak, I am rich bow you peasant, &/or you are wrong so I will humiliate you.
2. Look, there is no way I can be wrong.
3. What?! How could that be, you must be cheating/lying.
4. Face slap + repeat of steps 1-4 until the character is killed, becomes a loyal servant, or becomes a love interest/ally.
I realized this pattern pretty early on, about chapter 30, but continued going because of the quality of practically everything else. In the first 100 or so chapters there was a face slap every ~15 chapters, that would last 2-3 chapters. Then it was every 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4… By chapter 1100 there was practically a face slap arc every other chapter and it became extremely intrusive to the good points of the novel. My morbid curiosity could only take me so far, so I dropped it. When ever a face slapping arc begins you know how it is going to end, it is typically unrealistic and emersion breaking, and it can often assasinate a character’s characterization. So why are there so many?
After that, I searched for a while for a good web novel without them, and eventually found this site. Now, I never completely stopped reading said Chinese & Korean works, but I drastically decreased the amount I read. 5~ weeks ago I started getting into them again and am already slightly regretting it. There have, so far, only been three series that avoided this pit trap. The rest have all had a sense of face slappery and/or been drenched in meaningless conflicts. As if the only way for a character to exist is a mortal enemy, a pathetic mortal, or a meaningless love interest who loses all independence when the protagonist is introduced. All friends have to be reminded that the protagonist can crush them under their boot if they step out of line, if the protagonist has friends in the first place. …
This is not even mentioning the over abundance of One Punch Man & SAO hybrid knock offs, the endless cycle of violence reminiscent of the ending of the Odyssey, the system that makes no sense in its existence, the propagation of racist and sexist stereotypes, Homophobia and Transphobia, the glorification of slavery & the general control over other people, meaningless edge, the fact that they have all been MTLs, & so much more. Yes, these issues exist here, but not to the extent of what you will find MTLing for a good novel. Yet, I will probably go back to them because there is nothing else that I have found, so far, and not already read, that is long enough to really satisfy me.
I have spent the past week trying to find something new to read and, when I do, I either drop it because of the amount of face-slapping, drop it because it is boring, or finish it in two hours only to go back onto the quest for something else.
So… what are your opinions on face slapping? Is it novel ending when it becomes more than one arc? And, if you have any recommendations, please leave them, although I probably won’t read anything with less than 100,000 words if it is not completed.
Oh and the thing that sparked this rant was reading this, it is not as bad as the magic era, but this has already become my ‘reverse scale’ for lack of better terminology:
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