I have an 8am meeting tomorrow morning, so, this is a challenge to myself to finish this post in 30 mins so I can sleep before 12am (it is now almost 11pm). Last post, I said I'm gonna talk a bit about the Up All Night online Asian drama convention, so here it is!

Up All Night

It's a three day convention held on discord over the weekend last weekend. Details here. I was really busy last weekend, so I missed most of the panels. But I did make it to the Writing While Being Culturally Aware, and the GL/Lesbian dramas session.

Writing While Being Culturally Aware

I don't really identify as a writer. Most of the things I write is between me and my PC, and a lot of others are between me and the friends I wrote for/with, but I was curious. The writing session was also led by the Singaporean who led the pinyin pronunciation workshop. I liked that the example she gave for the attendees to pick apart was an example she came up on her own for this session rather than using an excerpt from an existing fanfic, and I think it did a pretty good job with the time it had to go through some questions to think about (e.g., different things to be aware of, and situating characters in a time and place) and have some audience participation. Anything deeper will probably either need more time, or be a lot more focused. I wasn't there for the start of the session so idk what happened there, but when I joined, the conversations definitely skew towards writing for c-media.

GL/Lesbian Dramas

Again, I kinda missed the beginning of this panel. But I popped in when they were talking about trends and what tropes the attendees would like to see more of. I feel that the GL panel audience skewed towards preferring wholesome stories and happy ends. And Thai dramas and c-media. And it felt like it was less of a focused panel and more like a conversation with some prompts, so it's hm, more like a discussion group.

I did appreciate getting drama recs from different countries. What I would have loved to hear discussed is how did GL dramas "start" in each country and what is considered the first, and where are we now (I recognizing pinpointing this requires defining what is a GL drama, and if people want to differentiate that from LGBTQ+ media), what are the preferred tropes/themes in different countries, how do they influence each other, how have they changed (if not enough dramas to discuss this, then other GL/yuri/baihe), etc., but I realize this is a heavy ask and will require way more than the time this panel had. llonkrebboj, who have also attended the con, observed that the attendees tend to be newer Asian drama viewers and I agree with that observation. This probably makes it harder to compare themes/tropes across places and time too. ... I'd pick this up as a personal project if I am not super bad at watching things. I haven't watched any drama properly since I recovered from Covid-19 (I don't count skimming an ep out of curiosity to be "watching a drama").

It wasn't bad, just not what I was expecting.

Other panels

I popped in briefly for the Aro-Ace Experience panel but I was driving then and couldn't really concentrate. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it tbh, because the bit I caught was someone asking if not knowing the language makes it easier to distance from the romance (I think), and idk, maybe that's true for some but it kinda felt weird? I was there for the tail end of the Mythology and Legends panel, and was a little confused why transmigration is included as modern myth and legend. And it skews very Chinese, though from the slides, it looks like it started as more generally East Asian. I have expected a broader discussion about the portrayal/use of myths and legends, or maybe how these retellings have changed with time. But maybe time doesn't allow it? Or maybe the panelists are not familiar with other countries? Don't know! Also, no mentions of Abe no Seimei/onmyoujitsu/etc. when Yin Yang Master seems kinda popular among the English online c-media spaces? I think I would have appreciated if the panel has a more focused title, or if it can be a little more general.

(Okay, tbh, I do notice that "Asian dramas" tend to be "East Asian dramas" a lot of the time, and nowadays it's "East Asian + Thai dramas." I'd love it for there to be more representation of other countries.)

Overall

I sound like I have a lot of complaints but I think it's more like an expectation mismatch. I did enjoy myself, and heck, I don't think I'd be able to deliver the panels I had envisioned either. But if I am going to attend again next year, I'd like to try to bring in more mentions of other Asian countries outside of CN, KR, JP, and TH. And maybe organize a panel on something like wuxia fights over the years, or SEAsian horror. Be the change you want to see and all that!

(But I'll have to overcome my discomfort at speaking to strangers over the internet, which is a very different thing from presenting at conferences and teaching a class.)