No Beta 14: Catfights

The Week of 28th of October

Hi there. Welcome to Active Faults.

This week, fanquan is talking about…

Trending at No.2, 4, 5, and 6 on Weibo: Heart Signal drama continues. As participants go on more dates and settle into semi-fixed pairings depending on their chemistry, female participants get into the reality show trope I hate the most: catfighting. One particular participant is currently being called out for being a little “pick-me” and not a girl’s girl, as she confronts another girl over her man-stealing behaviour. The streets are saying she’s wearing fakes and acting, in general, very fake towards all women on the show.

From what I’m seeing, barely any actual romantic drama this year made as big of a splash as dating realities. You could even say that the same applies to Western entertainment, where Andrew Garfield’s Chicken Shop Date with Amelia Dimoldenberg got more raucous chatter than actual media content with a romantic narrative arc. Guaranteed on-screen portrayal of sex and intimacy is no longer needed. Viewers want to fill in the blanks, to play with impossibility and proximate quasi-thrill like play-doh.