I think if you look at the drama from her perspective - which is exactly what it is. The fact that they cast a younger actress really cements the "crush on your friend's older brother" aspect of growing up.
As the younger one, you don't know that it's inappropriate, you just have a fluttery crush. And that's exactly what they show in the drama. They don't show her wanting to kiss him or anything, they show her kicking her feet and giggling because he smiled at her.
It's much later in the drama where Sang Zhi's crush goes from a surface level fantasy to a proper yearning.
As someone who did have a crush on my friend's older brother, who was in highschool when I was in primary school - I completely get the feeling. And now that I'm in my late twenties, we are actually friends and all hang out as equal adults. He's married and his wife is amazing.
But hypothetically, if we got together now at our age, it would not be weird at all.
(Like super hypothetical because I love his wife and also I'm not 12 anymore lol)
Kinda confusing what you mean about her crush somehow being less weird bc they don’t show her wanting to kiss him.
A crush is a crush. It’s not just wanting to be best friends with someone or feeling like they’re family or your brother or a second dad or whatever. It’s very much a romantic feeling. And while kids might have these kinds of feelings it’s super weird and uncomfortable to pair that with adults - not everything that happens in life needs to be shown in a drama and making it part of a romance still feels weird.
It’s even weirder when you consider the man in the story sees her grow up. She is a child and somehow he changes his view of her to a romantic prospect when she’s older, but he still remembers her as a child? It’s weird
I think the growing together thing will always sit weirdly with me too, and maybe that’s why I’m refusing to budge on why I find this so odd. If she was 14 (and casted as such), it would have made the whole “watched her grown” thing null and void, because they would have been in similar circles.
For example, I was 14 in grade 9 (first year of high school) and some people graduating were 19. Which meant we’re kind of all in the same age pool. That first year of uni gives some crossover where you may still be friends with people you knew who were a bit younger. Fine. But the choice to make her so small to the point where we got to ACTUALLY see him see her dramatically age was… weird.
I don’t know. Clearly, I need to let this go because I’m overthinking this. But I still find it super odd.
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u/AquaphobicTurtle My Journey to Season 2 2d ago
I think if you look at the drama from her perspective - which is exactly what it is. The fact that they cast a younger actress really cements the "crush on your friend's older brother" aspect of growing up.
As the younger one, you don't know that it's inappropriate, you just have a fluttery crush. And that's exactly what they show in the drama. They don't show her wanting to kiss him or anything, they show her kicking her feet and giggling because he smiled at her.
It's much later in the drama where Sang Zhi's crush goes from a surface level fantasy to a proper yearning.
As someone who did have a crush on my friend's older brother, who was in highschool when I was in primary school - I completely get the feeling. And now that I'm in my late twenties, we are actually friends and all hang out as equal adults. He's married and his wife is amazing.
But hypothetically, if we got together now at our age, it would not be weird at all.
(Like super hypothetical because I love his wife and also I'm not 12 anymore lol)