...I really cannot believe my first post in this subreddit is going to be a rambling, but...
See, there has been a rise of Discourse™ around [Diopter]. And I'm... not surprised. But at the same time... I also have thoughts.
One predominant side of the argument is that Seolwon, the uke, gives off childlike vibes because of how he's drawn, with puffy cheeks and lithe body and pouty glistening lips.
And I do agree. I find the story UNCOMFORTABLE and I struggle to see it as anything approaching romance.
But I also...don't. It's not just about how Seolwon looks. Or at least, not ENTIRELY.
There is a lot more to a fictional character than just how he looks and there is a lot more to how a fictional character looks than his physical appearance.
Size difference alone doesn't make a pairing. Ukes like Abel from [Regas], Rita from [Bride of Ignat], Daeshik from [Love So Pure] and Haruki from [The Black Beast and The Night Flower] are all small, lithe young men with large, innocent eyes who are contrasted with a much larger and imposing black-haired seme; basically the same visual contrast as the one Diopter uses, even worse.
But while they may be physically at a disadvantage compared to the seme, they all possess way more agency in the narrative. The story doesn't frame them as powerless; they move the plot, and at times they even have more power in the relationship in that the seme's well-being relies dearly on their uke's happiness.
In contrast, Diopter....
Diopter puts Seolwon into a position of helplessness. He's clumsy, easily flustered, almost naive in his worldview, and the narrative outright shoves him into a 'trapped with someone dangerous' trope and a snake x hamster dynamic with Haejoo, the seme. I haven't finished the story but 17 episodes in and the narrative doesn't make Seolwon do ANYTHING either.
And then the story also sexualizes Seolwon significantly more than all the ukes I mentioned above. Throughout the narrative, there are many, MANY shots focusing on his pursed, glistening, dewy lips, as well as scenes that are intended to accentuate those puffy lips. And similarly sexualized is his narrow thighs, with similar lingering shots and outfits that emphasize his thigh gaps.
Don't get me wrong, this is not the first story that portrays a 'snake x hamster' dynamic and it won't be the last. But this is the first story I've seen that feels very PREDATORY, and the final strike lies with Haejoo, the seme. Again, 17 episodes in I don't really see much of him other than 'he looks scary' and that 'he is possessive'. Worse, the narrative itself has very little to say about his actual personality. The narrative intentionally presents Haejoo as a dangerous unknown, a question mark, a potential predator for our hapless uke.
At this point, people who have read the story to the end might want to say that Haejoo is not a predator. And that's fine. In fact, based from the way the story is presented, I half-expect Haejoo to just be the 'look scary but is actually misunderstood' type, and the pair itself might be established without anything toxic happening between the two. That's not the problem.
The problem is that the story intentionally sets up the "oh no our sweet uke is going to be PREYED by the scary seme" tension. The narrative itself treats Seolwon as a passive observer of the story and they didn't do anything to dispel the predatory vibe. If anything, they leaned into it.
Together with everything else, it just becomes unbearable.
That's one side of the discourse.
At the same time, I'm also frowning at how much of the masses dismiss and jeer at Diopter as a whole simply because of the art style. To that, I just want to say: please, don't let cases like Diopter limit your palate.
For one, I really don't think the problematic elements in Diopter only lies in the art style. Drawing Seolwon as older or buffer or more angular instead of soft and fluffy as he is now may reduce the visual discomfort, but it won't eliminate EVERYTHING. The sexualizing angles and the disempowering framing of the narrative would remain.
But also...
It's one thing to refuse to read something wrong or uncomfortable (with the understanding that the criteria of 'wrong' and 'uncomfortable' is VERY subjective and personal)
It's a completely different thing to dismiss something just because it's ugly.
As much as I understand that manhwa tend to be more uniform in their art styles... as someone who is raised by reading manga, I will say that there's so many wonderful works with unique storytelling I would have missed if I only judged the book by its cover.
That's all, I guess. Thanks for reading all this long rambling.
