On Revenge Stories

My friends occasionally give trashy^[1] manhwa recs, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one not enjoying it in the vindicating power fantasy way.

Revenge stories are always interesting because it shows what the author believes the audience will find unforgivable or worth punishing.

Sometimes listening to the conversation happening in literature is fun, even if it’s some dumb^[1:1] isekai or manhwa.

They have to make the suffering sympathetic, the disdain towards the ones doling it out relatable, even if it’s some convoluted extreme thing.

So depending on the setting and genre, we get things like:

• Bullies
• Domestic abusers
• Self-serving traitors, both romantic and platonic
• People who look down on you and make you feel like dirt

But the more interesting bit is what gets used as a shorthand for unforgivable and “deserves to be killed”. It’s kinda revealing. I'm not sure what it’s revealing but it’s something.

• Sexual violence. More notably though is the focus on the characters who receive sexual pleasure from other’s suffering. Somehow the only way they can get off is through snuff or torture.
• Characters not feeling negative emotions from other’s suffering.
• Nepotism, and people who gained power only through wealth or familial connections. Strangely, sometimes expands into “anyone who didn’t work ‘hard enough’ to 'deserve’ their power will inevitably abuse it” - as in, people in the oppressed class receiving a sudden windfall, then becoming abusive because they didn’t “earn” it.