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From: guest (Tumit)
, 39 months, post #1 |
So recently I have spent some time thinking about the factors that
could cause a TG story to become a hit or a flop for mainstream
audience and suddenly this idea came to my head.
My observation is that a crucial difference between TG stories in
fetish community and the TG stories in mainstream is that the
audience of the former is mostly males while the audience of the
latter is mostly females.
The mainstream TG stories which have the most success is the one
which respond better to the need of female audience. One vital
element here is the male lead.
There are two ways to attract female audience: Either a relatable
female lead or a desirable male lead. It could be the nice guy,
understanding type or it could be the strong and proud type (think
about all the arrogant dukes in historical romance novels or the
arrogant billionaires in modern romance). Following similar logic,
there two ways to attract male audience: A relatable male lead or a
desirable female lead.
For stories targeting female audience, the female lead is the one
which function as audience self-insert. This is the character that
should experience growth. Male lead is supposed to be static
character that is already perfect. He is supposed to be a character
that the female audience swooning over since the beginning. This is
inverse of stories targeted towards men where the male lead is the
one experience growth while the female lead is static & already
perfect & the object of desire for male audience since the start.
One example of story targeted towards mostly male audience is Star
Wars. The male lead Luke and to some extent the second male lead
Han, are the ones function as audience self-insert and growing from
imperfection to perfection. The female lead, Leia is a static
character which is already perfect & doesn't change much in the
course of the story. A story targeting female audience should be
the reverse of this.
Think about the most popular mainstream TG fictions in recent
years. The different versions of Lalola, Go Princess Go and the now
showing Mr. Queen which currently deliver strong ratings. The male
leads in those stories, whether the nice guy Facundo in Lalola or
the cold serious type in Go Princess Go would not look out of place
as male leads in genres targeting female audience like rom com.
Ideally, a male lead in women-oriented stories and a female lead in
men-oriented stories are supposed to be a mostly positive character
since the beginning and playing the part of desirable sexual object
for the targeted audience. If they are not, then the story would
rely more on the first factor to attract the intended audience: A
relatable lead of the same gender of the targeted audience.
As such I would theorize that the main reason why most TG stories
don't reach the popularity of Lalola and the other examples above
is because the lack of a strong male lead that could win over the
mostly female audience. As I said in the beginning there are two
ways to win over female audience: Relatable female lead or
desirable male lead. In MtF stories, since the "female lead" is a
man turned into a woman, it is hard for the female audience to feel
relatable to her. As such, the importance of the second factor, a
desirable male lead, is therefore amplified.
Most TG stories are bodyswap, and in this kind of story both of the
characters start out imperfect and experience growth & overcoming
weakness in the course of the story. As such it is a bit harder for
the female audience to view the male lead as desirable. And of
course in most of these stories the two characters mostly swapped
back at the end so the "male lead" is now back in the body of a
woman. Hard to be sex object for the mostly straight female
audience when the character is only temporarily male in the first
place. For non-bodyswap MtF stories, sometimes there is no male
lead at all or at least not one with enough presence. With the
female lead not relatable and the male lead absent or not have its
presence felt, it is also hard for these non-bodyswap MtF stories
to be popular among females.
I believe this is one reason for low ratings of Please Come Back a
few years ago. The male lead played by Rain, is a very flawed
character that is a hard sell for the female audience. Even if the
actor is a popular singer in real life and has legions of screaming
fangirls it is apparently not enough to overcome the flaw of his
character. On the other hand, the other protagonist, the gangster
turned cute girl, does exhibit the characteristic of ideal male
lead & seems to have won the heart of many female viewers. The
problem is of course the character is in female body for the most
of the series.
The counter example to my theory is perhaps Secret Garden, which is
a body swap TG story that is hugely popular. However, I would point
out that in Secret Garden the two characters swap back and forth
and most of the time they are in their original body. So it's more
like a traditional romance with some TG element thrown in. For the
most part, the male lead in Secret Garden is not the FtM character
but the CEO in his original body & the female lead is not the MtF
character but the stuntwoman in her original body. If you view it
this way, this series does have a relatable female lead and a
desirable male lead. It basically plays like the traditional "rich
guy meets poor girl" story which is popular in women-oriented
media.
So does this mean that in the more traditional bodyswap story where
the characters are not swapped back and forth, it is impossible to
create a male lead that is desirable for female audience? Not
necessarily true. I would say that if the writer could write the
FtM character as a strong positive character from the start which
does not need require attitude adjustment, unlike most bodswap
stories we see now, it could still attract the interest of female
audience. Of course, it would massively help if the characters
don't end up swapped back at the end.
So my conclusion is that, if you are writing a TG story,
particularly MtF for mainstream audience in whatever media whether
it is novel, movie or TV series, remember that unlike in the fetish
community, your audience is mostly females. There are two ways to
attract females viewers, a relatable female lead or a desirable
male lead. Since in MtF story the female lead would not be
relatable for them, the second factor becomes the key. Create a
strong male lead.
What do you think?
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From: guest (TG Caption Fan)
, 39 months, post #2 |
Very interesting observation, and I think that there's a lot of
truth in it.
But I believe that there is a third option: having a relatable
female lead who does NOT swap bodies with anyone, but her friend or
her partner does.
For example, Anna Faris' character in The Hot Chick, or Angourie
Rice's character in Every Day (not strictly TG I know, but it
easily could have been). A perk of this type of story is that the
female lead can also be desirable to male viewers.
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From: guest (Tumit)
, 39 months, post #3 |
@TG Caption Fan,
That's a unique perspective. I think that could be done in FtM
story which is non-bodyswap or where it is swap but the MtF is not
visible (a la Hot Chick). But for MtF story, it seems a bit hard to
implement since the MtF character is automatically assumed as
female lead by the audience.
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From: guest (Zaui)
, 39 months, post #4 |
Interesting but we don't have much successful mainstream TG movies
to test this hypothesis.
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From: guest (Tumit)
, 39 months, post #5 |
Since CJ just announced his grand return I am very interested to
know what he thinks about this idea.
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From: guest (mk)
, 39 months, post #6 |
@Zaui,
Maybe not movies but I think we have enough popular tv shows to
make a discussion on this matter.
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From: cj
, 39 months, post #7 |
@Tumit - If I get more time, I will actually read this thread and
might weigh-in.
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