Written by Hairong 2022 Cohort
The theme “son-in-law” became a trending topic on many social media. Over 40,000 people followed the streaming novel titled “The Dragon son-in-law at the door (上门龙婿).” After being adapted to several social media platforms such as comics, audiobooks, and TV series, the theme has become increasingly popular, especially in Himalaya (an audiobook platform), where over 20 million listeners were attracted to the novel.
It is easy to see the whole story in the novel’s synopsis. “Ye Chen was the son-in-law of the family that everyone despised, but no one knew that his true identity was a royal family’s young master, and those who despised him would eventually have to kneel before him and call him master with fear and trepidation! (Ye, 2023)” An interesting point in the novel is that the son-in-law always appeared to be in the lowest position among family members. However, with the power of inheritance – from his original family, he became the top man in the world and put chains on the relatives who mistreated him.
One of the most popular episodes is when the main character’s mother-in-law became seriously injured and needed a highly skilled doctor; however, that doctor disappeared years ago. After searching in vain, they found a quack doctor. The main character, who has always been looked down upon, made an appearance, and everyone laughed at him and told him to leave the doctor alone. Still, he cured his mother-in-law, and everyone was impressed and realized he was the long-lost miracle doctor.
Although this kind of feel-good plot has been featured in many TV shows, such as Wednesday and The Queen’s Gambit, the vertical relationship between parent and child needs to be emphasized in these son-in-law novels. To highlight the protagonist’s status as a son-in-law who has lost his naming rights in a patriarchal society, the “disgraced” protagonist is ridiculed and suppressed by his relatives on all sides. Until one day, the protagonist discovers that he is the Chosen One, or that he is the “Dragon King,” which usually represents the descendants of the emperor, or that he is the “only offspring of a divine doctor.” By inheriting the property of his original family, he takes revenge on his wife’s family for the oppression of his identity. On top of that, no matter how irrational this vertical relationship is presented in the story, the protagonist never questions it, choosing instead to submit to it and eventually becoming the apex of the relationship.
A similar vertical relationship is written about in many of today’s popular fiction. In such relationships, the hierarchical status of each character who appears, and the contrast with the protagonist’s identity, is usually emphasized more than the personality and talent of each individual. In many immortal cultivation novels, a meticulous hierarchy exists, and those who can occupy the highest realms usually win. The story usually ends with the protagonist becoming the master of the world by his or her virtue.
Suppose a proportion of real-life needs are often manifested in literature. So what is missing in the lives of the readers for such themes? Is it an inability to resist in a vertical relationship, or is it an omnipotent fantasy of the impotent self?
references
Ye. “上门龙婿在线阅读-爱奇艺小说.” 在线阅读–爱奇艺小说, https://wenxue.iqiyi.com/book/detail-cxs2epljfh.html.
http://www.differencebetween.net/business/difference-between-horizontal-and-vertical-relationships/