Matriarchies

Matriarchy - Alternate universe where the traditional gender roles are reversed. 

Lvl: ▲▲▲▲◭ | Thorough

The gender role reversal when it comes to the matriarchy was pretty thorough and more tasteful than most. It's the best depiction of a matriarchy I've seen, exploring both men and women's roles in society. It's ultimately feminist commentary so there's more focus on the men (which would translate to the women in our world) but it's portrayed in a tasteful way. 

Matriarchy - Alternate universe where the traditional gender roles are reversed. 

Matriarchy - Alternate universe where most of the male population died out thus forcing women to step up as the dominant sex. 

Lvl: ▲▲△△△ | Not very good. 

With a setting as absurd as this one, I found the actual development of the matriarchy aspect to be fairly lacking. The issue isn't as recent as in Ooku but the impact is far less severe (which sure, makes some sense given one is a historical story but still). I liked how they took an understandably dystopian approach to the theme and kept the men safeguarded (aka, locked away), even though I found that also to be rather lacking given the insane circumstances the world was in.  

Unfortunately this was about as good as the matriarchy portrayal went. The world building is shallow to say the least and because of the absurdly short runtime and the focus being on the 'game show' aspect, we get little to no development of the world or the supporting characters living in it. 

In every sense of the word it still functions like a patriarchy but with women which simply doesn't make sense given the world is already way less divided currently and the decline of the male population occurred in the mid 1900s. Women are stereotypical cliches, littered with misogynistic portrayals of female rivalry, and little to nothing of everyday life is actually shown. 

Given what they wanted to achieve, I don't think this premise was the right direction. It functioned entirely like an idol dating show, which would've also made the most sense. 

Matriarchy - World where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Lvl: ▲▲▲◭△

One of those rare instances where the matriarchy is neither an alternate universe, a fictional universe, or a recent development. This one is a true and true matriarchy for no reason other than it is. The world building takes on the more literal approach, flipping the roles in a fairly straightforward way. They really commit to a lot of less commonly done tropes so kudos for that! 

As for the characters. This was atrocious. Though both hold positions relevant to their gender and social standing in the world, their skill level and plot involvement is far too traditional. ML is still the hero saving the day and FL is still the incompetent damsel. We're only ever told that this is different but it very much isn't. This aside, ML especially still behaves in a way that makes sense, especially being a courtesan and dancer. 

Though there's a noticeable lack of older men present in the drama, there's a lot of focus on the older women and their political grievances. 

Matriarchy - Fictional universe where the traditional gender roles are reversed. 

Lvl: ▲▲▲△△ | Pretty good.

The setting is arguably the most role reversal aspect of this drama. They take the more unrealistic but more impactful message-wise of literally reversing all the gender roles with only the exception of female-specific tasks (e.g. pregnancy). These gender-specific themes are somewhat explored but not nearly enough given the focus of the drama. They do however show a lot of the world and how it impacts the main male characters (most notably SML and  supporting character Su Mu).

Unfortunately though, as many matriarchies made mostly for feminist messaging have, there's quite little exploration of the male (or in this context, female) struggle. 

Matriarchy - Alternate universe where the traditional gender roles are reversed. 

Lvl: ▲▲▲△△ | Pretty good.

Similar setting to "The Romance of Tiger and Rose" with less social commentary and a greater focus on the story. As far as matriarchies goes, it was quite alright with decent exploration of gender roles and feminist themes. They portrayed various kinds of dynamics (romantic, platonic, and familiar alike) within this setting and it was quite entertaining and tasteful. 

The cast is diverse, balancing a mix of men and women of different ages, each with a relevant position in the world. Admittedly, it was lacking in older (40s) and younger (under 15) characters but they do still appear, if only briefly. This drama also focused more attention on both men AND women alike so it doesn't feel so one-sided. 

NOTE: This is season 3 of a series. I only watched this one so I have no context for the previous stories which are set in a regular, patriarchal world. I enjoyed it just fine like this. 

Matriarchy - Hidden world/kingdom where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Lvl: ◭△△△△

WIP

Matriarchy - Hidden world/kingdom where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Matriarchy - Alternate universe where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Lvl: ▲▲▲◭△

Sequel to Ye Cheng Fu set in an alternate world/reality but the matriarchy setting remains. Very similar to the previous season. 

➤ Impression after 5 episodes. Currently On Hold

Matriarchy - Alternate history where most of the male population died out thus forcing women to step up as the dominant sex. 

Lvl: ▲▲▲◭△ | Pretty good.

Given the setup for the world this movie takes place in, the matriarchy made a lot of sense. It is not without issues (likely mostly due to the short runtime but I'll check out the drama and anime later), but what is done is done pretty well. We unfortunately don't get a lot of insight about the outside world save for a couple of glimpses at the beginning since most of the story takes place in the inner Harem. 

Because the matriarchy is a recent development, traditional gender roles are still present (e.g. men displaying traditional masculinity) but there's an emphasis on the need for change and characters such as FL (the Shogun) already are far more adapted to the new role expected of them. I liked how they worked around the patriarchal traditions with the new lens.

Matriarchy - Alternate history where most of the male population died out thus forcing women to step up as the dominant sex.

Matriarchy - Alternate history where most of the male population died out thus forcing women to step up as the dominant sex.

Matriarchy - Alternate history where most of the male population died out thus forcing women to step up as the dominant sex.

Matriarchy - Alternate history where most of the male population died out thus forcing women to step up as the dominant sex.

Matriarchy - Hidden world/kingdom where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Matriarchy - Alternate universe where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Matriarchy - Hidden world/kingdom where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Lvl: ▲◭△△△ | Very underwhelming. 

For a matriarchal society spanning several generations, this was very underwhelming. The society is naturally female-focused but with a sort of misogynistic lens (which would be far more understandable if it had been a recent development, but that isn't the case). The women are still very traditional in how they behave, only slightly better than one would find in those olden amazon depictions. 

Some traditions explored definitely take on an interesting lens, mostly in the fact that men aren't considered at all for anything other than literally providing a child.  This lends itself to interesting interactions, especially early on but that dwindles later on. The portrayal of misandry is definitely of the more interesting aspects. By no means good  or well done, but it isn't something I often see in this way. 

Matriarchy - Kingdom where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Lvl: ▲▲▲▲◭

Another of the better depictions out there. The drama is short so world building isn't as extensive as it likely should be for such a different setting than is the norm, but still, there's enough to make it believable. Unlike with many other matriarchy stories, here, plenty of men are present. For every woman, there's a man, all existing in a realistic (within context considering it's also a comedy) way. 

Every character felt like they actually belonged in a matriarchy. They didn't just say the key points but they actually behaved the part. This was especially notable in the leads where both FLs naturally took on leadership roles, taking initiative, and being protective while ML served more as a support role. 

Matriarchy - Alternate universe where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Matriarchy - Kingdom where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Lvl: ▲▲▲△△

The matriarchy in this drama is a recent development and thus a lot of the more patriarchal/traditional approaches can be chucked up to this fact. World building is shallow to say the least but it's acceptable considering its short duration and the focus being mostly on the main leads.

For the most part the leads, especially FL, behave quite like someone who grew up in a matriarchy would. As for supporting roles, most were very forgettable so not great in the accuracy of where they lived. Arguably the biggest downside is actually the sheer lack of female characters present at all. Aside of FL, we only have the main antagonist who is also a woman and that is all. All other roles are occupied exclusively by rather traditional men (ML aside).

TLDR: Believable characters, cute RR moments.

Matriarchy (2nd life/arc) - World where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Lvl: ▲▲▲◭△

Good enough for the exceptionally short runtime. It doesn't really do a whole lot of world-building but what is there is fairly well done. Pretty much every character behaves in a believable way given the setting and we get more diversity in characters as well. Most notably FL's parents both of whom make an appearance and are semi plot-relevant (a rarity since older men are typically absent of matriarchy stories).

TLDR: Believable characters, diverse characters, cute RR moments

Ruling Empress FL - FL takes over the role of sovereign after the death of her father. 

Lvl: ▲▲▲◭△

WIP

Ruling empress FL (One of the lives)

Tribe Leader FL

Ruling empress FL (almost at the end)

Sect leader FL - FL is the highest ranking ruler of an assassin sect. 

Lvl: ▲▲▲◭△

WIP

Ruling empress FL - FL takes over the role of sovereign after the death of her father but disguises herself as man. She later reveals her identity and rules as empress. 

Lvl: ▲▲△△△ 

Most of the story takes place in a neighboring kingdom where FL isn't the ruler and even when the story shifts onto her kingdom, she,for the most part doesn't act like a ruler so this aspect doesn't really have much bearing on the story. 

Sect leader FL - FL is the highest ranking ruler of an assassin sect.

Lvl: ▲▲◭△△

WIP

Ruling empress FL - FL is the sovereign of a patriarchal kingdom.

Lvl: ▲▲▲◭△ | Not bad 

WIP

Ruling empress FL - FL is the sovereign of an unspecified (patriarchy or matriarchy) kingdom.

Lvl: ▲▲▲△△

WIP

Matriarchy - World where the traditional gender roles are reversed.

Lvl: ▲▲▲◭△

The beginning takes place in the matriarchy where we briefly explore the daily lives of some (male) dancers, one of which is ML. We get a couple of glimpses at the outside world but this doesn't last very long before the focus shifts to a military camp of rejected men. Though the positions of power are held by women, yes, the focus of the movie is mostly set in the military camp where FL and SFL are the only women. 

This might be a bit more of a realistic depiction of a matriarchy with men (who on average are stronger) still holding fighting positions but it was still overall lacking.

Some information might not be 100% accurate since I watched this without subtitles.  

Matriarchy - Alternate universe where the traditional gender roles are reversed.