Protect Me!-Female-Lead

If there is something I started to dislike about female lead characters in Korean dramas, it's the point that most of them seem to be the kind of girl that desperately needs a man to take care of her.
That doesn't mean they directly ask for the male lead to protect them but just that they seem helpless and somewhat clueless from time to time.

That being said, I like princesses. More specifically I like princesses that outdrink the dragon, beat up the evil witch and don't need to wait for the prince because they're going out to get him.

Once again this is about Korean culture. In almost every country women weren't that emancipated through the centuries. In Korea, the feminist movement started as late as in the 1970's, following the democratic movement. It has only been around 40 years so it is not surprising that we still find the typical gender roles in Korean society.
Do you know what the word "oppa" actually implies? Yes, directly translated it refers to a girl's older brother but is used for older males a girl is close to as well. However, what leads to the use of this term basically is "I'm a helpless and cute girl, oppa, please take care of me". Women are expected to be cute and helpless up to a certain point to make the older males feel like they're needed. (I've got this information from a good friend of mine who's a Korean male - he himself explained the meaning to me like this and said that it's actually not a good implication.)

So analyzing the culture it's not surprising at all. Remember, there were times when we had rarely any sexy girl groups in K-Pop as well. The culture is changing but in dramas the writers seem to simply stick to the classical roles.
There are a few female characters that belong to the type of princess I prefer - just look at Jan Di in Boys Over Flowers. Now that could be me. But they are not as common as the type of female lead mentioned in the head line. Don't believe me? Well, just some examples.

Chaebol

This term isn't only used in K-Dramaland - if you're planning to major in Korean studies you'll have to deal with this as well and it's useful to know what we actually mean when talking about chaebol.

Chaebol is a term used for the business conglomerates. Despite for the heirs of such families sometimes being called 'parachutes' usually dealing with chaebol isn't that easy. They have money and friends. You know, in Germany we'd call that 'Vitamin C' - influential contacts.
That being said, they indeed have a huge influence not only in economics but also politics.

But of course, talking about certain characteristics we see in Korean dramas again and again, that is surely overexaggerated. As well as the amount of chaebol I've seen during the last years.

Usually, in Korean drama, we see conceited, mysophobic and rude male characters. Yes, usually the heirs of such families take over the spotlight and once they realize they can't get anything just by buying it - they tend to freak out or make a 180° turn and change their whole personality. But, oh, well, the latter usually just seems to be a weakness for the female lead.
So how come this kind of character is so irresistible? To be honest I have no idea. That's just my personal opinion but I don't care about their looks if they are rude as hell. They end up as completely loveable characters in the end though after falling for the female lead..

The only case I understand is actually the case of Joo Joong-won and the sun in The Master's Sun because he can actually help her dealing with the ghosts. No matter how bad he treats her, he's the only person who can help her getting rid of the ghosts.

A short collection of chaebol characters in Korean dramas? Yes, sure, here you go:

But to be completely fair, not all of them are bad characters - some are rather charming, a few are willing to give up everything for the person they love and there are a few female chaebol as well.

No matter where you go - I bet you'll find one kind or another of chaebol. But thinking about it logically the amount of families falling into this category in K-Dramaland is really large, even if some of them aren't even mentioned as main characters, they just happen to be there.

Wrist Grab

Another culture class anyone?

I've mentioned it before but Korea actually is a rather conservative country. For a long time holding hands in public was a huge no-no. Even nowadays the older generation tends to not be too happy about seeing the youth holding hands. To Koreans, that's still something rather personal though it's a pretty innocent type of skinship.
In dramas, when taking someone with you, the characters tend to just grab the other person by the wrist instead of taking someones hand. Plus, let's admit it, it's actually a lot easier like this to make a person follow you whether they want to or not.
But this is also used to keep someone from leaving. A simple "Don't go, I still have to talk to you" isn't enough anymore..

Now enjoy this "Wrist Grab" gallery I've collected from various dramas in various contacts. It's something we'll see over and over again. I just wish I'd get 1$ for every wrist grab I see in a K-Drama..

Oh, just saying - it's true that there is indeed a whole tumblr blog dedicated to K-Drama Wrist-Grabs. Just look for it on Google.

Piggyback Ride

Thinking about a typical element in the Korean movie industry, I wonder what else would come to your mind besides the piggyback ride!
Really, I've seen that in so many dramas and movies that I can't count it anymore. There were also two scenes in No Regret, so it's not unusual in Boys Love movies either.

Talking about this, we need to know the drinking culture.
You know, dramas aren't really overdoing the amount people in Korea drink. So it's not really an exaggeration to see characters in dramas being socially pressured to drink, or killing multiple bottles of soju over one meal, especially after being dumped, fired, belittled, or otherwise trampled upon.
But sure it IS an exaggeration to see people literally pass out while drinking.
However, in K-Dramaland this is a common cause as to why someone needs a piggyback ride home.

Seriously, who needs a taxi when someone's drunk? Or an ambulance when someone got hurt? Tsk, tsk, that'd be too old school.

So enjoy the gallery I've collected just now showing the piggyback rides I was able to find~

To The Beautiful You

Reply 1997

Boys Over Flowers

 
That Winter, The Wind Blows

Her Lovely Heels

 

All About My Romance

 

Others

It is a rather typical element as you might have noticed.. but hey, it's cute, so I'm not complaining. Just a little jealous from time to time.

Second-Female-Lead-Syndrome

After following the Second-Male-Lead-Syndrome - we cannot forget about their female counterparts. We could actually summarize it as the Second-Lead-Syndrome but both have different effects.

Let's be honest, in most dramas the second female leads belong to a not-so-positive category. It's not only that they're trying to manipulate everything and anyone for their personal benefits - most of them are pretty annoying as well and sometimes I just reach the point when I want to beat them up because they are seriously pissing me off. But I admit that they usually are really beautiful women - that's why they're not used to being rejected.
Sure there are some good second female leads, sometimes this manipulative type of character is represented by the mother of the male lead, or maybe someone else who's related to the male lead or female lead in any way.

Who were the most annoying Second-Female-Lead-Syndrome characters then?

The first one that appears in my list is Ok Joo-hyun in The Musical". Yes, at some point her character was pitiful but still one of the most annoying female characters I've ever seen in a Korean drama.

Now we have Kim Yoo-ri in The Master's Sun. In the end she's not that bad though she is annoying throughout the story, yes, but she's not one of the typical characters falling into the category of this syndrome.

However, NOW we have the personification of this syndrome! I think I've never, never, never hated a female character as much as I did hate Jung Yoo-mi in Rooftop Prince. There wasn't even one time when I was freaking out because of a second female lead this much. But what should I say.. People always get what they deserve. So does Hong Se-na. Yes, karma is a bitch.

Another female character that seriously made me freak out.. I don't even know what to say about such a malicious person. Park Soo-jin was seriously getting on my nerves in Flower Boy Next Door. She wasn't trying to get involved with the male lead, that's the only thing she did right, but her character was still one of the most annoying ones I remember.

The next one is Yoo In-na in You Who Came From The Stars. I somehow couldn't dislike her that much though because in fact I do understand her frustration after years of hard work. However, back-stabbing someone who thought of you as their best friend for years definitely isn't the right thing to do.

Of course there are more female characters that fit into this category. But compared to the male leads these manipulative characters are sometimes taken by others as well. We still have to mention Choi Ji-woo in Winter Sonata and Han Chae-ah in All About My Romance.

Sure I know that those actresses might be completely different in real life but somehow they tend to get on my nerves just when I see them in a drama again. However, when they're characters are okay in the next drama, I'm usually able to forgive them.