men: a jerky history

[piecesofalice]

30 Day KDrama Challenge
2. Your Favourite Male Lead Character

I was really tempted to skip this one and just go onto the ladies, because, well - the men in kdramas? Are jerks. A good chunk of the time, anyway - or they're so sugary sweet I want to gargle saltwater in direct response.





Soundtrack: 'Mensch' by Die Toten Hosen

Attempting to approach this pragmatically hasn't worked. I ended up with a list that looks like this:

- Jo Guk, City Hall: (handsome suit-wearing) jerk.
- Teeth, IRIS: (corner-dwelling emo) jerk.*
- Siwon Not Playing Siwon Totally He's Not, Oh! My Lady: (totally not Siwon) jerk.
- Hyun Jin-hun, My Name is Kim Sam Soon: just a plain-ass jerk.
- Whathisface, Athena: jer-zzzzzzzz
- Jo Guk v2: The Eviling, Athena:


Then I got bored and wandered away to get a sandwich. Needless to say, there aren't a whole lot of lead men I'm particularly fond of - but here are the few I don't want to push off a cliff in a fit of "WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT HER YOU JERK!?" rage*.

JANG CHUL SOO
Fantasy Couple




JERK RATING: Not particularly high - he's a hard working stiff who tricks an amnesia patient into being his live-in wife in a fit of revenge...yeah, I'm not making much of a case for him, am I? Just think of Kurt Russell - but Korean! And able to make 짜장면! And played by Oh Ji Ho! You can watch him fix things! dewy eyes
MEARS LEVEL: 3/5
TRUFAX: 'jangchulsoo' in various forms are my passwords at work. Great story, Pieces!

SONG JAE BIN/JANG DONG CHUL
Last Scandal of My Life




JERK RATING: Pretty fucking high. But, like all good kdramas, he grows in face of the new relationship he begins with his high school sweetheart, flowers tra-la-la etc etc - standard, right? Except Jung Jun-Ho manages to make Dong Chul a character full of contradictions and longing for the past he once had. The changes in his character are huge, but beautifully executed - Jung Jun-Ho, you're pretty ace in my book.
MEARS: 3/5.

SUN WOO WAN
Capital Scandal




JERK RATING: Freddie Prinze Jnr in She's All That, Kang Ji-Hwan in Capital Scandal - I see no difference in their sage tales of learning and jerkiness. But I love this jerk so much, it's almost not worth mentioning him here - but I will, because you need your daily fill of pastels and fedoras. Freddie Prinze Jnr, well. You lost me at that movie with Julia Stiles where you drank her shampoo.
MEARS: 4/5. There's some epic mearing. And swing dancing. And pastels. And spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler.


HONOURABLE MENTIONS


GOO DONG BAEK, That Fool




JERK RATING: Extremely low. The downside is that his awkwardness and golly-gee-willikers! persona can get a little too much. But Hwang Jung Min is just fantastic, and takes a role that could have been too far in the comedic camp to be effective and makes it work. He's a phenomenal actor, full-stop. (See: Bloody Tie, Shiri etc)
MEARS LEVEL: 1/5. If there were any, I can't remember them.

KWON HYUK JOON, Sweet 18




JERK RATING: He had his jerk moments, don't you worry - but the story was focused tightly on the journey for both Hyuk-Joon and Jung-Sook and you just forgave him for a lot of his faults. His working-stiff-thrown-saddled-with-a-bright-spark was a good match for Jung-Sook's over-the-top teenager and, by the end, you couldn't help but fall a bit in love with both of them.
MEARS LEVEL: 2/5

THIS BEARD and THIS NECKLACE, Athena: Goddess of War



JERK RATING: I've heard a rumour that The Beard was a huge jerk to everyone on set, and I felt The Necklace had little to no character development. But I love them both for the fact they were able to overshadow everyone else's performances and take the show to a whole new level of LOL.
MEARS LEVEL: Don't be silly, beards and necklaces never show their true feelings.





Siwon's indignance at being left off this list thanks you for your time.





_{* okay, this might be my tin-hatting talking more than him actually being a jerk-jerk. Fierce/Teeth forever
** some would take these comments as some sort of indication I have an anger management issue, but - you've watched City Hall. He stares out of a window while she gets pelted with eggs then stares out a car while she laments her future, then stares around a corner as she gets consoled by The Nice Secondary Guy who she'll then accept the hand of on a live television - wait. Wrong show.}





Day 01: Your Favorite Kdrama
Day 02: Your Favorite Male Lead Character
Day 03: Your Favorite Female Lead Character
Day 04: Your Favorite Male Third Wheel Character
Day 05: Your Favorite Female Third Wheel Character
Day 06: Your Favorite Song from a Kdrama OST
Day 07: Your Favorite Line/s by a Male Lead Character
Day 08: Your Favorite Line/s by a Female Lead Character
Day 09: Your Favorite Line/s by a Male Third Wheel
Day 10: Your Favorite Line/s by a Female Third Wheel
Day 11; Your Favorite Dialogue
Day 12: Your Favorite Story
Day 13: Your Favorite “I Love You”
Day 14: Your Favorite Kiss
Day 15: Your Favorite Ending
Day 16: A Kdrama you started but can’t finish
Day 17: A Kdrama you’ve watched more than once
Day 18: The Worst Kdrama that you’ve watched until the end
Day 19: Your Best Actor
Day 20: Your Best Actress
Day 21: Your Worst Actor
Day 22: Your Worst Actress
Day 23: Your Best Couple
Day 24: Your Worst Couple
Day 25: Your First Kdrama
Day 26: Your Recently Finished Kdrama
Day 27: A Kdrama loved by many but you don’t seem to like
Day 28: A Kdrama not loved by many but you seem to like
Day 29: A Kdrama which made you so happy
Day 30: A Kdrama which made you so sad
Day 31: A Kdrama you plan on watching next



Drinking Game! One shot every time the word "jerk" is mentioned. Voila!

Tomorrow! ~the ladies~

Comments

I can't stop using this icon

[firthgal.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahaha, WIN. So much win. Male leads in kdramas are quite jerky, aren't they? But see, I always fall for the jerks with a heart of gold. Always. I can't help it. And sometimes I just like the jerks who are pure jerks. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I don't know.

Have you watched Sungkyunkwan Scandal yet? Because the hero in that one is actually quite nice. He's perceived as a jerk at first, but only because he is so matter of fact about things, and we eventually find out that he's actually quite sweet. But see, I found him rather boring and fell in love with Goo Yong Ha instead, and of course he's the jerkiest hero on the show. I CAN'T HELP IT.

Dream High also has a non-jerky hero (Song Sam Dong), though at first he seems like a second lead, but he's actually the first lead, and he manages to be super sweet and interesting.

Re: I can't stop using this icon

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

LOL YOUR ICON. You love him soooo much you want to kisssss himmmmm <3

SO JERKY. I seriously find I want to punch about 90% of all males in dramas, bar the sooky soppy second leads, who I just ignore. And I haven't watched Sungkyunkwan Scandal yet - but I want to! There's just so many dramas and so little time (did I tell you I had to replace by 1TB hard drive because I'd downloaded so much?)

Is Goo Young Ha played by Joong Ki? He's on Running Man (well, not any more), the kvariety show I watch. WHICH YOU SHOULD ALSO WATCH. If only for The Monday Couple (see icon).

[aj.livejournal.com]

I am weirdly gifted in that the male leads from the kdrama's I've watched (all two!) are actually pretty decent! I mean, Han Gyul was vaguely assy at the beginning (and that was more due to some pretty well-presented reasoning), he was actually (on a sliding scale!) a pretty nice guy! And Min Jung-ho is made of puppies and rainbows.

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

Is Han Gyul the Dae Geum Jang male lead? We're up to episode three - does he turn up soon?

(Can I say, I was so freakin' confused - I thought the mum and dad were the lead characters of Dae Geum Jang and was surprised at how quickly they were getting together, despite knowing there were 57 episodes. SURPRISE)

[aj.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, Han Ghul is from Coffee Prince! Min Jung Ho is the male lead in DJG and I think he turns up in episode 7 or 8. JG is 8 for a while yet.

[plumtastic.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to get home....tomorrow? because I have SO many feelings on this. And may need to break out Coffee Prince for workable dudes.

Also, back to the other convo -- srsly, I have a picture to send to you RIGHT NOW and I can't because of the frakking ocean! WOE.

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

I would like to see you do this list, or at least some of the questions. I hear you have a lot of free time now..,.

<3333