Expectation vs. Reality: Male Characters in Korean Dramas

I've been wanting to give my two cents on a topic that I'm not really an expert on: Korean men in Korean dramas versus Korean men in real life.

I'm not an expert on this because frankly, I haven't encountered many fully-blooded, Korean-raised Korean males in my life. I've encountered many Korean-American men, but we Korean-Americans are different anyway.

Then I got to meet one for the first time in years. And by "years", I mean about ten years. And ten years ago, I was too young to care about what Korean men are like. I haven't just met this Korean guy once, I see him every week. So again, I don't have substantial amount of information since it is just one guy, but I do have some information. Just keep in mind that this post is highly subjective :)

Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo in "Descendants of the Sun"
Click here for picture source

The too-good-to-be-real male character in K-dramas who carry a girl's backpack for her, walks the girl home, and gets beaten up by gang members to protect his love interest is an overly-used stock character. This kind of male character is in virtually all K-dramas. I don't make this point to say that Korean men aren't like this in real life. Yes, apparently some actually do offer to carry your backpack (I don't know about getting beaten up for the girl, though...), but it's not that swoon-worthy as it is in K-dramas. I came to realize this through experience, and it was a very shattering experience for me.

That's because I can carry my own backpack myself. A part of me was flattered but another part me felt kind of insulted.

I'm sure it also depends on who the guy is. Just putting that out there.

Also, in K-dramas, we don't normally see much of the bad side of that too-good-to-be-real male character. There's no perfectly nice human-being after all. So for me, I just got the impression that he was making such offers not out of a genuine heart, but because he's done this a lot before. And when an action just feels like it's duplicated, it's not so special anymore. In K-drams, we don't see the bad side of that character but the character is also played by an extremely good-looking actor. I mean, who wouldn't fall for a guy that ties your shoelaces for you if that guy is Song Joong Ki?

Of course, guys can do nice things for a girl they like. In fact, they actually do. I'm not criticizing that. Why would I?

But if there's one thing I realized, it's that dramas are dramas. You think your life would be so much better if there are Song Joong Kis in your life. There are plenty of nice guys, but none of the perfect guys you see in K-dramas. I want to reiterate that there are plenty of nice guys. But don't expect someone like Park Hae Jin or Taecyeon from that real-life guy in your life. That's not fair to him nor to yourself.