A brief rant

[dangermousie]

(Nobody on my flist is doing the below but plenty of others on the net are).

If I see one more whine about Kim Hee Sun being miscast and elderly and chemistry-less and wrong wrong wrong for precious Lee Min Ho due to her advanced age, I am going to go Godzilla.

Yes, she is a decade older. Get over it! She is 35 and looks fantastic - in real life, if she walked down the street, people would turn and stare. The way fan girls rant about it, you'd think she was a palsied 90 with one foot in the grave!

One can disagree about her acting ability (I think she us great and loved her in everything I've seen her in) or the chemistry between the leads (which is smoking) but to view the fact that she is 35 as some sort of unimaginable horror and affront to your sensibilities and KHS as some sort of a cradle-robbing hag is completely and utterly moronic.

I promise, the moment you turn 30, you don't magically develop varicose veins and turn into a crone.

But I bet it's the same fan girls who kept complaining Yoon Sang Hyun was too ancient to live in My Fair Lady at 36. (MFL had plenty of issues but his age wasn't one of them).

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, gross. I hope these people are, like, 14 and will outgrow this. Anyone older than that has no excuse.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

If they are 14, wouldn't it make them more than a decade younger than their precious oppa? According to their own rules, that is unacceptable.

[usisblog.livejournal.com]

They are really are serious? Poor gal. Welcome to life. Since I got 30 young men are attracted to me. Dunno why but when I was in my Twenties and skinny as hell only Sugar Daddies were interested XD.

And he isn't that young and she not that old. Who cares for the age of the couple when the chemistry is good? I wouldn't care when borh were 20 years older. You don't stop having a sex life when you turn 30. We aren't 19th century anymore. That girl surely is skindeep and not more mature than a 12 years old in full blooming puberty.

[usisblog.livejournal.com]

I just noticed: He is only 25? I always thought he is around 28. He looks so mature around all these baby faced 30er's.

[cleobulle.livejournal.com]

Just popping in to say that the Hothead Village Boy tragedy in the making has been avoided in Bridal Mask. He knows who KT is! It happens early in the episode so I hope it's not too big of a spoiler to mention it now. I'm now going to completely put myself in the hands of the screenwriter. I just know it's going to end in a statisfying way.

Re-Faith, I've always been a bit iffy about the pairing but I don't see anything shockingly wrong. LMH knows how to turn up the angst and intensity and the otherwise obvious age difference seems to fly away in those scenes. I would still prefer an older leading man but I'm enjoying the drama just fine as it is.

I can't believe some people are dissing the actress herself. They must be 18 year-old fangirls. Anything over 30 goes into the "ancient category".

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think when you are 18, 35 must be awfully ancient :)

Re:BM. Yesssssss!!!!!! I was so worried about that!

[cactus-u.livejournal.com]

And I bet you the people who are calling her ancient are the same people who keep saying they can't take Gongmin's character seriously because he's too short. smh

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I've seen those comments too. Ugh - RDH is knocking it out of the park as Gongmin. Besides, I knew Gongmin was a reformer and had an interesting personal life. I didn't know he was also six-and-a-half feet tall!

[algelic.livejournal.com]

When the cast was announced my only gripe with the lead actress was her limited acting abilities clashing with Min Ho's superior ones. I didn't even care about her age (I can only hope I could ever look that good when I reach her age). But once the drama started airing not even her acting bothered me... she's no amazing actress but so far she doesn't suck (if a tough critic like me can say that, it's a very good thing).

When you think about it, Korea can be pretty ruthless regarding age. It's like women's expiration date is age 30. Have you ever watched the variety show "We Got Married"? I used to watch it and shipped the Lettuce couple (Hwang Bo and Kim Hyun Joong). When they first started, Hwang Bo got SO MUCH hate (even death threats, I think) from KHJ's fangirls... basically because she's 6 years older than him. She'd just turned... 30! *gasp* -- It's all jealousy. She looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and is such a badass female!

/end rant

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That thing about KHJ and Hwang Bo is insane (all the more so because I watched their episodes and they were adorable).

Ugh.

I totally get why you or anyone else would have potential issues with someone's acting (see me and Gu Hye Sun). These people are crazy though.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. One of my other favorite dramas of the year had the female lead was about 9 years older. Ha Ji won and Lee Seung Gi had this age gap in king 2 heArts and there were no complaints like this. Get over it, the drama is goregous and Kim Hee Sun has amazing chemistry with Lee Min Ho and Phillip Lee regardless of age.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think HJW is more popular - KHS used to be huge, but she hasn't made a drama since 2006.
I think she has amazing chemistry with both LMH and PL.
Thought the same about HJW and LSG.

[akosikae.livejournal.com]

Age is just one that non-fans of Kim Hee Sun are adding to the pile. Reading some makes me think that they just don't like her, period. Some people are just adamant not to see any chemistry. They are missing out. Thank god I am not afflicted. I like Faith. I like Kim Hee Sun's acting. Aside from doing drama, she's also the comic relief :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I love KHS so I agree, I think they are missing out!

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

I've sadly noticed that some (not all!) Korean drama fans can be ageist. Especially when it comes to their favorites, like Lee Min Ho. Lee Min Ho is 25, but he's making a career out of playing older characters opposite older women. (Gu Hye Seon is about two years older;Son Ye Jin is five years older;Park Min Young is a year older) So, you'd think his fans would be used to seeing him with older women. Yes, Kim Hee Sun is nearly ten years older than Lee Min Ho, but she looks damn good and is playing a character two years younger than her age. She's also playing an accomplished doctor; you can't have some 23 year old playing a 33 year old doctor.


Kim Hee Sun looks amazing! And while she may not be the best actress of her generation, she's great. This actress knows her character and is the perfect Eun Soo. She's got amazing chemistry with all her co-stars, especially LMH. She is by no means miscasted in the role. For goodness sake, she's known as the "first beauty of South Korea" throughout Asia!

People need to get over actors/actresses over 30 getting drama roles. Age differences between actors/actresses isn't a big deal. (Unless they cast a 35 year old to play a high schooler or a 25 year old to play the CEO of a company, without an explanation.)

I'm thinking the people who are complaining are the same people who, on Viki, spend the whole episode writing things about 'LMH Oppa!' and how hot/good looking/cool he is. I have a feeling most of these people are very young and/or immature. I would be very surprised/disappointed if any of these people are above the age of seventeen.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking the people who are complaining are the same people who, on Viki, spend the whole episode writing things about 'LMH Oppa!' and how hot/good looking/cool he is

Oh God, yes. I never leave the comments on at viki.

[(Anonymous)]

THANK YOU DANGERMOUSIE!!!!

PREACH SISTA PREACH!

Are these fangirls kidding me about her age? REALLY 35 is not old and how many times has a older man been cast with a much younger girl being his love interest and I don't hear any hooping and hollering about that! GO Kim Hee Sun!!! Rock that cradle!!!

If I didn't know any better I wouldn't watch Faith at all, by the way people are posting about how bad and how there is no chemistry between the leads. But for one thing you can even see in the stills that there is amazing chemistry between the leads.
I for one have only seen Kim Hee Sun in one drama which was Sad Love Story and I loved her in it. To me Lee Min Ho is ok but he needs to grow in his craft a little more for me to be totally impressed by him. I surely like looking at him the boy is FINE!!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Exactly - nobody is complaining about the upcoming MGY/PSH combo and he is 9 yrs older than she is.

I think LMH and KHS have insane chemistry.

[smothered-pith.livejournal.com]

THIS is why I can't watch this show on viki with the comments on anymore.
It's either a. "Omg LMH is sooo hot" which yes. I agree with but no I don't need to read it being said every 2 seconds.
and then b. "OMG KHS is sooooo old! Why does she exist?!"

Drives me up the wall crazy.
I'm the same age as LMH. I'm more often than not attracted to guys 10 yrs older. It seems like the gender reversal of this is not permissible and I don't understand why not. KHS's character is gorgeous and brilliant in her field. The two of them have amazing chemistry. Are these girls even watching the same show as me? I don't think they're even watching as much as they are just drooling over LMH.
I'd rather avoid the forums and viki for this reason.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the fangirls are driving me up the wall. I think the two characters fit so perfectly.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not a fan of KHS's acting, but I think she's the right age for the role. She's supposed to be a pretty good surgeon with a lot of experience, and if she was younger than 30 I would find that hard to swallow. Lee Min Ho might actually be the problem - he's just slightly too young to add gravitas to his role. Hmm.

The other thing is that they seem to have made her character purposely immature to better match up with LMH...? I don't know, I just wish the male lead were older so that we'd have a more evenly-matched older couple.

Diorama

[(Anonymous)]

Adding a +1 to that. If fans want to complain about anything, they should be complaining that LMH is a bit too young for the role. But no, because ~omg oppa's so hot~ and women are apparently shriveled husks once they're out of their 20s.

I guaran-fricking-tee that these are the same people who whine that things are boring, fast forward through all of the plot, and then complain that they don't know what's going on. It's a 20-something episode fusion sageuk, ffs. Every once in a while, we may have to cut away from LMH's face and develop a damned story.

[jennyhime.livejournal.com]

Fangirls are crazy (some of them). Also she looks gorgeous as do many actresses over 30, I would find it far more uncomfortable if the female lead would be a super young
actress around 16-18. And for this role you need a woman not a girl.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Who becomes a successful plastic surgeon at 20?

[shadowkeeper.livejournal.com]

Oh, those teenage (and preteen) fangirls, who follow actors to dramas only wanting to self insert themselves into the places of the young fresh faced female lead calling their crush 'oppa'.
Even though a lot of Lee MinHo's female leads are (slightly) older than him, I don't think he has that 'noona killer' status that has fangirls backing off a bit. Not like Kim Bum anyway. Plus, there is that weird paradoxical sexist ageism thing in korea where technically they're supposed to respect their elders, but the celebrity scene likes to spit out their women once they stop looking like jail bail.

But Kim HeeSun is pretty awesome. Her rule over the kdrama scene was back in the last 90's, but that doesn't mean she doesn't still have it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Re: Kim Bum v. LMH. True. Kim Bum has done plenty of noona-romancing but some was explicitly set up that way (Woman) and some was just off-kilter enough to scare fangirls away (even if one didn't like Padam Padam, it was certainly not a drama designated to appeal to 'oppa is cute' crowd in any way)

I love love love KHS!

[(Anonymous)]

They are just pathetic. Are they going to commit suicide when they turn 30? Plus she's just plain beautiful. I would be happy to look like her (and I'm sure most of these girls do not look like her even if they're younger..)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

So very true.

[morwen_peredhil]

The hell? She's gorgeous — and most likely far prettier than the vast majority of the ageist fangirls whining about her ever were or will be — and she and Lee Min Ho have mad chemistry together.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Apparently if you are a woman over 25, you should be banned from the screen. Ugh.

[iviih.livejournal.com]

I agree viki comments makes me soo annoyed that I prefer to turn them off TBH.

Remember I said she was kind of annoying in the long trailer? Well forget it, I'm having fun with her and laugh when she does something silly lol, and I do think her acting is good, I don't get why everyone keeps talking bad about her. The only thing I disagree with you is about them having chesmitry, I don't really see it yet.


The only thing that makes me annoyed is when she does surgery and don't tie her hair! lol Why she doesn't tie her hair, does she really want to leave her hair inside her patients? I think so.


Btw, off topic but really dying for you watch arang ep 4. I mean I saw a light that maybe we won't have a sad end at all..... lol

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, I am curious about ep 4 of Arang now.

Re: hair. Probably for the same reason chief guys never wear helmets into battle.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank. You.

What grates me most is it's girls that are actually posting about the age thing. Which is just a bunch of crap. So, what, once they are in their 30s, they themselves will be disgusting? Dis. Gus. Ting. I can't wrap my mind around it. It's like turning 30 is a disease or contagious or something. Have they seen KHS? The woman is gorgeous! I doubt they'd look half as good as her even though they are younger. Or maybe they're just skipping to LMH-hohmygodthehottestsmexiestofall-Oppa. Look at them adam's apple! (Hey, I know he's LMH, but come.on, the drama is not about his adam's apple, okay?) I love LMH but sometimes due to the fangirls, I'm slowly starting to be indifferent to him. I'm like, okay, fiiiiine, we KNOW he's hot already.

I know it's impossible to please everyone, and we have different views when it comes to actresses we love, but pulling out the age card just because you don't like them is, I'll quote you on this, utterly moronic. But they themselves said it, she's ten years older than LMH, but their chemistry is so there. I just want them together on my screen all the time. It doesn't hurt they're so shiny and pretty. And with all the vicious comments, I am really wishing they get to have hot make-out scenes. Like a lot a lot. And all the crazy fangirls will be butthurt. Yes! But then I remembered KHS's husband so probably no chances of those.

Also, when it comes to the acting, I know opinions can be purely subjective as well, some never get over their biases over the actresses/actors, but saying LMH's acting is superior is kinda pushing it. I know it's LMH but he still has a long way to go.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Re: LMH's acting. I think he is very good for his age/experience but he is not Lee Byung Hun or Choi Min Soo yet (he might become on par later, of course).

I also want steamy steamy makeouts to piss off the fangirls (and make me happy) but even leaving aside KHS' husband, chances of that in a sageuk, fusion or not, are slim.

I adore LMH but some of his fangirls are insane, I swear (and agreed, probably glaze over any plot). KHS is gorgeous and a good actress AND they steam up the screen.

[wayfares.livejournal.com]

I started watching Faith because of you and I am hooked! I actually love the obvious age difference between them, and I don't have a problem with Kim Hee Sun at all. I did notice however that Faith isn't getting as much love from online circles (is it just me??) so I hope it's really not because of this issue.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It is a fusion sageuk and a lot less cutesy/approacheable than Arang which is pretty much a fairytale that could be set at any time, so I can see why it's not getting as much love. It's getting a lot more love than a lot of good sageuks, at least as far as English-language fandom goes. (Kingdom of the Winds? Barely anyone wanted to gush about it when it came out and I loved it to bits).

[ockoala.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the impetus of many of the "Kim Hee Sun is an old hag" rants are due to young LMG fangirls, but I'm the same age as Kim Hee Sun and I find her woefully miscast in the first two episodes alone that I watched. I think she's clearly a gorgeous woman, but she looks OLD vis-a-vis Lee Min Ho. Perhaps I should be talking about LMH being miscast, but between the two of them, LMH is a better actor, so that's where my vote goes on who should have been recast.

Kim Hee Sun is around my age and clearly being older than 30 doesn't mean a woman is old, ugly, or shouldn't be an actress. It's a combination of her atrocious acting, no chemistry with LMH, and looking much older than him that has me peeved. I don't mind if they cast an older actress as the plastic surgeon, but she should be able to act and essay good chemistry with her younger male lead. I personally don't see either with Kim Hee Sun. If Ha Ji Won or Kim So Yeon was in this role, I'd probably be all over Faith. As such, I'm happy to bow out and let others enjoy it.

So I guess what I'm saying is that the gripe about KHS is not all from crazy LMH fangirls or people who are too young and don't understand aging and its beauty. I have plenty of same-age dramas friends online and in real life that are having the same reaction to KHS in Faith. I guess we just don't keep watching Faith or feel the need to pile on the woman, so it appears those who are bitching about her are shallow young fangirls. I think this is why Faith isn't as popular as Arang, there seems to be more people with issues with KHS who are just quietly not watching this drama.

Just my 2 cents~

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

She looks old next to him? Really? That is the part I don't get. I totally accept that people can think different things about her acting level or the chemistry between the leads but I think she looks compatible enough with him age-wise. I think they look like they had less than 10 yrs between them, but even if you could see the full decade, I would still not think she looks too old for him unless he looked 17 and LMH looks all grown up.

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on that one :)

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

Whut, there are people still whinging about Kim Hee Sun? I must admit I raised my eyebrow at the RL age gap between KHS and LMH at the initial casting and wondered whether it was going to work, but the MINUTE I watched the first ep, it was clear those worries were misplaced. LMH has a way of carrying himself that makes him feel much older than his 20-something years and KHS is not only gorgeous but has a cheery, chirpy character. I don't know what they have to dislike about it.

I have the same complaint about people who kept bitching about Park Ye Jin "looking like she's at least 40" next to Kim Kibum in I Love Lee Tae Ri. Yes, that drama had an uncomfortable age gap combined with Ye Jin looking considerably more mature than the baby-faced Kibum. But "40-year-old hag" as some people were calling her? Oh, for heaven's sake, I only wish I looked like Park Ye Jin.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Agreed - LMH looks more mature than his age and KHS is so warm and fun here. They suit well.

Re: lee Tae Ri - I found the premise creepy because fourteen I still fourteen whatever OST you occupy, but if KKB played his own age, then he and the leading lady would have been just fine together. Fan girls are often nuts.

[sanaenam.livejournal.com]

Wow. 70-some comments on this issue. That's impressive.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I guess everyone has strong feelings on the topic :)

[your-insomnia.livejournal.com]

Woah, really so much discussion on this topic! People have been mentioning Ha Ji Won and Lee Segun Gi in this post and I totally forgot that they had an age difference in King2Hearts. Completely, totally forgot!! To me, that speaks volumes about how inconsequential actors/actresses' ages actually are. What is more important is their acting and the chemistry. Even though I have some problems with Faith that are preventing me from fully loving the drama, I can't deny that LMH and KHS have great chemistry together. Never once, when watching Faith, did I think "wow! she looks older than him". LMH is just so manly as a warrior, his age doesn't even register with me.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, they look compatible and have great chemistry. I pretty much decided that commenters at viki are no older than 12 - that's the only way I can explain it.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for this comment: "I promise, the moment you turn 30, you don't magically develop varicose veins and turn into a crone."

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

:)