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dangermousieIs it possible to enjoyably watch a drama while heartily disliking the heroine?
I am about to find out.
I am halfway through episode 4 of My Fair Lady and Yoon Eun Hye's character Hae Na evokes nothing but irritation. She is so useless. She does NOTHING good or productive or with a point to it. She does not work, she does not take care of her family or friends (does she even have any friends?) She does nothing but throw temper tantrums (if I do not find it acceptable for a guy to constantly hit a girl, I do not find it acceptable when the genders are reversed) and whines about how it is woeful she is rich. I kid you not, guys - there is this one scene she gets drunk and whines over and over that she has money troubles because she bought a ton of expensive gifts for the guy she likes - who has barely met her and has never indicated any liking back - and he, not inconceivably, asked her to take them back because they are too expensive and if she wants to thank him, she doesn't have to use a ton of money. She also referred to 'commoners' during that conversation as if incredulous a son of a wealthy family be like them as well as being repulsed by the idea he is a human rights lawyer. Yeah, that's really going to get the guy to love you. Leaving aside the classism and crassness, she clearly has no brain - that is about the worst way to woo a causehead ever. Also, hello - money troubles? Poor you, nobody forced you to buy him expensive gifts and be a self-absorbed twit about it.
So yes - she is a selfish, violent, self-absorbed twit. And that is the HEROINE? We are supposed to find it adorable that she is in such a good mood from falling in love that she doesn't fire a maid when said maid accidentally breaks a hand mirror. Wow - how did I live my whole life without seeing such a Mother Teresa? It is only notable for the fact that normally she is the kind of person who'd fire someone for this. Wow, keep it up, Hae Na, and one of these days you will almost reach 'barely human.' I might cut her some slack if she were 12, but she's got to be at least 25 and at that point any slack I had should have ended years ago.
The bad thing is I adore Tae Yoon, the human rights lawyer - he is basically my ideal man (reality check to Hae Na - you both got brought up by rich families. He actually studied hard, got a law degree, and is using it to help the disandvantaged. You? You shop and kick your servants. Charming). And I adore Dong Chan - he is so fun and resourceful and hard-working and ultimately nice.
And I know know KNOW kdramas - both Tae Yoon and Dong Chan will fall for her, leaving me tearing my hair out because she is so pointless. In fact, poor Dong Chan will have to be stuck with her, seeing that he is the lead, and it's a fate I'd wish on no character I even moderately like. And I bet Tae Yoon will angst over her. They both will. ARGH. She is an undisciplined idiotic waste of space. The only reason anyone would be interested in her is because she is good-looking and if that is one's sole reason for liking a woman, my opinion of the guy's intelligence can't really stay high and in order to convince me it's true love, I'd have to be a lot more drunk than a batallion of soldiers. Why can't either or both of them fall for Eui Sung's character instead (the secondary girl) - she seems to actually work for a living and be capable of human relationships.
My problem isn't her awfulness, per se. Hwan from Brilliant Legacy was the kind of man who in some ways made heroine of TCotL seem like a humanitarian (though he never did anything as bad or was as violent, BL was in a more real world and his acts of horribleness felt more real). It's the perception of her awfulness - or lack thereof. One of the major points of BL was that Hwan was a useless human being who wasted oxygen and had to go through a gradual, believable, painful process of changing and becoming a person (And did I mention the part where the heroine didn't even look at him long after he reformed himself and became a good man? And his transformation was done because of necessity, family issues, and hard knocks, not the silly cliche of doing it solely for love). But TCotL wants us to find Hae Na a little too much but largely adorable and fun and not really in need of much change - maybe a little romantic softening at most, not a major character overhaul (not that the latter would happen believably - it's a mangaish kind of drama and not in the business of character building - believable and complex character arcs aren't going to be the story here). I don't mind a truly awful character as the hero or heroine as long as the story realizes that they are awful and it is part of the point. The hatred for the drama and the character happens when we are meant to see them as lovely while all I see is a monster on screen.
The last time I have disliked a heroine so much was Hebe in Bull-Fighting, a drama I had to give up because of my loathing of the heroine. Hae Na is veering close. Verrrrry close. I don't want to give up because the story is cute in abstract, it's pretty, and I like everyone else, but it's hard to watch when the heroine gives you ulcers.
I'll watch a bit more for now but just like with Bull-Fighting before I gave up, I am shipping the guys together for the sole reason that this would prevent the trainwreck of heroine ending up with either of them. Ugh.
I am about to find out.
I am halfway through episode 4 of My Fair Lady and Yoon Eun Hye's character Hae Na evokes nothing but irritation. She is so useless. She does NOTHING good or productive or with a point to it. She does not work, she does not take care of her family or friends (does she even have any friends?) She does nothing but throw temper tantrums (if I do not find it acceptable for a guy to constantly hit a girl, I do not find it acceptable when the genders are reversed) and whines about how it is woeful she is rich. I kid you not, guys - there is this one scene she gets drunk and whines over and over that she has money troubles because she bought a ton of expensive gifts for the guy she likes - who has barely met her and has never indicated any liking back - and he, not inconceivably, asked her to take them back because they are too expensive and if she wants to thank him, she doesn't have to use a ton of money. She also referred to 'commoners' during that conversation as if incredulous a son of a wealthy family be like them as well as being repulsed by the idea he is a human rights lawyer. Yeah, that's really going to get the guy to love you. Leaving aside the classism and crassness, she clearly has no brain - that is about the worst way to woo a causehead ever. Also, hello - money troubles? Poor you, nobody forced you to buy him expensive gifts and be a self-absorbed twit about it.
So yes - she is a selfish, violent, self-absorbed twit. And that is the HEROINE? We are supposed to find it adorable that she is in such a good mood from falling in love that she doesn't fire a maid when said maid accidentally breaks a hand mirror. Wow - how did I live my whole life without seeing such a Mother Teresa? It is only notable for the fact that normally she is the kind of person who'd fire someone for this. Wow, keep it up, Hae Na, and one of these days you will almost reach 'barely human.' I might cut her some slack if she were 12, but she's got to be at least 25 and at that point any slack I had should have ended years ago.
The bad thing is I adore Tae Yoon, the human rights lawyer - he is basically my ideal man (reality check to Hae Na - you both got brought up by rich families. He actually studied hard, got a law degree, and is using it to help the disandvantaged. You? You shop and kick your servants. Charming). And I adore Dong Chan - he is so fun and resourceful and hard-working and ultimately nice.
And I know know KNOW kdramas - both Tae Yoon and Dong Chan will fall for her, leaving me tearing my hair out because she is so pointless. In fact, poor Dong Chan will have to be stuck with her, seeing that he is the lead, and it's a fate I'd wish on no character I even moderately like. And I bet Tae Yoon will angst over her. They both will. ARGH. She is an undisciplined idiotic waste of space. The only reason anyone would be interested in her is because she is good-looking and if that is one's sole reason for liking a woman, my opinion of the guy's intelligence can't really stay high and in order to convince me it's true love, I'd have to be a lot more drunk than a batallion of soldiers. Why can't either or both of them fall for Eui Sung's character instead (the secondary girl) - she seems to actually work for a living and be capable of human relationships.
My problem isn't her awfulness, per se. Hwan from Brilliant Legacy was the kind of man who in some ways made heroine of TCotL seem like a humanitarian (though he never did anything as bad or was as violent, BL was in a more real world and his acts of horribleness felt more real). It's the perception of her awfulness - or lack thereof. One of the major points of BL was that Hwan was a useless human being who wasted oxygen and had to go through a gradual, believable, painful process of changing and becoming a person (And did I mention the part where the heroine didn't even look at him long after he reformed himself and became a good man? And his transformation was done because of necessity, family issues, and hard knocks, not the silly cliche of doing it solely for love). But TCotL wants us to find Hae Na a little too much but largely adorable and fun and not really in need of much change - maybe a little romantic softening at most, not a major character overhaul (not that the latter would happen believably - it's a mangaish kind of drama and not in the business of character building - believable and complex character arcs aren't going to be the story here). I don't mind a truly awful character as the hero or heroine as long as the story realizes that they are awful and it is part of the point. The hatred for the drama and the character happens when we are meant to see them as lovely while all I see is a monster on screen.
The last time I have disliked a heroine so much was Hebe in Bull-Fighting, a drama I had to give up because of my loathing of the heroine. Hae Na is veering close. Verrrrry close. I don't want to give up because the story is cute in abstract, it's pretty, and I like everyone else, but it's hard to watch when the heroine gives you ulcers.
I'll watch a bit more for now but just like with Bull-Fighting before I gave up, I am shipping the guys together for the sole reason that this would prevent the trainwreck of heroine ending up with either of them. Ugh.
