K-Drama Themes: The Male Lead (and why we love him)

If you are a veteran K-Drama viewer than you are familiar with the Male Lead on a K-Drama. If you are a newbie than you need to get familiar with him.

First understand that there are actually two types of  the Male Lead. Type A and Type B, right now let's focus on Type A.

The Famous Goo Jun Pyo total type A!!!

Type A is the most arrogant, and cruel jerk that the female lead will always fall for eventually if not immediately.
Also as the meme above says  they are ridiculously rich. For instance K-Drama god, Goo Jun Pyo, Male Lead Type A of Boys Over Flowers, was the Heir to the Shinhwa Group, a huge conglomerate.
And of course as mentioned before Cha Chi Soo was another arrogant Richie Rich, who was the Heir of the Cha Group.
Even Lee Yoon Sung from the action romance thriller, City Hunter, was arrogant and rather rich, even though his storyline and reasons for existence are tad different from the flower boy characters above. (Lee Yoon Sung actually got his hands dirty).

Through the course of the drama the Type A will eventually learn to be kind and that money doesn't define him or love. He will only care about the female lead's well-being and making a way for them to be together, whether that means going against parents orders (that is another big theme) or going against another male lead (best known as the second male lead another theme) or they have to get over themselves, such as the biggest jerk (to me) Baek Seung Jo of Playful Kiss. It took 15 episodes for him to get over himself and tell Oh Ha Ni how he really felt. AISH!!!! Thinking about it angers me. I love Kim Hyun Joong (obviously) but that character AIGOO, he infuriates me (ok so he reminds me an ex no need to re-hash). Even after he expressed his feelings he still doesn't treat poor Oh Ha Ni very well, I mean his lines before their first time was not very caring.   

Do Min Joon Saving Cheon Song Yi

The Male Lead that we don't usually talk about (probably because we lump them in one catorgory) is what I will call Type B. He is of course gorgeous just as his counterpart. Type B may or may not have money. If he is rich than having the money is no big deal, in other words it doesn't define him. Sometimes the female lead (who they have fallen for) has money.  Type B is often not as big of a jerk as Type A. He may be a jerk, but this maybe due to different circumstances, than having been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Take the current drama "My Love from Another Star" and the male lead, Do Min Joon. He tries to be uncaring towards Cheon Song-yi, but just in words and not in actions. Many times Type B has a mysterious or reckless past. For instance, Kim Tan, male lead from the recent hit K-drama The Heirs, was sent to America,  because of his illegitimate status as a son/heir. Although this character is similar to Goo Jun Pyo, Kim Tan is not a jerk toward his love interest. Also in My Love from Another Star, Do Min Joon just so happens to be a 400 year old alien, and has watched Korea develop over that time, of course this means in order to keep people from being suspicious he's had to have false deaths. Then there are those who have a reckless past such as the male lead in "When A Man Loves,"  Tae-sang, who was once the right hand man to a mob boss, is able to turn his life around and becomes a successful business man, pining for a young girl's heart. Similar characters can be seen in Jung Woo Sung's "Padam, Padam" and Jo In Sung's "That Winter That Wind Blows" where the male lead ha been a thug or is seen as a thug but is very caring and is trying to live differently.  There is also the unknowing type B lead. This can be seen in 49 Days with the characters, Han Kang and The Scheduler (who although is not the male lead is a huge presence and deserves to be mentioned.) In both situations they seem unknowing of what's really going on. Especially poor Scheduler. (Oh how I could cry.)

Scheduler and Song Yi-kyung (not the main couple but still male lead worthy to be discussed

No matter the circumstance the Male Lead, type A or type B is really just sort of a tragic hero (he just usually doesn't die). He starts as a person we really don't like at least we don't like his personality. This is his flaw. Then something happens to him and this evokes pity (or in the case of a K-Drama fan, love).  Unfortunately its been a long time since my High School Honors English class and also a long time since I studied Aristotle so all I can say is in the end the female lead (and us) fall madly in love with the Male Lead. We fall in love because of all of the above. NUMBER ONE these guys are like way HAWT!!! I mean come on they are usually gorgeous. Oh yeah and he has money DUH!!! Now I'm not saying I'm a goldigger, but look at all the fancy trips they take (usually to JeJu Islands), the cars they drive, and the make-overs they give (to the female lead).  In addition to good looks and money, once the male lead is in love with the female lead he does anything he can to have her. Goo Jun Pyo couldn't swim, but learned to swim for Geum Jandi. Why? Because he never wanted to have to see another man save his Jandi. Cha Chi Soo, gave up the Cha name, lost his inheritance and went AWOL from the military to have his Eun Bi. Eventually we have no choice, but to fall in love with The Male Lead, that is if we don't fall head over heels for the Second Male Lead. (Yoon Ji Hoo Saranghaeyo)