It’s a regular occurrence in K-dramas to have big age gaps between the leads, not so often as to be the majority but plenty often to merit an eyebrow raise from time to time. Such is the time again as K-ent points out a slew of recent dramas with big lead age gap – Ji Sung and Hyeri in Entertainer (18 years), Go Soo and Jin Se Yeon in Prison Flower (15 years), Lee Seo Jin and UEE in Marriage Contract (17 years), Park Shin Yang and Kang Sora in Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul Ho (21 years), and Namgong Min and Minah in Beast’s Beauty (16 years).
On the rare occasion there is the gender swapped age gap but it’s always written into the story like Yoo Ah In and Kim Hee Ae in Secret Love Affair (20 years) or Park Seo Joon and Uhm Jung Hwa in Witch’s Romance (19 years), but the recent batch doesn’t even need the leads to be that far apart in age narratively yet the casting made it that way. Of all the well known big age gap dramas, any worked or failed specifically because of it? I loved Prime Minister and I with Lee Bum Soo and Yoona, 17 year age gap not withstanding, but other than that it’s all meh for me.
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Secret love affair and i missu....no problem with age gap coz they look great together..but the rest....like ahjussi or uncle with their niece or daughter
Secret Love Affair is the best K-drama I've ever watched ♥
It's not a problem when the age gap is part of the story or the point of it like some of the dramas you mentioned. It's a problem when you have actors/actresses playing much older or much younger for no discerning reason and it stretches suspension of disbelief to the point that it's detrimental to the drama. It could still work if the actors selected look younger or older so they could still fit the part. But the way recent castings have gone make it seem like there was a zombie apocalypse and only a handful of actresses and actors remain in South Korea, so they just went with what they had.
I love your comment. So true.
It wouldn't be a problem if it worked both ways. But it is almost (almost I say) always male lead much older than the female. This is not only specific to S. Korea though, Indian cinema and Hollywood has it too. It is patriarchy affecting the industry I suppose.
It's like the new trend. No problem as long as they got chemistry. Saw articles on it last month on Indonesian web as well, both from male and female perspective :-)
http://www.pesona.co.id/read/tren-baru-pasangan-dalam-drama-korea
http://www.pesona.co.id/read/pria-populer-berkat-wanita-hebat
Lee Seo Jin (who looks much younger than his actual age) played a character younger than his real age in Marriage Contract, and UEE played a character slightly older than her real age. Ji Sung is another actor that looks younger than his actual age (although not as much as Lee Seo Jin).
Ha... I just realized that Witch's Romance features a much older woman, and Mirror of the Witch features a much older man.
It's the slew of upcoming dramas in which underage girls are paired with much older men that concerns me the most, even though in some dramas that may be historically accurate. I love Kim Sae Ron, but casting a 15 year-old opposite Yoon Shi Yoon is just wrong in my book.
what book would that be?
So what does K media (and K netizens) have to say about it other than noticing it?
LSJ and Uee's chemistry in Marriage Contract was outstanding..age gap didn't matter at all. I'm still not over such a beautiful drama.
Yes, outstanding chemistry. Marriage Contract by far the best Kdrama in 2016. In my opinion. ?
There was some age gap built into PMAI too - Yoona was playing older than her age, but even in the drama there was supposed to be more than 10 years difference between her and LBS (her character was late 20s, his was early 40s iirc). I'm fine with stories about couples with a large age gap, but I dislike it when they take actors with a significant age difference and pretend they're the same age, and especially dislike it when it involves minors. Also, as someone above said, it's usually older man/younger woman and there are a lot of issues with how that plays out.
That being said, Marriage Contract was a very good drama despite the age difference, and I'm watching Flower in Prison as well, so we'll see how that one goes once the child portion is over. Even so, can the next trend please be same age pairings?
I just love Prime Minister and I ... I don't see age gap as a problem :)