Probably because the set is not heated. 
I don’t know HOW many cdramas I’ve watched with visible breath on the actors. Poor guys are freezing in those thin, silk robes.
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The first time I saw this, I thought I was seeing things. It didn’t take long to realize this is just a thing in c-dramas. I feel so bad for the cast and crew.
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Yes, and if you look for the behind scenes videos, you can see that they have to wear really big coats between the scenes and other stuff to get warm.
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Lots of hand warmers - they always but coats on them - although I think the historical dramas being filmed right now they probably want to take off the costumes!
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I actually love the oversize look 
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YES!! Chanyeol is my favorite oversized-airport-fashion model… the other members borrow clothes from his wardrobe because he’s the tallest!
I seriously hate that I live in such a hot place 
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Well, the system is showing that it’s keeping track of the hearts you gave, here’s todays count so far, but really it shouldn’t be an issue for you as you should have 100 to give,
unless you’re saying that it’s warning that you are about to run out when you have haven’t even given out 50 hearts in the past 24 hours, in which case, yes, that is a bug.
As for the making the FL unattractive, I’d be surprised if that’s actually the case. All actors and actresses are made up to look good. Even the shows that are ugly duckling turn swan type story, they deliberately try to make the FL unattractive …with makeup! If anything, I’d say some of the men are overly made up.
The male lead, depending on the character would obviously be dressed and groomed according to their characters’ status, with modern dramas the males tend to be high up in the pecking order, CEO, Chaebol, the son of someone high up, etc and should be dressed accordingly. The rule applies equally for females, rich woman in designer clothes, average/normal female roles in casuals or uniform (because the elites don’t need to wear uniforms) to further differentiate their status, especially if the two roles are pitted against each other to become the love interest.
Unless both male and female roles require them to be in uniform in which case all uniforms should be clean and smart anyway.
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@ninjas_with_onions
I was talking about dramas like: My Little Bride the ending scene is outrageous.
L.U.C.A. and others. They permed the actress hair and dress them in oversize clothes. A good example is Doom at your Service the actress is very petite and WHO in this life doesn’t know that you never dress small size women in oversize clothes? : it looks ridiculous and unappealing. It so happens the dramas I like I feel the women are portrayed as sloppy, unattractive but the CEO good looking good guy transform the ‘‘woman from ugly duckling to pretty.’’
I think the most insulting drama to me was ABYSS. OMG I had to let go off my anger to be able to enjoy the drama bc the drama gave all the wrong messages to ppl that are depressed about their looks. Even the end message didn’t do justice to the story plot but you have to see it FULLY to understand what I’m talking about (PBY from DOOM was in this drama).
@ninjas_with_onions //// @my_happy_place
Why the permed hair and unkempt appearance for females?
This is what I was writing about before, and I found a good example 
This actress is the main female lead in [SCRIPTING YOUR DESTINY]
This is how she looks…
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I have watched drama after drama recently where this is the case. I fully get that it is part of the ‘ugly duckling turned swan’ type of story arc, but I really wish someone really creative could come up with new ways to show this transformation. Is portraying the poor, down-on-her-luck FL really only possible by having her dress terribly with bad hair-dos? The clothes are always an issue, but more than anything I’m extremely tired of the ‘poor’ girl always wearing a ponytail. Are heiresses really the only people who know how to style their hair?
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No, you don’t get it.
- An actress who is plain (not really ugly, but nothing to write home about either) has a high chance of getting leading roles, whereas a man hasn’t.
- Casual, non-designer, cheap clothes can be pretty and becoming too. There’s no rule saying that whatever is cheap has to be ugly. But these female leads are often dressed in formless sacks, with short socks and bulky black men’s shoes etc. to the point that their female figure is completely concealed, and they look like clowns. Their hair is unkempt and they walk clumsily.
Why, then?
What I will say now is not only my personal view, I have read it very often in serious articles.
These dramas are watched (in the overwhelming majority) by females who are largely very plain and unkempt, unattractive or downright ugly. Because the majority of people out there are not beauties. Yes, even an ugly person can compensate by carefully choosing the most becoming haircut and original styling, so that he or she looks charming. But that’s not a skill most people know.
They like watching the male eye-candy, of course. But when the female lead is beautiful, they could feel threatened or competitive. That’s why the villainess is beautiful and chic, but the main lead is as close as possible to the average girl: so that she doesn’t feel threatening but relatable and comfortable, and elicit sympathy.
So the very plain, shabbily dressed viewer, while watching the drama, can escape the reality for a while. She can see herself in the female lead and fantasise “She doesn’t look very different from me. So if she could get not one, but two dreamy-looking guys, one cold and powerful and the other friendly and sweet, to fall for her, maybe, who knows, one day I also can have that luck”. Deep down, she knows that will not happen, but that dream is comforting. And it’s easier to be comforted by watching dramas while munching on snacks on a couch that get one’s ass out there to diet, exercise and visit a good hairdresser or stylist.
Of course there are a number of very pretty female leads. Because some viewers like a different fantasy, the one where they watch a fairytale beauty becoming a princess. So the commercially-minded creators cater to that fantasy too. But they have to give her some other shortcoming In those cases, the female lead is beautiful but has a subordinate role in society and rises up. Or she is a spoiled brat who gradually becomes a nice human being. Etc.
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But I really hate the extremes they go to portray her shabby appearance. You don’t even need a hairdresser to look decent and pretty. Just put a little care while combing it, it’s not that hard!
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You Are My Hero. The FL is a surgeon so it’s natural that she probably doesn’t have time to style her hair. But even that simple hairdo has been done well. She doesn’t look shabby, just natural.
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He is Psychometric. FL is a policewoman. I love this style… so natural, neat and really pretty.
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Terrius Behind Me. I guess, to fit the “mom” stereotype, they permed her hair at first, but it still wasn’t shabby and unkempt like most of those annoying other FLs. It was nicely combed and Jung In Sun is a natural beauty. The perm fades away as the drama progresses
The shabby ones are usually the mainstream teen-oriented dramas 
You don’t have to put a person down to feel better about yourself!
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I understand what you are saying. Personally, I’d place FL as being on the average/slightly above average to the plus end of the scale of very attractive, which aligns with your argument.
but Angelight was saying
implying they take average and there is some ulterior motive or deliberate attempt to shift them towards the negative end of the scale (unattractive/ugly)
My argument is that really only happens where there is an Ugly duckling story (i.e. True Beauty, My ID is Gangnam beauty) in which they initially start with an attractive actress and deliberately “spoil” her looks with makeup to the negative end so that when they do her makeup properly there is the stark contrast in the transformation.
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You’re right… they usually do this when there’s a huge makeover scene somewhere along the drama. The only exception is Suspicious Partner. I think Nam Ji Hyun pulled off the character and even made her likable just because she’s Nam Ji Hyun. Her hair was a mess from start to end.
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I came to the conclusion as @irmar, the FL is closer to average because the average viewer is as well, so it’s easier to relate to her. There are some pretty actresses that I’d love to see in as the FL but they always seem to get the mean girl roll.
The FL in Lie to Me starts off quite a mess. And stays fairly average the whole series (if I remember correctly.)
When they show her before getting a job flashback, she’s talking to her beautifully made up friend and admits she hasn’t showered for weeks.
First time she runs into the ML & the SML she’s drunk & a complete mess (her hair’s actually better in this picture than in most of the scene)
When she gets a ‘makeover’ in the second episode she proudly states she looks like a gold digger.
Most of the time she’s at work she looks something like this
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She’s also one of my favorite actresses in k dramas bc she’s so natural in her roles. I haven’t seen one drama where she was the main lead, that I didn’t like (although, in most of the ones I saw from her, she was always ‘‘a mess that CEO fixes up)’’
There was only one drama I saw that she was nicely dressed, and that was [Missing You] also known as [I Miss You] back in 2012 starring Yoon Eun-hye, Park Yoo-chun and Yoo Seung.ho. I truly enjoyed that one, but I have never seen her in another drama after that one (maybe I missed them?)
In the drama [ABYSS] which I hope you get to see, the insults toward the looks of a specific ‘‘woman’’ {PBY from Doom] were so insulting (imo) that it drove me to tears. To see an actress who is an average-looking girl (and what I consider ‘‘pretty’’), to have to play such a denigrating role, insult her own looks, height, her brain/intelligence, was very hard for me to see in that drama. I believe that drama was the last straw that keeps me away from any drama where women are portrayed as a mess, and the guy is the perfect-looking guy.
Of course, there are exceptions to that rule of mine, like TRUE BEAUTY? The girl had acne problems and you know the rest (the role calls for FL to be a mess). No matter how good an actress is in certain roles I think she should put her foot down, and not continue to play those kinds of roles in dramas.
My youngest daughter gets really angry and can’t understand why I watch dramas that are so insulting and abusive towards women (she hates the corporal beating of grown-up son/daughter) by parents/Boss/jealous women etc…My oldest daughter stopped watching them bc she didn’t like certain scenes, and she likes to watch movies where my grandkids don’ think that getting treated/insulted like that, is a normal thing.
But like @irmar wrote a while back as long as viewers keep watching them, they will continue to make these kinds of roles because money talks, BS walks… as the saying goes.
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I don’t know when it shifted, but in newer dramas there doesn’t seem to be as much abuse towards underlings, the parents still seem to hit their adult children though. That seems so strange to me, why would you hit or kick your kids.
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before (probably because it annoys me) I don’t know why when some writers are trying to portray a strong woman they make her abusive, someone can be strong without hitting anyone.
The FL from Are You Human Too is a prime example, it’s one of the reasons I couldn’t keep watching
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This is so true. And it usually seems like this is supposed to be an endearing quality in the women. Like, ‘look at that woman not taking any crap from her man. Isn’t it cute? Good for her.’ Umm, NO! How is physical abuse endearing in any form? I remember the first few times I saw the work-place abuse in a drama, and I will admit it burst my ‘U.S. born and bred’ bubble. I couldn’t imagine that something like that was happening in relatively modern settings. I was hoping it was just used for dramatic effect and that it didn’t reflect the overall work culture anymore. Same goes for the amount and variety of school bullying that you see in dramas.
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Yes, I hated that drama too but I don’t remember why (or that scene), and I read so many praises about it which leaves me perplexed.
The last drama I saw on NTFX was [
Revolutionary Love
I have never sobbed so much with a drama as I did for this one. The father supposedly a high-class CEO beats up his son (SIWON) for failing to follow his order, and what he feels his son is not doing, that matches up to his standards.
I found this drama not too long ago, and couldn’t finish all the episodes bc the abusive scenes revolted my stomach. I did go back to see the ending bc viewers wrote they loved the ending but I wasn’t too please with the ending either.
In the Japanese dramas, they are also making the Japanese women doing these horrible abusive scenes towards the men, and is not fun at all to watch bc they make the guy so nice you can’t enjoy such a scene. But if the guy was an abusive husband I would be re-watching and enjoying every bit of it.
If you noticed now, how they always try to make the women the bad ones. They can be strong but they are abusive monsters to the poor guy. Leave it to Asian writers to smear the image of the women bc they can never win. That is why I pick and chose what I watch from now on, and if anything bothers me too much I just DUMP it. ESpecially when it comes to the way women are portrayed in the drama. I won’t give viewership to something that denigrates my image as a woman. A strong woman is not the one that abuses a man/anyone, but the one that defends themselves against monsters that are abusing them.
Since I didn’t see [Are you human too] all the way, I don’t remember if this guy was abusive to her. If he was an abuser then, he needs to feel the pain he put her through. Only a person that has been abused knows the pain those bastards can inflict. COWARDS bc they are stronger and bigger; how can they hit someone that can’t hit them just as hard? Not every one of us women can learn to fight (professionally it cost a lot of money)…
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I know. Why does abuse or fighting have to be the first that comes to mind when you think of a “strong” person?
But I understand why this is so common, because it gives the viewer that immediate high, to see a character doing what they, in the back of their mind, would probably like to do to someone. It gives a momentary feeling of power and invincibility because, for some reason, humans feel powerful while putting someone else down.
I have nothing against martial arts. It’s the unnecessary hitting, kicking and slapping for no reason that bugs me. I’m glad our school had compulsory karate training for both boys and girls till the sixth grade. You learn the honor code along with that— just because you have the ability, you can’t attack anyone. True strength is knowing when to use it.
For example, I liked 18 Again. Both mother and daughter were strong and not just physically. I liked that neither of them hit or kicked anyone for no reason, but weren’t afraid to use martial arts when needed.
Aside from physical strength, I love it when there are female leads who are strong without having to show they can kick ass. They are confident women who know how to stand up for themselves but also know when to let go. They aren’t doormats, but they fight for what they believe in. You can’t live life being a rigid stick with everything going only your way. In every relationship, you will have to give way for the other sometimes, WITHOUT losing your own identity.
I’ve already talked about Flower of Evil’s Cha Ji Won, Tomorrow With You’s Song Ma Rin, I’m Not a Robot’s Jo Ji Ah, Oh My Venus’ Kang Joo Eun, You Are My Hero’s Mi Ka, Touch Your Heart’s Oh Jin Shim, Healer’s Chae Young Shin, The Player’s Cha Ah Ryung, Under the Power’s Xi Shui, Secret Life of My Secretary’s Veronica Park(she’s the funnier, sweeter version of IOTNBO’s Ko Moon Young).
Who cares if they cry once or twice? They’re human. No one is made of steel. The beauty is in the way they go through situations and come out victorious, without compromising on their own values or letting someone else walk all over them.
It takes a reallllllly good writer to bring out a strong character without relying on useless tropes. To showcase character. To make us go “Wow. What a wonderful soul!”
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