These incomprehensible and somewhat silly details often appear in K-dramas, especially romantic ones.
Korean dramas are loved for their fun, engaging plots, satisfying visuals, great acting, and many other reasons. However, a major problem with K-dramas, especially ones of the romance genre, is how overly unrealistic and cringey they can be. Here are 5 things that defy logic yet you will probably see in plenty of K-dramas.
Women cross-dressing as men without anyone noticing but the makeup is too obvious
Women disguising themselves as men is a famous trope in K-dramas that we can’t get enough of. However, in multiple series, viewers find it difficult to understand how female characters cross-dressing as men while wearing makeup and acting in a feminine way still manage to hide their real identity as women.
In the Joseon era drama Love in the Moonlight, despite taking on a gender-bending role, Kim Yoo Jung’s makeup with striking blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara and lipstick make her character Hong Ra On look too feminine, yet other characters are still fooled by her disguise. In the modern-day drama You’re Beautiful, Ko Mi Nam (Park Shin Hye) pretends to be her brother. She becomes a male idol who appears in public all the time but ridiculously enough, no one notices Ko Mi Nam’s femininity.
Acting in historical dramas with modern makeup
Although makeup is necessary for actors to confidently appear on camera, there are still cases where actors’ makeup looks are not so appropriate. In Moon Lovers, Hae Soo (IU) is a modern-day girl who accidentally travels 1000 years back in time to the Goryeo Dynasty. Hae Soo‘s actions and thoughts are different from the past, which is completely reasonable, but her makeup looks, especially the on-point eyeliners, are not suitable for the context of the drama.
Hide identity by wearing glasses and hats
Can one pair of glasses or a hat automatically make someone look unrecognizable and turn into a different person? These are two items that often appear in K-dramas when the characters want to cover up their identities. Touch Your Heart and Abyss are two examples.
Turn into a beauty just by taking off glasses
Not only has the task of hiding the identity, the glasses also turn an ugly person into a beauty. Joo Eun (Shin Min Ah) of Oh My Venus (My Goddess) and Joo Kyung (Moon Ga Young) of True Beauty (True Beauty) are good examples. Initially, the two girls had poor looks and were shaped with large glasses. But when they successfully lost weight and became more beautiful than before, it seemed that the glasses were no longer effective.
Stumble and kiss
This is a really romantic touch that frequently appears in Korean dramas. Korean filmmakers will be successful if the audience were solely focused on the storyline and neglected logic. In A Business Proposal, Tae Moo (Ahn Hyo Seop) and Ha Ri (Kim Se Jeong) stumble and accidentally kiss each other’s lips. In reality, tripping like that would be terrible for both of them and would not result in such a romantic scene.
