Second lead syndrome
Dramas are plays an integral part in Asian society. With the higher ratings and trending on OTT platforms dramas are widely watched and loved by viewers. Recently I found myself engaged with several Asian dramas and able to connect with different characters. I discovered that I got attracted to the second lead, whether it’s a male or female character, and I named this ‘second lead syndrome’.
Whether it’s the famous k drama true beauty, heirs, or Boys over Flowers, you are able to connect more with the second lead. The way Han Seo-jun loved Lim Joo-Kyung in a show called true beauty, but she ended up with Lee Su-ho(despite being toxic). These kinds of plots are really beyond my understanding. I am not a fan girl wooing Hwang In-youp (who played the character of seo-jun). choosing someone who left you in the middle of everything despite one who their for you always id really unacceptable to me.
Being a student of feminist film theory, the one thing that I learned was the depiction of a character onscreen played a vital role in off-screen society. Depiction of the main male lead with the toxic traits and falling of the female lead in love with the same is most common in Asian dramas( there are several exceptions too). people watch, learn and try to implement these unacceptable things in real life. Many of you would disagree with the effect of dramas and movies in real life but this is somehow true. A woman will always choose a person to marry, or have a family with a person with no such quality as presented in toxic male lead, and the same goes for a man.
These kinds of plots are often common in Thai lakorn, women usually end up with the guy who raped her or abused her. Recently I watched a drama called ‘Jam loey ruk’, and the plot was really disturbing. The plot is about a man seeking vengeance from a woman, who he thinks is responsible for his brother’s death. He kidnaps her and raped her. And then we expected that he will be jailed for his action but here is the twist, women fall in love with her rapist. Before her kidnap, she really liked a guy, who was in love with her and respected her. But she end up with the guy who raped and abused her. I still cannot believe how writers would have written such a toxic and mentally disturbing plot.
The portrayal of such a toxic person as the main lead always leads to a disturbing end in real life. People always end up with a second non-toxic lead in the real world. I understand that this debate is unending, but presenting the main toxic lead and women falling in love with the same is still common on tv that we consume and this is really disturbing.
This article is not truly ‘second-lead syndrome’ but this is how I end up writing it.
Do share the dramas that you find really disturbing or loving.
