Lee Min-ho and ... his Hair
If objectifying Korean men/actors is a crime, I plead guilty. But I know it is not, so I'll keep doing it all day long. See who can stop me.
I consider one of the best suited victims for objectification to be Lee Min-ho (이민호). Here is why:
First, he is one of the tallest Korean actors (though not the tallest, as this very useful list informs me, but then, he is the most famous among the tallest) and tall people can take a bit of objectification, no?
Second, he is among the most famous Korean actors worldwide (he even has a German Wikipedia entry! Jang Dong-gun hasn't. Just saying) and has a rabid fanbase. I'm guessing about 99% of his fans are women, so he is totally used to objectification (and I am sure the 1% men also objectify him).
Third, he is partially to 'blame' (applaud?) for turning me into a KDrama-addict, so I have a right to objectify him (*insert totally irrelevant additional comment*: Technically, it's Rain first and Lee Min-ho second, cause my path into addiction went like this: Ninja Assassin (baaad movie ... but it had Rain/Bi/비 in it!) --> Full House (w/Rain) --> A Love to Kill (w/Rain) --> Let's go to school Sang Doo! (w/Rain) --> Personal Taste (w/Lee Min-ho) --> Boys over Flowers (w/Lee Min-ho), etc. ! etc. ! etc. ! By that time (between the first link in the chain and the last, a mere 10 days had passed), I was in deep. And while Rain may have started it all, Lee Min-ho solidified it. In a way, he is the foundation of all the subsequent love. Without Lee Min-ho, no Park Shi-hoo. Without Lee Min-ho, no Dramabeans. Without Lee Min-ho, no blogging today. Without Lee Min-ho, no purpose in life. Just kidding *end of insert*).
Fourth, he is so damn pretty. And it's a general law of the universe that all pretty people need to be objectified.
Objectifying Lee Min-ho could involve raving about his eyes, his nose, his smile, or his teeths. Or all of the above. But I'm choosing his hair. Everybody who has already seen tonight's new episode of Faith probably knows why: The slightly unruly hair is back! The blue headband is gone! Hurray! This calls for a hair celebration! A Lee Min-ho hair celebration!
So *drumroll* I am giving you.... Lee Min-ho's hair in his last four projects.
Boys over Flowers (of BoF) is certainly not a very good drama, but I didn't know that back then, in my rookie days. Lee Min-ho plays one of the biggest jerks of KDrama history (he would definitely make it on my Top 5 list of a-hole-characters), the super-rich, super-abusive, super-detestable Goo Joon Pyo. His trademark is his curly hair. See below. Close up, it's pretty impressive, that curl! I think we were meant to hate it, as we were meant to hate Joon Pyo.
When researching LMH's hair, I realized that he also had straight hair in BoF. Not that I remember, but it's pretty standard for drama characters to change their hairstyles at least once in every show. Anyways, here we have Lee Min-ho/Goo Joon Pyo with straight hair. Wow. Much better.
Personal Taste was my first Lee Min-ho drama. I loved it, though I realize from hindsight that it, too, was far from perfect. LMH plays an architect with mild OCD (who always wears trousers that are slightly too short, though I'm not sure that was intentional) who pretends to be gay so that he can become the roommate of a woman who lives in a mysterious house, whose secret he wants to unlock in order to win a competition. It's either win the competition or lose his company. And of course he falls in love with her. And it all makes sense when you watch the drama.
The character is much more likable than Goo Joon Pyo, even though he's a liar. This drama is also famous for the so-called "Game Over"-kiss, but that's not what we are interested in here, right? It is the perfectly good hair on LMH. Also: the wet look. Not bad at all!
LMH's best drama so far, in my opinion. Both hair-wise and acting-wise. It's a revenge-action drama, and it never gets boring. (And I'm grateful that City Hunter showed us that LMH is actually quite good in action scenes. Imagine just ever seeing him fight in Faith!) LMH gets to wear different hair-styles in City Hunter, since the drama covers different periods in his life. For example, there's the Thailand look:
And his Thailand-when-I-was-still-happy-because-I-didnt-yet-know-I-would-have-to-take-revenge-look (yes, I know... it's the same hairstyle with less blood and gore, but the smile ... the smile!)
Then, it's the seven-years-later-and-now-I'm-getting-serious hair:
which is also the very-suitable-for-badass-revenge hair:
Faith, oh Faith ... thee of what could-have-been ... Lee Min-ho's current drama is often a disappointment, but at least it has given us four LMH hair-styles. The first is a wavy pig-tail mane of glory, which made my daughter think LMH was a girl. She is still little, so the mistake is forgiveable.
I consider one of the best suited victims for objectification to be Lee Min-ho (이민호). Here is why:
First, he is one of the tallest Korean actors (though not the tallest, as this very useful list informs me, but then, he is the most famous among the tallest) and tall people can take a bit of objectification, no?
Second, he is among the most famous Korean actors worldwide (he even has a German Wikipedia entry! Jang Dong-gun hasn't. Just saying) and has a rabid fanbase. I'm guessing about 99% of his fans are women, so he is totally used to objectification (and I am sure the 1% men also objectify him).
Third, he is partially to 'blame' (applaud?) for turning me into a KDrama-addict, so I have a right to objectify him (*insert totally irrelevant additional comment*: Technically, it's Rain first and Lee Min-ho second, cause my path into addiction went like this: Ninja Assassin (baaad movie ... but it had Rain/Bi/비 in it!) --> Full House (w/Rain) --> A Love to Kill (w/Rain) --> Let's go to school Sang Doo! (w/Rain) --> Personal Taste (w/Lee Min-ho) --> Boys over Flowers (w/Lee Min-ho), etc. ! etc. ! etc. ! By that time (between the first link in the chain and the last, a mere 10 days had passed), I was in deep. And while Rain may have started it all, Lee Min-ho solidified it. In a way, he is the foundation of all the subsequent love. Without Lee Min-ho, no Park Shi-hoo. Without Lee Min-ho, no Dramabeans. Without Lee Min-ho, no blogging today. Without Lee Min-ho, no purpose in life. Just kidding *end of insert*).
Fourth, he is so damn pretty. And it's a general law of the universe that all pretty people need to be objectified.
Objectifying Lee Min-ho could involve raving about his eyes, his nose, his smile, or his teeths. Or all of the above. But I'm choosing his hair. Everybody who has already seen tonight's new episode of Faith probably knows why: The slightly unruly hair is back! The blue headband is gone! Hurray! This calls for a hair celebration! A Lee Min-ho hair celebration!
So *drumroll* I am giving you.... Lee Min-ho's hair in his last four projects.
Boys over Flowers (Goo Joon Pyo) - KBS2, 2009
Lee Min-ho's hair in Boys over Flower rating: 7/10
Boys over Flowers (of BoF) is certainly not a very good drama, but I didn't know that back then, in my rookie days. Lee Min-ho plays one of the biggest jerks of KDrama history (he would definitely make it on my Top 5 list of a-hole-characters), the super-rich, super-abusive, super-detestable Goo Joon Pyo. His trademark is his curly hair. See below. Close up, it's pretty impressive, that curl! I think we were meant to hate it, as we were meant to hate Joon Pyo.
Personal Taste/Personal Preference (Jeon Jin Ho) - MBC, 2010
Lee Min-ho's hair in Personal Taste rating: 9/10
Personal Taste was my first Lee Min-ho drama. I loved it, though I realize from hindsight that it, too, was far from perfect. LMH plays an architect with mild OCD (who always wears trousers that are slightly too short, though I'm not sure that was intentional) who pretends to be gay so that he can become the roommate of a woman who lives in a mysterious house, whose secret he wants to unlock in order to win a competition. It's either win the competition or lose his company. And of course he falls in love with her. And it all makes sense when you watch the drama.The character is much more likable than Goo Joon Pyo, even though he's a liar. This drama is also famous for the so-called "Game Over"-kiss, but that's not what we are interested in here, right? It is the perfectly good hair on LMH. Also: the wet look. Not bad at all!
City Hunter (Lee Yoon Sung / John Lee / Poo Chai) - SBS, 2011
Lee Min-ho's hair in City Hunter rating: 10/10
LMH's best drama so far, in my opinion. Both hair-wise and acting-wise. It's a revenge-action drama, and it never gets boring. (And I'm grateful that City Hunter showed us that LMH is actually quite good in action scenes. Imagine just ever seeing him fight in Faith!) LMH gets to wear different hair-styles in City Hunter, since the drama covers different periods in his life. For example, there's the Thailand look:
Faith (Choi Young) - SBS, 2012
Lee Min-ho's hair in Faith rating: 8/10
Faith, oh Faith ... thee of what could-have-been ... Lee Min-ho's current drama is often a disappointment, but at least it has given us four LMH hair-styles. The first is a wavy pig-tail mane of glory, which made my daughter think LMH was a girl. She is still little, so the mistake is forgiveable.
Why a Goryeo-general should have highlights is beyond me, but this is a fusion-sageuk, so anything goes. The fringe (almost) covers his right eye, so he can glare really well. I also heard from pretty well informed sources that his hair hardly ever moves during the fight scenes. Pretty awesome hold spray, I'd say!
Then, we also had the flashback-to-happier-days-hair, though only for a very brief period of time. That's not a great loss, because it's pretty much the same, just shorter:
Then, we have the I'm-now-different-because-I-serve-a-new-king-of-Goryeo-hair. It started in episode 9 and has just now disappeared again (episode 19). It's a weird high piggy-tail-hair-band-look, which really pushes the overall hair-score for Faith down a few points. Our General also wears the same hairband in every single episode and never seems to take it off. My goodness, that thing must stink!
And then, finally ... the hairband is OFF! and the hair is short-ish. Oh, yum. I'm so glad there's 5 more episodes to go. Yes, I'm actually glad Faith isn't over yet and if it's just for the hair!
and once again, because it is so glorious:
THE END