Netizens Have Mixed Feelings About The Casting Of K-Drama “Crash Course In Romance” Female Lead
Spoiler Alert
Everyone’s latest comfort K-Drama is tvN‘s Crash Course in Romance.
This South Korean rom-com stars Jung Kyung Ho as Choi Chi Yeol, a celebrity math instructor at Pride Academy, and Jeon Do Yeon as Nam Haeng Seon, a former national handball player who currently runs a banchan shop.
A woman with a heart of gold navigates the cutthroat world of private education when her daughter tries to join a celebrity math instructor’s class.
— Netflix’s description of Crash Course in Romance
Viewers are calling it a “breath of fresh air” and a reminder of why they begin watching K-Dramas in the first place!
crash course in romance is the best thing from 2023 so farpic.twitter.com/m5BL8PXZvv
— azra 🦋 (@kdramaswithugs) January 23, 2023
putting “Crash Course in Romance” on weekends is genuinely the best thing that has ever happened, like nothing feels better than rewarding yourself with an episode of it, after a long arduous day, such a breath of fresh air
— 𓎩 (@warmkdrms) January 28, 2023
Yet, some viewers are perplexed over the casting of Nam Haeng Seon. Popular K-Drama content creator KD Confidential (@kdramaconfidential on TikTok) shared her opinion with her followers.
I would love dramas to celebrate women of all ages rather than forcing them to fit molds they don’t fit.
— KD Confidential
In Episode 3, Choi Chi Yeol discovers that Nam Haeng Seon is the mother of one of his students, much to his shock, as she looks “too young” to be a teenager’s mom. Haeng Seon is actually technically her daughter’s aunt and became her surrogate mother when the girl was abandoned.
I just got to the part where our male lead realizes that she is the mom of one of the students in his class. And both him and his assistant are like, ‘Oh, she looks way too young to have a daughter that age.’ And, no, she doesn’t.
— KD Confidential
What concerns viewers like KD Confidential is that Haeng Seon’s entire characterization is that she became a mother before she was ready to. So, she would be young, but her actress is the perfect age to be a mother. Jeon Do Yeon is 49 years old (soon to be 50 on February 11). She’s actually ten years older than Jung Kyung Ho, who plays the male lead.
Like if I can be honest for a minute, this casting kind of baffles me. Because if you want to have a character where her entire like characterization is based on the fact that she became a surrogate mother for her niece too young, you need to cast an actress who looks too young.
— KD Confidential
Everyone agrees she’s a great actress. So, rather than cast someone younger, the script could have been adjusted so that we’re not trying to force ourselves to believe she looks 30-something when she’s like 50.
And if you don’t want to cast an actress who is too young, if you want to cast an actress who is 50, that’s great, but then you have to adjust the character. You have to because otherwise, you end up with this situation where viewers like me are constantly getting pulled out of the story thinking like, ‘What’s anyone even talking about?’
— KD Confidential
In a flashback scene in Episode 2, we meet the leads while they’re young, proving they were destined. Actress Lee Yeon portrays the younger version, and she is 27 going on 28 years old but could easily pass for early 20s.
And it started with the flashback where the girl playing her in the flashback was way too young like it seems like this character is supposed to be early 30s but she’s obviously not. She’s 50.
— KD Confidential
Considering the K-Drama seems to imply that Haeng Seon is in her 30s (40 at oldest) for the majority of the K-Drama, the casting choice is confusing. While Do Yeon’s character should stand out from the other “moms” of the show, she fits right in in terms of appearance since she’s their age or older.
She is the same age or older than all the other women playing moms on this show. So, like I just don’t get it. I don’t get why if they wanted to cast her-Wonderful, cast her-change the character. You have to change the character.
— KD Confidential
Netizens have mixed feelings about the situation. Most people agree that the actress is not the problem and just wish they would let her portray her own age rather than pretend to be younger.
They find it confusing that the K-Drama is wanting us to believe she and the male lead are the same age when they’re not. Yet, some viewers don’t care either way and are simply enjoying the K-Drama.
What do you think?
Watch the TikTok below.
@kdramaconfidential No shade to #jeondoyeon at all. I would love dramas to celebrate women of all ages rather than forcing them to fit molds they don’t fit. #kdramafyp #kdramatok #crashcourseinromance #crashcourseinromancekdrama
