Thursday, February 13, 2014

Netizens Turn on Won Bin, Apocalypse is Nigh

Won Bin is one of the few infallible gods of Korean entertainment, the man can literally do no wrong. His name would constantly be hyped and media played to unbearable levels, but not only would netizens ignore it, they encouraged it.

Dubbed "The Life Sculpture" for being as naturally handsome as if a god spent a little extra time on this guy. "Alien" for being unearthly handsome. "CG creation" for being as handsome as if someone drew/animated him that way. The man allegedly turns lesser men and women into "octopi" in his mere presence or even having his picture next to theirs. You're starting to get the idea here, but apparently his selflessness (he's been known to do charitable works both lowkey and media played) and reclusiveness (not even Korean paparazzi can find bad pics of this guy) combined with his good looks gives him some kind of untouchable aura that no scandal can mar. Not that he's had any significant scandals mar his career in the first place.

The biggest thing to date was a straight up dating scandal. That would put down any normal celebrity for months on end, but it doesn't even phase him. The man hooks up with some hot young actress and instead of screaming how unfit she was for him, netizens merely shrugged and went about their day. He could shit on a little girl's face in broad daylight in the middle of Seoul and people would be jealous instead of mad. Even netizens were self-aware of this phenomenon, wondering what it would take for people to get mad at Won Bin.

Until now.

BRACE YOURSELVES, THE UNTHINKABLE HAS OCCURRED. PUBLIC OPINION HAS FINALLY BEGUN TO TURN ON WON BIN.
"Fuck, I ain't ready for this shit."
Warning: Lots of text, lots of difficult to read tables because fuckin Blogger deletes my formatting
I started off with a small article but it morphed into something bigger and uglier. Oop.

Article: When will he comeback? Won Bin-ssi, isn't it time to promote again

Source:
 TV Daily via Nate

1. [+1,135, -54] Kim Soo Hyun's daebak already but... imagine if Won Bin did 'You Who Came From the Stars'... He would've really looked like an alien ㅋㅋㅋ

2. [+611, -13] So hurry up and come out~ It's good to do charity work behind the scenes but please do some charity for the eyes of viewers by giving us some eye candy ㅎㅎ We want to see your handsome face ♥.♥ 

3. [+498, -13] Yeah, if you look him up on Naver, his recent activities is just empty... I guess it's one of two things... He's either really careful when it comes to picking projects or he's really~ lazy and would rather stay home since he makes enough money off of CFs.

4. [+61, -11] Reminds me of what Lee Soon Jae said at the awards ceremonies when he talked ill of actors who get popular off of one work and then live off of CF money... Won Bin's handsome and a good actor but he doesn't work often enough. Sometimes I wonder if he's an actor or a CF star.

5. [+51, -8] His looks are undeniably the best but I prefer actors like Ha Jung Woo who doesn't care about his image or anything and works hard in all of his projects as opposed to a an actor who does nothing but CFs sometimes. 

6. [+40, -7] What's the point of being so handsome when he doesn't work... I prefer actors who continue to work even as supporting roles when necessary even if they're not as handsome as him.

7. [+40, -9] If you are truly an actor, I hope you will stop shying away from works so much. An actor needs to act to be an actor. 

8. [+34, -11] Won Bin does one work every 3-4 years... Hard to call him an actor at this point. 

9. [+24, -6] Someone whose job is a doctor must treat patients every day, someone whose job is a taxi driver must drive his taxi every day, someone whose job is a student must study every day... and someone whose job is to act should be acting as often as possible, like Ha Jung Woo... Doesn't seem right for Won Bin to receive all of this love from the public and not do anything with it.

10. [+24, -7] He's not really an actor... just a handsome star.
"WTF DID I JUST READ... WON BIN GON' HAVE TA SMACK A BITCH?"
People are complaining that he's not done anything or landed any new gigs aside from the odd CF? Smells like the typical bullshit netizen entitlement that plagues Korean entertainment. Like many people have said in the past, the constant barrage of promotions Korean stars do -- whether it's comeback singles or new CF deals or new drama roles or movie performances or stage/theatre pieces -- desensitizes people to the normally rigorous demands of the industry itself. It's really goddamn hard out there to get a new gig in the first place, and unless you've got sponsorship, industry connections, or cash to throw around, you're not doing shit until you get one or more of the previous.

Let's look at American movie stars for comparison. You're always going to have A-listers like Morgan Freeman who have a ton of star power, money, and influence to throw around. People like him can pretty much pick and choose his roles. He stars in so many movies so often simply because he wants to.

MORGAN FREEMAN'S FILMOGRAPHY (2004-2014)
Year Movie Role
2004 Million Dollar Baby Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris
2005 An Unfinished Life Mitch Bradley
2005 Batman Begins Lucius Fox
2005 Unleashed Sam
2006 Edison Force Ashford
2006 The Contract Frank Carden
2006 Lucky Number Slevin The Boss
2006 10 Items or Less Himself
2007 Evan Almighty God
2007 Feast of Love Harry Stephenson
2007 Gone, Baby, Gone Jack Doyle
2007 The Bucket List Carter Chambers
2008 Wanted Sloan
2008 The Dark Knight Lucius Fox
2009 Prom Night in Mississippi Himself
2009 Thick as Thieves Keith Ripley
2009 The Maiden Heist Charlie
2009 Invictus Nelson Mandela
2010 RED Joe
2011 Dolphin Tale Dr. Cameron McCarthy
2012 The Magic of Belle Isle Monte Wildhorn
2012 The Dark Knight Rises Lucius Fox
2013 Olympus Has Fallen Speaker Allan Trumbull
2013 Oblivion Malcolm Beech
2013 Now You See Me Thaddeus Bradley
2013 Last Vegas Archie
2014 The Lego Movie Vitruvius (voice)





On the other hand, you have people like Tom Cruise or Leonardo di Caprio who also have just as much star power/money/influence to toss around but instead are far more selective about their roles in comparison.

TOM CRUISE'S FILMOGRAPHY (2004-2014)
Year Movie Role
2004 Collateral Vincent
2005 War of the Worlds Ray Ferrier
2006 Mission: Impossible III Ethan Hunt
2007 Lions for Lambs Senator Jasper Irving
2008 Valkyrie Claus von Stauffenberg
2008 Tropic Thunder Les Grossman
2010 Knight and Day Roy Miller
2011 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Ethan Hunt
2012 Rock of Ages Stacee Jaxx
2012 Jack Reacher Jack Reacher
2013 Oblivion Jack Harper
2014 Edge of Tomorrow Lt. Col. William "Bill" Cage

LEONARDO DI CAPRIO'S FILMOGRAPHY (2004-2014)
Year Movie Role
2004 The Aviator Howard Hughes
2006 The Departed William "Billy" Costigan Jr.
Blood Diamond Danny Archer
2008 Body of Lies Roger Ferris
Revolutionary Road Frank Wheeler
2010 Shutter Island Teddy Daniels
Inception Dom Cobb
2011 J. Edgar J. Edgar Hoover
2012 Django Unchained Calvin J. Candie
2013 The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby
The Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort

And this is all in the unquestionably larger market of Hollywood. Actors are considered done and washed up if they do anything but a cameo on TV roles, so their prospects are technically slimmer for relevancy. Is it bad they their filmographies aren't packed as full of activity as they could be? No. Is it good that Morgan Freeman is as prolific as he is? Not necessarily. These people have reached the point in their careers that they don't have to whore themselves out constantly to make money or stay in the public eye. They star in things because they like the project or the challenge, or simply need a new mansion to keep their money in. 

If we want to keep it in Korea, let's compare Won Bin to some of his peers.

WON BIN'S FILMOGRAPHY (2004-2014)
Year Movie Film or Drama Role
2004 Taegukgi Film Lee Jin Seok
My Brother Film Jong Hyun
2009 Mother Film Do Joon
2010 The Man from Nowhere Film Cha Tae Sik


CHA SEUNG WON'S FILMOGRAPHY (2004-2014)
Year Movie Film or Drama Role
2004 Ghost House Film Park Pil Gi
2005 Blood Rain Film Lee Won Gyoo
Murder, Take One Film Choi Yeon Gi
2006 Over the Border Film Kim Sun Ho
2007 Small Town Rivals Film Jo Choon Sam
My Son Film Lee Kang Shik
2008 Eye for an Eye Film Ahn Hyun Min
2009 Secret Film Kim Seong Yeol
City Hall (SBS) Drama Jo Gook
2010 Athena: Goddess of War (SBS) Drama Son Hyuk
Blades of Blood Film Lee Mong Hak
71: Into the Fire Film Park Moo Rang
2011 The Greatest Love (MBC) Drama Dokko Jin
2014 High Heels Film Detective Ji Wook

LEE BYUNG HUN'S FILMOGRAPHY (2004-2014)
Year Movie Film or Drama Role
2004 Everybody Has Secrets Film Choi Su Hyeon
Three Extremes - segment "Cut" Film Ryu Ji Ho
2005 A Bittersweet Life Film Kim Sun Woo
2006 Once in a Summer Film Yun Suk Young
2008 The Good, the Bad, the Weird Film Park Chang Yi, the Bad
2009 I Come with the Rain Film Su Dong Po
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Film Storm Shadow
Iris Drama Kim Hyun Jun
2010 Iris: The Movie Film Kim Hyun Jun
The Influence Film W
I Saw the Devil Film Kim Soo Hyeon
2012 Masquerade (Gwanghae: The Man Who Became King) Film King Gwang Hae, Beggar Ha Sun[33]
2013 G.I. Joe: Retaliation Film Storm Shadow
RED 2 Film Han Jo Bae / Han Cho Bai
2014 Memories of the Sword Film Deok Gi

Yeah, I'll admit there's quite the stark difference between Won Bin and everyone else, Korea or not Korea. Perhaps some of the criticism is warranted, but it's still highly entitled of people to expect actors to star in roles at their beck and call, especially one of the A-lister gods like these guys. All of the actors above (across the pond or not) have taken 2-4 year hiatuses in their careers before, even recently as you can see for yourself in their filmographies, so why is it so weird that Won Bin is as well? It's not like he owes it to these people to star in things, and it's not like he asked for the circlejerky adoration/zealotry he receives from people online. It's simply unfair and really fucking dumb to expect this shit of him or anyone else, really.

Besides, if I was dating someone like Lee Na Young


and rolling in the dough without lifting a finger, I'd just stay home and bang her all day too.

19 comments:

  1. Wow, and Won Bin didn't even have to date a T-ara member to get hated. I guess netizens' irrational hatred does actually emcompass absolutely everything.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's lucky it's not full on hate yet, it's still simmering under the surface at this point. But public opinion is still shifting against him. Netizens as a collective are insane.

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  2. People are going to think I wrote that last bit about Lee Na Young lol.

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    Replies
    1. Beauty is beauty, old chap. At least I didn't say "pee in her butt" or something.

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  3. Waiting for the day when K netizens turn their back against Yoo Jae Suk.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think it will ever happen. Except if he was in a really big scandal a la Kang Ho Dong and his tax evasion then maybe but the thing is that Yoo Jae Suk is too clean. Nobody is perfect of course but the amount of people and celebrities praising him to death, they love him more than netizens lol.

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    2. I'm aware of that. However seeing how even the smallest and insignificant things can rage K netizens I'm curious to see if it will ever happen to the most beloved person in Korea.

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  4. Seriously, netizens ain't wrong on this one. He hasn't worked on any projects for like 4 years.
    Yeah, he is a good actor, he is picky when it comes to roles ... etc. It's all good because it shows his passion for acting or whatever but come on, you can't deny that he is riding on CFs to make money and that's all. Like the netizen said, you are seriously wondering if he is an actor or a CF star.
    I just don't get why he didn't accept the role of the main lead in The Winter, Wind Blows just because his profession was gambler. But whatever, it's his life and frankly, I am pretty sure that if any of us just needed to do some CFs to survive, we will all do it but yeah, netizens can be rational too.

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  5. Netizens are never satisfied. Clara garnered so much backlash for trying to stay relevant through talk shows and CFs, but Won Bin really doesn't have to do that. Maybe a shirtless pictorial will keep the keyboard warriors at bay.

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  6. He could take a picture of him banging T-ara and Kara members and put it on SNS and netizens would still praise him.

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  7. I've never understand what is so attractive about Won Bin, but I've gotta hand it to him that he's got some great acting chops on him. Saw him in "Mother" and that performance was stellar. Knetz are probably just really thirsty for Won Bin to star in something so they can be blessed by his amazing acting lol.

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  8. Won Bin is forking ogly. Kim Soo Hyun all the way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He? with that thick neck and small head? (seen in Moon that embraces the sun). puns all unintended.

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  9. Won Bin gets to decide what he does with his life and career and he doesn't owe us an explanation.

    There are plenty of actresses I liked who took long hiatuses or even dropped off the radar when they had kids and I never felt entitled to a comeback.

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  10. Won Bin's fame is to the point that he doesn't really NEED to do anything. People will still care about him because he's Won Bin. The fact that they are pissed that they aren't seeing him everywhere shows just how famous he is for his looks. They don't care what he is in or what he does, as long as his face is plastered everywhere, that's really all that matters.

    Also, with idols taking up roles it's hard for even legit actors to find roles. Even Han Chae Young had to play second fiddle to IU in some recent drama. I'm sure Won Bin has made a crap ton from CF's and stuff so he can probably afford to wait until his next drama.

    I don't think he's as versatile as any of the other actors but he's doing a lot better than say Daniel Henny. Now, what has that guy done in like 5 years?

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  11. This is the first article I actually like by Zaku. Surprisingly it wasn't a TL;DR for me. Pls write (or type) more articles like this kthxb

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  13. His wiki said he retired and he's not just living with his petty salary earned from a CF like most of yall think. He has a real estate and business is keeping him from doing acting works. He earns millions of dollars just by sitting around while people like you trying to find him flaws by targeting his career that has proved no wrong.

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