‘Ms. Temper & Nam Jung Gi’ Surprises By Switching Authority Personalities Between Male And Female Lead Characters In K-Drama
When it comes to Korean dramas (K-dramas), most of the time the production will often utilize a male and female couple as the lead characters. In 2015 alone, the most-popular K-dramas – Producer, She Was Pretty, Mask, Beloved Eun Dong, Twenty Again, The Girl Who Sees Smells, and Yong Pal – utilized this lead character combination.
Despite the aforementioned detail being quite popular when it comes to casting in K-dramas, it seems writers rarely stray away from certain conditions synonymous with it. One example includes the couple starting out on bad terms but eventually ending up on good terms. Another is the couple will eventually end up in a relationship by the end of the series.
For this article, however, the one condition that needs to be explained is the authority personality, as in the male actor is the authority personality while the female actress is the subordinate. It may sound stereotypical, gender-specific, or even sexist, but that does not negate the scenario that is usually there. Take Yong Pal, for example. The female lead character, Han Yeo Jin (played by Kim Tae Hee), is the heiress of a major organization but she is in a coma. She is subject to “Yong Pal” Kim Tae Hyun (played by Joo Won), the doctor who holds her life in his hands.
In summary, most K-dramas have male lead characters as the authority personality while the female lead characters are subordinate. Ergo, Ms. Temper & Nam Jung Gi is peculiar. The currently-airing K-drama received much notice from fans for having the authority roles switched between the male and female leads.
Ms. Temper & Nam Jung Gi (also known as Bad-Tempered Grown-Ups) is a K-drama about the trials and tribulations experienced when a timid man and an aggressive woman work together, as detailed by AsianWiki. It is written by Joo Hyun and directed by Lee Hyeong Min. The lead characters are a male and female couple. Yoon Sang Hyun plays Nam Jung Gi, a section chief for a cosmetics company who is timid and has a nice personality. Lee Yo Won plays Ok Da Jung, an aggressive woman with a bad temper who has been divorced three times and ends up as Jung Gi’s boss. Needless to say, the main characters’ contrasting personalities will surely be entertaining.
What one must notice about the Nam Jung Gi and Ok Da Jung’s positions in the company and personalities is the fact the male lead is not the authority personality. By being timid and not wanting to fight, he is always subjugating himself not just to Da Jung, but to everyone. Such a personality does not do well around a person with Da Jung’s personality, though often leading to more issues between the two. Da Jung’s “take the bull by the horns” approach often causes more disdain for Jung Gi.
Ms. Temper & Nam Jung Gi began airing on March 18, 2016. The series has 16 episodes, airing new episodes on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. KST on JTBC. For those who do not have access to Korean channels, it can be viewed for free, with ads, at Viki and DramaFever.
[Image via JTBC/Ms. Temper & Nam Jung Gi Promotional Poster]
