[...] news in the K-pop blogosphere admittedly, but I was recently minded of concerns about actress and model Jeong Ryeo-won’s (정려원) health by seeing these recent [...]

i think people gotta start to realize that beauty is not just physically. awesome face doesn’t grant you an access to be arrogant or ill-mannered. i have came across really (i mean really) sexy and beautiful people… but as soon as you start to know them.. you kinda want to get them out of the picture for their bad attitudes ha! my interest and likeness grows when someone has a good characteristic/personality (inner beauty), at least for me.

Man, the Koreans have seriously such a distorted view on body image. The way she looks screams desperation. People are dying all over the world because they have no food and yet they’re starving themselves?

A healthy body like Jennifer Garner’s and Kate Winslet’s is very attractive and sends out a positive body image message to all of their fans. Since when was skin and bones ever attractive? I thought we were over with the Twiggy era?

Yeah, that was my impression too. Also, to Asians in general, we (i.e. Americans) are viewed as really, really fat and “decadent/lazy/spoiled” (not that I necessarily disagree if you consider working 12-16 hours a day is normal there), so protesting that just fans the flames. I’m not complaining though. Other cultures say that about us too.

JRW had to lose a lot of weight for a upcoming movie, opposite my man Lee Jung Jae. She plays a character who has been in a coma for a year. She’s next up for a sageuk with Park Min Young, which are typically grueling for leads. She’s going to have significant problems keeping her current weight, and the stress might be dangerous.

The pressure applies to both actors and actresses. Lee Jung Ki was considered a little pudgy before he took on Time of Dog and Wolf and had to lose weight. Jo Ji Hoon has lost a lot of weight since Goong. Also, production shoots nowadays have become even more strenuous. Everybody in Iljimae and East of Eden lost weight during the grind.

My question is why exactly are some of these stars, like jung ryeo won told to lose weight for a drama role??? (even if they arent told to, which im sure they probably are, they still feel the need to lose weight)
I dont get it at all. I mean if they are like 5″6 5″7…whatever height….and they are like 35kg or like 90-100lbs, why exactly do they need to lose anymore weight when they already have healthy bodies or at least their weight is right for them and their bodies.
I just dont get it. Overweight or underweight, why cant people just ever think of healthy or not healthy? i mean eating too much is the same as eating too little.
And these stupid diets that stars go on for roles and completely pointless and unhealthy.

Yeah you’re right about that.

“You make some good points — of course Western and Eastern thought processes bear differences due cultural issues — but I think that aspect is oversimplified.”

I don’t mean to make a “Great Wall of Orientalism” impasse argument. My viewpoint is that beauty in Asia is about expressing or pretending to a certain material success and status, not necessarily peer acceptance or well-being (as it would be here.) To look pretty is to look/be rich. Pop culture is filtered as such to reinforce this, increase the level of discourse, and introduce more options of wealth objects to attain in order to enhance your class status. Eastern notion of beauty is what you can share with others; what you share with others is what you “own.” (Western-speak: “Look at my X/ I am A because you look at my X..” Eastern-speak: “Let me show you my Y. I am B because I gave you my Y.”)