Men Negative About Cinderella Stories

This is a scene from hit TV series, Boys Over Flowers, about a puppy love between a chaebol heir and an ordinary girl. By Jane Han Staff Reporter It's that perfect story of which women dream. A handsome and arrogant, yet soft-at-heart son of a rich and royal family coincidentally bumps into an ordinary woman from a poor family, who happens to consider him no more than a wealthy snob. They get off to a rough start, constantly quarreling over nothing, but the two eventually fall madly in love and get married happily ever after. This is a modern Cinderella plot average ladies typically are to die for, but apparently, men think otherwise. Online job portal Career's survey of 1,940 working men and women found that almost 80 percent of male respondents have a negative perception about television dramas that portray the classic rags-to-riches tales centered on women. Contrary to popular belief that ``all women'' fantasize about such a love story, the poll found that 48 percent of women were also not fond of the unrealistic story line. A majority of those who voted against them said the dramas excessively idolize rich people and could easily fan a so-called Cinderella syndrome, which basically describes a woman waiting for Prince Charming on a white horse to rescue her from her dull life. Men commonly said the unreal plot makes their life harder to accommodate their girlfriends or spouses, who tend to draw forceful comparisons and contrasts with the TV character. ``The dramas raise women's expectations beyond imagination,'' said a 27-year-old actively-dating single male, who recalls that his former girlfriend constantly demanded that he become more like Park Shin-yang's character from ``Lovers in Paris,'' a popular modern day Cinderella drama. ``It was annoying.'' Others respondents peeved by similar plots said the unrealistic theme and superficial characterization of well-to-dos are a bad influence on people's mentality. But a majority of fans of the romantic dramas said they either provide a sense of ``substitute satisfaction'' since they know the princess story won't happen to them, or they simply watch it as entertainment with no deep thoughts. ``Those kinds of stories give me tingles,'' said one married woman, 32, who added, ``It's better to watch happy romance dramas than something with a heavy, gloomy plot.'' The Career poll showed that ``Boys Over Flowers,'' the latest hit drama based on a Japanese comic series, is currently the most popular Cinderella fairytale with 70 percent of respondents tuning in.