Pat and I are different. Apparently Pat pays attention to lips but I pay attention to eyes.
I'm fascinated with the emotion filled gazes these Korean actors demonstrate. In most of the Kdramas there is not a lot of emotions shown through facial features like grimacing, laughing, smirking, or whatever. In fact, their expressions are frequently hidden if you look at their faces. So how can they convey their desires? Through their eyes! Usually dark brown, but sometimes even black, their eyes are amazing. And the variety of eyes shapes is much more diverse than in the US. A favorite of mine, Yoo Yeon-seok has very expressive eyes in all the Kdramas I've seen. (Check out our page 'Favorite Actors' for more details.)
I will mention here that South Korea has more plastic surgeries than anywhere in the world. The most common surgery is to create what is referred to as a 'double eyelid' rather than the 'mono' eyelid. It's not unusual for High School students to have this surgery. From what I read it is not a desire to look more Western; but rather to look more like the 'ideal Asian' with larger eyes and oftentimes fair skin.
(Obviously people who performed physical labor were out in the sun and their skin would be darkened; the elite class would have fair skin because they weren't exposed to the elements. Thus class distinctions could be inferred by appearance.) This photo shows another favorite of mine who proudly has not had the surgery, Park So-dam and I think she's gorgeous! I have mixed feelings about this surgery as I'm a big fan of their eyes.
I'll let Pat talk about lips.
LIPS!! I'm on it! Next post. ~Pat
Definitely eyes!