Note : Charm's pic taken from Sehseh's Blog and Maggie's pic taken from TVB Series Discussion Forum.
Introduction
You all know how I feel about Charmaine Sheh and Maggie Cheung. Despite my sometimes harsh criticisms of the former, I always liked her and have a soft spot for her. More particularly I have been following her career (in no part my own doing because she was in almost every single series some years back) since her very first series. I have watched her mature intro a woman of 30. Maggie Cheung even more way back. I have followed her career since her Miss HK pageant days and have watched most of her series and have watched her grew as an artiste. Their career path are quite similar is you ask me. They came from the same competition (though different years), hot favourites but never won, once out of the competition they have been given prominent roles, both very much favoured and promoted for some time but in recent years their paths have changed. There is a simple explanation to that but there is no denying both are big sisters of TVB and both have a chance to be the top of their game. But that's where their similarities end. This opinion seeks to analyse their appeal from 3 points; Looks, Acting Talent (I won't say skill because it is inappropriate) and People's Appeal.
LOOKSTruth be told, both of them have different definition to the word beautiful. Generally they both are. Specifically I shall conclude that to me Maggie Cheung is more beautiful and here are the reasons.
Before Maggie fell sick, her skin was luminous and she has flawless skin. Whilst her features aren't the best of the best, as with Fann Wong, Maggie has this glamarous look to her. She could be a star from the 30s of the old China, she possess that air of such glamarous star. She looks like she is almost always with little make up but we all know she probably has tons of them on her face. But she looks natural all the time and to be her looks is at its simplest most glowingly beautiful. BUT she has to spoil it all by doing those provocative ads. One thing Maggie isn't; she doesn't strike me as sexy but she tries very hard to be to very disastrous results.
Charmaine used to have this people's girlfriend's look, the girl next door with the girlish voice. Whilst Maggie gives an impression that she is cool and men may feel it is a challenge to woo her, Charmaine gives me an impression that she is those tragically weak type that men would run to protect her. Of course I realise in real she is not as weak as she looks or sounds. Anyway, her image used to be this soft compliant feminine girl. Between Maggie and Charmaine, Charmaine strikes me more of being a very feminine woman. Looks wise, it is difficult to say if Charmaine is the definition of beauty. When her face was chubby, she looked young and refreshing. Nowadays, her face seems elongated and her nose twice the size simply because her face is indeed much smaller. I do not like her looks now and frankly, she is pretty but she has lost that refreshing soft feminine beauty I used to see in her many years before. She indeed looks her age.
Maggie looks her age as well, and due to sickness, she looked much worse than before. Her similarity with Charmaine is both tries to move away from their image; Charmaine from the people's girlfriend image and Maggie from her strong willed hard edged image by adoptiong what everybody else is adopting these days; less clothing and a sexier image. I find such a change annoying. Charmaine is no more sexier than Maggie and vice versa. Neither of them ooze sex appeal and I would rather they stick to their old image. Another similarity is both as thin, but Charmaine seems thinner and physically weaker. In fact from the screencaps of her latest series, she looks painfully and physically weak. I believe this may be due to her commitment to her slimming centre, and such a commitment is laughable because I never found her fat anyway.
Acting Talent
Maybe I should start with Maggie Cheung.
I have always found Maggie Cheung to be a competent actress but marred by familiarity and sameness. There was a period of time where she was a boringly predictable actress but some years back she became much flexible and these days prove to be a competent actress again, this time with more flexibility and an ability to adapt to her characters. When I see Maggie act, boring or not she always give me an impression she has done her research in terms of her character's background, even when it is now shown. Her characters seem to come with a past that is not shown and it gives her performance credibility and a certain depth. In short, when she is good, she is at the top of her game. When she is bad, she is still good but always leaving you with a feeling she could have been so much better.
Charmaine Sheh was truly amazingly horrible in her first series, Time Off. Although in the past her acting was always to some extent excrutiatingly bad, she is always likeable, protraying character that look weak but if you look more carefully, they're innately strong but just soft spoken. Her so called breakthrough role in Return Of The Cuckoo is personally my most hated series. She has starred in quite a few series that I absolutely hate and her performances in those series were one of the many reasons. I liked her better when her acting was bad but her characters soft spoken, because they suit her. The moment she found her voice, I cringed everytime she screams. She has from bad acting moved to acting for acting sake. However to give her credit she did improve over the years. The only series I really love to watch with her in it was An Herbalist Affair, by far her one truly best performance. In War And Beauty, she did well, mostly whilst in some other scenes, she was bad. It depends on how you see her. Those who love her, love her every performance. Those who dislike her, whatever she does, she is considered an annoyance. I am those in betweens. She is not that bad an actress but definitely not that good an actress too. Her potential lies not in her acting talent but her people's skills talent which I shall elaborate more later. She is to be a moderately average actress. She has yet to truly give a performance with depth, with the ability to pull the viewers in. Whenever she's acting, she always remind me of Charmaine Sheh acting. She has yet to metamorphosise into the character itself.
Maggie on the other hand has the ability to move beyond Maggie Cheung acting as someone else. Her one performance that I thought totally showed why she is potentially a very good actress was in The Awakening. The character was someone that you'll love to hate and yet you can't help but emphatise and connect with her character. The ability to involve the viewers and make them forget that she is Maggie Cheung is indeed a rare ability in Hong Kong where everybody acts for acting sake. Maggie is capable but has yet to truly move into that category.
Charmaine I believe can never be compared with Maggie in terms of acting talent. To me there is no denying, at least on my part that Maggie is in a class of her own whilst Charmaine is where she is now because of the following factor ...
People's AppealThere is no denying; it is very hard to like Maggie Cheung because in person she seems so complicated. Complicated in the sense she shoots her mouth without thinking. People who dislikes her call her rude and obnoxious, those who like her may say she is just being honest. I am those who believe she is neither obnoxious nor rude; she just lacks the people's skills. If you really like Maggie Cheung as an actress, you will find her comments just part and parcel of her and you tend to forgive her for saying things she shouldn't.
Charmaine has been very calculative and careful in what she says in public. She has many negative news, but never of what she said in an interview but rather what she did in private. Viewers naturally like her onscreen. Her appeal lies in her wholesome appeal in the past whilst nowadays her appeal lies in the fact that she had a wholesome appeal in the past. Between the two, Charmaine is a clear winner in the people's appeal category, something Maggie needs to learn to master, whilst Charmaine seems to have it naturally. You can say the it factor or the X factor. Maggie has it too but Charmaine seems to have it in abundance. She is charismatic and viewers just lap up everything she says and does. Because Charmaine as Charmaine seems larger than any of the character she has ever portrayed, this is also the reason why Charmaine is not what I consider a good actress. Her public image and appeal seems to overshadow her as an actress, which must be those who must be observant. Maggie on the other hand can quietly observe but she attracts negative press for saying what she shouldn't, and that often take away people's attention from the fact that despite what she said, she is actually a really good actress. Charmaine on the other hand is because people just like her, they think she is truly a good actress.
My conclusion is simple; Charmaine has the people's appeal but that can spell doom if she wants to be taken seriously as an actress who is capable of moving beyond her self image. Maggie lacks that people's appeal which can spell doom too because people then to ignore her performances and associate her off screen drama as who someone who talks more than deliver when she is not that.
Conclusion
Acting wise, Maggie wins hands down. But the ability to manipulate the press, to make people notice whether in a good way or bad and yet manages to survive makes Charmaine truly a winner in terms of handling the masses. There is no denying Maggie Cheung as a person is very easy to be misundestood whilst Charmaine, cold and distant as she tries to be somehow manages to exude warmth when she wants to. Depending on what they hope to be, both are winners in their own unique way. But if you must know, Maggie is a much better actress Charmaine can ever hope to be.
2 COMMENTS
BUT... I have to say this, Funn, I agree with you that both of them have their good points and bad.
Acting wise, I agree that Maggie is in a class of her own, and Charmaine hasn't reached that stage yet.
Looks wise, both have their own version of beautiful.
As I said, I am a Maggie fan, and I am one of those you mentioned who classifies her as honest, rather than rude. Yet even as a Maggie fan, I have to admit that Maggie lacks the diplomatic skills which is vital to an artiste's career.
But...
Charmaine has been very calculative and careful in what she says in public. She has many negative news, but never of what she said in an interview but rather what she did in private.
Tact, yes. Cunning, no. Over the years, she has learned to distinguish what to tell and what not. It's not that as if she's 'cunning' from day one.
I call this skill 'media savvy'.