By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
August 19, 2022
Woo Young-woo (played by Park Eun-bin)
Lee Joon-ho (played by Kang Tae-oh)
Jung Myun-seok (played by Kang Ki-young)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
I loved this series. The storylines were compelling and the actors did a fine job in bringing their characters to life. Park Eun-bin has been singled out for her extraordinary portrayal of a highly-functioning autistic attorney. But that’s where my conflict lies. As many autistic people have already pointed out, as good as Park was in her role, it is unsettling to watch a non-disabled actor portray a character who is on the spectrum. Most of my friends and acquaintances who have autistic children said they couldn’t force themselves to watch beyond the first episode, because her portrayal felt like a mockery of what they live through.
For these reasons and more, this piece will be more of an essay, rather than a straight-on review.
First a little back story: After a successful run in London, producer Cameron Mackintosh took his musical “Miss Saigon” to Broadway in 1990 and cast the white actor Jonathan Pryce in the role of the Engineer. The character was written to be half Vietnamese. Many theatre critics, including those at the New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times, where I worked at the time, parroted the same line: the role should go to to whoever is the best actor and their choice was Pryce. They pointed out that there were no Asian actors who could hold a candle to him.
But did they actually look for a trained Asian actor? Or did they just decide it was better to go with a well-known star and put him in yellowface?
There is no denying Pryce’s talent. And there is some truth to their logic — perhaps he was the best actor. But if you’re that hellbent on casting a white actor for an Asian role, why not change the script to reflect that? Oh, right — because his character’s Asianness is actually an integral part of the story
The problem lies when the best actors are usually those who have been given the most opportunity to hone their craft. Back then (and even now), minority actors were not being cast into mainstream lead roles, even when the roles were clearly written for minorities. Even in this year’s popular series “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” a character who was described in the book as being half Asian was played by an actor who wasn’t — and many fans of the series didn’t care. In fact, I was called a racist for caring. (With that said, the show did have half Asian actors in the lead role, as well as a co-starring role.)
Which leads me back to “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” Though Woo Young-woo is autistic, and though at least a couple episodes center on other autistic characters, I don’t believe any of the guest stars were on the spectrum. There is a litany of reasons why showrunners selected Park rather than an actual autistic actress. And the reason sounds awfully similar to why Mackintosh selected Pryce: the role went to the best actress (who also happens to be famous and beautiful). There are no famous autistic actresses in South Korea. I understand that from a business perspective. However, they could have cast someone on the spectrum to play one of the guest roles, such as the young autistic man who was thought to have killed his older brother. Or the young woman who loved her boyfriend, who most assuredly was taking advantage of her disability.
It can be done. The superb “Our Blues” cast artist Jung Eun-hye to portray a character who has Down Syndrome. And she was wonderful and nuanced in the role. (In real life, Jung has the genetic disorder.)
The meaning of 이상한: Last month, I mentioned that I preferred the English title to the Korean title of “이상한 변호사 우영우” — which translates to Weird Attorney Woo Young-woo — because the title implies that the autistic protagonist is weird because she has a neurological and developmental disorder. A (presumably Korean) reader took issue with this and brought up some interesting points, but also took the opportunity to anonymously throw in a few insults at my expense.
Listen, I’ve always said that languages evolve. And some of the Korean I speak is outdated. I learned to speak from my parents, who grew up when Korea was colonized by Japan. I didn’t even know until I was an adult that some of the Korean I speak is actually Japanese. I don’t know all the modern slang. I do know what 이상한 means and have only ever heard it used derisively. I’ve never heard it used as a synonym for extraordinary.
Given that I wasn’t educated in South Korea, I asked some of my Korean contacts — who were born, raised, educated and live in Korea — what they thought of the title. The consensus is that when they first saw that the series title was 이상한 변호사 우영우 (and without knowing anything else about the show), they interpreted it in the same way that I did. But as they watched the series, they understood that the title was referring to her weirdness as being extraordinary. Granted, my sample group was only a dozen people. But those Korean Koreans reacted the same way as this Korean American.
Is it possible that the scriptwriter knew exactly how Koreans would initially interpret the title, before seeing the beauty and extraordinariness in Woo Young-woo not only as a whip-smart attorney, but also as an overall amazing human being? Did they realize that viewers would come to see that there is beauty in being weird or different? And isn’t that extraordinary in itself?
I do think a better title would have been 특별한 변호사 우영우, which translates into something like Special Attorney Woo Young-woo. It’s telling that around the 46 minute mark of the season finale, the word 보통 (ordinary) is used repeatedly — as if to remind viewers of Woo Young-woo’s extraordinariness.
There is no ambiguity in the English title. You read it without knowing anything about the show and know that the focus will be on an extraordinary attorney named Woo. The same can’t be said of the Korean title.
There is a certain sector of Koreans (in Korea) who believe that only they are true Koreans and that Korean diaspora who speak of our experience — or write about what we know — are using Korean culture for clout. But as the extraordinary Min Jin Lee (“Pachinko“) said in an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily:
“If you have to leave your country or your home because of the environment, war, lack of economic opportunity or imperials, I wonder what happens to you and your family structure?”
You don’t stop being Korean because you leave Korea. And many Koreans have no idea that countries like the United States had absolutely zero interest in anything from Korea until recent years. That didn’t just happen. It was decades of work to get to this point by a lot of Korean diaspora behind the scenes.
Anyhow, please share your thoughts on the series, the title or anything else you’d like to in the comments below.
Airdates: This ENA production aired 16 hour-long episodes from June 29 to August 18, 2022 on Netflix.
Note: As many of you reading along are already aware of, this article was started in July and I added onto it here and there until after the season finale. And yes, there will be a second season. The showrunners have said that production won’t start, though, until after Kang Tae-oh returns from serving his mandatory military duty in South Korea.
© 2022 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved
Also, I prefer the English title to the Korean title of 이상한 변호사 우영우, which translates to Weird (or Strange) Attorney Woo Young-woo. To me, the Korean title is ableist & discriminatory. Neurological & developmental disorders aren’t weird.
Always wonder where the whole “이상 = strange” started and it seems from here. The author blindly wrote this could easily looked up on naver, as the basic meaning of 이상 “異常” is being different from normal “정상” something people are familiar with. Only the third meaning “suspicious” or “unknown” has taken on the contents of “strange” and gradually became the mainly used form in recent memory. However, in art and literature, the usage of 이상 as contrast of 정상 or “extraordinary” like the netflix title is widespread. It’s kinda funny that the author who wrote about korean drama and culture everyday would know so less and be so ignorant to even research if they don’t know. But who am I to say anything as they could say anything they wanted in the name of loving kdrama and kpop. Even though they couldn’t care less about the culture and the real people living here. How amazing to watch a whole vibrant and flowing culture and society is dehumainzed to just for themselves to get something to gossip about in the most condescending and patronizing way..
Pointing out flaws about a country doesn’t make anyone condescending or patronizing. South Korea is a beautiful country that’s also massively fucked up when it comes to basic human rights against gays, women, the poor, immigrants, and disabled persons. Korea has huge problems with suicide, bullying, and other social issues. Anyone going in blind to this series and reading that title would believe the series is about a strange, not extraordinary, attorney. Even if you are right that the word means something different in literature, the first impression is that the series is about a weirdo.
My Korean’s not up to par so I used Naver to do a little research like you suggested and you’re not going to like the answer for what pops up when you search for 이상: strange, odd, peculiar. unnatural, loony, screwy, dorky. In the context of the K-drama, all of those describe Woo Young-woo who is all of those things as well as extra-ordinary. I love this series so far and thought it was unique and handled the subject matter really well.
I do think that it’s odd that you refuse to acknowledge that the writer is Korean and seem to view yourself above diaspora like myself. What a weird stance.
I read your comment with interest before I realized it’s nothing more than a hateful diatribe.
I am Korean who has lived in the US for two years. The title means strange. The show is famous now so people know that the attorney is extraordinary. How has anything she said dehumanized Korea? If you think that Korea is a place where people with disabilities are welcomed, I know you are someone who has never lived in Korea. What she said isn’t gossip or condescending or patronizing. If Koreans take care of all of their citizens so well, why do we as a country shamefully give up our handicapped children for adoption overseas? Are you going to tell me that Korean don’t look down on people with autism?
Dude I’m 32 and 이상 has always meant weird and not extraordinary as you are implying. Straight up, I’m Korean American so I will defer to a Korean born and raised in Korea who doesn’t have an ax to grind, but I can’t make out what exactly you are other than condescending. I myself do not care for this series. I could not get past the first episode of this actress cosplaying as an autistic lawyer and stopped watching.
Given the way Korea treats disabled people, no one is going to convince me that anyone in Korea views a visibly autistic attorney as extraordinary.
As an American with no knowledge of the Korean language, I thought a better English title would have been Exceptional Attorney Woo because the word “exceptional” has a double meaning that seems very appropriate to the series (it can be a synonym for extraordinary, but children with autism and other types of learning differences are referred to as having “exceptionalities”). I had wondered whether there was a similar Korean term and how the original Korean title would be translated, so I appreciate this commentary and am glad to have found this discussion.
You need to see the writer’s intention. I read her interview and she named the title that way because the story is about all the people that the Korean society thinks strange and weird – lgbt, disabled ect. Obviously, it’s telling that they are not.
The writer’s intention wasn’t mentioned before the show premiered and isn’t mentioned at the start of the series. There are also people who won’t watch the series because of the title. You can have the best intentions and still insult people even if you didn’t mean to. I had the same reaction Jae had when I saw the title. But I also refuse to watch a series where they don’t have one character with a disability in a series that’s lead character has a disability.
I watched the first few episodes with my autistic son and he wasn’t interested in watching any more. I couldn’t stomach the lead actress’s portrayal, which was cringey and wasn’t realistic. Were there any cast members who were autistic? I think they wanted a stereotypically pretty female lead and didn’t want to make viewers uncomfortable by showing a more realistic portrayal. Maybe one day producers will be more progressive.
I am a mom of an autistic son, too. I showed him the trailer and asked if he wanted to watch an episode with me. True to form—he praised the artistic directors/special effects folks for their work on the whales. 😂 Beyond that, he had exactly zero interest in watching the show because he said it looked like they had taken every stereotypically “autistic” behavior and thrown it into one character—and while he wasn’t SURPRISED that there wasn’t an actually autistic person cast in the role, it was a bit cringey for him to watch. He doesn’t display many of the same behaviors and characteristics as the character. He did say it’s a bit insulting sometimes to see non-autistic people’s portrayals of what they believe autism is.
Personally (and I previously commented this to this article’s author on Twitter), I would have preferred the character to have shown what it is like to be autistic and going through her day as an attorney “masking” or feeling a need to fit in at work and what that does/how that makes an autistic person feel sometimes. Since it’s a spectrum, there will be all sorts of people on it—our family’s experience is just that, one family’s experience.
As the author pointed out, I also watched one episode and gave up. Not for me.
I like the U.S. title better too because it leaves no doubt that Woo Youngwoo is an extraordinary attorney and person. I think a better title for the series in Korean would be 특별한 변호사 우영우. She is special and not weird.
My mother and I were talking about exactly this.
So pretty much the word used means “abnormal” and “strange” with some obscure meaning that somehow might mean something positive but only 3 people in the world are aware of that obscure meaning. Got it. Nothing like the personal insults thrown in for good measure. 🙄 I just can’t.
I loved the series. My brother was autistic( but not high functioning & he was non verbal). I think the actors did an amazing job, & the show did explain I believe that attorney Woo was a special case. I did not feel like their portrayal mocked anyone disabled, in fact it highlighted how extraordinary they are!
Although I really appreciate Park Eun-Bin as an actress, I have to admit that the “cringe” factor popped up when I first started watching “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”. I know several people “on the spectrum” and her portrayal was almost a caricature to me. As I continued watching I was able to enjoy it and actually felt she was coming from a kind, gentle place. While watching “Our Blues” I was SO impressed with Jung Eun-Hye’s performance, I started searching for her online. NOTHING. I couldn’t believe it! Han Ji-min did some IG posts with her and so did Kim Woo-Bin. She wasn’t even listed in the cast on most websites. It has since changed, thankfully. Amazon has a series “As We See It”, about 3 autistic adults in a group home, learning to become independent. The 3 actors playing these characters are actually on the spectrum. Your essay was fascinating and your anonymous critic used faulty logic and is a coward.