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| ▲ This photo, provided by ENA, shows, a scene from 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo'. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap |
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| ▲▲ This photo, provided by ENA, shows, a poster of 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo'. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap |
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| ▲ ▲ This photo, provided by ENA, shows, a scene from 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo'. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap |
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| ▲ ▲ This photo, provided by ENA, shows, a scene from 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo'. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap |
SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” airing every Wednesday and Thursday on the S, Korean cable channel ENA, is receiving positive reviews from its audiences by portraying autistic layer Woo Young-woo and her surrounding characters much better than their previous series.
“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is not the first content that features autistic character as an antagonist.
South Korean movie “Marathon” which premiered in 2005 is also about an autistic character Cho-won acted by Cho Seung-woo tring out for the marathon. Also South Korean drama “Good Doctor” features a genius pediatric surgeon Park Shi-ohn acted by Joo Won, working at the University hospital. Moreover, S. Korean movie “Innocent Witness” which premiered in 2019 and S. Korean drama “It’s Ok to Not be OK” which aired in 2020 also features autistic characters.
One of the similarities between both S. Korean drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” and “Good Doctor’ is that main character Woo Young-woo is a strong independent woman who does her part in this society. Whereas, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” differentiated itself from the “Good Doctor” by featuring an antagonist who uses her autistic ability to help those who are in need. Instead of focusing on the character’s genius, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” normalized its antagonist to shine the light on her daily life.
Kim Sung-soo a pop culture critic analyzed the series by stating “This series have successfully persuaded me to believe that people who suffer from autism isn’t any different from us by showing protagonist Woo Young-woo who.”
Another factor that “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” differentiated from the other S. Korean drama was faithfully continuing on with the protagonist’s viewpoint on life.
Moreover, the usage of character Woo Young-woo’s voice as the narration instead of using a voice actor is viewed positively.
Scenes where they realistically reenact the situation protagonist faces due to her autism, allow viewers with similar disabilities or family members of those who lives through the hardship to empathize throughout the series.
Moreover, throughout the online communities, positive reviews such as “My son who suffers from Asperger syndrome likes the drama because he thinks the protagonist shares a lot of similar traits as him.” and there are also comments about comedic aspects added throughout the show such as “The way they portrayed how Woo Young-woo rolls her eyes is super realistic.” are being uploaded.
Jung Duk-hyun a pop culture critic described “Contents such as Woo Young-woo is a very picky not only because it is very hard to make it realistic, but also at the same time with surplus of fantasy aspects, audiences will give out negative reviews on how unrealistic it is. Therefore well mixed rate of realistic perspectives of autism with some fantasy aspect, acceptable for the audience can lead the change on society’s perspective on autism.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo.)
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