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Autism ft. Korean Dramas

Autistic Trend in Korean Dramas

Autism and K-dramas in one sentence equals Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022). This drama won hearts across the globe and topped Netflix charts, making it a success like no other. The drama follows an autistic lawyer as she takes up different cases every episode. It beautifully portrays the hurdles on Attorney Woo’s path but never treats her as different from other characters. She has ambitions, friends, hobbies and a love life outside of her career. It is important to note that, this wasn’t the first time we’ve seen autism represented in K-dramas. There have been several dramas with autistic supporting characters. Most popular of them being It’s Okay to not be Okay (2020). This drama is based on individuals with various psychological problems and disabilities. The drama again, has given life to the autistic character Moon Sang Tae as he deals with loss and trauma. Both Young Woo and Sang Tae, as well as the actors who played them, received a lot of appreciation. Other K-dramas with well represented autistic characters are – Move to Heaven (2021), Good Doctor (2013) and Innocent Witness (2019 movie).  K-drama fans also believe there have been certain characters in numerous dramas that are autistic coded like the male leads of Because this is my First Life (2017) and Touch Your Heart (2019).

Although this representation looks commendable on the surface level, it should be taken into account that all the autistic characters mentioned above belong to a somewhat similar part of the autism spectrum, to be more specific, they all have Asperger’s syndrome. Asperger’s Syndrome or AD, used to be diagnosed to people having mild autism but is now a part of the Autism spectrum. Individuals with AD have average or above average IQ and don’t face any verbal communication barrier. All the aforementioned autistic characters have incredible memory and are very intelligent, even best in their field like Attorney Woo (Extraordinary Attorney Woo) and Dr. Park (Good Doctor). On the other hand, severe autism makes it difficult to understand verbal and non-verbal communication cues. There is a significant delay in their cognitive development. And we are yet to see such a character in the Korean dramaland.

The most recent and on-going drama with an autistic supporting character, Crash Course in Romance also portrays the AD side of the autism spectrum. This character shares a lot of similarities to the aforementioned characters. From the way of dressing to the obsessive interests, it almost feels like a copy and paste. This character, still is a good representation of autism but it does come off as though the writers saw how well the previous autistic characters were admired and just went with it.

I am aware that Autism has more or less similar symptoms and characteristics irrespective of the spectrum, however the back to back restricted way of portraying autism in dramas only raises the question whether it is actually for representation or just for appealing to the audience.


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