K-Drama Special: Stories of Disability
Extraordinary Attorney Woo on Netflix
By Sharon Stern
This month we are focusing on disabilities. This is a difficult subject to talk about in the context of Korean society. I don’t think any society deals with this subject in films or TV perfectly, but Korean society has some additional challenges. South Korean culture has traditionally perceived both physical and mental disability as shameful – something to hide and separate from mainstream society. Both Confucian and Buddhist principles feed into this perception. Confucius laid out the description of the wise or perfect man within a socio-politically stratified order where the noble class was privileged because they had already demonstrated their virtue. In addition, the wise man not only needed to show his literacy, sound judgment (excluding those with cognitive disabilities) and the ability to communicate, but also needed to have a strong body. This indicated that anyone with a physical disability was automatically inferior. Buddhism, in general and simplified terms, teaches that the cause of disability is karma, the result of a person’s sins committed in previous lives. These are the underlying cultural values that persist in today’s society where people still believe that disabilities should not be seen on the street nor embraced. Accommodations for physically disabled persons are lacking in work places, in governmental offices, in public transportation and in living spaces. Support for disabled people is also severely lacking.
Jung Eun-hye in Our Blues
Perhaps because of these cultural values or perhaps because the focus of K-dramas has been purely for entertainment and therefore escape from the details of reality, fully developed characters with disabilities have not been widely nor well represented. Characters with both physical and cognitive disabilities have often been portrayed as weak or negative or are somehow magically “saved” from their disability by time travel, parallel universes or another, inexplicable happening. If the character can just have a life-changing operation that erases their disability, then they live a “normal” life. Not an achievable reality for most people with disabilities. And because, it seems, a person with a disability cannot have a fulfilling life.
Ironically, mental health issues have been so widely used that it is challenging to find a drama where at least one character isn’t scarred by a past trauma that keeps them distant or disconnected from the other characters and in many cases has caused them a true mental illness. Their salvation comes through a deep and meaningful (usually romantic) connection with another human being that allows them to move beyond their trauma. This is really positive and I think is one of the great attractions to K-dramas, though people are often able to overcome very serious mental illnesses way too easily. I understand that the time constraints of a drama do limit the depth that any issue can be explored.
To sum it up, mental health issues: bring it on! Physical and cognitive disabilities: still pretty taboo!
A scene from Just Between Lovers / Rain or Shine
The good news is that things are beginning to turn around a bit. There is still a long journey ahead, but positive steps are being taken. It was just announced that the first actress with downs syndrome has landed a major role on stage. That’s great news. Easterseals has created the Disability Film Challenge, a five-day film creation challenge, giving a platform to filmmakers with disabilities. Doors are just beginning to crack open. The K-drama world has some catching up to do, but there are also some positive signs there.
Some K-dramas that have introduced characters with disabilities have truly not done a wonderful job. Some have tried, but fall into stereotypes or portray characters with disabilities that perform beyond the level of the majority of people with the disability or, as previously stated, miraculously find a “cure” for their disability. Below we explore a few that have done a better job. I started with a fairly long list of dramas, to be honest, but as I reviewed, rewatched and read, a number of the dramas fell short of positive portrayals, in my personal opinion.
Dramas Depicting Physical Disabilities
Page Turner
페이지 터너 (2016)
Viki – Starring: Kim So-Hyun, Ji Soo and Shin Jae-Ha
Disability: Blind main character
This is a tiny, little drama – just three episodes. It’s a good one, if you haven’t seen it. It tells the story of a piano prodigy who loses her sight because of an accident. She believes her chances at continuing to be a pianist have completely ended. The title comes from showing the job of a page turner – the person on stage that should be basically invisible, whose job it is to turn the page of the music for a musician. The page turner needs to be in sync with the rhythms of the musician and neither turn the page too early nor too late. It is an analogy for our lives. By the end of the drama, our blind protagonist understands that she can still play, still find a way to be in sync with and perform with others.
There are a few dramas where characters with physical disabilities play supporting or secondary roles and are shown in a way that doesn’t emphasize their disabilities or show them as weak, but that their disabilities are just one of the characteristics of who they are.
Just Between Lovers
(also known as Rain or Shine)
그냥 사랑하는 사이 (2017)
Watch on Viki | Genre: Romance, melodrama
Disability: Character who uses a wheelchair played by Park Hee-Von
At its heart, this is a survival story – two characters who lived through the collapse of a building (based on the 1995 collapse of the Sampoon Department Store), losing family members as a result, finding each other and supporting each other. It depicts a friend character who is a webtoon writer who uses a wheelchair and does a sensitive job of showing societal discrimination toward disabled people (like taxis driving past and not stopping), but at the same time shows a well-rounded character with a strong personality who just happens to be disabled. The character’s first scene shows her talking to the lead female, having a casual conversation, sitting on the floor. You don’t see until the end of the scene that the character gets into a wheelchair.
The Third Charm
제3의 매력 (2018)
Watch on Viki | Genre: Rom-dram with some com
Disability: Character who uses a wheelchair played by Yang Dong-Geun
This is a complicated and somewhat depressing (but well done) love story between two people that cannot quite get their lives aligned. The lead female’s brother has an accident and ends up paralyzed. Even though he faces a lot of life issues, he has moments where he wants to completely give up on life, he is witty and funny and ends up with a very successful career.
Descendants of the Sun
태양의 후예 (2016)
Watch on Viki | Genre: Romance, melodrama, action
Disability: Character who uses a wheelchair played by Hyun Jyu-Ni
This is a classic drama, not at all my favorite, though I love the actors. The main story takes place in a war zone of a fictitious country and tells the story between a career soldier and an emergency-room doctor that ends up in the war zone as the head of a volunteer medical team. As with Just Between Lovers, the disabled character is a friend of the female lead. The drama doesn’t touch on the difficulties of a disabled person in Korea, but what is positive about the depiction is that the disabled character is shown as a friend and colleague, who happens to be in a wheelchair, but no emphasis is put on her disability at all. In other words, she is working and interacting with everyone and no one makes any kind of a big deal that she is disabled.
Dramas Depicting Cognitive Disabilities
The most commonly depicted cognitive disability in recent years has been characters with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, many of the characters depicted are high functioning autistic people and often savants, who are even rarer, where in reality, less than 5% of adults with autism can live independently, 78% have another mental health condition and 40% are non-verbal. Having said that, it is helpful and important for everyone to see the portrayal of characters with autism so that we can all understand the disability better and know how we can be supportive.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
이상한 변호사 우영우 (2022)
Netflix | Genre: Legal drama, rom-com, dram-com
Starring: Park Eun-Bin, Kang Tae-Oh, Kang Ki-Young
Disability: Main character has autism spectrum disorder
This is probably the best-known K-drama depicting a cognitive disability. If you’re a drama fan, you most certainly already know this drama. It tells the story of a high functioning autistic woman who has a photographic memory and becomes a lawyer. She faces a lot of challenges to fit into the law firm where she works and encounters a lot of prejudice, but because she is neurologically diverse, she is able to find unique approaches to solving cases. She forms a relationship with an employee at the legal firm, which brings with it an array of challenges for both of them. This drama has been praised for showing realistic conflicts that people with ASD face in South Korea. It has been criticized because of the feeling that unless a person with ASD is a genius or a savant, they don’t belong out in the world, interacting with “normal” people. The praise, however, greatly outweighed the criticism.
Good Doctor
굿 닥터 (2013)
Viki | Genre: Medical drama, rom-com
Starring: Joo Won, Moon Chae-Won, Joo Sang-Wook, Kim Min-Seo, Chun Ho-Jin, Kwak Do-Won, and Ko Chang-Seok
Disability: Main character has autism spectrum disorder
This drama is a little older and tackles an angle of pediatric care that touches on changing not just physical conditions, but future lives. The male lead is a character that has ASD and is a savant, has photographic memory and rare spatial skills. He faces prejudice because of his disability and surrounding medical staff want to treat him like a child or a robot because of his lack of social connection skills. A strong message in this drama is that people with disabilities are seeking the same life goals as those without – meaningful jobs and relationships and acceptance of who they are.
Move to Heaven
무브 투 헤븐: 나는 유품정리사입니다 (2021)
Netflix | Genre: Drama
Starring: Lee Je-Hoon, Tang Jun-Sang, and Hong Seung-Hee
Disability: Main character has autism spectrum disorder
You know before you even start this drama that this one will have tear jerker moments. The main characters, an ex-con and his nephew that has Autism Spectrum Disorder, who he is responsible for, work as trauma cleaners. They are responsible for cleaning up the living space of someone who has died, usually due to a crime. The nephew has an incredible memory, which allows him to be a sort of detective as the two try to find the most important belongings of each deceased person and box them up to give to the deceased’s family.
I have to mention It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. There are a lot of negative things I can say about this drama and it is overshadowed right now because of the controversy surrounding Kim Soo-Hyun. I don’t think I can be positive about the portrayals of mental health issues, to be honest. They were too scripted and unrealistic, in many ways. However, Oh Jung-Se’s portrayal of the autistic and deeply traumatized brother is extremely good and deserves to be mentioned. There was both general criticism and praise for this drama and it’s wrangling of both cognitive and mental health issues.
Dramas Depicting Mental Health Issues
As I mentioned at the start, there is no shortness in dramas of characters with mental health issues. Some show us mental health issues we have never even heard of before. Some use the mental health issue as a plot twist or a trope or a way to add theatrics to the script. There are many that do a sincere job of helping us understand the depth to which trauma can permanently change our lives. We all suffer trauma, which is why these themes can hook us. I will mention just a couple that I personally think present their featured mental health issue well.
Clean With Passion for Now
일단 뜨겁게 청소하라 (2018)
Netflix, Viki | Genre: Rom-com
Starring: Yoon Kyun-Sang, Kim Yoo-Jung and Song Jae-Rim.
Mental Health Issue: Mysophobia (germaphobia)
The drama tells the story of a man with mysophobia who runs, most aptly, a cleaning company. A traumatized slob of a girl ends up getting hired there and a relationship that begins like two magnets repelling one another ends up with deep human caring. I mentioned this one in February for my Valentine’s Day list, so I guess that must mean I really like it. It starts off way too stupid-silly and for no apparent reason. I don’t love the way the ending was written, exactly, either. But the story in the middle is a good one. Mysophobia is not a laughing matter, but its presentation with both seriousness and humor and showing how trauma can lead to mental illness makes me give it a thumbs up. The other thing I find positive about the message in this drama is that it shows that a relationship of true human connection, while it cannot cure a mental illness, may bring enough motivation to a person’s life to make them want to be treated.
It’s Okay, That’s Love
괜찮아, 사랑이야 (2014)
Viki | Genre: Melodrama, romance
Starring: Zo In-Sung, Gong Hyo-Jin, Sung Dong-Il, Lee Kwang-Soo, and Doh Kyung-Soo
Mental Health Issue: Obsessive-compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia
The drama tells the story of an author/DJ who was severely traumatized when he was young when his mother accidentally kills his father, but he ends up blaming his brother and a psychiatrist who does not want any kind of interpersonal relationship for herself because she has anxiety disorder and a fear of sexual relationships. The two end up falling in love, but the relationship becomes complicated when the male lead’s illness is revealed. The drama tries to help us see what the hallucinations of schizophrenia might feel like and they are scary. The ending may feel a little too positive about the treatment for schizophrenia, but overall, the story is well done. There is another character in the drama with mental health issues as well. A roommate in the series has Tourette’s Syndrome.
Dramas Depicting Multiple Disabilities
Our Blues
우리들의 블루스 (2022)
Netflix | Genre: Melodrama
Starring: Lee Byung-Hun, Shin Min-A, Cha Seung-Won, Lee Jung-Eun, Uhm Jung-Hwa, Han Ji-Min, and Kim Woo-Bin
Mental Health Issues: Depression, Down Syndrome
This drama which interweaves a large number of people’s lives together through the different episodes, touches on a number of difficult societal issues, including: child abuse, suicide, teen pregnancy, bullying, Alzheimer’s. The Shin Min-A character shows a very detailed portrayal of depression in all of its both mental and physical manifestations. The series also uses Jung Eun-Hye, an actress with Down Syndrome, to portray a Down Syndrome character and shows some of the difficulties of disabled people in Korea.
There is an interesting series that I read about while working on this article. It ran from 2010-2019 for five seasons. It’s called God’s Quiz (also known as Quiz of God). It isn’t currently streaming, but it is a mix between a crime/police drama and a medical drama where both law enforcement and a neurosurgeon/forensics expert team up to solve suspicious deaths connected to mysterious diseases and mental health conditions. I don’t know much about the series or how sensitively it treats the disorders that it depicts, but it sounds intriguing.
There are so many other dramas that deal with mental health issues. I’m sure readers will think there are more or better examples than the ones I have highlighted.
References:
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/developmental-disabilities-south-korea
https://kdramawave.com/k-drama/k-dramas-that-tackle-mental-health-disorders-and-syndromes/
