{"id":1624985,"date":"2022-08-29T06:17:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T10:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1624985"},"modified":"2022-08-29T06:17:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T10:17:56","slug":"extraordinary-attorney-woo-reminds-us-every-life-is-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/extraordinary-attorney-woo-reminds-us-every-life-is-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Extraordinary Attorney Woo\u2019\u00a0Reminds Us Every Life Is Beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fextraordinary-attorney-woo-reminds-us-every-life-is-beautiful%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1624985&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Portraying someone with a disability as the leading character in a TV show or movie is always a difficult task. The biggest challenge is balancing the needs of representing people with a disability fairly and realistically without turning them into caricatures, while also entertaining the general public.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRain Man\u201d was the first movie that portrayed a lead character with autism. It was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2018\/dec\/13\/rain-man-at-30-autism-hoffman-cruise-levinson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">credited<\/a> for bringing international awareness of autism and having opened \u201cthe flood gate of medical research and funding\u201d for it. Still, some\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2018\/dec\/13\/rain-man-at-30-autism-hoffman-cruise-levinson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">criticize<\/a>\u00a0the movie for being \u201ca poor representation and a stereotype\u201d of autism.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The South Korean drama \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81518991\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Extraordinary Attorney Woo<\/a>,\u201d streaming on Netflix, is the latest bold attempt to portray a person with autism as the lead character. The show is about Woo Young-woo (played by Park Eun Bin), a brilliant young lawyer with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Woo was born out of wedlock when her parents were law school students. Woo\u2019s mother initially planned to get an abortion. But she didn\u2019t go through with it after Woo\u2019s dad Gwang-ho vowed that he would raise the child alone. After giving birth to Woo Young Woo, the mother abandoned both father and daughter. Gwang-ho kept his promise by raising their daughter by himself. He quit studying law and made a living by running a gimbap (similar to sushi) shop.<\/p>\n<p>Woo Young-woo has autism savant syndrome, meaning that while she has a developmental disorder due to autism, she exhibits exceptional skills in a specific field. She has an IQ of 164 and graduated top of her class from one of South Korea\u2019s most prestigious universities with a law degree. But upon graduation, Woo struggled to find employment because no law firm wanted to hire an autistic lawyer. Fate made an exciting twist suddenly when she got a job offer from Hanbada, a major law firm in South Korea. Unknown to Woo, the CEO of Hanbada,\u00a0 Han Seon-young, had an ulterior motive for hiring Woo.<\/p>\n<p>Socially awkward, Woo could talk about whales and dolphins nonstop to anyone, regardless of whether they wanted to hear. She takes what other people say literally. For example, when one senior attorney asked Woo \u201cto lower herself\u201d \u2014 be more humble to get along with another senior attorney \u2014 Woo actually tried to lower herself. Subtlety is not Woo\u2019s strength. She would say things as it is without considering other people\u2019s feelings or the social setting. After she finished saying what she wanted to say or is done with what she needed to do, she would walk away without waiting for other people\u2019s responses.<\/p>\n<h2>A Unique and Lovable Person<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, Woo has an eidetic memory and can easily pick up the most obscure details no one else paid attention to. Throughout the series, she often devises the most creative solutions and helps Hanbada win case after case. Eventually, her talents and success win her colleagues\u2019 respect and acceptance.<\/p>\n<p>One of the show\u2019s strengths is to present both Woo\u2019s struggles and her talents through good-natured humor. For example, when Woo confesses to her best friend Dong Geu-rami that she wasn\u2019t sure if she liked her coworker, the handsome Joon-ho (played by Kang Tae-oh), Geu-rami asked if Woo\u2019s heart races when she touches Joon-ho. Taking Geu-rami\u2019s advice literally, Woo asks Joon-ho out of the blue if she can touch him. She explained to Joon-ho that she needed to see if her heart raced after touching him to decide whether she liked him. A spoiler alert: Woo learned she likes Joon-ho without touching him, and he likes her too. Humor like this helps the audience understand the challenges people with autism face without being overbearing and makes Woo\u2019s character adorable in such a unique way that you can\u2019t help but root for her.<\/p>\n<p>Another strength of the show is that it lets Woo\u2019s humanity shine by showing her growth and development \u00a0both professionally and personally, like any other young person starting out in life. For example, Woo wanted to win a case against a fellow lawyer who sabotaged her. She coaches a witness on how to sound convincing on the witness stand, even though, deep down, she suspects the witness isn\u2019t telling the whole truth. She later comes to regret her action. Not avoiding presenting Woo\u2019s flaw makes her character more relatable.<\/p>\n<p>Woo started the series as self-centered, primarily due to her disability making it difficult for her to decipher other people\u2019s verbal and nonverbal cues. She also got used to being taken care of most of her life. However, as the show continues, Woo learns to be considerate of her father by bringing him dinner. She also learns to converse with Joon-ho rather than hanging up the phone as soon as she\u2019s done talking. Woo gradually understands that a good relationship is about giving and taking. She goes out of her way to show how much she cares for Joon-ho, including opening the car door for him or trying to do his work for him, all because she wanted Joon-ho to be happy. The series is a testament to the saying that \u201clife is journey.\u201d We become better persons by learning from our mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>The show confronts several social and cultural issues in South Korea, such as discrimination against people with disabilities and a conservative culture that still regards pre-marital sex and out-of-wedlock births as something shameful. The show\u2019s success will hopefully bring more public awareness to these issues.<\/p>\n<h2>A Few Flaws<\/h2>\n<p>The show is not without a few shortcomings. A typical K-drama series contains 16 episodes and is designed to run for a single season. K-dramas follow a time-honored formula: the leading man and woman will confess their love and have a kiss scene, usually around episode 9 or 10. But shortly after, something unexpected will happen to jeopardize their relationship. Then in the final episode, there will be a happy ending. Unfortunately, \u00a0\u201cExtraordinary Attorney Woo\u201d\u00a0 doesn\u2019t escape this tired formula. Some of the conflicts it created in later episodes seemed to come out of nowhere and almost made me feel that the show\u2019s creators had tried too hard.<\/p>\n<p>Some people with autism <a href=\"https:\/\/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com\/2022\/08\/21\/entertainment\/television\/korea-extraordinary-attorney-woo-woo-youngwoo\/20220821170354097.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">criticize<\/a> the show for not giving people with autism a fair representation because Woo has savant syndrome,\u00a0 which is rare among people with autism. By portraying Woo as a genius, critics insist that the show has reinforced a typical misunderstanding of the autism community.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m afraid I have to disagree. Chris Bonnello, an autism advocate and an adviser for the movie \u201cRain Man,\u201d once\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2018\/dec\/13\/rain-man-at-30-autism-hoffman-cruise-levinson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cno representation of autism is ever going to satisfy everyone, because it\u2019s such a wide spectrum and the people within it are so enormously different to each other, including in how their autism affects them.\u201d Thus, it would be unfair to demand the creators of \u201cExtraordinary Attorney Woo\u201d to produce an entertaining show for the general public while covering every aspect of autism.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the criticisms, the show has been a smashing success. Its heartwarming storyline and unique leading character have won over audiences worldwide. It was the No. 1 most-watched drama in South Korea for six weeks since its premiere. According to Flixpatrol\u2019s Aug. 22 <a href=\"https:\/\/flixpatrol.com\/top10\/netflix\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ranking,<\/a>\u00a0the show is the fifth-most popular TV series on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibtimes.com\/company\/netflix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Netflix<\/a>. The show is a reminder that every life is precious, beautiful, and has value. Everyone we encounter enriches our lives.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Helen Raleigh, CFA, is an American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. She&#8217;s a senior contributor at The Federalist. Her writings appear in other national media, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News.  Helen is the author of several books, including &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Confucius-Never-Said-Helen-Raleigh\/dp\/1499185278\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Helen+Raleigh+Confucius+Never+Said&amp;qid=1606079469&amp;sr=8-1\">Confucius Never Said<\/a>&#8221; and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Backlash-How-Chinas-Aggression-Backfired\/dp\/1736008501\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1606006113&amp;sr=8-1\">Backlash: How Communist China&#8217;s Aggression Has Backfired<\/a>.&#8221; Follow her on Parler and Twitter: @HRaleighspeaks.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Portraying someone with a disability as the leading character in a TV show or movie is always a difficult task. The biggest challenge is balancing the needs of representing people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":536,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1624985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1624985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1624985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1624985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1624985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}