Netflix’s South Korean mega-hit Squid Game isn’t exactly the queerest show around, although many of us do thirst for Gong Yoo and worship that doll diva in equal measure. Season two looks set to change that though with much more visible representation in the form of a new player named Hyun-Ju who just so happens to be a transgender woman.
In a “Meet the Cast” featurette, actor Park Sung-hoon explains that Hyun-Ju is a former special forces soldier who joins the competition to fund her gender-affirming surgery: “Even though she faces prejudices and tough situations, she shows incredible strength, decisiveness, and natural leadership. Through her resilience, she breaks down stereotypes and shines as an inspiring character.”
That all sounds pretty commendable, except a lot of fans aren’t happy still. Bigots are doing their usual thing, of course, bleating about “wokeness” because transphobes gonna transphobe. But a lot of the dissent around this announcement has nothing to do with the fact that Hyun-Ju is trans. The problem is with the casting itself.
Known for standout roles in The Glory and Queen of Tears, Park Sung-hoon is clearly good at what he does, but no amount of talent can change the fact that he’s a cis man. Scour social media and you’ll find at least 456 reasons why casting a cis man as a trans woman is never a good idea.
Just because it’s been done multiple times before doesn’t mean it’s ok. Never mind the (Oscar-winning) success cis men like Eddie Redmayne and Jared Leto have previously found going down this route.
But don’t take my word for it. In moments like these, I always return to a moment in the Netflix documentary Disclosure where actor/writer/producer Jen Richards spoke of the dangers this kind of casting can lead to: “In my mind, part of the reason that men end up killing trans women out of fear that other men will think that they are gay for having been with trans women, is that their friends, the men whose judgment they fear, only know trans women from media and the people who are playing trans women are the men that they know.
“This doesn’t happen when a trans woman plays a trans woman; Laverne Cox is just as beautiful and glamorous off-screen as she is onscreen. When you see these women off-screen still as women, it completely deflates the idea that they are somehow men in disguise.”
Park says that his character, Hyun-ju, “breaks down stereotypes and shines as an inspiring character,” but even if that’s true within the show, it does little to negate the wider issues that Richards speaks on here.
Some fans have defended Park’s casting by suggesting that the Squid Game team would have struggled to find a trans actress to fit the part. But this is a hard pill to swallow, especially given that there are in fact some trans actresses working in South Korea today. Casting someone like Lee Si-yeon or Choi Hae-jun or even an unknown could have made a huge statement in Korea and beyond too.
What this overlooks, however, is the backlash and even danger that a trans woman would likely face for taking on a role like this.
The former head of the LGBT Human Rights of Korea said back in 2011 that “of all sexual minorities, transgender is the lowest class.” 13 years have passed since Lim Tae-hoon made this oft-referenced claim, but unfortunately, these words still hold a lot of weight.
While there are technically no legal barriers when it comes to receiving gender-affirming care, Korea’s national health insurance system doesn’t cover the costs, so access is obviously limited. And that’s before you bear in mind the doctors who will reject you simply for being trans. Korea is also the only country in the world where parental consent is required to change your gender marker (regardless of age).
Even same-sex marriage, a given in most Western countries, is yet to be legalised in South Korea, and homosexual relationships still aren’t recognised in the eyes of the law. This lack of progress inevitably feeds into how queer storytelling is received as well.
For example, when a gay drama named Love in the Big City dropped as recently as October this year, conservative organisations protested the show’s release and trailers were removed from social media as a result. The show went on to air still, garnering a very dedicated fanbase who saw themselves in the characters on screen, but the pushback was visceral regardless.
Now imagine being a trans actress in this same contentious environment.
These are all reasons why casting trans talent in any Korean project, let alone one as prominent as Squid Game, isn’t as clear-cut as it might seem (especially from a Western perspective). But you could argue these are also reasons why centring a trans narrative in season two is still a victory of sorts, despite the casting issues.
Could the show have found a Korean trans woman outside of Korea or even a cisgender woman to play the part instead? Probably. That latter option isn’t ideal, but it’s still better than casting a cis man for the reasons listed earlier. Yet at a time when trans discourse is at its most toxic, a step forward like this can arguably be seen as real progress nonetheless.
After all, it’s clear the show’s intentions towards Hyun-Ju are good, regardless of your thoughts on how Squid Game has approached her casting. In a country where trans people are seen as “the lowest class”, that’s a win which can one day lead to bigger, better wins.
Watch a trailer for Squid Game S2
Ideally, such small steps wouldn’t be necessary. We should just be able to jump ahead to the end result and freely cast marginalised actors to play roles that truly reflect who they are, free of backlash. But in a world that’s far from ideal, it’s through these small steps that meaningful progress is ultimately made. Sometimes, you could argue, it’s better to have imperfect representation that means well rather than have none at all.
Of course, that’s easy to say now. When season two does arrive, there will almost certainly be issues with the way that Hyun-Ju is represented, especially in a show where cruelty and death are commonplace. But short of a full-blown disaster, there’s still reason to hope that something good will come out of all this, no matter which side you might fall on in this ongoing debate.
Squid Game S2 is streaming on Netflix from 26 December.