“A huge net positive”: Controversial “Squid Game” character challenges Western representation ideals

When the second season of Netflix’s massively popular death games drama “Squid Game” was announced, die-hard fans were desperate to get their eyes on the new characters who would be risking their lives for a shot at a fortune. Part of why audiences find themselves hooked by “Squid Game” and other death game media like “The Hunger Games” is their connection to the story’s main players. We fall for our favorite characters and then spend the duration of the film or series at the edge of our seats, hands clasped, praying that our beloved competitors don’t get caught by a bullet or stray arrow. 

But “Squid Game” Season 2 (or “Squid Game 2,” as it’s stylized) added a new ripple to this phenomenon with the introduction of Hyun-ju, aka Player 120, a trans woman competing in the death games to proceed with her transition and leave Korea to make a better life for herself. In an era where queer representation is increasingly dire, including a trans character in the world’s most popular television show seems like a positive — at least on paper. 

Like so many other good-faith representation cases, it was far more complex. Korean actor Park Sung-hoon, a cisgender man, plays Hyun-ju. When Park’s role was revealed, it immediately sparked active conversation on social media about whether casting a cis actor in a trans role was a regressive move, especially with the precarious state of transgender rights around the world. For his part, the series’ creator, writer and director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, told TV Guide that he anticipated the discussions and that there were conversations about authentic casting during Season 2’s production. “It was near impossible to find someone who we could cast authentically,” Hwang said, adding that it was “heartbreaking” that social and political discrimination against queer people in South Korea made authentic casting all the more tricky. 

The dialogue surrounding Hyun-ju’s character is one with no clear-cut answer. And, as filmmaker, content creator and fandom expert Jessie Earl says, it’s a dialogue that’s made all the more nuanced by Hyun-ju’s arc in Season 2. “Hyun-ju is meant to be a ‘let’s teach cis folks about the trans experience’ kind of character,” Earl told me over a lengthy chat, a few days after the “Squid Game 2” binge drop. “And it is, I think, the best version of that type of character I’ve ever seen.”

Earl, whose highly popular YouTube channel Jessie Gender insightfully explains how fandom and geekdom intersect with political and social climates — sees Hyun-ju as a major net positive for trans representation, despite the casting of a cis actor. Earl sees “Squid Game 2” as another highly proficient satire of capitalism, one so detailed that it can speak toward larger issues trans characters face in Western media, even without “perfect” representation. 

Below, check out the full interview with Earl, who breaks down why Hyun-ju’s arc is critically important for the broader television landscape, how we define good and bad representation when trans rights are under duress, and why she thinks Disney’s decisions to eliminate trans arcs from its shows are spineless and amoral.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, had you already been a fan of “Squid Game”? Did you watch the first season?

The first season was a great analysis of capitalism and how it worked, and a really insightful look at that, especially from a Korean perspective. And then as a trans person who’s a “Matrix” fan, I’m always a fan of that genre of, “Let’s make a microcosm, a system, in a very isolated room and play out the dynamics of it.”

What did you think about Season 2 as a whole?

I loved it, and I loved the the way this season references “The Matrix.” At the end of the season, when Gi-hun (Lee jung-jae) is defeated in his rebellion, the main antagonist In-ho (Lee Byung-hun) says, “Did you have fun playing the hero?” [It reminded me of] how the right wing misunderstands “The Matrix.” The right will say, “Oh, we should take the red pill to become the big, strong, tough guy,” whereas “The Matrix” is about forming groups of collective resistance and finding connection with others. It’s also about finding connection with your own internal self to be able to face back against these systems that oppress you. So it’s interesting to me that In-ho references “The Matrix” earlier in the season, but assumes Gi-hun wants to play the hero. He’s not trying to be the hero. He doesn’t want to be, but the bad guy reads his intention as you want to become the hero. And so it ties back to the conversation about how the far right misreads trans narratives and coopts them for themselves.

When we get into Season 2, “Squid Game” is tackling even more social issues, it’s even more interesting because we’re seeing what the show can fit into one work, along with the major capitalism allegory.

And stressful post-election, too. The characters [this season] saying, “I know a bunch of people died, but let’s keep going, because I might make money” is like post-COVID people saying, “Hey, COVID happened, but let’s keep going with this entire process.” Signing people up for death. 

When was the first you had heard of the “Squid Game” character Hyun-ju, and what was your reaction, especially to Hwang’s statement about how hard they tried to cast a trans actor in the role?

So before I actually saw the season, I heard [about Hyun-ju] when they also announced the casting as well. So that was sort of the big thing on it: They cast a cis man to play the character. But my initial thoughts, after hearing some of the director’s response, there was an element to me that was understanding of the fact that it’s a very conservative space, even more so than the United States. It’d be hard to find someone who can play that role, and especially do it in a safe way. But, and also, there’s something to be said about Park Sang-hoon, who’s been willing to play queer roles in Korea, which can also get you into rough waters over there as well. All of that is, to some degree, understandable. 

But then there’s another side of me that says, “This is a huge hit across the world!” And I’m sort of curious: You couldn’t find a Korean-American trans actor who would be willing to take on that role? So there’s that element of it, where I feel they could have found somebody who could have fit the bill; people would have been lining up to do it. The other element is casting a cis man in the role, and this is what I see less people talking about: When you cast a cis man in the role of a trans woman, it still sort of plays into this idea — at least in the United States — that trans women are just men in drag. “The Danish Girl” is my go-to example of something that’s meant to be a supportive narrative, but it’s spectacle-izing and otherizing the trans experience. So I’m usually very skeptical, especially for hit shows. You couldn’t find a trans person? But if we take that at face value, I would still say that someone should cast the gender identity of the person [so someone who identifies as a woman will play a trans woman. Editor’s Note: The k-drama “Itaewon Class” cast cis actress Lee Joo-young to play transgender woman Hyun-ji].

One thing I’ve seen crop up a couple of times in my research was that a few trans folks mention that they don’t mind a cis man playing the role, because then you get this non-passing character, and that can be just affirming in its own way for some trans folks. I don’t necessarily know if I agree. I think the larger, larger stigma we face is sort of that idea that we’re just men in drag, so I feel like that’s a better thing to dispel through the casting.

The discussion is so layered and, in a way, it’s nice that it’s so complex. Because there isn’t a cut-and-dried solution in the context of “Squid Game 2,” it demands conversation, which can be important in and of itself.

No representation can be everything. A lot of the time when we talk about these things, there’s a tendency to condemn or say that it should have been one way, whereas my general rule of thumb is that I always want representation. Even if it’s messy, or bad, or not perfect, because it allows for conversation. Unless it’s outright harmful, give me the representation so that we can have the conversation about it.

Now that you’ve watched the second season, I’m curious about your thoughts on Hyun-ju as a character, and separately, your thoughts on how Park Sung-hoon portrayed her.

I think it’s the best version of this type of character I’ve ever seen. This character is very clearly meant to be one of those types of trans characters that is like, “Let’s teach cis people about the trans community.” That can be very dangerous when it’s written by a cis person, and I’ve seen it go down very badly. “Squid Game” does it supremely well because it avoids a lot of the typical things that happen. I’ll use “The Danish Girl” as an example again, a movie that spectacle-izes trans trauma. Or with 2017’s “A Fantastic Woman,” that’s just a trans person living her life. Why is she fantastic? Because she’s a trans spectacle. [Scenes are] hyper-focused on her trauma and not really allowing her to be her own person. Also, I’ve never seen a more “cisgender man shot” than a trans woman looking at herself naked with a mirror on her vagina.

But “Squid Game 2” doesn’t ever spectacle-ize Hyun-ju’s trauma. There are moments of her facing stigma, but they [are presented as] an earnest curiosity and not overly hateful. And you see, over the course of the season, other characters come to understand Hyun-ju’s perspective. There’s the moment later in the season where they all ask to go to the bathroom — and this is where it gets into the other element of the show that I really, really love — [Hwang] never takes the moment to do: Let’s show you the trauma of a trans person! Because my first thought was, “They’re gonna go to the bathroom and then there’s gonna be some TERFy woman in there.” But that never happens. Hyun-ju is just there. It’s not even a big moment of the show.

One of the first real conversations Hyun-ju has with other players this season is about gender confirmation surgery. What were your thoughts on how that conversation and arc were handled? 

Normally, I take issue when something written by a cis person is hyper-focused on trans surgeries. “Emilia Pérez” . . .

They’ve got that entire song about gender confirmation surgery.

Yeah, that over-fixation of surgeries trans people can get. But in this context, it makes a lot of sense because the show is quite literally about debt. We’re seeing with the healthcare system right now [laughs] that everyone is feeling a common way about debt caused by the healthcare industry. And trans people, more than most, have to engage with discrimination from the healthcare industry both in cost and generalized stigma. So the surgery conversation makes sense here. It’s relevant. “Squid Game” does a good job of handling it, alluding to the procedures. The show talks about the dynamic without asking, “Which ones did you get? What was it like?”

[Because this character is meant to teach cis people about trans folks], there’s a limit on what that character can be, because she is sort of constrained by those [teachable] elements. Hyun-ju has many facets to her, but they all kind of relate back to her transness. Other characters, like Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun) get more dimensions. We know what they do and what they’re interested in. They have gambling debt, or a wife, or we see what they do outside, Whereas for Hyun-ju, we don’t really see much of her interests as a person outside of being trans. So there’s still that slight limitation. But it also showcases what I, as a trans person, am kind of looking for. We’re seeing a lot of trans hate at the moment, so I think this is a huge net positive.

Representation for transgender characters continues to evolve, and so do our expectations for them. Have you seen the onus of responsibility evolving in American media and among American consumers who watch this media speaking up about representation?

In America, trans people are either this “culture war” topic where, even if we just appear in something, it’s already considered “woke.” Or, when there are trans characters in the media, [the writers] want us to be objects of pity, rather than being part of a group, or a community or a culture. The big example is “Emilia Pérez” [which is directed by a cis man] getting all the nominations and buzz, whereas something like “I Saw the TV Glow” — which is so great at articulating the trans experience in a way that feels universal because it’s written and directed by a trans creator — gets nary a mainstream nomination.

Just a couple of weeks back, news broke that the upcoming Disney+ show “Win or Lose” was cutting a trans storyline from one of its episodes, with reps saying, “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.” Can you give me just a general reaction to that?

Frankly, they’re cowards. Disney are cowards.

This isn’t the first time Disney has done something like this either, they cut a trans storyline from“Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” recently as well. 

I haven’t watched the show, but I watched the [leaked] episode. It’s done! It’s a done episode, and they’re just choosing not to air it. It is very clearly a response to the election and the culture that we’re moving into of this culture war bulls**t nonsense. You have this cowardly pulling back because Disney as a corporation is an amoral entity. They’re just trying to sell to the biggest audience. They’re trying to sell to every audience, but we live in such a fractionalized culture right now that that’s impossible to do. Whichever way they go, they’re going to piss someone off. What’s even more angering is that the episode of “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” is about breaking systems! It’s a trans character who just wants to play volleyball. The episode ends and we don’t get to see who wins the game, just that everyone gets to play. That’s all they want to do.

It’s very frustrating, because a lot of the backlash towards trans people from conservative folks is because people only understand trans people through how they are told to understand trans people, or how they are sold to understand trans people, through bigots like Matt Walsh, J.K. Rowling, all those folks. We’re only seen as very shallow representations. The best way to dispel that would be to actually meet a trans person, but art is really helpful in showcasing someone’s perspective. When you only show us as shallow representations with no real opinions and perspectives of our own — or as spectacles that need to be pitied — you don’t actually get to know us. And as a result, that’s how these narratives can get spun around what it means to be trans.

The Disney statement, in particular, feels like a cop-out.

Put [that statement] in any other context. “Well, we decided not to have the Black character because we want families to talk about that in their own time.” 

It’s wildly regressive, especially for animated programming. Just a few years ago, we had a show like “Steven Universe” discussing complicated themes in approachable ways for audiences of all ages. Would you say there’s been a significant change either way in the state of trans and queer representation in the media in recent years? 

I generally do feel like it’s gotten better, but now we’re like a weird moment where I don’t think that that’s the case, and I think we’re going to enter into a period where it is going to get harder. But it speaks to what things like “I Saw the TV Glow” does really well; more of these sort of metaphorical stories that are getting at the emotion of being trans. Something like “Steven Universe” was really good at that for the exact reason. Here’s a kid’s show, where, clearly there was a lot of trans and queer stuff going on. But, it was never the forefront of the show. It was about understanding yourself better. You find power through understanding yourself better. You find power through understanding other people better. That’s how you link up and form your Voltron fantasy and get to be super powerful.

It’s about empathy and, if there’s one theme that I see so much throughout transness – even I have my own film that’s literally about this as well – which is, transness is about having empathy for the other inside of yourself, and the other inside someone else. 

We were talking about cheering for [the “Squid Game” character] Thanos’ death earlier. What do you feel is the appeal of this genre of death games?

It’s a literalization of the system. Take a system and bring it down to its base essentials and play it out in that regard. This is just a genre that works really well as a conceptual place for creators to put their philosophy. It’s always thematically rich. You can make it capitalistic, too, because you can commodify [death games] very easily. “Look at the ‘Squid Game’ tracksuits, look at the ‘Matrix’ glasses, aren’t those cool?” It’s an easy way to be commercial.

And for us viewers, death games are character-focused in that way that you can have fun with. It’s inherently interesting to say that a bunch of people are going to die — it’s visceral. When a person wakes up alone in a room and we don’t know what will happen next, that genre is powerful. 

I like what you said about shoehorning in broader philosophical and sociological concepts into death games. Since you’re a creative who writes and directs as well, how much intentionality do you put behind things like representation in your work?

My movie “Identiteaze” is the same way. Two characters wake up in a room, and stuff happens, so it’s a very similar vibe. But for me, a lot of it is intentional, and a lot of it comes accidentally, and then you sort of realize as you’re making the art that [characters change as the creative process continues]. 

That’s why I find transness so fascinating as a concept. I’m a white person, I sit in this hierarchy of privilege, but as a trans person, I break this concept of a hierarchical binary, because our society puts things in binaries — men above women, white people above Black people, etc. But being a trans woman in a society that devalues womanhood breaks that inherent hierarchy and makes its arbitrariness all the more visible.