Followed you on my academic twt! But I'm looking at classical imagery in K-Pop and how it's used to qualify/legitimize performance. Also touching on fan reception, gender envy, and aesthetics of the Asian male body -- your point about defending femininity was thus super interesting to me!
(Followed you back btw) such an interesting topic!! Something I admittedly know not much of but would love to read more on. Just to spoil a bit of the upcoming issue, I want to talk about the rampant nisu culture that's going on for male idols in K-Pop, i.e. referring to them as mommy, wifey and babygirls as a form of praise as well as appreciating their body as they would a female one. Something to look forward to maybe 👁
"They phrased the post as a petition for authorities to release all the dan-gai that’s been abruptly banned from airing in 2021"
The funny thing about this is, from the danmei I've read (in translation; a decent number but not everything that's there, admittedly) law enforcement, however that looks in the world of the novel, is often central to the narrative. Surveillance is panopticon level; the copaganda sounds sincere and not even a little satirical - if the NRTA or whoever had any sense, they'd release all the dangai, because the authors are often fully and perhaps strategically on the side of the state.
I was thinking first of 默读 and 小蘑菇, but also details in different danmei: in one that i dropped, a main character is a prison guard in charge of 'reeducation'; in 终极蓝印 there's a bit in passing where a person this organisation is trying to catch, is caught while dressed in a burkha; in 忧郁先生想过平静生活, there's an outworlder who undergoes indoctrination after being captured (and it's kinda played for laughs); in 残次品 a whole galaxy is brainwashed from birth (though tbf there's a whole other galaxy that resists that)... They're not all the same kind of thing, but they point to an enforcement by different means, of a 'right' way of being.
Ah I see what you mean now! Very true that law enforcement, and just in general a sense of being regulated/controlled are almost always evoked now. I'm thinking of Alpha/Beta/Omega (ABO) danmei and how in a completely fictional universe, a lot of authors are keen to play into the hierarchies between these sub-genders.
But I do think that some other danmei writers are portraying these not to side with the state, but to express a desire of change and indirectly fulfil it through their characters. Thinking about danmei that features (investigative) journalism like 唇枪 or 心眼. A kind of system toppling through a proxy, maybe. :)
Thank YOU! I've never read Chinese danmei in English, would love to hear more about what you think about them (when I eventually put out issues on danmei) ❤️
Very excited to read your thoughts on K-Pop in China! Feel like it's going to be very relevant to my research lol
Thanks ^^ Hopefully it can be a good read for you ❤️ Would love to know what you researching on if you'd like to share.
Followed you on my academic twt! But I'm looking at classical imagery in K-Pop and how it's used to qualify/legitimize performance. Also touching on fan reception, gender envy, and aesthetics of the Asian male body -- your point about defending femininity was thus super interesting to me!
(Followed you back btw) such an interesting topic!! Something I admittedly know not much of but would love to read more on. Just to spoil a bit of the upcoming issue, I want to talk about the rampant nisu culture that's going on for male idols in K-Pop, i.e. referring to them as mommy, wifey and babygirls as a form of praise as well as appreciating their body as they would a female one. Something to look forward to maybe 👁
ooh yes! would love to chat more about these topics in the future!
"They phrased the post as a petition for authorities to release all the dan-gai that’s been abruptly banned from airing in 2021"
The funny thing about this is, from the danmei I've read (in translation; a decent number but not everything that's there, admittedly) law enforcement, however that looks in the world of the novel, is often central to the narrative. Surveillance is panopticon level; the copaganda sounds sincere and not even a little satirical - if the NRTA or whoever had any sense, they'd release all the dangai, because the authors are often fully and perhaps strategically on the side of the state.
That's interesting - would love to hear the specific danmei works you're thinking of?
I was thinking first of 默读 and 小蘑菇, but also details in different danmei: in one that i dropped, a main character is a prison guard in charge of 'reeducation'; in 终极蓝印 there's a bit in passing where a person this organisation is trying to catch, is caught while dressed in a burkha; in 忧郁先生想过平静生活, there's an outworlder who undergoes indoctrination after being captured (and it's kinda played for laughs); in 残次品 a whole galaxy is brainwashed from birth (though tbf there's a whole other galaxy that resists that)... They're not all the same kind of thing, but they point to an enforcement by different means, of a 'right' way of being.
Ah I see what you mean now! Very true that law enforcement, and just in general a sense of being regulated/controlled are almost always evoked now. I'm thinking of Alpha/Beta/Omega (ABO) danmei and how in a completely fictional universe, a lot of authors are keen to play into the hierarchies between these sub-genders.
But I do think that some other danmei writers are portraying these not to side with the state, but to express a desire of change and indirectly fulfil it through their characters. Thinking about danmei that features (investigative) journalism like 唇枪 or 心眼. A kind of system toppling through a proxy, maybe. :)
Ah that's interesting. These aren't translated, so I'll have to see how much I can read via Readibu...thank you!
Thank YOU! I've never read Chinese danmei in English, would love to hear more about what you think about them (when I eventually put out issues on danmei) ❤️