Asian pop culture is an extremely complex thing, as the term itself spans a highly diverse geographic region with distinct cultures and identities. The topics examined by the various cultural dialogues of the region range from conflicting national identity to female empowerment and sexualisation to conflicting and evolving concepts of Asian masculinity. It is the last one that we will be examining today.
From the earliest days of the media and newspapers, the depiction of Asian men has been largely controlled by the West, being informed as they were by the colonialist mentality of the time. This depiction has very largely been negative; examples include picturing Chinese men as indolent and decadent people after the First Opium War in 1842, to painting Asian men as aggressive foreign threats after the Australian gold rush of 1855, and the Japanese imperial expansion in World War Two.
The negative portrayal of Asian men continued with the rise of film cinema, with films like Fu Manchu painting Chinese men as ‘sinister outsiders’ planning to steal white women for themselves, and popular international shows like The Hangover and Two Broke Girls portraying Asian men as comical, almost child-like, caricatures of grown men with no chance of finding a love interest.
It seems counter-intuitive to talk about a Western media portrayal of Asian men in reference to Asian pop culture, but it is important to acknowledge the influence that this overarching narrative has had on the formation of Asian pop culture, as well as the struggle to forge a clear narrative of Asian masculinity.
In the West, the masculine ideal has long been characterized by a physical rather than oral expression of self, valuing physical prowess over intellectual rigor, and practicality over theory. However, even the briefest look at the history of the region shows that Western paradigms of masculine ideals are inapplicable to East Asian ideals.
According to Confucianism, virility and martial prowess were indicative of a non-elite masculinity, while culture, learning, and thoughtfulness became symbols of a higher form of masculinity. This school of thought contributed significantly to Korean neo-Confucianism, and the concept of seonbi: the gentleman scholar, emphasizing mental attainment over physical performance.
Seonbi emphasized male obligation to women, with numerous stories of romances between scholars and beauties. These stories also have cautionary elements, which vilify scholars who abandon their obligation to women to pursue ambition. The men in these romances were commonly depicted as learned, able to sing, compose poetry, discuss intellectual topics, and were in touch with their feelings. (Chʻoe, 2006)
This is in direct contrast to current dominant model of the ideal Western male, with their emphasis on virility and physical prowess, as well as stoic and/or emotionally repressed qualities, indirectly contributing to a lower value in the treatment of women. These qualities are so highly held that entire brands have been successfully built on them, like Old Spice, with the imagery of a sailor with a woman in every port. The projection of Western masculinity is also evident in Disney’s animated film Mulan, where Captain Li Shang is shown as physically capable, but emotionally repressed: A Western ideal, but also the hallmarks of an inferior masculinity in East Asian tradition (Stephens, n.d.).
These qualities of sensitive masculinity have evolved into the modern-day concept of kkonminam, or ‘flower pretty boy (lit.)’ in Korean. This came to the fore with the screening of popular Taiwanese drama ‘Meteor Garden’, which followed a cast of four male characters who exemplified men who paid attention to their grooming, and were more emotional and sensitive, except rather more spoiled in upbringing. The male leads were also very similar to ‘feminized metrosexuals’ in Western culture, a group initially associated with homosexuality, but achieved popularity with the opposite gender anyway (Tam and Yip, 2009). The popularity of the show can be considered a precursor to the rise of Korean popular culture, or the hallyu.
Asian pop culture is also now very strongly linked to the female consumer, and has largely been seen as the domain of feminine labour, with the heavy inclination towards creative labour and products. The female is also now playing a key role in producing Asian pop culture, and this may drive a depiction and portrayal of men with traits seen as desirable according to women.
This is especially prevalent in South Korea, where the grooming of pop idols has become an industry in its own right. Men are selected for their androgynous good looks, and trained to project a combination of Western and Eastern ideals of masculinity. Korean boy band Dong Bang Shin Ki (DBSK) are notable as a cultural artefact for their highly sexualized portrayal in popular culture and widespread appeal among adolescent females, despite their combination of almost-feminine aesthetic with more traditional male values.
This is best explained in Colling’s text, Beyond Mateship, where he quotes Korean pop star Rain, on what Korean male idols should be like: “Strong without hardness; soft without fear; powerful without oppression; gentle without shame; knowledgeable without arrogance; nurturing; led with humility and themselves with joy” (Colling, 1992). Sun Jung and Kim Yong-Hee also argue that ‘the kkonminam syndrome has developed not because males have become feminized but as a consequence of the deconstruction and the hybridization of female/male sexual identities’ (Kim Yong-hee 2003: 104).
By examining the history of the region, as well as pan-national cultural artefacts such as bishonen manga from Japan, or the indigenously-developed kkonminam movement in South Korea, it becomes evident that Asian males are viewed as emasculated only when viewed through a one-sided cultural lens. Lacking the cultural tradition of the Orient, it is understandable that Occidental culture would have no analogue for the gentleman scholar, or for the concept of intellectual masculinity which currently holds sway in popular Asian culture.
References
- Colling, T. (1992). Beyond mateship. East Roseville, NSW: Simon & Schuster Australia.
- Stephens, J. (n.d.). Ways of being male. P.131
- Chʻoe, W. (2006). The traditional education of Korea. Seoul, Korea: Ewha Womans University Press.
- Tam, K. and Yip, T. (2009). Gender, discourse and the self in literature. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.
- Kim, Yong-hee. 2003.Cheongae-ui geoul [A Thousand Mirrors]. Seoul: Saenggag-ui Namu.
- Kam, L. (2012). Popular Culture and Masculinity Ideals in East Asia, with Special Reference to China. The Journal of Asian Studies, [online] 71(4), pp.929-943. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23357427 [Accessed 9 Aug. 2016].
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