초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This article examines American/transnational perceptions of Asian manhood through Asian popular culture. Specifically, it asks whether Korean dramas, with their emphasis on powerfully attractive male stars are changing long-standing stereotypes of Asian men’s relatively weak masculinity. It provides a unique contribution by using a survey we created to compare views of Asian masculinity among women who consume Korean dramas to those who do not. The results show a strong correlation between Korean drama viewing and perceptions of Asian masculinity and attractiveness. Viewers rate these more highly than non-viewers do. Black and Latina viewers differ especially strongly in comparison to their non-viewing counterparts. However, stereotypes persist. In comparison to men of other ethnicities, Asian men are still placed at the bottom of the masculinity ladder. A low view of Asian men’s masculinity and attractiveness is particularly notable among Polynesian women; but Caucasian and, perhaps surprisingly, Asian women also hold dim views of Asian men in certain ways. Thus Korean drama exposure is associated with destabilized conventions, but only to a limited degree.
