Min Joo Lee
I am an Assistant Professor in Asian Studies at Occidental College. My research focuses on the transnational popularity of Korean popular culture (also known as the Korean Wave or Hallyu), gender and race politics in Korea, and feminist media theory.
I graduated with an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Gender Studies from UCLA and a B.A. from Williams College. Prior to Oxy, I worked at Wellesley College and Indiana University Bloomington.
I graduated with an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Gender Studies from UCLA and a B.A. from Williams College. Prior to Oxy, I worked at Wellesley College and Indiana University Bloomington.
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* This document is a copy-editing version of the chapter. For a final printed copy of the chapter, please email me at mlee4@oxy.edu
Hallyu fandom is made up of fans of different races, gender, and sexual identities, but a certain subsection of fans has gained particular notoriety for their overzealousness. These fans acquired the nickname “Koreaboo.” Many Koreaboos share social media posts about their affection for Koreans and Korean culture to form transnational connections with other like-minded individuals (Lee 2020b). In this chapter, we examine the social media posts related to Koreaboos. We examine both the posts uploaded by Koreaboos and the ones posted about Koreaboos by those who do not share their zeal for Korea. We utilize feminist theories on eroticism and feminist media theories to conduct critical analyses of these social media posts. We argue that, on the one hand, Koreaboos attempt to deconstruct
problematic dating culture and gender norms in their respective countries by taking control of their erotic desires and practices. However, on the other hand, we contend that they reconstruct the problematic binary between the East and the West through their essentialist erotic desires for Korean culture and people.
A critical analysis of media discourses around South Korean male and white female couples are important because they exemplify how South Korean media distinctively and purposefully formulate aspirational images of these interracial couples in order to advance the notion of South Korean male cosmopolitanism and their (sexual) allure in the global stage. In other words, I suggest that the mediated constructions of aspirational interracial relationships exemplify how South Korean culture is attempting to reformulate its nationalism from one that used to be premised on ethnic/racial homogeneity to one that centers on cosmopolitanism and interracial intimacy.
In this dissertation, I examine the gendered and racial politics of women’s transnational sex tourism. I draw on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork with women from Europe and North America who travel to South Korea to form intimate relations with South Korean men in a phenomenon known as Hallyu tourism. Hallyu (also known as the Korean Wave) is a transnational phenomenon whereby people from all over the world consume South Korean popular culture including music, films, and television programs. In my dissertation, I focus on the transnational popularity of romantic South Korean television dramas and how they generate erotic desires in their viewers for South Korean men. I build on interdisciplinary debates in the fields of Gender Studies, Asian Studies, and Media Studies to examine the racial, gendered, and sexual politics of the Hallyu tourists’ erotic desires and their intimate relationships with South Korea men. I argue that these transnational relationships of intimacy produce racialized discourses of South Korean masculinity emerging at the intersection of South Korean cultural conceptions of gender and transnational discourses of race. Furthermore, I suggest that these intimate encounters between South Korean men and “Western” female Hallyu tourists compel us to reconfigure binary conceptions of West versus East, national versus transnational, sex versus romance, and masculine versus feminine. By analyzing why and how the Hallyu tourists use South Korean television dramas to racially eroticize South Korean men, I demonstrate the inextricability of erotics from race and gender.
became a transnational media phenomenon called Hallyu (also
known as the Korean Wave, Han’ryu, Hanliu). Some Hallyu fans not
only watch the dramas, but they also travel to Korea to immerse
themselves in Korean cultures they saw in the dramas. What
makes Korean television dramas so appealing to the disparate
Hallyu fans? What is it about the dramas that inspire their viewers
to travel to Korea? This article is based on data gathered from
digital archival research of online Hallyu fan forums, and
ethnographic interviews and participant-observations I conducted
in Korea where I interviewed the Hallyu tourists. I build on existing
research on Hallyu and transnational media studies. However, I
suggest that existing theoretical frameworks of ‘cultural proximity’
or ‘Orientalism’ do not accurately capture the essence of my
Hallyu tourist informants’ reasons for consuming Korean television
dramas and traveling to Korea. I suggest that rather than the
dichotomous framework of cultural proximity and Orientalism,
Hallyu should be observed through the framework of
transnational intimacy. More specifically, I suggest that Hallyu
fans’ romantic and intimate desires for Korean men are central to
the transnational popularity of Korean dramas and Hallyu tourism.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14766825.2020.1707467?casa_token=MX06bhjpz-8AAAAA:uhwZe2K9JgHbNxhNmrRtrYQsWNH4slorIIbM8qjl2NEa5EuHhbkPGWL4CtR6xbGc_9re7Lom4fVM
* This document is a copy-editing version of the chapter. For a final printed copy of the chapter, please email me at mlee4@oxy.edu
Hallyu fandom is made up of fans of different races, gender, and sexual identities, but a certain subsection of fans has gained particular notoriety for their overzealousness. These fans acquired the nickname “Koreaboo.” Many Koreaboos share social media posts about their affection for Koreans and Korean culture to form transnational connections with other like-minded individuals (Lee 2020b). In this chapter, we examine the social media posts related to Koreaboos. We examine both the posts uploaded by Koreaboos and the ones posted about Koreaboos by those who do not share their zeal for Korea. We utilize feminist theories on eroticism and feminist media theories to conduct critical analyses of these social media posts. We argue that, on the one hand, Koreaboos attempt to deconstruct
problematic dating culture and gender norms in their respective countries by taking control of their erotic desires and practices. However, on the other hand, we contend that they reconstruct the problematic binary between the East and the West through their essentialist erotic desires for Korean culture and people.
A critical analysis of media discourses around South Korean male and white female couples are important because they exemplify how South Korean media distinctively and purposefully formulate aspirational images of these interracial couples in order to advance the notion of South Korean male cosmopolitanism and their (sexual) allure in the global stage. In other words, I suggest that the mediated constructions of aspirational interracial relationships exemplify how South Korean culture is attempting to reformulate its nationalism from one that used to be premised on ethnic/racial homogeneity to one that centers on cosmopolitanism and interracial intimacy.
In this dissertation, I examine the gendered and racial politics of women’s transnational sex tourism. I draw on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork with women from Europe and North America who travel to South Korea to form intimate relations with South Korean men in a phenomenon known as Hallyu tourism. Hallyu (also known as the Korean Wave) is a transnational phenomenon whereby people from all over the world consume South Korean popular culture including music, films, and television programs. In my dissertation, I focus on the transnational popularity of romantic South Korean television dramas and how they generate erotic desires in their viewers for South Korean men. I build on interdisciplinary debates in the fields of Gender Studies, Asian Studies, and Media Studies to examine the racial, gendered, and sexual politics of the Hallyu tourists’ erotic desires and their intimate relationships with South Korea men. I argue that these transnational relationships of intimacy produce racialized discourses of South Korean masculinity emerging at the intersection of South Korean cultural conceptions of gender and transnational discourses of race. Furthermore, I suggest that these intimate encounters between South Korean men and “Western” female Hallyu tourists compel us to reconfigure binary conceptions of West versus East, national versus transnational, sex versus romance, and masculine versus feminine. By analyzing why and how the Hallyu tourists use South Korean television dramas to racially eroticize South Korean men, I demonstrate the inextricability of erotics from race and gender.
became a transnational media phenomenon called Hallyu (also
known as the Korean Wave, Han’ryu, Hanliu). Some Hallyu fans not
only watch the dramas, but they also travel to Korea to immerse
themselves in Korean cultures they saw in the dramas. What
makes Korean television dramas so appealing to the disparate
Hallyu fans? What is it about the dramas that inspire their viewers
to travel to Korea? This article is based on data gathered from
digital archival research of online Hallyu fan forums, and
ethnographic interviews and participant-observations I conducted
in Korea where I interviewed the Hallyu tourists. I build on existing
research on Hallyu and transnational media studies. However, I
suggest that existing theoretical frameworks of ‘cultural proximity’
or ‘Orientalism’ do not accurately capture the essence of my
Hallyu tourist informants’ reasons for consuming Korean television
dramas and traveling to Korea. I suggest that rather than the
dichotomous framework of cultural proximity and Orientalism,
Hallyu should be observed through the framework of
transnational intimacy. More specifically, I suggest that Hallyu
fans’ romantic and intimate desires for Korean men are central to
the transnational popularity of Korean dramas and Hallyu tourism.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14766825.2020.1707467?casa_token=MX06bhjpz-8AAAAA:uhwZe2K9JgHbNxhNmrRtrYQsWNH4slorIIbM8qjl2NEa5EuHhbkPGWL4CtR6xbGc_9re7Lom4fVM