Asian Celebrity and Fandom Studies – serie

From Bollywood to K-Pop, from Crazy Rich Asians to YouTube stars and Boys’ Love media, this book brings together leading scholars to explore “bromance” in celebrity culture across Asia. Celebrity Bromance and Comradery Capital in Asia demonstrates how celebrity bromances are used as global promotional tools in different national and transnational contexts, including China, Thailand, India and beyond. Across chapters written by leading international scholars, the book demonstrates how a “comradery capital” develops as Asian bromances become not just a promotional tool but commodities in their own right in contemporary celebrity culture.

From Bollywood to K-Pop, from Crazy Rich Asians to YouTube stars and Boys’ Love media, this book brings together leading scholars to explore “bromance” in celebrity culture across Asia. Celebrity Bromance and Comradery Capital in Asia demonstrates how celebrity bromances are used as global promotional tools in different national and transnational contexts, including China, Thailand, India and beyond. Across chapters written by leading international scholars, the book demonstrates how a “comradery capital” develops as Asian bromances become not just a promotional tool but commodities in their own right in contemporary celebrity culture.

Over the past several years, the Thai popular culture landscape has radically transformed due to the emergence of “Boys Love” (BL) soap operas which celebrate the love between handsome young men. Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture is the first book length study of this increasingly significant transnational pop culture phenomenon. Drawing upon six years of ethnographic research, the book reveals BL’s impacts on depictions of same-sex desire in Thai media culture and the resultant mainstreaming of queer romance through new forms of celebrity and participatory fandom. The author explores how the rise of BL has transformed contemporary Thai consumer culture, leading to heterosexual female fans of male celebrities who perform homoeroticism becoming the main audience to whom Thai pop culture is geared. Through the case study of BL, this book thus also investigates how Thai media is responding to broader regional trends across Asia where the economic potentials of female and queer fans are becoming increasingly important. Baudinette ultimately argues that the center of queer cultural production in Asia has shifted from Japan to Thailand, investigating both the growing international fandom of Thailand’s BL series as well as the influence of international investment into the development of these media. The book particularly focuses on specific case studies of the fandom for Thai BL celebrity couples in Thailand, China, the Philippines, and Japan to explore how BL series have transformed each of these national contexts’ queer consumer cultures.

Over the past several years, the Thai popular culture landscape has radically transformed due to the emergence of “Boys Love” (BL) soap operas which celebrate the love between handsome young men. Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture is the first book length study of this increasingly significant transnational pop culture phenomenon. Drawing upon six years of ethnographic research, the book reveals BL’s impacts on depictions of same-sex desire in Thai media culture and the resultant mainstreaming of queer romance through new forms of celebrity and participatory fandom. The author explores how the rise of BL has transformed contemporary Thai consumer culture, leading to heterosexual female fans of male celebrities who perform homoeroticism becoming the main audience to whom Thai pop culture is geared. Through the case study of BL, this book thus also investigates how Thai media is responding to broader regional trends across Asia where the economic potentials of female and queer fans are becoming increasingly important. Baudinette ultimately argues that the center of queer cultural production in Asia has shifted from Japan to Thailand, investigating both the growing international fandom of Thailand’s BL series as well as the influence of international investment into the development of these media. The book particularly focuses on specific case studies of the fandom for Thai BL celebrity couples in Thailand, China, the Philippines, and Japan to explore how BL series have transformed each of these national contexts’ queer consumer cultures.

A star-making factory without rival, the Japanese talent agency Johnny’s Jimusho has brought fame to several generations of male stars – singers, actors and performers. Beyond the Male Idol Factory asks what the phenomenon of “Johnny’s Idols” reveals about discourses of masculinity and national identity in contemporary Japan.Examining the pervasive presence of these stars across a wide range of Japanese media, the book explores how Johnny’s Idols act as role models of ideal masculinity and good citizenship as well as entertainers. Taking a wide-ranging cultural studies approach, the book assesses the social, economic and demographic contexts of these familiar stars in post-industrial and post-Bubble Japanese society.

A star-making factory without rival, the Japanese talent agency Johnny’s Jimusho has brought fame to several generations of male stars – singers, actors and performers. Beyond the Male Idol Factory asks what the phenomenon of “Johnny’s Idols” reveals about discourses of masculinity and national identity in contemporary Japan.Examining the pervasive presence of these stars across a wide range of Japanese media, the book explores how Johnny’s Idols act as role models of ideal masculinity and good citizenship as well as entertainers. Taking a wide-ranging cultural studies approach, the book assesses the social, economic and demographic contexts of these familiar stars in post-industrial and post-Bubble Japanese society.

Whether willingly or unwillingly, public celebrities are often the focus of discussion of moral matters and political causes, but how does this sort of celebrity culture function in a country such as China with a powerful central state? Contemporary Chinese Celebrities explores how in today’s China, celebrity figures embody, conflict with and engage with social, civil, moral and economic issues. Shenshen Cai examines the state’s governance of celebrity activism and the interplay between the propaganda machine and the stars. Analyzing examples of scandalous celebrities who act as activists in a moral domain which is tightly governed by the state, Cai also studies several sports stars who have emerged in recent years as political activists in China, and their open defiance of the Chinese political system that poses unprecedented challenge to the Party’s rule.

Whether willingly or unwillingly, public celebrities are often the focus of discussion of moral matters and political causes, but how does this sort of celebrity culture function in a country such as China with a powerful central state? Contemporary Chinese Celebrities explores how in today’s China, celebrity figures embody, conflict with and engage with social, civil, moral and economic issues. Shenshen Cai examines the state’s governance of celebrity activism and the interplay between the propaganda machine and the stars. Analyzing examples of scandalous celebrities who act as activists in a moral domain which is tightly governed by the state, Cai also studies several sports stars who have emerged in recent years as political activists in China, and their open defiance of the Chinese political system that poses unprecedented challenge to the Party’s rule.

From 1950s Malay superstar Maria Menado to 2023 Golden Globe winner Michelle Yeoh, Starring Asian Feminities brings together a cross-disciplinary group of scholars to explore the variations and evolutions of Asian femaleness on-screen. Exploring a range of genres and forms including Chinese “chick flicks” (“Xiaoniu Dianying”), K-Cinema, Bollywood and Asian American stardom in Hollywood, the book examines the confluence of gender and sexual identities of a range of Asian female stars and analyses what media conditions underlie the production of images of Asian femininities. Through a range of case studies of these Asian female stars, Starring Asian Femininities confronts such questions as: how do Asian female stars transcend Western notions of fame, popularity and celebrity? What positions do they take on issues such as selfhood and identity? And how do they mediate conflicting ideological claims?

Exploring the career and work of the iconic “superstar” Rajinikanth, this in-depth study examines the ways in which Tamil masala cinema, plays with, reflects and comments on its own canon, history and contexts.Taking in the full length of Rajinikanth’s career from his “golden age” in the 1990s through to his established status as one of the most popular stars of Indian cinema, the book explores the trajectory of his screen image as it has built up through call backs, repeated gags and recurring tropes over several decades. Meenaatchi Saverimuttu demonstrates in this way how Rajinikanth has become an exemplar of the Tamil cinema star as ‘paratexts’ in their own right, reflecting on their own status and cultural position on- and off-screen.

Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, this book explores the political contexts of celebrity in contemporary India. The book charts the changing ideological contexts of celebrities in the public sphere and the complex interplay of patronage, security and activism that Indian stars must navigate. Chapters explore mainstream Hindi film and the Bollywood system as well as marginalised and regional cinemas, from Dalit and Adivasi identities to regional Tamil and Malayalam film. Together the chapters in this volume offer new perspectives on global celebrity studies from the point of view of one of the largest and most dynamic film industries in the world.

With chapters written by interdisciplinary scholars from across Asia, this book decolonizes the field of Celebrity Studies through an Asia-centric approach to understanding stardom. Exploring national and transnational contexts, the book examines stars such as Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, Jackie Chan, South Korea’s Park Shin-hye and BTS among others, as well as phenomena such as internet celebrity couples, livestreamers and K-Pop. Decolonizing Asian Celebrity examines how a celebrity culture that crosses borders helps shape transnational social and political life across the continent, from China and India, to South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines.