Racialized im/possibilities: Intersectional queer-of-color critique on Japaneseness in Netflix’s Queer Eye: We’re in Japan!

ABSTRACT

This essay examines im/possibilities of Queer Eye: We’re in Japan! that represents the concept of Japaneseness. More precisely, this essay is concerned with how Queer Eye: We’re in Japan! reinserts U.S. exceptionalism while the Fab Five perform the makeovers of the four Japanese nominees (S1E1–S1E4). However, this essay also examines possibilities of Queer Eye: We’re in Japan! that transgress issues of gender, sexuality, and the body. In so doing, we orient an intersectional queer-of-color critique as our analytic to intervene the logic of American liberal capitalism that circulates the patriotic imaginaries of homonationalism in the historical continuum of globalization. The overall goal is to critique Queer Eye: We’re in Japan! that showcases im/possibilities of Japaneseness.

KEYWORDS:

• Queer Eye
• queer-of-color critique
• whiteness
• Japaneseness
• Americanization

Acknowledgement

The authors would sincerely like to thank the editor-in-chief Dr. Bernadette Marie Calafell and the three intelligent, amazing, and kind anonymous peer-reviewers for having provided their “tough,” careful, and in-depth evaluations of this study over the course of multiple revisions.

Notes

1 Because of the limited wordcount for the essay, the show is referred to as simply “Queer Eye” instead of citing the official full title of the show throughout.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shinsuke Eguchi

Shinsuke Eguchi (Ph.D., Howard University) is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication & Journalism at the University of New Mexico.

Keisuke Kimura

Keisuke Kimura (M.A., Bowling Green State University) is Doctoral Student in the Department of Communication & Journalism at the University of New Mexico.