HE? SHE? IT? SHING0-MAMA AND DRAG PERFORMANCES

Event details
Speaker : Ms Yuen Shu Min
               Teaching Assistant, Department of Japanese Studies, NUS
Date      : Friday, 14 September 2007
Time      : 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Venue    : AS4/03-28 (JS Meeting Room)

Abstract

Shingo-mama is a drag queen character played by Katori Shingo, born out of the Japanese variety program Sata Smap. Through the deployment of cross-dressing, Katori transforms into the emblem of the good wife, wise mother, the idealized image of traditional Japanese femininity. In this presentation, I will conduct a close-text analysis of the character of Shingo-mama, and I argue that Katori's drag performances may be interpreted as a denaturalization of prevalent notions of femininity in Japan. Rather than simply dismissing the cross-gendered performances of Shingo-mama as mere hilarity, the performance strategies of overstatement and alienation often observed in Shingo-mama's acts, can be read as a destabilization and questioning of the gender norms that bind Japanese females to the good wife, wise mother ideal.