Caring Cuteness: Clumsy-but-Cute Bear Cover Dance and Queer Intimacy

Kim, K. (2020). Caring Cuteness: Clumsy-but-Cute Bear Cover Dance and Queer Intimacy. Feminism and Korean Literature, (50), 115-141, https://doi.org/10.15686/fkl.2020..50.115

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Abstract

This article focuses on the way which ‘bear cover dance teams’ perform cuteness covering girl groups’ dance. In gay community, ‘bear’ generally means big gay men who are overweight. Recently, the young bears in several East Asian countries made their own cover dance team to copy K–pop girl groups’ dance moves, record them and upload the videos onto Youtube. The cover dance is considered as both the bears’ subculture and their identity performance localized on East Asian countries, in line with globally spreading cover dance videos on Youtube and tending to make the cover dance teams specialized based on K–pop idol fandom. While the mandatory cuteness of K–pop girl groups is related to the commodification of women’s bodies, bear cover dance looks clumsy in aesthetic perspective but pursues childlike cuteness according to affective requirement of caring, which also is called ‘caring cuteness’ as kind of queer intimacy.

keywords: 케이팝, 걸그룹, 커버 댄스, 귀여움, 돌봄, 베어 하위문화, 아시아 베어다움, 퀴어 친밀성, K–pop, girl group, cover dance, cuteness, caring, bear subculture, asian bearness, queer intimacy

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Article Contents

No.50

Caring Cuteness: Clumsy-but-Cute Bear Cover Dance and Queer Intimacy

Abstract

Reference

Feminism and Korean Literature