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

Abstract

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.