Siterep 6

 One of the most fascinating things during my reading and watching of the King and I again, was the both the more contemporary readings of aspects from the movie version and the striking similarities and how it was similar to much portrayals of Asian Americans in contemporary media. Many of the TikTok Clips notes the actor, Yul Brynner's charisma and attractiveness. A Russian actor playing a Thai King didn't seem to rob the fantasy for many. An episode of American Horror Story, for instance, comments on his physical appeal. One TikTok I found even noted the problematic ways that the material comments on women, but ultimately they can over look (as a joke) because of Yul Brynner. This strange phenomenon is something I found present in much consumption of Asian male performers in Kpop as of the late 2010s to the present. That these men exude a sexual and magnetic charm that is unrivaled in all of men, but with other Asian men as well. Instead of focusing on the artistry, industry, or the deeper themes of embodied experiences through these experiences, the praise and critiques leveled is entirely surrounded on physical aesthetic appeal's.

For instance, J-Hope from BTS early on had death threats leveled at him to leave his group, because some felt that he was too ugly to be apart of the group. The "point of theatre" and the "art having a point" seems to be secondary to its marketability. As much as art wants be insist upon itself as important and transformative, much of what gets seen unfortunately seems to suggest a level of appeal.       

This mass appeal, or this rhetorical notion of serving for mass appeal, is one of the reasons why changes towards this story, or even plays like Miss Saigon, might not stand the test of time. The reason is because of the need to make the words legible, the language of colonization and the customs of "legibility" inform what the characters ultimately do. The entire play, the characters play the game of "hey that thing you do is weird and it makes you weird" constantly. Only through learning about the person do the characters consider things in a different dynamic from weirdness. Its the equivalent of "I'm not racist, I know ___". 

It is funny, this appeal, draws the King and I closer to the Sound of Music than I would like. Where as one is because the children don't know of freedom because of a strict and lonesome and probably neglectful parent, the other is that way as either a joke or because they are Thai. It does paint these stories as formulaic adaptions of white canon, but in a different font or color.  

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