Brazilian scholar finds drag culture's influence in K-pop industry

By Lee Hae-rin

Tiago Canario, a Seoul-based Brazilian scholar, has revealed how drag culture influenced the K-pop industry in visualizing minorities and marginal cultures, as one of the co-authors in a book titled “Here Comes the Flood: Gender, Sexuality, and Stereotype in the Korean Wave.”

Drag is the art of dressing up and performing a type of gender expression, usually one different from the performer's actual gender identity. It is a medium for exploring gender and expressing LGBTQ pride, as well as a form of entertainment.

The 34-year old scholar, who is also a visual artist and an independent researcher, said he didn't know that his journey to this country would last this long when it started in 2013.

After obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism in Brazil, Canario came here to get a Ph.D. in visual culture at Korea University. He said that Korea caught his attention among other countries as an academic field for being “the birthplace of the webtoon culture,” or digital comics.

“Visual narratives were always my thing. I was first interested in shapes and how they are shaped by everyday life. They are part of who we are,” Canario said during a written interview with The Korea Times, Friday.

Although Canario's initial plan was to finish the academic course within four years and return to his home country to fill a gap in Asian studies there, he was drawn to new topics of study: gender, sexuality, youth and popular culture.

As a visual culture scholar, Canario said he had witnessed and studied how drag “opened a new chapter” in Brazilian cultural history with names like Pablo Vittar and Gloria Groove. When he started noticing similar phenomena in Korea's music industry, he felt he “had to study and document this precious moment in history.”

In late 2020, he heard about Moises Park and Marcy Tanter's project to gather diverse perspectives on gender, sexuality and stereotypes in hallyu through the internet. He proposed his research ideas to the two editors, which they found very interesting.

Along with 10 other co-contributors of Korean and foreign nationalities, Canario examined the layers of gender stereotypes featured in Korean media content and explored the diverse sociocultural layers of their “Koreanness.”

“I think the book is a very helpful guide to those willing to dive into learning more about how gender, sexuality and stereotypes play into Korean culture, from traditional values to contemporary society,” Canario said.

In his chapter, titled “Queering the Wave: Drag Queens and Drag Kings in the K-Pop Industry,” Canario breaks down the sociocultural background of how LGBTQ culture created cracks in the K-pop industry, which has been dominated by Korea's heteronormative patriarchy, as well as collectivist and Confucian philosophies that still remain hegemonic.

With examples from the works of K-pop stars like Lee Hyo-ri, G-Dragon and Girls Generation, to musicals with LGBTQ elements such as “Hedwig” and “Kinky Boots,” Canario presents some original insights into how the queer-originated non-normative gender performances not only gained popularity but also reshaped the industry by creating resistance to Korea's normative, hierarchical gender binary, as well as making room for diversity.

“My main research interest is the intersection of queer experiences and popular culture,” Canario said. “I am fascinated with how much marginalized experiences have entered capitalism and broken into mainstream.”

With his ongoing and future research, Canario said he plans to contribute to Korean studies as well as queer Asian studies in Brazil and broaden perspectives on Korean culture.

“I hope other groups and minorities get more chances in the mainstream, on the big platforms, so the world can get to know about how plural Korea is. Every story deserves to be told. Every voice deserves to be amplified,” Canario said.