Thomas Baudinette・Boys Love Media in Asia: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture

Lecture

Abstract:

In this presentation, Thomas Baudinette introduces his research into Thailand’s “Boys Love” media industry by reflecting on a decade of ethnographic observations of this popular culture form’s celebrity production systems and transnational fandoms. Arguing that Thai BL represents an important example of queer emancipatory media that has garnered legions of dedicated fans across the globe, Baudinette explores what the rise of Thai BL can teach us about celebrity and fandom culture from an Asian perspective. Baudinette concludes by considering how the process of writing the first English language book on Thai BL has led him to challenge Western-centric theories of queer media and advocate for an appreciation for Asia’s central positioning within new global regimes of queer knowledge production.

Presenter:

Thomas BAUDINETTE is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Languages and Literatures at Macquarie University. His work explores consumption of popular culture among queer communities in Japan, Mainland China, Thailand, and the Philippines. He is the author of Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2023) and Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media, and Masculinity in Tokyo (University of Michigan Press, 2021).