Commodifying adolescence for performance and profit: Language and gender in Japanese idol music | Intellect Skip to content
1981
image of Commodifying adolescence for performance and profit: Language and gender in Japanese idol music

Abstract

Japanese pop idols occupy an ambiguous position in the broader popular music landscape, straddling a line between fiction and non-fiction, simultaneously characterological yet physically instantiated. As idealized representations of the girl or boy next door, idols serve as both ‘image characters’ who can be used to sell a variety of products, as well as ‘quasi companions’ meant to provide fans with a manufactured sense of intimacy. Using a joint quantitative and qualitative approach, this article analyses the lyrics of female idol groups. Specifically, I demonstrate how the combination of first- and second-person pronouns and sentence-final expressions are utilized to construct both female-coded and male-coded gendered personae, revealing that idol lyrics engage in the process of cross-gender performance. As a result, through their performance of these personae, female idol groups explicitly reinforce a binary imagination of normative gender expressions, allowing such idol groups to capitalize on idealized heterosexual adolescence through affective resonance and nostalgia.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/eapc_00099_1
2023-02-21
2024-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abe, Hideko. ( 2010), Queer Japanese: Gender and Sexual Identities through Linguistic Practices, New York:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Agha, Asif. ( 2007), Language and Social Relations, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Aoyagi, Hiroshi. ( 2005), Islands of Eight Million Smiles: Idol Performance and Symbolic Production in Contemporary Japan, Cambridge, MA:: Harvard University Asia Center;.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Ariizumi, Yukari. (有泉優里) ( 2013;), ‘ Kaiwa bunmatsu ni okeru “otoko kotoba” to “onna kotoba” no bunrui: Jendā shikibetsu keikō to jendā tokuisei o shihyō toshite’ (‘Classification of “male language” and “female language” in sentence endings: Gender identificatory tendencies and gender specialization as indices’). , Nihongo jendā gakkai gakkaishi (The Journal of the Society for Gender Studies in Japanese), 13, pp. 6372.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bates, Douglas,, Mächler, Martin,, Bolker, Ben, and Walker, Steve. ( 2015;), ‘ Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. ’, Journal of Statistical Software, 67:1, pp. 148.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Dahlberg-Dodd, Hannah E.. ( 2016;), ‘ “Boku” no sekai, “watashi” no sekai: Poppu ongaku ni okeru nihonjin josei kashu no aidentiti ryūdōsei’ (‘“My” world, “my” world: Japanese female singers and identity fluidity in pop music. ’), in S. Kinsui. (, ed..), Yakuwarigo to kyarakutā gengo kenkyū kokusai wākusyoppu hōkoku ronshū 2015 (‘Role language and character language research workshop proceedings 2015’), Osaka:: Osaka University;, pp. 16576.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Dahlberg-Dodd, Hannah E.. ( 2018;), ‘ Voices of the hero: Dominant masculine ideologies through the speech of Japanese shōnen protagonists. ’, Gender and Language, 12:3, pp. 34671.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Eberhardt, Maeve, and Freeman, Kara. ( 2015;), ‘ “First things first, I’m the realest”: Linguistic appropriation, white privilege, and the hip-hop persona of Iggy Azalea. ’, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 19:3, pp. 30327.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Eckert, Penelope. ( 2011;), ‘ Language and power in the preadolescent market. ’, American Speech, 86:1, pp. 8597.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Elliot, Richard. ( 2019;), ‘ Brilliant disguises: Persona, autobiography and the magic of retrospection in Bruce Springsteen’s late career. ’, Persona Studies, 5:1, pp. 1732.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Endo, Orie. ( 2006), A Cultural History of Japanese Women’s Language, Ann Arbor, MI:: University of Michigan Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Fillmore, Charles J.. ( 1985;), ‘ Frames and the semantics of understanding. ’, Quaderni di Semantica, 6:2, pp. 22254.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Finan, Dorothy. ( 2021;), ‘ Idols you can make: The player as auteur in Japan’s media mix. ’, New Media & Society, online first, pp. 117, https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211015625.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Galbraith, Patrick W.. ( 2012;), ‘ Idols: The image of desire in Japanese consumer capitalism. ’, in P. W. Galbraith, and J. G. Karlin. (eds), Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture, New York:: Palgrave Macmillan;, pp. 185208.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Galbraith, Patrick W.. ( 2019), AKB48 (33 1/3 Japan), New York:: Bloomsbury;.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Galbraith, Patrick W., and Karlin, Jason G.. ( 2012;), ‘ Introduction: The mirror of idols and celebrity. ’, in P. W. Galbraith, and J. G. Karlin. (eds), Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture, New York:: Palgrave Macmillan;, pp. 132.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Hiramoto, Mie. ( 2013;), ‘ Hey, you’re a girl?: Gendered expressions in the popular Japanese anime, Cowboy Bebop. ’, Multilingua, 32:1, pp. 5178.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Hirayama, Asaji. (平山朝治) ( 2019;), ‘ AKB reinbō Keizai’ (‘AKB rainbow economy. ’), Tsukuba daigaku keizaigaku ronshū (The University of Tsukuba Economic Review), 71, pp. 1–189.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Ide, Sachiko. (井出幸子) ( 1997), Joseigo no sekai (‘The world of women’s language’), Tokyo:: Meiji Shoin;.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Kimura, Tatsuya. ( 2007;), ‘ History of Japanese idols: From the silver screen to the internet via the living room. ’ (trans. S., Takahisa.), High Fashion: Bimonthly Magazine for Women and Men, 313, pp. 25960.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Kinsui, Satoshi. (金水敏) ( 2003), Vācharu Nihongo: Yakuwarigo no nazo (‘Virtual Japanese: The mystery of role language’), Tokyo:: Iwanami Shoten;.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Kinsui, Satoshi. (金水敏) ( 2014;), ‘ Boku (I). ’, in S. Kinsui. (ed.), Yakuwarigo shōjiten (The Concise Dictionary of Role Language), Tokyo:: Kenkyusha;, pp. 16669.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. KLabGames ( 2013), Love Live! School Idol Festival, Tokyo:: Bushiroad;.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Kobayashi, Ichizō. (小林一三) ( 1967), Takarazuka manpitsu (‘Notes on Takarazuka’), Tokyo:: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha;.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Konstantinovskaia, Natalia. ( 2020), The Language of Beauty in Russian and Japanese Societies, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Makino, Seiichi, and Tsutsui, Michio. ( 1994), A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, Tokyo:: The Japan Times;.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Matsutani, Minoru. ( 2010;), ‘ Girl idol group about mass exposure, fans. ’, Japan Times, 24 August, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/08/24/reference/girl-idol-group-about-mass-exposure-fans/. Accessed 3 August 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Miyazaki, Ayumi. ( 2004;), ‘ Japanese junior high school girls’ and boys’ first-person pronoun use and their social world. ’, in S. Okamoto, and J. S. Shibamoto Smith. (eds), Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 25674.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Nakamura, Momoko. (中村桃子) ( 2007), ‘ Sei’ to nihongo (‘Gender’ and Japanese), Tokyo:: NHK Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Nakamura, Momoko. ( 2014), Gender, Language, and Ideology: A Genealogy of Japanese Women’s Language, Philadelphia, PA:: John Benjamins;.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Ochs, Elinor. ( 1992;), ‘ Indexing gender. ’, in A. Duranti, and C. Goodwin. (eds), Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press;, pp. 33558.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Ogawa, Hiroshi. (小川博司) ( 1988), Ongaku suru shakai (Society Doing Music), Tokyo:: Keisō Shobō;.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Okamoto, Shigeko. ( 1995;), ‘ “Tasteless” Japanese: Less feminine speech among young Japanese women. ’, in K. Hall, and M. Bucholz. (eds), Gender Articulated: Language and the Socially Constructed Self, New York:: Routledge;, pp. 297328.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Ōru naito fuji joshi kōsei supesharu (All Night Fuji High School Girl Special) ( 1985, Japan:: Fuji Television;).
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Phillips, Mieko. ( 2001;), ‘ Are Japanese women less feminine now? A study of sentence-final forms in Japanese women’s conversations. ’, in T. E. McAuley. (ed.), Language Change in East Asia, Richmond, VA:: Curzon Press;, pp. 7084.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. R Core Team ( 2017), R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, Vienna:: R Foundation for Statistical Computing;.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Robertson, Jennifer. ( 1991;), ‘ Theatrical resistance, theatres of restraint: The Takarazuka revue and the “state theatre” movement in Japan. ’, Anthropological Quarterly, 64:4, pp. 16577.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Robertson, Jennifer. ( 1998), Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan, Oakland, CA:: University of California Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Robertson, Wesley C.. ( 2017;), ‘ He’s more katakana than kanji: Indexing identity and self-presentation through script selection in Japanese manga (comics). ’, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 21:4, pp. 497520.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Shibamoto Smith, Janet S.. ( 2004;), ‘ Language and gender in the (hetero)romance: “Reading” the ideal hero/ine through lovers’ dialogue in Japanese romance fiction. ’, in S. Okamoto, and J. S. Shibamoto Smith. (eds), Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 11330.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. SturtzSreetharan, Cindi. ( 2004;), ‘ Students, sarariiman (pl.), and seniors: Japanese men’s use of “manly” speech register. ’, Language in Society, 33:1, pp. 81107.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Sunaoshi, Yukako. ( 2004;), ‘ Farm women’s professional discourse in Ibaraki. ’, in S. Okamoto, and J. S. Shibamoto Smith. (eds), Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 187204.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Suzuki, Satoko. ( 2018;), ‘ Nationalism and gender in the representation of non-Japanese characters’ speech in contemporary Japanese novels. ’, Pragmatics, 28:2, pp. 271302.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Takahara, Kumiko. ( 1992;), ‘ Second-person deixis in Japanese and power semantics. ’, Intercultural Communication Studies, 2:1, pp. 11728.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Thorne, Barrie. ( 1993), Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School, New Brunswick, NJ:: Rutgers University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Tsunku (つんく) ( 2000), Love ron: Anata no ii toko sagashimasu (‘Love theory: Finding your good qualities’), Tokyo:: Shinchōsha;.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Ueno, Junko. ( 2006;), ‘ Shojo and adult women: A linguistic analysis of gender identity in manga (Japanese comics). ’, Women and Language, 29:1, pp. 1625.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Unser-Schutz, Giancarla. ( 2015;), ‘ Influential or influenced?: The relationship between genre, gender and language in manga. ’, Gender and Language, 9:2, pp. 22354.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Yamamoto, Shiho. ( 2019;), ‘ Japanese female aidoru identities. ’, Ph.D. dissertation, Tucson, AZ:: The University of Arizona.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Yano, Christine R.. ( 2002), Tears of Longing: Nostalgia and the Nation in Japanese Popular Song, Cambridge, MA:: Harvard University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Yūyake nyan nyan (‘Sunset meow meow’) ( 1985–87, Japan:: Fuji Television;).
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Dahlberg-Dodd, Hannah E.. ( 2023;), ‘ Commodifying adolescence for performance and profit: Language and gender in Japanese idol music. ’, East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, online first, https://doi.org/10.1386/eapc_00099_1
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/eapc_00099_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/eapc_00099_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error