Overview
Finding Mr. Perfect explores the romantic relationships between Korean men and women who were inspired by romantic Korean televisual depictions of Korean masculinity to travel to Korea as tourists. Author Min Joo Lee argues that disparate racialized erotic desires of Korean pop culture fans, foreign tourists to Korea, Korean men, and the Korean nation converge to configure the interracial and transnational relationships between these tourists and Korean men. Lee observes how racial prejudices are developed and manifested through interracial and transnational intimate desires and encounters. This book is the first to examine the interracial relationships between Hallyu tourists and Korean men. Furthermore, it is the first to analyze Korea as a popular romance tourist destination for heterosexual women. Finding Mr. Perfect illuminates South Korean popular culture’s transnational fandom and tourism as a global phenomenon where fantasies and realities converge to have a tangible impact on individual lives.
Full Product Details
Author: Min Joo Lee
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9781978841567
ISBN 10: 1978841566
Pages: 226
Publication Date: 31 December 2025
Recommended Age: From 18 to 99 years
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Reviews
""Lee interrogates how erotic desires rework Orientalist stereotypes, through analysis of K-drama masculinity scripts and conversations with female tourists and Korean men they meet. By exploring a 'mutual gaze' where both parties harbor racialized erotic expectations, Lee offers a compelling examination of desire, power, and transnational romance.""--Olga Fedorenko ""Seoul National University"" ""Lee develops a powerful conceptual framework for understanding the racialized erotic desires that structure both Hallyu and tourism to Korea. Finding Mr. Perfect represents essential reading for all theorists of Korean media fandom, particularly those interested in its gendered and racial logics."" --Thomas Baudinette ""author of Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Cultur""
""Lee interrogates how erotic desires rework Orientalist stereotypes, through analysis of K-drama masculinity scripts and conversations with female tourists and Korean men they meet. By exploring a 'mutual gaze' where both parties harbor racialized erotic expectations, Lee offers a compelling examination of desire, power, and transnational romance.""--Olga Fedorenko ""Seoul National University"" ""Lee develops a powerful conceptual framework for understanding the racialized erotic desires that structure both hallyu and tourism to Korea. Finding Mr. Perfect represents essential reading for all theorists of Korean media fandom, particularly those interested in its gendered and racial logics.""--Thomas Baudinette ""author of Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Cultur""
Author Information
MIN JOO LEE is an assistant professor in the Department of Asian Studies at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.
