BISHONEN AESTHETICS

EWIK NELSON - Guest

Originally published in Vol. 57 Issue 2 - Drip

I like Bishonen

Bishonen are the most beautiful beings in existential potentiality. There are many reasons I believe this statement is true, but I will take it as axiomatic as I will mostly be discussing aesthetics. Aesthetics is philosophical inquiry into the nature and meaning of beauty, and especially how it relates to truth, the transcendental, and other metaphysical concepts.

Bishonen represent the civilizationally, intellectually, and transcendentally oriented aspects of the masculine. They are often associated with culture: poetry, music, art, etc. Many highly intelligent characters such as Lelouch are portrayed as bishonen. Additionally, divine beings are often portrayed as bishonen: Tolkien elves, fairies, kami, etc. They are contrasted by hypermasculine “chads” who embody the more physical aspects of masculinity, those closer to humanity’s animalistic nature.

However, bishonen can and often do have masculine personality traits. Most shonen anime protagonists are bishonen but embody the shounen philosophy of getting stronger and never giving up. Tanjiro from Kimetsu no Yaiba is debatably a bishonen, at least he is pretty cute >_<, and indisputably an archetypal shonen protagonist. In any case, his soul is portrayed as completely pure and warm. He is both spiritually and physically pure and beautiful. Many bishonen are similar, portrayed as youthfully innocent and pure of heart. I find this beautiful and inspiring.

Not all bishonen are like that. Some are (debatably) evil, such as Makishima Shogo or Griffith. I don’t have much to say about them except that they are an inversion of the pure hearted bishonen archetype. There are other types of bishonen as well. Historically in East Asian literature young warriors, strategists, and generals have been portrayed as bishonen. In Japan the most popular male in high school is most likely a bishonen who is good looking, good at academics, and maybe even sports, as opposed to the stereotypical western ideal of the football captain chad who is bad at academics.

In a society dominated by tiresome western ideas of masculinity, bishonen are a welcome break. Seeing cute boys who are able to be strong, fight and have wills of steel is amazing and blows the entire western worldview out of the water. In the west any appreciation of male beauty beyond “chad have big muscle and beard” is seen as gay (Yes.), but in East Asian countries, beauty standards revolve around actual beauty, as in aesthetics: skincare, cleanliness, fashion, etc. This is the norm for straight men there (and that’s a good thing).

This brings us to Kpop and idols in general. I don’t like Kpop, but Jpop idols can be good sometimes. I like the cute aesthetic of Jpop more than Kpop aesthetics because it seems like Kpop is still trying to appeal to western standards (Kpop was designed to sell overseas, unlike Jpop). Jpop boys like Michieda Shunsuke or Mafumafu usually have a cute and innocent presentation as opposed to the more sexually provocative nature of Kpop. While anime and real life bishonen are different, they share a fundamentally similar nature.

As society becomes more and more disconnected from the physical (as a result of technology and the promethean nature of humanity), I think the bishonen archetype will guide the men of tomorrow into a more beautiful future.