“OMAE DAKEGA ORE NO MITOMETA ONNA DAKARA": HANA YORI DANGO, MUNEKYUN AND WOMEN'S EVERYDAY USE OF MASS MEDIA

Abstract

Studies have been done on the use of mass media by girls’ subcultural groups and how young women in Japan use mass media to negotiate their identities. Contrastingly, Japanese middle-aged women have often been disregarded as cultural consumers in academic and journalistic writing. It was arguably the first Korean wave (early to mid-2000s) that made visible middle-aged women as active cultural agents, who were motivated to learn more about Korean language, culture and traditions. However, there is still a lack of studies on how middle-aged Japanese women consume Japanese mass media. In this thesis, I attempt to bridge this gap in the literature on the everyday consumption of Japanese mass media by middle-aged women. Through a textual analysis of the Japanese drama series Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers), as well as interviews with six Japanese middle-aged women, I explore the reasons for the popularity of the drama – a typical gakuen mono (school-themed) drama – among middle aged women. I also examine how these women, through their consumption of the drama, find new ways to make sense of their lives as wives and mothers. Through the stories of these six middle-aged Japanese women, I argue that the feelings of nostalgia, triggered by the sensation of munekyun evoked by the drama, crafts a fantastical bubble for middle-aged female audiences. In this bubble, they are able to re-experience an idealised past and be liberated from the responsibilities of adulthood. Albeit temporary, munekyun acts as a time machine for these middle-aged women, through which they can reclaim a youthful femininity.