I am Pretty and I know It: Redefining Masculinities in The King and The Clown

The contemporary Korean films and dramas that featuring a body of new representation of pretty boys or what are popularly known as metrosexuality have challenged the conventional association of Korean masculinity to the prevalent macho images. This article intends to focus on the soft-spoken, delicate and neat man featured in The King and the Clown (2005) by examining the cinematic figuration of such masculinity in order to reveal the underpinning ideology of capitalism within the film through the mechanism of representation. It is argued that the construction of pretty boy in this film serves to promote a non-conformative male identity and yet subjects itself to a manipulative consumerist gaze which embedding the ideological position of selling 'prettiness' as commodification of masculinity.