Now that's just fun
Okay. One of the recent shows here was the All-Japan Quiz (or something like that). And among the players, Mitsuko pointed to one woman and said, "OH. That's a man. He's a New Half. You should watch him."
As I understand the New Half men, they are usually quite obvious about being men, but they dress up and act feminine? On other shows, I've seen these often quite attractive women break their character by speaking in very masculine tones and styles. Or deliberately shift to a masculine style of sitting or standing. It's not quite the old transvestite notion. More like gender stereotypes go bust?
So this particular man? Nicely styled hair, cute face with a good smile. Heavy eyelashes, but not especially noticeable makeup for a young starlet on TV. Off-the-shoulder top, bright colored fluttering dance-of-seven-veils sort of thing? Over a tight white tank top that seemed to show off a bit of cleavage when he leaned forward? Tight white shorts, and legs that asked for a second look.
And playing it up to the max! Teasing the other men on the show about going out, sweet little coy blinks, and that wicked smile again. Soft voice.
Ouch! And when one of the women was joking, he suddenly boomed out in a low tenor. The woman covered her face in confusion, and he went back into character, joking with her and smiling.
They also demonstrated some of the bits and pieces of information on the show. So he was called on to demonstrate the quick way to put a futon cover on. And gleefully went into the middle of the stage, where they had a futon and a cover (think the old heavy comforter? And the cover is a thin cloth bag with a zipper on one side. Manhandling the comforter into the cover is difficult, and usually takes at least two people.)
Here, he proceeded to lay the futon out flat, and then lay the cover on top inside-out. Then dropped into a squat on the edge where the zipper was, lifted the cover, grinned at the camera -- and dived inside. White rump wiggling. So now we have him inside the cover, feet sticking out the zipper side, flat on his stomach, with hands in the corners. And he grabs the futon corners with his hands mittened by the cover. Now stand up, holding the corners, and shake the cover down over the futon. And smile for the camera!
(Writing this down, I think they may have played games with the viewers. Seems to me that he should have simply slid the cover on his arms, not dived inside, to make that shaking it down over the futon action easier. Of course, then we wouldn't have had the nice video action of him diving into the cover :-)
Thinking about it, that was a cleverly selected piece of action. Doing the futon is stereotypical women's work in Japan, but I'd be willing to bet that most of the starlets on the panel might have demurred if asked to demonstrate this, because it was a bit awkward and physical. Having the New Half do it, on the other hand, with a big grin . . . watch those gender stereotypes run!
Mitsuko says this man has been on several shows recently, apparently quite happily laughing with everyone. He's having a lot of fun with gender confusion, and that's okay. Subversive as all get out, but that's the way it should be. Laugh, and then wonder what the fuss was all about.
As I understand the New Half men, they are usually quite obvious about being men, but they dress up and act feminine? On other shows, I've seen these often quite attractive women break their character by speaking in very masculine tones and styles. Or deliberately shift to a masculine style of sitting or standing. It's not quite the old transvestite notion. More like gender stereotypes go bust?
So this particular man? Nicely styled hair, cute face with a good smile. Heavy eyelashes, but not especially noticeable makeup for a young starlet on TV. Off-the-shoulder top, bright colored fluttering dance-of-seven-veils sort of thing? Over a tight white tank top that seemed to show off a bit of cleavage when he leaned forward? Tight white shorts, and legs that asked for a second look.
And playing it up to the max! Teasing the other men on the show about going out, sweet little coy blinks, and that wicked smile again. Soft voice.
Ouch! And when one of the women was joking, he suddenly boomed out in a low tenor. The woman covered her face in confusion, and he went back into character, joking with her and smiling.
They also demonstrated some of the bits and pieces of information on the show. So he was called on to demonstrate the quick way to put a futon cover on. And gleefully went into the middle of the stage, where they had a futon and a cover (think the old heavy comforter? And the cover is a thin cloth bag with a zipper on one side. Manhandling the comforter into the cover is difficult, and usually takes at least two people.)
Here, he proceeded to lay the futon out flat, and then lay the cover on top inside-out. Then dropped into a squat on the edge where the zipper was, lifted the cover, grinned at the camera -- and dived inside. White rump wiggling. So now we have him inside the cover, feet sticking out the zipper side, flat on his stomach, with hands in the corners. And he grabs the futon corners with his hands mittened by the cover. Now stand up, holding the corners, and shake the cover down over the futon. And smile for the camera!
(Writing this down, I think they may have played games with the viewers. Seems to me that he should have simply slid the cover on his arms, not dived inside, to make that shaking it down over the futon action easier. Of course, then we wouldn't have had the nice video action of him diving into the cover :-)
Thinking about it, that was a cleverly selected piece of action. Doing the futon is stereotypical women's work in Japan, but I'd be willing to bet that most of the starlets on the panel might have demurred if asked to demonstrate this, because it was a bit awkward and physical. Having the New Half do it, on the other hand, with a big grin . . . watch those gender stereotypes run!
Mitsuko says this man has been on several shows recently, apparently quite happily laughing with everyone. He's having a lot of fun with gender confusion, and that's okay. Subversive as all get out, but that's the way it should be. Laugh, and then wonder what the fuss was all about.