Theme Of Gender Diversity In Boy Princess And Wandering Son

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Manga and the Intended Audience: An Analysis of the Gender Diversity in Boy Princess and Wandering Son

This literary analysis will analyze the theme of gender diversity in the characterization of individuals that have to adapt to stereotypical heterosexual orientations in Boy Princess by Seyoung Kim and Wandering Son by Shimura Takako. In Boy Princess, a young prince must pretend to be a princess (after the real princes has eloped) in order to fulfill a marriage commitment by his father, the king. Kim’s (2006) text defines the intension of influencing the audience into accepting gender diversity in the various roles that the prince plays when he pretends to be a girl. This is also true of Shimura’s (2002) manga story in Wandering Son, which …show more content…

In this story, a young prince has been forced to dress up like a princess to fulfill a martial promise that broken by his sister, the princess. In this embarrassing situation, the prince must learn to accept his duty and follow his father’s commands. The plot describes the initial struggle of the prince to behave like a girl, which is confusing for him. However, Kim (2006) chooses to present an important scene in which a bully threatens him (thinking he is a girl) with a sword, yet he effectively thwarts the individual with a large stick: “Shut up—make a sound and you all get slain.” After this threat, the boy princess gets up and grabs a large branch and smacks that bully across the face with it. After the boy princes has humbled the bully, he expresses the idea of gender diversity in this masculine act: “I’ve had training in sword fighting, too” (Kim 9). In this scene, Kim (2006) is presenting the physical presentation of a “girl”, yet the act of sword fighting also emasculates the boy princess at the same time. In this manner, the intended audience has been informed that boys and girls can switch their identities without losing their …show more content…

In Boy princess, the young prince must learn to adapt to appearing as a girl, yet he expresses gender diversity by accomplishing feats, such as sword fighting, that defy the stereotypical limitations that are imposed on girls in terms of masculine behavior. More so, the boy princess is able to accept and endure his role as a “princess”, which shows Kim’s (2006) intention of informing the audience of the validity of gender diversity. In Wandering Son, Shuichi’s desire to become a girl is counted by Yoshiko’s desire to be a boy, which allows them to nurture and support each other’s gender choices. Shimura (2002) informs the reader that Shuichi and Yoshiko are examples of gender diversity, which should be tolerated in opposition to teenage heterosexual stereotypes of male and female behaviors. These manga stories define the underlying theme of gender diversity as a way to inform the reader of the different gender roles that male and female boys can enact in a predominantly heterosexual culture. Kim and Shumira presents important scenes that show the interaction of gender diversity as defined in the characterization of individuals that choose to oppose heterosexual gender norms through the medium of

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