→ Paper presented at the Asian Studies Development Program 31st annual national conference
March 8, 2024 in Boston, MA
Research poster or paper available upon request!
Where’s the Beef?
in the Minor Affects of Lee Sung Jin
Click here to view the Abstract.
Research questions:
What is the affective atmosphere of BEEF? How does it function to provoke empathy from the audience rather than
a doubled irritation? (when compared to Ngai’s study of the affective atmosphere of Quicksand by Nella Larsen)
Beef, the television series by Lee Sung, tells a story grounded in the dissimilar lifestyles of characters of two different classes and racial identities. How does the obstructed agency created by irritation differ between the two? (A poor man who abides by the more traditional cultural ideas of Korea vs. a rags-to-riches Chinese woman who aligns herself more closely with “American” values)
What can a minor affect like irritation communicate in a story centered around the stronger, larger, and more boisterous rage?
How do the formal aspects of episodic television create the feeling of irritation?