COMMODIFICATION OF ASIAN FEMININITIES IN CHA'S IF I HAD YOUR FACE

Abstract

This research paper probes the postfeminist commodifying schemas of beauty politics that shape the identities of women in Asian fiction. It focuses on the transformative journey of Kyuri, an enchantingly beautiful Salon girl, as depicted in Frances Cha's novel, If I Had Your Face. Set against the backdrop of the vibrant metropolis of Seoul, South Korea, Kyuri's narrative represents the profound yearning of Asian women deeply immersed in the allure and sophistication of glamour and beauty. Employing Naomi Wolf’s Beauty Myth, this article examines the multifaceted experiences of the Asian women portrayed in the novel. Schemas of beauty industry lead them to commodified futures. In the highly competitive realm of beauty industry, the quest for physical perfection compels Asian women to undergo transformative facial procedures, seeking unrelenting pursuit of an idealized standard of beauty, perpetuated by the glamorous world and media. Repeated surgical interventions for artificial beauty standards ensnare them in a disquieting dystopian future. Xenofeminism celebrates the techno-material and antinatural bodies. In this paradigm, the characters in If I Had Your Face grapple with the unsettling and dehumanizing consequences of their pursuit of beauty: a dystopic future.

Keywords: Xenofemism, Techno-material, Antinatural, Dystopia, Beauty Myth