Heart and body: Queer crossings in Go Princess Go

Based on an internet novel first released in 2008, the Chinese web series Go Princess Go 太子妃升職記 (2015–2016) takes a time-travel ‘crossover’ premise and uses it to explore a set of queer scenarios involving ‘crossovers’ of both gender and sexual orientation. This article examines how the series approaches issues of identity formation in relation to a plotline that has both homoerotic and transgender implications. The article then considers the series in relation to broader set of paratextual concerns, including the regulatory environment under which the series was initially produced as well as the Chinese work’s subsequent re-adaptation as a Korean web series—arguing that the issues of identity formation that the series explores with respect to individuals also pertain to the questions of cultural production and community structure raised by these paratextual concerns.

Duke Scholars

Author Carlos Rojas Asian & Middle Eastern Studies