Masculinity Repackaged: Gender Performance and Emotional Power in Contemporary Chinese Animations

This study investigates the construction of masculine traits in the Chinese short-form animation A-Si and Xiao-Lingdang, focusing on how dominant masculinity is embedded within seemingly gender-reversed narratives. Drawing on R.W. Connell’s theory of masculinity and analyzing dimensions of power structures, emotional engagement, and gendered labor division, this paper explores how the animation negotiates traditional gender hierarchies through visual framing, emotional interaction, and discourse patterns. Despite its surface-level depiction of female dominance and softened male figures, the animation maintains and recodes hegemonic masculinity through strategies such as emotional control, economic superiority, and narrative closure. The male protagonist, portrayed as a “gentle protector,” retains dominant status by managing relational outcomes and symbolic authority, even in scenarios featuring female violence or initiative. This study sheds light on how contemporary media texts sustain gender power through subtle and emotionalized forms of masculine dominance, offering insights into gender dynamics in the digital media era.