Abstract
In post-2020 Chinese film and TV dramas, a non-hegemonic masculinity has emerged and gained popularity, which this article theorizes as the Beta-male imaginary. Originating from the ABO fanfiction trope and transcreated within contemporary Chinese screen culture, Beta-male protagonists are characterized by lingering emotions, average social positioning, and a retreat from hyper-competition. Alongside the viral meme wonangfei (hapless loser)—a pejorative resignified after 2023—they crystallize into a shared cultural shorthand for urban precarity and tacit resistance to Alpha hegemony and social Darwinism. Combining content analysis with platform-based reception studies, this article frames the rise of wonangfei and Beta-male imaginaries as affective, ambivalent reconfigurations of male “softness” and “impotence” that unfold amid China’s post-2020 socioeconomic downturns. Through case studies of two actors, Guo Jingfei and Bai Ke—both frequently cast as wonangfei characters and rescripted by audiences as “Betas Going Mad” and “Betas with Husband Vibes” respectively—the article demonstrates how female-oriented consumer culture and the platformized circulation of affect sustain these non-hegemonic masculinities. Such portrayals offer audiences both emotional catharsis and social critique, channeling collective precarity, querying hegemonic norms, and renegotiating gender dynamics across public and domestic spheres. Yet these imaginaries remain ambivalent—unsettling patriarchal emotion-regimes while at times over-romanticizing precarity and softly reproducing inequality.
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