Most of the students were okay with the "unusual" gender roles throughout the text. Many of them had astutely observed in their papers how the homo relationship of the text disrupts (or in some ways also reifies) rigid gender roles of many real-life hetero relationships (given that this was one of the main reasons yaoi came about: Japanese women's frustrations with rigid gender roles of their society). I explained to them that even if a particular yaoi story reifies roles by merely changing the gender of one of the characters, the fact is that yaoi producers/consumers imagine both roles upon male characters, which is a definite disruption.
Near the end of the story there's a scene where the two main characters kiss in front of a young child, a niece (shown above). This made some of the students wonder about the political limits. So, I pulled up a YouTube video of that guy from Iowa with lesbian parents who I'm sure saw his parents kiss in front of him as he was growing up. I talked about how in the manga the characters move from running away from their feelings (because of homophobia) toward becoming publicly affectionate. I talked about the public/private divide and how there has been a movement from all affection being private, to hetero affection being public, to nowadays a very uneven ground in which gay affection is often said to need to remain private for the "sake of children" -- and how this is a double standard.
The discussion was somewhat lopsided, as I discovered it's difficult to get undergrads to talk -- although they were actively listening (other than the usual one nodding off). When they did talk, I wanted to hear a lot more from them! (I need to learn me some pedagogical skillz...) Anyhow, the experience definitely made me nostalgic for school, not just for my own sake, but because of the very important sharing that goes on in the classroom space.
(pic from Only the Ring Finger Knows by Hotaru Odagiri [Digital Manga, Inc])
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteEspecially since the target style is women. How there is that negative connotation for males(and females) who read the romance type of shounen-ai/yaoi(as opposed to the kind drawn by gay men that's usually similar to the yuri targeting men. being highly sexualized with focus on fanservice.)
Have you read Complex by Manda Ringo ? it spans a great deal of lifetime and i think it's one of the better examples of a Slice of Life category. Definitely a standout yaoi. its one where the art style and start can put people off, but its pretty satisfying on a level of its own.
Haven't read that one. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteyar.. so i reread it & there is a weird little shota extra like around chap 11ish.
ReplyDeletepedophilia really isn't my thing, but taboo relationships(like incest) aren't horribly uncommon in manga. being repressed with a culture like japan where fitting in is important, maybe its an outlet for their secret desires.
or perhaps its similar to how people who are into anthropomorphic animals have large gay contingencies. Might as well go all the way "weird" with your interests if you are already looked down upon by mainstream society.
I'm not a writer/anthropologist so i probably phrased that poorly... feel free to ignore.