… but not mine. I’m kind of burned out on it, actually.
David Taylor really didn’t like the article I linked to yesterday, and his critique has some merit: The author hasn’t read much yaoi. This is because the number of works available in English is still pretty limited, in content as well as numbers. I don’t have as much of a problem with this as David and Tina do. As I’ve pointed out before, “Japanese manga in translation” is very different from “Japanese manga”; the language, the available materials, and the cultural background of the readers are all very different, and I really think the two are separate categories. So while I agree that the whole world of yaoi is bigger than what Jason described in the original article, I also think it’s legitimate to limit a critique to what’s available in English.
David Welsh has some good comments on the limitations of translated yaoi and also responds to Tina’s criticism that writers fixate too much on the why-do-women-like-yaoi question:
I have to say that virtually every mainstream media article about manga that I’ve read has featured just that focus: why do fans like it? Teen-ages from Orlando to Des Moines to Anchorage have been cornered in bookstores and libraries and junior high schools and quizzed on this subject by reporters, whether they’ve got Fruits Basket or Naruto or any number of other books in their backpacks. It’s an entry point for reporters who don’t necessarily know a lot about the subject, and (more importantly) it’s an essential aspect of the story for readers who are possibly even less familiar with manga.
In other words, yaoi readers are not being picked on, although it may be tiresome to answer the same question over and over again.
And then David talks about the yaoi he likes, which is always a welcome distraction.
About a year ago when the yaoi phenomenon started to explode — I reaiized Batman and Robin is very yaoi like in some ways (ditto for Superman and Jimmy Olson). After I realized that and had no problem with it, I started to consider myself a indirect yaoi reader. So if I like yaoi (in my own way as I just described) — I can totally see why anybody even lil kids would like it.
Batman Yaoi? That is the sickest thing I’ve ever heard. 0_o I can only assume you’re being a wiseass, but if you’re not-that’s the lamest thing I every heard. Bruce Wayne is 100% straight.
I don’t see Yaoi as sexual in nature because I don’t see books like Pastel or Love Hina as sexual either. The stories are about the relationships between the characters not the actual sexual orientation or sexual situations. Hentai is sexual in nature, it’s about the sex.
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I never said Batman and Robin have sex. What I was trying to say is they have similar themes. Like Robin is an orphan living with a rich bachelor, they train together, fight with each other and etc. Themes not uncommon is Yaoi. They have a mentor/student relationship but they love each other.
I know I’m posting a little late, but I guess I’d say that my livejournal post was really more about why *I* like yaoi, than anything else. :/ But I think it’s unavoidable human nature to generalize based on your own experiences. Some people it’ll apply to, others it won’t.
I would also say to Jack that anything which people get turned on by is sexual. Pastel, Love Hina, Video Girl Ai, Embracing Love, whatever… if people masturbate to it, and the author had that in mind, ohhh yesss it’s sexual… ;) Besides, “relationships” are sexual anyway…