Big in Japan
Once upon a time in Japan (17 years ago, if you prefer precision) Yaoi, or ‘Boys’ Love’, came into existence with a range including components of manga, anime, and novels. Since then Yaoi (pronounced YOW-ee) has reached Europe and the US, evolving from small presses into tie-in novels, fan-fiction, theatre and animated film. The strange thing about Yaoi, however, is that it was created exclusively for a female readership. Never has desire taken on so curious a face.
Across the world wank mags weigh down the shelves with glossy, pouting promises of girl-on-girl action for the erotic enjoyment of straight guys. However, with Yaoi that role is reversed. Transcending stereotype and genre storytelling, Yaoi defies the cultural and erotic straightjacket, leading its female reader to celebrate homosexual (or lapsed heterosexual) love.
Because of this, Yaoi is often overlooked in the hugely popular pantheon of manga culture. Many largely view it as just a cheap strip and don’t recognise Yaoi for what it is — a complex, exhilarating, sharply-written and beautifully-illustrated artform that doesn’t so much break taboos as bludgeon them with a tire-iron.
Its key appeal is a strict non-adherence to the guideline specifications of the genre its creators explore. Some believe its predecessor was Shoen-ai (a genre about prepubsecent boys falling in love that is often associated with paedophilia), but Yaoi has no affiliation with that.
If you are of a Martha Stewart temperament and not the kind of person easily tempted by cheap novelty, then Yaoi really isn’t for you. In Japan there is a contingent of young women who use Boys’ Love (BL) as a means of living vicariously through its characters. There is much specualtion about the appeal of Yaoi — maybe it offers them a revelation about their own sexuality? Perhaps girls enjoy pulling on the puppet strings of patriarachy? Or could it just as easily be that male/male sexual (or other) relationships actually turn them on?
In Japan Yaoi is equated with dojinshi (self-publishing with weak illustrations, appalling dialogue and no narrative to speak of), yet in America, especially during the last five years, Boys’ Love has become a fast-selling, far-reaching phenomenon, commercially accessible and glossy. Many US fans have complained that much of the stories’ subtext is lost in translation from home-produced to mass market, from Japanese to Amerienglish, and as a result are deeply unhappy with the final products.
Sociopathic adult children, samurai warriors, tough sexually-repressed cops lured into a tryst by slight boys with cold eyes have been replaced by well-adjusted homosexuals. Overpowering hyperrealities have been cast aside in favour of safer, more traditonally romantic scenarios. Streamlined garish technicolor images are the order of the day, where once was cool pale shades and shadowy figures.
So what is the future of Yaoi? Will it continue to function and work for its readership or will its strange mystique and original conception be buried in the interests of the mainstream? With events like Yaoi-con held every year, hundreds of fan forums and Global BL’s backing, it seems that Yaoi will only become more and more popular. But a nagging question hangs in the air: Is that necessarily a good thing?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Serious, ridiculous, overblown, pretentious & warped, Alan K has written for Film Ireland, Streetwise, The City Guidebook and Pretty-Scary, and he regularly contributes to GCN, Penny Blood and ButcherQueers, where a version of this article originally appeared.
First published in 3:AM Magazine: Friday, May 30th, 2008.
