Fran Martin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789888390809
- eISBN:
- 9789888390441
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390809.003.0011
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gay and Lesbian Studies
Based on interviews with 30 female readers of BL (Boys’ Love) manga in Taipei, this chapter analyzes the BL scene in Taiwan from the perspective of its social utility as a discursive arena enabling ...
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Based on interviews with 30 female readers of BL (Boys’ Love) manga in Taipei, this chapter analyzes the BL scene in Taiwan from the perspective of its social utility as a discursive arena enabling women collectively to think through transforming social ideologies around gender and sexuality. This form of participatory pop culture is most interesting, the author argues, not because of any unilateral subversiveness vis-à-vis culturally dominant understandings of (feminine) gender or (homo)sexuality. Rather, it is important in providing a space for the collective articulation of young women’s in-process thinking on these questions. The chapter also engages with the Japaneseness of the genre as consumed in Taiwan in order to consider the imaginative function that its perceived cultural “otherness” performs.Less
Based on interviews with 30 female readers of BL (Boys’ Love) manga in Taipei, this chapter analyzes the BL scene in Taiwan from the perspective of its social utility as a discursive arena enabling women collectively to think through transforming social ideologies around gender and sexuality. This form of participatory pop culture is most interesting, the author argues, not because of any unilateral subversiveness vis-à-vis culturally dominant understandings of (feminine) gender or (homo)sexuality. Rather, it is important in providing a space for the collective articulation of young women’s in-process thinking on these questions. The chapter also engages with the Japaneseness of the genre as consumed in Taiwan in order to consider the imaginative function that its perceived cultural “otherness” performs.
Maud Lavin, Ling Yang, and Jing Jamie Zhao (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789888390809
- eISBN:
- 9789888390441
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390809.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gay and Lesbian Studies
Chinese-speaking popular cultures have never been so queer as in this digital, globalist age. In response to the proliferation of queer representations, productions, fantasies, and desires, ...
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Chinese-speaking popular cultures have never been so queer as in this digital, globalist age. In response to the proliferation of queer representations, productions, fantasies, and desires, especially as manifested online, this book explores extended, diversified, and transculturally informed fan communities and practices based in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan that have cultivated various forms of queerness. To right an imbalance in the scholarly literature on queer East Asia, this volume is weighted toward an exploration of queer elements of mainland Chinese fandoms that have been less often written about than more visible cultural elements in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Case studies drawn from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the flows among them include: the Chinese online Hetalia fandom; Chinese fans’ queer gossip on the American L-Word actress Katherine Moennig; Dongfang Bubai iterations; the HOCC fandom; cross-border fans of Li Yuchun; and Japaneseness in Taiwanese BL fantasies; among others.Less
Chinese-speaking popular cultures have never been so queer as in this digital, globalist age. In response to the proliferation of queer representations, productions, fantasies, and desires, especially as manifested online, this book explores extended, diversified, and transculturally informed fan communities and practices based in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan that have cultivated various forms of queerness. To right an imbalance in the scholarly literature on queer East Asia, this volume is weighted toward an exploration of queer elements of mainland Chinese fandoms that have been less often written about than more visible cultural elements in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Case studies drawn from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the flows among them include: the Chinese online Hetalia fandom; Chinese fans’ queer gossip on the American L-Word actress Katherine Moennig; Dongfang Bubai iterations; the HOCC fandom; cross-border fans of Li Yuchun; and Japaneseness in Taiwanese BL fantasies; among others.
Mark McLelland and James Welker
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628461190
- eISBN:
- 9781626740662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628461190.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
This introductory chapter briefly examines Boys Love (BL)—a Japanese genre of fictional media focusing on romantic or sexual relationships between male characters, typically aimed at a female ...
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This introductory chapter briefly examines Boys Love (BL)—a Japanese genre of fictional media focusing on romantic or sexual relationships between male characters, typically aimed at a female audience and usually created by female authors. This tradition fully developed into a self-conscious literary tradition devoted to extolling the charm of youthful male beauty during the Edo period (1603–1868). Confucianism saw women as inferior and not as suitable objects of admiration, and, following this teaching, most of the Edo writers deviated from the Western concept of “romantic love” and wrote narratives about the relationships between older and younger samurai. Additionally, the chapter introduces the four predominant terms that have been used to label and categorize BL which are used throughout the entire text—shōnen'ai, JUNE, yaoi, and BL.Less
This introductory chapter briefly examines Boys Love (BL)—a Japanese genre of fictional media focusing on romantic or sexual relationships between male characters, typically aimed at a female audience and usually created by female authors. This tradition fully developed into a self-conscious literary tradition devoted to extolling the charm of youthful male beauty during the Edo period (1603–1868). Confucianism saw women as inferior and not as suitable objects of admiration, and, following this teaching, most of the Edo writers deviated from the Western concept of “romantic love” and wrote narratives about the relationships between older and younger samurai. Additionally, the chapter introduces the four predominant terms that have been used to label and categorize BL which are used throughout the entire text—shōnen'ai, JUNE, yaoi, and BL.
Ling Yang
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789888390809
- eISBN:
- 9789888390441
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390809.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gay and Lesbian Studies
Hetalia: Axis Powers (2006–) is one of the most popular Japanese comic and anime series in China in recent years. Through a critical analysis of diverse fan discourses and two canonical fanzines, ...
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Hetalia: Axis Powers (2006–) is one of the most popular Japanese comic and anime series in China in recent years. Through a critical analysis of diverse fan discourses and two canonical fanzines, this chapter examines the intersections between gender politics and geopolitics, nationalism and transnationalism, and localization and globalization in online Chinese Hetalia fandom. The Hetalia boom in China shows that BL not only can function as a tool to reshape configurations of gender and sexuality, it can also be employed by young women and others as a vehicle for political expression.Less
Hetalia: Axis Powers (2006–) is one of the most popular Japanese comic and anime series in China in recent years. Through a critical analysis of diverse fan discourses and two canonical fanzines, this chapter examines the intersections between gender politics and geopolitics, nationalism and transnationalism, and localization and globalization in online Chinese Hetalia fandom. The Hetalia boom in China shows that BL not only can function as a tool to reshape configurations of gender and sexuality, it can also be employed by young women and others as a vehicle for political expression.
