Forum - View topicINTEREST: Amazon Staff Puts Yotsuba&'s Danbo in Gay Pride Parade
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masat01
 Posts: 33 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
I wonder if they realize how much the Japanese community frowns upon the LGBT community. Probably not.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
malvarez1
Posts: 1715 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
Seems pretty random to me. Wouldn't using a character from a Yaoi manga make more sense?
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
AyumiHamasaki
Posts: 219 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
From my experience, Japan is actually one of the most gay friendly countries in Asia (if not the most.) -They have no laws against gay people. (Unlike China and most Asian countries.) Gay sex was never restricted. It was banned once due to western influence but the law was quickly overturned a few years later in 1880. When you think about the countries that have only recently put homosexuality off their 'mental disorder' list, Japan is very fast forward and accepting country. -Gay politicians have been voted into office. Three this year. One of them have promised to make more gay friendly laws in the near future. Even in the US, gay politicians are practically non existent. -Gay people are visible frequently on TV, music, model, anime, manga etc. I remember there was this newspaper that cited that the majority of young Japanese women are supportive of the freedom to love someone even if it's the same gender. (Most likely due to the popularity of BL.) -In Tokyo's Shinjuku city, there are over 300 gay bars. (The record for most gay bars in the world in one area.) -A lot of Japanese musicians are gay friendly. (Utada Hikaru is supportive of Gay marriage. Ayumi Hamasaki has spoke out for gay equality on Twitter.) etc etc. -Also, you never hear of any anti-gay hate crimes in Japan. (But then again, Japan is one of the most safe countries in the world so that's not surprising.) -Japan is also one of three asian countries to have signed a UN gay rights resolution to end homophobic violence and laws against gay sex last month. (the other countries were South Korea and Thailand.) I honestly think if any asian country that will legalize Gay marriage, it will be Japan. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Redlinks
Posts: 496 Location: America |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Just because the series is in a Seinen magazine, doesn't mean that kids can't enjoy it. Nor does it mean that they won't understand either. :/ But yeah, this really made me scratch my head as the figure doesn't relate to anything with gay pride. 
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday Silence
 Posts: 2047 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
I ask a couple of my Gay and Lesbian friends, and they're about as stumped as you guys are.
Name one recognizable Yaoi (or Yuri) character(s) that American Otaku a/or the LGBT community know about. Non-canon/fan implied Yaoi/Yuri doesn't count. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
GracieLizzy
 Posts: 551 Location: Sunderland, England, UK |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
Sailor Uranus & Sailor Neptune might be familiar enough. I stress the might here. I still don't think Cloverway's 'cousins' thing had that many people fooled.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
ArthurFrDent
 Posts: 466 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
or, it could be a personal thing done by people who just happen to be amazon staff... perhpas they have their own reasons...
not everything is of some deep, dark import, ya'know. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Neko-sensei
Posts: 283 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
It could also be that they're implying they accept the fan theory that Miura is a lesbian (or at least transgendered). One can make a strong argument in that direction if one wanted to, but then one would also be accepting the idea that an eight- or nine-year old HAS a sexual identity, which is a bit of stretch.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Leon Evolon
 Posts: 212 Location: Crazytowne |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
My thoughts exactly. Not long after they remove a lot of BL titles they show up in a Gay Pride parade. Seems like they're just trying to save face. But, I could be reading too much into it. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Anymouse
 Posts: 685 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
What is the deep dark meaning behind a costume made out of boxes? Sounds like it's time for investigative journalism.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Nekusagi
 Posts: 49 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
What do you mean children won't get the humor? I've read most of Yotsuba&! and it seems to me like stuff in the vein of Peanuts or Rugrats- cute slice of life "kids being kids" stuff. When I was l younger I enjoyed both series. I don't see how Yotsuba wouldn't have any appeal for kids. Chi's Sweet Home also runs in a seinen magazine, but ANN's reviews of the manga volumes have recommended it to kids. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
enurtsol
 Posts: 14790 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Kinda like Calvin & Hobbes. 
It's probably just a couple of Trekkies from Amazon staff who wanted to channel their inner George Takei without the knowledge of Amazon (and since they're incognito, Amazon will not know who's using their logo without permission).
Japan has a lot of unwritten rules, one of which is don't be an open gay (the nail that sticks out gets hammered, don't be different, keep it to yourself, don't disturb the wa harmony).
Japan elected its first openly gay politician only this year. The US has had more than a few throughout the years. There's even the official political lobby called the Log Cabin Republicans. And New York State just now became the biggest US state to legalize gay marriage. Japan is just taking its first steps.
Those "tarentos" on TV aren't gay! They're just pretending to be gay! In fact, many gays don't like how those "tarentos" portray gay stereotypes, but nobody corrects them because the large TV industry wouldn't care about such a small minority who would actually complain. And many of those J-women who may support it wouldn't want to be associated with gays still. They wouldn't want their social reputation associated with it.
Though threatened with extinction.
Yes, fortunately there's not much violent crimes in Japan to start with. But there's still a lot of discrimination of anybody different. And uncontrolled bullying.
Doesn't mean anything unless Japan decides to enforce it. You know Japan is also a signatory of anti-discrimination resolution, but there's still a lot of open foreigner discrimination, from hot springs to renting apartments.
They still have a long way to go though. Don't buy what Japan is selling ya at the surface. Always keep in mind the Honne and Tatemae concept. 
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Cait
 Posts: 503 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
First of all, I said "half" the humor, not all of it, there is obviously humor that is universal regardless of age. Secondly, series like Peanuts and Rugrats weren't written from the perspective of the adults looking down at the lives of children (hell, in Peanuts the adults don't even speak intelligibly), which is the feel that Yotsuba has. Also, Rugrats was a series about babies, written for an elementary/middle school audience, so there was a definite "directed towards an audience that is older than its subject" vibe to the series. Would you recommend Rugrats to a baby? Will a baby "get" most of the humor in the series? That ANN has recommended Chi's Sweet Home to children isn't proof that I'm wrong. "Opinions" aren't "wrong," they can only be "different" from someone else's. Anyone can conceivably recommend anything to anyone, it doesn't mean they are an authority on it, or that someone's opinion that might be divergent of it is wrong. It is my opinion that Yotsuba is a series written for adults about a child (backed up by evidence of its intended readership in the magazine it ran in), that it is accesible to children because it is inoffensive, and that there are plenty of other manga out there perfectly attuned to the interests of children that are actually geared towards them. However, feel free to recommend the series to children regardless of what I think of it.
As I never identified with the protagonist of the series as a child, I didn't come to appreciate its humor until I was an adult. 
Anyway, to bring my argument back on topic, my point was that Yotsuba, having run in a seinen magazine and geared towards (though not exclusively accessible to) an adult audience, is perfectly acceptable to appear in cosplay form in a gay pride parade. Furthermore, I think it strange that "gay pride" is automatically seen as some sort of "adults only" phenomenon that our children should not be exposed to for fear of... something, I suppose. I'm not clear why the idea that kids could see a character from a show or book they've seen or read walking in a parade will somehow damage them in some way. If anything, a non-offensive appearance (by that I mean not sexualizing it) of such a character is to me a good step to promoting acceptance of homosexuality from as early an age as possible. [/quote] |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lightning Leo
Posts: 311 Location: Earth |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
Ha ha, they aren't hinting at something about Miura, are they?
Man I loved that comic growing up as a kid!  All my books are torn up and falling apart from reading and re-reading so many times. I went back and re-read some of it about a year ago, it definitely works on many levels, both kids and adults can appreciate it in their own way... it's kinda like a Dreamworks film smashed into Peanuts.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
I'll admit this is one of the most odd piece of news I've heard all week. While one would want to try and figure out what the underling context is you'll find yourself scratching you head at this one. I'm just waiting for someone to read about it and ask me what it's all about. I'd tell them "frankly I can't tell ya." But why Danbo?
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group