Forum - View topicINTEREST: Boys-Love Authors Discuss the Impact of LGBT Awareness on BL
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Alexis.Anagram
 Posts: 278 Location: Mishopshno |
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And yet the very premise of this panel discussion was an exploration of the ways that BL as a genre has been impacted by queer culture and how it has expanded in its function as a mode of storytelling pursuant to that. Mizugochi, as a researcher and essayist focusing on intersectionality, ought to have been aware of the importance of integrating the voices and perspectives of the people (in this case, gay & queer men) who are most directly involved in and affected by this process in leading the conversations surrounding it. Omitting that risks leaning into the objectification of the subject, a trend that already characterizes how BL is typically recognized as depicting gay male sexuality: as a romanticized trope, rather than a lived experience.
And this is the line of evaluation that should have been at the heart of this dialogue if it was really intended to go anywhere. Who does BL work for? What role, if any, does it play in shaping queer culture, and how is it shaped by it? What would attract a queer reader, or a queer writer, to BL as a genre (particularly men), and how might that be different from the appeal it holds for straight writers and readers? How does BL differ from other modes of queer artistic expression? What can or should change-- or what has already changed-- in the presentation of BL to integrate a higher degree of participation and visibility for queer readers and authors? Is that even desirable; why or why not? These are the kinds of critical, elucidating questions one would expect from a researcher who has been working in this field for 20 years, because one would assume that the case could certainly be made that BL has developed and gained traction as a genre outlet for portrayals of gay male romance, but this panel seems moreso to serve as a self-congratulatory circle applauding social progress as incidental and convenient, a matter of personal anecdote and individual creative interest ("I decided today I'm into trans issues, aren't they just so relevant?") rather than a collective pursuit which aims to affect real change. |
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daisicles
Posts: 28 Location: USA |
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This panel discussion appears, from the description in the article and the descriptions on the event pages themselves, to have been the second in a series of panels discussing the broader relationship of bl and society with artists currently working in the field, connected to Akiko Mizoguchi's 2017 book, which primarily centered on dialogues with noted mangaka and novelists about changes in bl. While the relationship between bl and Japanese queer culture is obviously going to be a significant part of looking at bl and society, it doesn't sound to me like it was intended to be THE premise of the panel. Rather, it's a discussion with creators about their own work, the changes around that work, and the future of the genre that they see as professionals working with other professionals - a personal discussion, not strictly academic.
That would be a very fascinating discussion to have and a panel I would very much like to attend, but that's an entirely different line of conversation from "let's talk with these two specific popular bl creators to understand how they've seen society change and how that directly affects their work". Should Akiko Mizoguchi ask these questions in her work? Sure, why not. For all I know, she does, but I don't have an in-depth knowledge of her research. But these certainly aren't the only valuable lines of inquiry about the role of bl in society, and talking with people actually responsible for making bl about how they're being influenced is deeply, deeply valuable, even if it doesn't answer those same questions. Wanting to understand how creators and their work interact with society isn't just self-congratulations.
This is a remarkably uncharitable interpretation of a paraphrased comment not even in English divorced almost entirely from its context. Was Sawa Sakura not allowed to learn more about gender as the concerns of trans people became increasingly socially prominent or was she just supposed to have been born 100% enlightened about everything? And again, there is nothing about bl as a genre that requires it to effect change. Its origins are rooted in the desire to explore themes that couldn't be explored within the existing framework of shoujo at the time, that's it. Not a space for realism, as a space to move outside the bounds of particular gendered expectations in stories. It's fine to want bl to change in certain respects, dodgy tropes and all that sort of thing, but by and large it has an entirely different storytelling goal from what you want if your goal is revolutionary accurate queer representation. And that's okay. |
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Alexis.Anagram
Posts: 278 Location: Mishopshno |
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A distinction without a difference given that this description doesn't alter the thesis of the dialogue as I understood it (how BL impacts society and vice versa), it simply takes the selected format (i.e. who is represented in this conversation) for granted when the main thrust of my contention has been that the topic as presented doesn't do the thesis justice; it makes the conversation speculative by deferring to celebrity rather than actively integrating the voices and perspectives of those most immediately impacted by the emergence of whatever dynamic is occurring between BL and the general public, and whose insights one would think invaluable in determining exactly where that dynamic is leading. Which, in effect, stands as a challenge to the premise of BL media as a modern industry-- what purpose, in the present social context, does it actually serve, when queer artists are increasingly defining their own creative vernaculars and working within creative spaces that are either incidentally or explicitly distinct from the framework of BL as a subgenre? Why would someone choose to read Sakura's "careful depiction" of a gay male romance when they could read gay male romance as written and conceived by actual gay men? That's not a rhetorical question, nor is it (entirely  ) intended as a vilification of personal inclinations (certainly, a person could choose to read both), but the central question of how framing something as BL or not BL enables readers, and authors, to understand what it represents in terms of a theory of queer storytelling beyond whether or not the nipples are drawn. The panel is clearly intended to lean in this direction considering the emphasis on "LGBT Awareness," but it doesn't extend an inclusive standard of awareness in its own conception, which leaves one to wonder whether, as in so much of BL itself, the queer angle might as well be an element of convenience and abstract interest, something for a writer to draw from as fuel for their fantasy rather than something they've considered as a full and real experience.
I'm not drawing hard conclusions about the works presented here or casting aspersions on these authors as individuals, but I would elicit a recognition that how these conversations are approached influences the development of the broader social dialogue and who is perceived to be party to it, which is indicative of where the social priorities lie.
An uncharitable interpretation you were only able to achieve by, amusingly, divorcing the extension of my own paraphrasing from its original context. Indeed, what Sakura actually said is beside the point: that commentary was aimed entirely at the context in which it was stated as a way of further highlighting the discrepancy between the issues at stake and the format used to investigate them. What matters here isn't the microscopic elements of Sakura's individual intent or the development of interest on her part, but the positioning of another token reference where there is otherwise a void of representation-- what is the actionable impact of these forums on trans communities, how is space being held for them as leaders of their own social dialogues, in what way is that insinuated (or not) within the modern development of BL as a vehicle for combating the double marginalization experienced by queer folks who are trans and nb and who is actually qualified to speak to these concerns-- in other words, if trans people have become "increasingly socially prominent"...where are they?
Nevertheless, the conversation being hosted here was ostensibly intended to address the question of how BL effects change and is affected by change in society, particularly through the lens of queer achievements in progressing visibility such that both Mizugochi and the authors are consistently referenced as leveraging the language of change (in character dynamics, in readership demographics, and in social contexts) to put forth an argument that apparently leans in the direction of positioning BL as an evolving genre with a kind of heightened social accountability which may not have always been integrated within its design yet which is increasingly anticipated to carry a social impact-- whether intentional or otherwise. It's a reconciliation which has been a long time coming: there never was or could be a clear curtaining off of BL from the realities of queer representation (what you refer to as "revolutionary" is an entirely organic process of queer people reclaiming their own identities, from which BL is not exempt), but no doubt it was much easier to preserve the illusion of a clean distinction into "women's fantasies" at a time when actual queer visibility was low; so the fact that these kinds of conversations are occurring in the present social climate isn't surprising, where the dissonance between what is "fantasy" and what is lived has become increasingly aligned with cultural questions over what is and is not acceptable and desirable, what is considered fringe and what is considered mainstream. There's a tension underlying this topic which you seem driven to dismiss, but it shouldn't be thought of as a coincidence or a novelty that a queer woman is using her platform to try to drive at these questions in a public forum. |
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