Loyal Vassal · 1d
Thank you for answering my question! That was a pretty insightful thread you sent me, but I kind of feel like the author went a little bit off the rail at the end during the addition about City Hunter, it felt kind of odd, as if they were solely blaming it in a vacuum for fostering that kind of environment--then again I haven't read City Hunter at all, but one of my favorite trashy manga is To Love-Ru, so maybe I'm biased (similar concept of the protagonist behaving like a dirtbag towards women, but in the case of the latter it is all accidental and unwanted on behalf of the protag, and the series' whole purpose is trashy fanservice). That being said, I do dislike characters like Mineta from MHA, but I'd probably fall on my ass on the way to the bookstore if some kind of pervert yuri manga dropped. On the bit about the male gaze, I did once read a really interesting critique of it from some academic book on objectification (i cant remember...) where they argue that it really only applies in specific circumstances and it gets misapplied colloquially so much! I always feel that artwork in a vacuum cannot be harmful, but specific circumstances can sometimes...like a picture of sexy legs is just a picture of sexy legs until it's used to sell something, and if Playboy was just nudes it wouldn't have been problematic, it was the fucked up dynamic between the bunnies and Hefner. Anyways, I BABBLED-- thank you for your time!
I FORGOT ABOUT THE CITY HUNTER RANT LMAOOO … I do get what she was saying re: frustration at what becomes known as “mainstream” and critically acclaimed/framed as “for general audiences” when expressing such clearly horny/sexual fantasies, but it is kinda out of place on the general info thread looool. In a later reply i think she talks about enjoying various comic works that have similar Problematic Pervert stuff but are specifically framed as erotic fantasies…
I think that would be similar to you and ur pervert yuriz, where the pervert yuri is being IN the genre where it’s expected. For me, it would be like I enjoy when there is some sexy homophobia and misogyny in my yaoiz and like, series that are very heightened fantasy drama bc it makes situations have a particular intense flavor, but feels jarring to pop up randomly in stories presenting itself as more objective/serious etc. But i feel the line can be blurred a lot tbh…i do think, when it comes to “representation” of any kind, the bad thing about sexist/homophobic/racist etc portrayals is actually kind of a craft issue, where its more like in creating a new thing, why go for the “easiest” most cliche portrayal that reflects the assumptions ppl already have…and if you DO decide to go for the cliche, you’ll make a better work if you have greater awareness of why that cliche exists, and make it more fun and cool than if u worked from ignorance…whether its pervert yuriz or homophobic yaoiz, it becomes much sexier if the ppl making it understand the essence of why it’s transgressive or exists in the first place
