Some historical thoughtspetroniaOctober 12 2005, 08:37:15 UTC
1) "Shounen-ai" refers to a subgenre of 70s shoujo. The antecedent is not samurai nanshoku as people tend to assume but British Aestheticism, from Oscar Wilde down to Rupert Everett boarding-school movies. The fact that - taking another step backward - you can trace a strong current of Japanese influence in Aestheticism/Symbolism/late 19th-century art in general is a study I don't think anyone's done from this particular perspective. (Examples of defining works: Heart of Thomas, Song of Wind and Trees)
2) This was followed by "June" in the 80s IIRC, which was primarily a literary movement centred around the magazine of the same name, and even more self-consciously 'aestheticized' - the Japanese word is tanbi - than shounen-ai, focussing on decadent themes and precious language. (Example of defining work: Ai no Kusabi)
3) Parallel to june in the 80s female-centred doujinshi culture began to flourish, centred around jrock figures (I'm told) followed by familiar shounen manga tropes. The "yama-nashi, ochi-nashi, imi-nashi" acronym appeared during this period to describe PWP shounen manga doujinshi.
4) The pro BL explosion began when some of the doujinshika made the jump into published shoujo manga in the early nineties. (The defining work of 3 and 4: Zetsuai 1989. Ozaki Minami was a Captain Tsubasa djka and Koji and Izumi's prototypes were essentially Captain Tsubasa characters mutated through her lengthy AUs. XD) There were also some really big fandoms happening at the same time as the major BL magazines were being founded, Slam Dunk etc. (An entire paper could be written on the way Jump sold Slam Dunk - back when they hadn't gotten a handle on the phenomenon - versus how they sell Prince of Tennis now. But it would have to be for a marketing class. XD)
5) Sometime in the mid to late nineties the industry bubble burst, a bunch of publications died, and we're now looking at a more mature model. What gets ignored a lot by the Western fandom is that most of what's published in Japan that could be described as "BL" are actually novels - it's almost more a subgenre of chick-lit than anything else. The other point I consider important is the fact that "tanbi" and "yaoi" are really more opposing currents/forces than anything else: the BL genre is mapped onto an aesthetic dichotomy. Chrissie's said in Chinese fandom people refer to 耽美文學 and 同志文學 - "aesthetic literature" versus "comradely literature". (Interestingly, the Western fandom misappropriated "yaoi" as the descriptive for the entire genre, whereas the Chinese fandom misappropriated "tanbi" as the descriptive for the entire genre, which goes to show what is generally preferred where. *g*)
Re: Some historical thoughtspere_chanOctober 12 2005, 09:21:26 UTC
OMG THANK YOU. *kisses your feet*
I do have several books on the history of manga which have discourses on shounen ai and I think mention tanbi...will do extended study tonight and check.
I see your Mirage of Blaze background standing behind you there. ^_^ This thesis is probably the perfect opportunity to take my Japanese to the next level. Thank you SO MUCH again!!!
...can I cite you as a resource? Or mention you when I cite the resources I've found through you?
Re: Some historical thoughtspetroniaOctober 12 2005, 09:30:39 UTC
You're welcome. XD Cite away although I have no authority, I'm just giving a thumbnail recap of some of what's been discussed on AMLA over the years (the membership includes some academics who study slash and some old-school Japanese fans who have insider information on the industry; from what I gather most of what's been published in English on the subject is either woefully inadequate or woefully outdated. The confusion of terminology is especially deplorable *g*).
Re: Some historical thoughtspere_chanOctober 12 2005, 11:14:21 UTC
What is AMLA? *woefully ignorant* I found something called the Anime Manga Research Circle and signed up for that; my membership to Aestheticism had expired so am re-applying for that as well. I realised about two seconds after writing down my topic that the bulk of what I needed on it was probably in Japanese. Hopefully the British Library will have something; I wonder if June still has articles on this or can point me to any books on the subject. My tourist Japanese is so miserably inadequate for this task but I plan to learn more quite quickly. Starting tonight.
It stands for Aestheticism Mailing List A, and was the place for intelligent discussion on yaoi that actually went somewhere, at least until - well, perhaps until now, in the sense that I don't know of any other hub that's taken its place. ^^;
Re: Some historical thoughtspetroniaOctober 12 2005, 09:36:40 UTC
And I actually forgot to mention Mirage of Blaze entirely - FTR it started running in 1990, contemporaneous with Zetsuai/Bronze, and is definitely one of the early blockbusters of the BL boom. The thing with Mirage is that it gradually became entirely sui generis, so that it's a very good example of many different things and not a very good representative of any one thing in particular, BL/yaoi included.
2) This was followed by "June" in the 80s IIRC, which was primarily a literary movement centred around the magazine of the same name, and even more self-consciously 'aestheticized' - the Japanese word is tanbi - than shounen-ai, focussing on decadent themes and precious language. (Example of defining work: Ai no Kusabi)
3) Parallel to june in the 80s female-centred doujinshi culture began to flourish, centred around jrock figures (I'm told) followed by familiar shounen manga tropes. The "yama-nashi, ochi-nashi, imi-nashi" acronym appeared during this period to describe PWP shounen manga doujinshi.
4) The pro BL explosion began when some of the doujinshika made the jump into published shoujo manga in the early nineties. (The defining work of 3 and 4: Zetsuai 1989. Ozaki Minami was a Captain Tsubasa djka and Koji and Izumi's prototypes were essentially Captain Tsubasa characters mutated through her lengthy AUs. XD) There were also some really big fandoms happening at the same time as the major BL magazines were being founded, Slam Dunk etc. (An entire paper could be written on the way Jump sold Slam Dunk - back when they hadn't gotten a handle on the phenomenon - versus how they sell Prince of Tennis now. But it would have to be for a marketing class. XD)
5) Sometime in the mid to late nineties the industry bubble burst, a bunch of publications died, and we're now looking at a more mature model. What gets ignored a lot by the Western fandom is that most of what's published in Japan that could be described as "BL" are actually novels - it's almost more a subgenre of chick-lit than anything else. The other point I consider important is the fact that "tanbi" and "yaoi" are really more opposing currents/forces than anything else: the BL genre is mapped onto an aesthetic dichotomy. Chrissie's said in Chinese fandom people refer to 耽美文學 and 同志文學 - "aesthetic literature" versus "comradely literature". (Interestingly, the Western fandom misappropriated "yaoi" as the descriptive for the entire genre, whereas the Chinese fandom misappropriated "tanbi" as the descriptive for the entire genre, which goes to show what is generally preferred where. *g*)
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I do have several books on the history of manga which have discourses on shounen ai and I think mention tanbi...will do extended study tonight and check.
I see your Mirage of Blaze background standing behind you there. ^_^ This thesis is probably the perfect opportunity to take my Japanese to the next level. Thank you SO MUCH again!!!
...can I cite you as a resource? Or mention you when I cite the resources I've found through you?
Reply
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It stands for Aestheticism Mailing List A, and was the place for intelligent discussion on yaoi that actually went somewhere, at least until - well, perhaps until now, in the sense that I don't know of any other hub that's taken its place. ^^;
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