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
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Woww, your topics all look so COOOOL!!! ^_^ <3 ...of course, I'm doing my IB Extended Essay on Good Omens, so it's not like I have TOO much room to be jealous. XD
Actually it seems that according to petronia above, the links were basically useless because they're not the ancestors of yaoi anyway. Whoops. -_-;
To continue in my (probably misguided) attempts to be helpful... According to petronia shounen-ai originated in the 70's, right? Well, have you heard of From Eroica With Love? (Yes, I am sort of pimping one of my fandoms, but I swear it might have some relevance! ...maybe...^_^;) It's a shounen-ai-ish manga series whose first issue was published in 1976, and which was first released in English a year ago. Especially in the first issue, it seems to be playing with/parodying the shounen-ai genre.
...okay, I'm pretty sure that I'm starting to become quite annoying, so I'm going to shut up now. Sorry. -_-;
Haha, annoying. Of course not! God knows I'm going to need so much help in the course of this thing.
I LOVE Eroica, and am collecting it. One unfortunate side effect is that I can't watch Led Zeppelin videos without seeing Dorian Red Gloria as the frontman...XD
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Indeed. ~_~ The folks over at Aestheticism might have something to say about it, though.
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Thanks for the Meine Liebe link too! *smooch*
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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 ( ... )
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...of course, I'm doing my IB Extended Essay on Good Omens, so it's not like I have TOO much room to be jealous. XD
If by any chance you need historical info for the yaoi thing, there's always Androphile.org, with its stuff:
Page on the historical Japanese tradition of male love
Gallery of Japanese art depicting male love (presumably the ancestor of yaoi...^_~)
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Actually it seems that according to petronia above, the links were basically useless because they're not the ancestors of yaoi anyway. Whoops. -_-;
To continue in my (probably misguided) attempts to be helpful...
According to petronia shounen-ai originated in the 70's, right? Well, have you heard of From Eroica With Love? (Yes, I am sort of pimping one of my fandoms, but I swear it might have some relevance! ...maybe...^_^;) It's a shounen-ai-ish manga series whose first issue was published in 1976, and which was first released in English a year ago. Especially in the first issue, it seems to be playing with/parodying the shounen-ai genre.
...okay, I'm pretty sure that I'm starting to become quite annoying, so I'm going to shut up now. Sorry. -_-;
Reply
I LOVE Eroica, and am collecting it. One unfortunate side effect is that I can't watch Led Zeppelin videos without seeing Dorian Red Gloria as the frontman...XD
Reply
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