The Positive Influence of Yuri on Ice
Ever since Yuri on Ice became popular, many of us have been busy battling haters, homophobia in the anime community and people who mistakenly call it queerbaiting but let’s take a step away from that and consider the good that Yuri on Ice has done.
I work on a pretty large anime page on Facebook (over 300k likes, at the moment) and while Yuri on Ice was airing I used to do one or two posts a week on it. They got tons of positive feedback but what struck me most was that every time I would see comments from different people, mostly males from South East Asia going more or less like this:
“I never liked seeing gay men/couples in my anime/TV shows, but Yuri on Ice changed my mind. The natural, healthy relationship between Victor and Yuuri made me realize that true love doesn’t depend on gender. They are the first gay couple that I like and support and I would definitely like to see more of these in anime.”
Sometimes they pointed out how they would like Victor and Yuuri to get married, sometimes they mentioned how they never liked the idea of homosexuality but Victor and Yuuri changed their minds and made them understand, sometimes they talked about trying out yaoi anime and really disliking them but really really enjoying Yuri on Ice because of how well it showed the same-sex romance aspect.
I’m not sure whether you guys realize but Yuri on Ice literally changed the world-view of some people.
And the fact that this is coming from straight males (many of them highlighted this in their comments) from countries like Malaysia and Indonesia which aren’t exactly big on gay representation or even support (from what I understand, I’m European so I only have second-hand info), this is huge.
Even my own mother who after seeing episode 7 told me that “she’s not really into seeing two guys kiss”, called me on the phone after watching episode 9, saying that Victor and Yuuri are a beautiful couple and she hopes that they can stay together and be happy forever.
While we are busy fighting over whether Victuuri is canon or whether the anime is queerbait, there are people out there, who are taught by Yuri on Ice that homosexuality is normal and that gay representation is good.
Yuri on Ice is that powerful.
And of course, it won’t save the anime community, it won’t convince everyone, it won’t destroy homophobia. For all we know, the people who are convinced to support gay couples by YOI are a minority.
But the sheer fact that Yuri on Ice was capable of that is amazing and really shows the value of the anime as a piece of gay representation. Because this is progress, this is better than most of what the anime industry ever offered us.
So for all the cynicism and hate we get, here’s some positivity - Yuri on Ice had the power to change people’s views on homosexuality and made straight cis men unconditionally root for a gay couple.
I don’t know about you, but I find that beautiful.
theartofmadeline
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