I may have asked this before but we're seeing more of a blurring between BL and queer genres. Do you think we'll eventually reach a point where BL just becomes queer?
My dearest you opened up a can of... worms. Erm, can of pink milk? Eh, anyway. I got ranty and sentimental.
Will BL Get More Honestly Queer?
You mean will BL be made by queers for queers with a queer lens? Maybe one or two (stuff out of Taiwan most likely, maybe Thailand) but those will be the exceptions not the norm.
But in general, no.
That's not its market. It's still a product that has to be profitable, which means it needs a broad market share.
Now while I personally think the world is not only queerer than we expect but queerer than we CAN expect; the world, and its business practices, doesn't act that way.
I'm not sure this is entirely a bad thing though, and Imma try to explain.
I want global normalization more than anything.
Quickly Some Background Info
1. Statistically speaking, numbers of people who identify as queer is rising (especially in countries that have legalized gay marriage). This is not because there are more queers, this is because there is a general shift in acceptance and because it is now safer to be out in these places. But there still just aren’t that many of us.
Part of that has to do with pop culture. But most of it it safety.
2. We queers will still always be drastically in the minority (especially if queers continue to bifurcate, dive into tribalism, otherize, and ostracize - i.e. the gays vs the lesbians vs the bisexuals vs ace vs trans. Or force outings and self-identifications in order to participate in the culture, shit like that.) If we aren’t a cohesive group there are even fewer of us.
3. Because we are a minority, purely queer serving recognition by the entertainment industry will always be niche (small indie and specifically queer brands). Our spending capital is too small (and too varied in taste) for most major brands and production houses. A thriving entertainment industry is a capitalistic endeavor that requires large target demographics.
Normalization
Here's the pitch. I genuinely believe that Will & Grace did more to normalize gay acceptance in the US than most other shows before or since. It came at the right time, packaged sanitize gay (and gay stereotypes) in a prime time slot to a massive family market. (I may or may not have written about this academically a time or two.) It's not a good show, it's not at all queer friendly, but it was effective. It made gay okay.
The path to cultural acceptance is insidious. It's through misrepresentation and tokenism. It starts with kill the gays (at least the straights are crying for our suffering) and punish the queers and moves into punching down humor and romcom snarky besties. Eventually, it becomes representation. This takes years, decades. I’m not defending it. It just is.
Yaoi and then BL is an entirely unique form of this. It has so many issues precisely because it comes without a queer lens, but slowly and surely it's being called out on this by queer folk and internally starting to check itself.
Slowly but surely it's gonna get better and better about it, while still serving its largely non-queer consumer base (see Not Me and Bad Buddy). It will never become fully queer because the watchers want the sanitized (or eroticized or fetishized) version of gay.
And I'm okay with that and here's why...
There are only 30 countries where same-sex marriage is legal and still 69 countries that have laws that criminalize homosexuality.
This Bit Might Make You Cry
Because of BL, just maybe, that housewife in Texas smiles when the gay boys in front of her hold hands, instead of finding it disgusting and spitting on the street. Because she secretly watches BL when her husband is asleep.
Because places where being gay was once literally, actually, cultural taboo are become (just) homophobic and that's gonna be a fight, but at least that's fightable, where taboo is not.
Because people pin images and make gifs of gay boys kissing in BL, and those tiny insidious things transcend firewalls. And maybe the first few times when she sees it, she winces, but maybe the sixth time she pins in to her secret board and thinks, “hey that’s actually kinda sweet.”
Because of BL, when her kid comes out to her, maybe she remembers those horrible parents in that one BL series and how badly they handled it, and how much it hurt the child. So maybe she’s a little less harsh about how his coming out effects her status and identity.
Because in places where BL watchers vote, and they're mostly women so they don't vote everywhere, when marriage equality comes up and no one is looking over her shoulder, she might vote yes. Because she watched fucking TharnType get married and she thought it was cute.
And that's fine.
Because we REALLY need her. Them. All of them.
Yes, we personally, as queers, need these narratives, badly. We need the happiness that they show us.
But we really really need the normalization they provide to non-queers.
Supporting articles of interest:
The Development and Influence of Parasocial Relationships With Television Characters: A Longitudinal Experimental Test of Prejudice Reduction Through Parasocial Contact by Bradley J. Bond (University of San Diego, CA, USA) January 30, 2020)
Streaming Content Influences Koreans’ Perception of Sexual Minorities by Lee Si-jin for Asian News Network, July 12, 2022.
In Conclusion
Don’t be a shit to straights who like BL. Think of it as an opportunity to be kind and to educate. BL can open their eyes and we can turn wonder into allies. And some of you might be far too young, or feel far too safe now to remember, but holly shit do we need all the allies we can get. Especially on a global scale.
And guess what we get to do in response to all this?
We get to give back love.
That's a privilege.
Because they are gonna make it a hell of a lot easer for us to exist and to love with dignity.
That's our right. But it's not one most of us actually have.
BL is genuinely fighting for us. And maybe it’s warped and crippled and not truthfully queer or exactly what we want. And it probably never will get there.
BUT IT IS FIGHTING FOR US.
One of the guest talents in Until We Meet Again.
(source)