YOI fanfiction and stereotypes
So. I’ve been meaning to write this for a while now and I’ve finally had enough.
Honestly, do you realize how offensive you sound when you write about Russians? The amount of times when I had to cringe and squirm my way trough some really dumb and insulting things because I liked overall story? Like woah, why do so many people think like that?
So. Stereotypes. Let’s talk about that. You all should know by now that stereotypes have some foundation on the actual people but it’s downright outraging when you them all the time. Let’s just take apart some things.
1) My favorite. Alcohol, vodka and all that jazz. If I see another fic where someone genuinely thinks that Russians drink like that I’m going to scream. Okay, you want to introduce Yuri (Yuuri) to new culture by drinking something stereotypcally Russian. Give him kvass. Really, he lived in Detroit, if he wanted, he could try some vodka, it’s not that difficult. It’s not a light drink. Not all Russians drink it, moreover so lightly. Vodka is for when you want to get black out drunk, it’s fairly cheap and gets you drunk fast and easy after all. But. There are plenty other drinks that Russians drink to celebrate or smth and not all athletes as reckless as Victor, it’s not very professional to drink. Moreover not everybody in Russia drink alcohol at all. Try some imagination and googling to come up with more original thing.
2) Weather and more specifically cold weather. First of all, yes, St. Petersburg is rather cold in winter. But. It’s hot like hell in summer. Do you realize how humidity affects your perception of the weather? Half the people can’t even leave the house when it’s hot in St. Petersburg. So let’s not just focus on cold weather. Russia has four effing seasons, it’s not some wonder. Don’t write smth like “Victor didn’t expect Hasetsu to be hot in summer”. Do you think he’s stupid or what? It’s not secret, everybody has geography class in Russia, why would he not expect hot weather in summer if it has subtropical climat. And I admit that Russian winter can be hursh and for people who don’t live in the same climat all their life it can be tough to get used to. But Russians, believe it or not, also don’t like freezing and can get sick because of it. People dress according to weather exept some who don’t feel like it and it’s their problem, okay?
3) National dishes. Stop using only borsch and pirozhki for this. Not everybody can cook borsch (originally Ukranian national dish fyi), cooking pirozhki is quite time consuming and not so easy. Only elderly people make them frequently for their grandchildren. It’s like with drinks, you should use some googling or ask someone Russian if you can. That way you will have something original and interesting, something that everybody would enjoy. I personally think that Victor won’t have time or desire to cook something difficult for himself if he even has a skill to do it, he’s figure skating champion after all and his character is a little harum-scarum I would say. So it’s possible he won’t be able to do it for Yu(u)ri too. That might be interesting theme to explore.
4) I don’t even want to begin with stereotypes about bears because no, just no.
5) Smiling. I hope nobody thinks that all Russians are straight-faced and boring people. Because let’s face it, you should know that they’re not, you’ve seen Victor or even Mila. I’ve never in my life seen somebody act like Yuri(Russian) but okay, it’s fiction after all. But please, don’t take it to extreme either, Russians are not crazy, if someone (wink-wink) is extra it doesn’t mean everybody is.
OOOOOKAY, I think I poured all my irritation in here. I typed it fast and not really thinking hard about it, so if I offend somebody, please know that I didn’t mean it, because I might just be not so educated in your culture. If you have smth to tell or ask, please go ahead. Love y’all <3
