#ppl got latched onto the idea that yoi was amazing for representation

[kiribakus]

hey ry you mentioned something about how kubo's represention wasn't bad but that it wasn't perfect either. like in what ways? cause i know you aren't being critical but i also wanna understand where you're coming from with that.

yeah sure, i’ll give it a shot.

first thing’s first, i’m american. even if i wasn’t white (which i am), i don’t have the same say in this kind of thing as a native japanese person. the more i learn about japanese culture, the more i learn that there’s so much i DON’T know. in the end, it’s the queer people of japan who get to say whether this is good representation or not. the culture and norms and pressures of japanese society are VASTLY different from from especially western culture (ie. women in the west reclaiming their sexuality while sexualization of girls is a big problem in japan).

so, given my perspective as a queer, white, american, this is what i thought of yuri on ice:

i don’t think the narrative about ‘a perfect world’ for queer people was a bad narrative choice. as i mentioned on twitter, 1) kubo is a cishet woman. she should not be telling the stories of queer struggles. that is for our community to do. so criticism that she didn’t include homophobia or what-the-fuck-ever is frankly, in my opinion, bullshit.

then, 2) for fuck’s sake, can we be content with a happy queer narrative? finally? this year at my school’s cinema i went to see both ‘closet monster’ and ‘moonlight.’ both were good films, but both heavily feature homophobia and bullying and tbqh??? i’m sick of it. i’m tired of seeing the queerphobic narrative dragged out and put on display. it sucks. it sucks that my parents threatened to take me out of school for having a girlfriend. it sucks that im scared to hold her hand at disney bc i think some suburban mom is gonna call me a f**. i want to consume happy queer content for once in my fucking life. what about all the fanfics we read of queer relationships?? don’t most of them ignore queer struggles?? because for once in our godforsaken lives, we’d like to not be reminded that half the world wants us dead. i don’t have any problem with kubo’s ‘perfect world.’ it’s the kind of world i’m going to write as a queer author who’s tired of the same sad story.

kubo’s history: short one here. i challenge anyone who saw her homophobic tweets to think real long and hard as to what they were doing and saying seven years ago. if you can prove that you were an unproblematic, woke angel then i will literally eat drain cleaner. bc at thirteen, i CERTAINLY didn’t give two fucks about most minority groups, including two i eventually became a part of. god, just shut up.

how it could have been perfected: actual queer japanese people on staff. if kubo had brought in or at least talked to queer japanese men about their relationships and how to portray viktor and yuuri’s relationship. from what i understand, she didn’t talk to any actual queer people about the relationship. ideally, there will be content like NABARI NO OU, with queer characters created by a queer author, but that doesn’t mean straight creators shouldn’t write about queer characters, in the same way that white ppl like me SHOULD write poc characters and SHOULD consult on how to avoid stereotypes/offensive material but SHOULD NOT write about racism.

a follower pointed this out but it’s the fandom that’s made this all about representation in the first place?? kubo just wanted to write a story that happened to include gay men, not revolutionize the anime industry. i think the attitude of putting so much pressure on her to be the ideal of queer representation is fundamentally just,, a bad idea altogether. just let this straight woman write a happy story about gay men skating and let queer people get excited bc they’re seeing queer people in a positive light