I could very much see American parents flipping out, although I was under the understanding that Japan has traditionally been more lenient towards male homosexuality (don't know about female, though). I remember on the History Channel once that Samurai and noblemen would often take male lovers in addition to their numerous wives and concubines. The program was "The History of Sex" or something like that. That led me to believe they didn't look at it as taboo the same way western cultures did. Yes, they have culturally restrictive tendencies, but I think they are restrictive in a different way. American parents would blow a fuse, though.
On the reaction to it from a reader standpoint...this really is an interesting question. On one hand, I feel that part of the reason that Naruto is so popular is because little boys see their hyperactive, goofball selves in him and want him to succeed because of that. They relate to him. I think they could relate to him considerably less if it turned out he was gay. These statistics may be wrong, but I believe that only 10% of the population is homosexual. Sure, the homosexual readers would be able to relate...but as a series capper it would leave a lot of people with this feeling of ".......ooooookay...." and then they'd go do something else.
However, mostly I think you're misunderstanding the apathy of tweens and teens. I don't think most of them CARE enough to look at the final page for longer than a minute before putting it behind them forever. They don't ANALYZE. It's entertainment. It's a rare fan that comes along that looks at the series with a great deal of love and depth. Often, it doesn't SEEM like those fans are so rare on the internet...but in RL I encounter more apathy than attentiveness. Not counting the fandom or the female readers who already love yaoi and started the shipping, I honestly don't think it would impact that many teens and tweens. For those that it DOES impact, it might be a huge turning point, but most people won't care.
Also, how would this be any different from those arguments that say yaoi/shonen-ai increases awareness about gay rights? In those series, the males ARE heroes who the readers hopefully want to succeed. I'm not SURE, but I believe you've countered this argument in the past with the idea that yaoi does not portray actual gay relationships (again, it may have been someone else on one of your threads), and I think that unless Kishimoto somehow does a better job of it in his Shounen Jump Weekly slot of action manga then it won't increase awareness. As a matter of fact, it may even turn people OFF to the idea because it was forced on them so suddenly.
Like, my friend who likes Naruto with me, her dad's super conservative, and he watches the show when it's on. I think that if that was tossed on him suddenly at the end...he'd flip and get all Up In Arms Conservative about it.
This leads me to my next scary thought...
What if the yaoi/yuri subcultures became the new big THING? Like, what if the media had absolutely NOTHING BETTER to rag on that week so they decide "hey, there hasn't been a comic-corruption-of-the-youth story for a while. What can we get on comics?" "There's this yaoi thing." "...And?" "It's about homosexual relationships." "Cool! We'll slot the controversy for the news at seven!" *shivers* It would be like the 40s and 50s all over again as far as comics and impact on the youth is concerned...
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
On the reaction to it from a reader standpoint...this really is an interesting question. On one hand, I feel that part of the reason that Naruto is so popular is because little boys see their hyperactive, goofball selves in him and want him to succeed because of that. They relate to him. I think they could relate to him considerably less if it turned out he was gay. These statistics may be wrong, but I believe that only 10% of the population is homosexual. Sure, the homosexual readers would be able to relate...but as a series capper it would leave a lot of people with this feeling of ".......ooooookay...." and then they'd go do something else.
However, mostly I think you're misunderstanding the apathy of tweens and teens. I don't think most of them CARE enough to look at the final page for longer than a minute before putting it behind them forever. They don't ANALYZE. It's entertainment. It's a rare fan that comes along that looks at the series with a great deal of love and depth. Often, it doesn't SEEM like those fans are so rare on the internet...but in RL I encounter more apathy than attentiveness. Not counting the fandom or the female readers who already love yaoi and started the shipping, I honestly don't think it would impact that many teens and tweens. For those that it DOES impact, it might be a huge turning point, but most people won't care.
Also, how would this be any different from those arguments that say yaoi/shonen-ai increases awareness about gay rights? In those series, the males ARE heroes who the readers hopefully want to succeed. I'm not SURE, but I believe you've countered this argument in the past with the idea that yaoi does not portray actual gay relationships (again, it may have been someone else on one of your threads), and I think that unless Kishimoto somehow does a better job of it in his Shounen Jump Weekly slot of action manga then it won't increase awareness. As a matter of fact, it may even turn people OFF to the idea because it was forced on them so suddenly.
Like, my friend who likes Naruto with me, her dad's super conservative, and he watches the show when it's on. I think that if that was tossed on him suddenly at the end...he'd flip and get all Up In Arms Conservative about it.
This leads me to my next scary thought...
What if the yaoi/yuri subcultures became the new big THING? Like, what if the media had absolutely NOTHING BETTER to rag on that week so they decide "hey, there hasn't been a comic-corruption-of-the-youth story for a while. What can we get on comics?" "There's this yaoi thing." "...And?" "It's about homosexual relationships." "Cool! We'll slot the controversy for the news at seven!" *shivers* It would be like the 40s and 50s all over again as far as comics and impact on the youth is concerned...