This Was Too Good A Question To Answer Anonymously

[redbrunja]

Okay, over on the Naruto what-if meme someone asked the question, "What if Kishi actually decided to make Sasuke and Naruto a couple at the end of the manga? Would fandom explode? How would this be seen by different cultures/the media (Naruto is a fairly popular manga)? Would this affect the way kids veiw gay couples at all?"

My instinctive thought was 'they wouldn't get it.' I think a lot of the casual, non fandom readers of Naruto would be REALLY confused and I would bet money on the American and Japanese parents flipping the fuck out.

However, what I'm pondering is whether or not having Naruto and Sasuke being gay for each other would change some children's perceptions about homosexuals. Would it make them more accepting? Would they start to see gay people as human beings who deserves the same rights everyone else does?

You thoughts, flist?

Comments

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Really quick historical correction:

If you were a noble or a Samurai, you could stick it ANYWHERE and people didn't particularly care. It was my understanding that nobles could have wives, concubines, and male lovers all at the same time and it wasn't uncommon.

Yes, but very few Japanese people were ever nobles or samurai. The elite classes could get away with all sorts of sexual hijinks that were absolutely prohibited among the commoners, and frankly, the majority of the Japanese people were always commoners.

I always thought that male Monogamy was a mostly western invention.

Unfortunately, that's not true.

And, a quick note about Japan being 'lenient' about homosexuality. My experience has been that Japan is willing to embrace homosexuality only in terms of entertainment for straight people or in terms of pure camp (i.e. Hard Gay). So it's only okay as long as it's fictional, or fake. Real Actual Gay Japanese People, on the other hand, face an enormous amount of discrimination, provided that they choose to step out of the closet at all. Being actually gay is still seen as shameful, and is largely unacceptable. (This, of course, is a broad generalization, as many Japanese people that I know are totally cool with homosexuality. But quite a lot of the rest of society is just not.)