Shipping: A Nuanced Argument

Really excellent video, and I'm excited to see what comes from the production company! I understand your frustration about smaller productions not seeing the love you'd hope for. I've been trying to get my friends to watch For The Boys from Slay TV because it feels like the spiritual successor to Noah's Arc, but folks seem disinterested. I'm also glad you mentioned BL. I think BL fits into a weird space with all of this, and definitely needed to be brought up in the shipping discourse. BL/yaoi is a lot older than people think, with examples woven into fabric as far back as the 1400s in Japan. Modern BL traditions may be dominated by Thailand's sheer output, but BL is primarily Japanese in origin. LIke what was discussed in James videos, BL is often written by women and for women. We're seeing some interesting productions lately where queer men are in more decision-making positions to make decisions (such as Aof at GMMTV with Bad Buddy, Tale of Thousand Stars, He's Coming to Me) or in non-BL but playing on its influence with I Told Sunset About You. For me, I was so exhausted by Western content that I moved to BL back in 2016 with SOTUS. I was primed for Thailand because of Love of Siam (2007) and The Blue Hour (2015). I haven't looked back and the primary form of same-sex relationships I consume on film come from Southeast Asia now.

Sarge

I would love to talk more about the shipping audience and transformative fandom because I do think that "most gay fanfic readers/writers are straight women" is a little bit of an oversimplification. I believe it was 2013 AO3 opt-in analytics that produced some remarkable poll results re: fanfic writer identities. Now this isn't exactly a perfect study because it was voluntary sample size of around 10K users and now it's even becoming a bit dated but the results are interesting. Only 29% of the entire polled user base Identified as "Heterosexual", with the rest odd 70% being some flavor of queer. While gender polled overwhelmingly female at 80% (you can find all the data breakdowns here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1215111) Now this was 2013 and I can only imagine what a similar project would churn out these days with more widespread trans acceptance. Anecdotally, my own "fandom circles" (I am a 30-something queer artist) are largely dominated by transmasc people and lesbians or bisexual women, even quite a lot of nonbinary folks. I'd be happy to talk about the nuances of multisexual spectrum attraction and gender identity versus how one identifies with and creates transformative media but I am already long winded. Anyway tl;dr I would love to see a more modern study like this one. The reader/writership of M/M (in fanfic, on ao3) seems to be largely Women but the sexuality nuances therein are more complicated. And with a modern understanding of gender nuance I'm willing to bet it'll be even further diversified. Once again, another incredible and thought provoking video from you! You and Nick are definitely going places and I'm so happy to see it!! The world is definitely enriched by your being in it. :) Thanks to the both of you for your consistently hard work and dedication.

Coming back to add, I'm SO excited for the announcement you made at the end of the video!!! I won't say what it is to avoid spoiling for others but AH!! ♡

ava

I really enjoyed the video… and the cat ears x

James H

the production quality on this video is out of this world james ! not even to mention the actual content (which is amazing), thank you so much for all the work you've put into this ❤️

Léo Roy-Côté

I love the fact that you brought up the live-action BL market from Asia. Hollywood is completely sleeping on the genre. BL's from Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and even the Philippines has exploded in popularity over the last few years and rake in billions of dollars every year. Thailand, in particular, offers dozens and dozens of series yearly. This year alone they have already announced nearly 30 shows set to start in 2022 (with more to come) and as of right now (2/10/22) are airing 9 dramas as we speak. And yet, Hollywood still keeps ignoring it.

Nini L

I loved the new video. It's amazing how many of you video's line up perfectly with my Gender Studies minor. I would be really interested in some book recommendations of you for stories that aren't either YA gay coming of age/coming out fluff or Adult smut (both often, as you pointed out, written by women). As the overwelming majority of books about gay men I can find, are those types of books.

Ieht

Also heads up (cos I imagine this is an easy fix before the big release), I’m pretty sure the spelling in the titling is slightly wrong for “kawaii” - you’re missing the second “i” (which matters in Japanese) in both the English and Japanese. If you’re using hiragana, it should read かわいい and if you’re sticking with katakana like what’s in the vid, should be カワイ一 (that line extends the vowel in katakana). I’m not fluent but I’m pretty sure about this instance. Also I really love this video and its analysis and scope, thank you for it <3

Dot

Can we get a gif of James saying “oh look a cat boy!”? That two seconds gave me life

Dot

The shipping was all over the place!

The amount fanfics I have made in my teens, just so I could see myself in media. Not much queer love in tv or films.

I really appreciated this video. Connecting fan-fiction to the sharing and growth of various world mythologies and folklores was helpful. The connection is so clear, I only needed it vocalized in order for the realization to dawn. My only note is that when referring to the Marvel versions of Thor, Loki, and Odin, the credit should be JACK KIRBY & stan lee (preferably with Stan Lee's name being as small as possible, but that's just the shade I want to throw). :-)

I really enjoyed this. "Media gaslighting," is perfectly put. I look forward to seeing what Telos Productions does. I'll be visiting the indiegogo. Edit: I can't find the link for your indiegogo. What is it?

Mandi Mateer

Remember wanting better onscreen representation doesn't make you greedy or entitled 💕

Initial thoughts: I love you for putting Renga in the thumbnail and making the chapters BTS song titles 😌 My shipper heart is soaring right now.

ava

Reki & Langa! 🥰