Japanese Gay Boom Cinema, Gender, and National Identity

Introduction: The Gay Boom and Japanese Cultural Norms

In "Japan's Progressive Sex: Male Homosexuality, National Competition, and the Cinema," Jonathan M. Hall (2000) connects the "gay boom" in Japanese cinema with Japanese gender construction, gender norms, and Japanese nationalism. By framing male homosexuality as a reflection of heterosexual female desire, Japanese filmmakers both reflect and substantiate cultural values and social norms. Gay male sexuality is appropriated, manipulated, and marketed in ways that are meaningful within Japanese culture and also reflective of broader globalization.

Hall's (2000) methodology in "Japan's Progressive Sex" is primarily to evaluate Japanese visual culture via media criticism, symbolic interactionism, and the history of consciousness — the author's area of specialization. Issues related to globalization, colonization, post-colonization, and cultural appropriation are central to the discussion. The author also carefully acknowledges the difficulty of providing an analysis of Japanese source material for a Western (mainly American) readership, noting his own admittedly Anglo-American identity. Hall (2000) evaluates several Japanese films in detail and includes ample references to ancillary media reflecting similar themes related to the gay boom in Japanese popular culture and pornography. He outlines the primary audience of the article as a binary readership spanning both film studies and queer studies, remaining throughout concerned with the overlap between nation and sexuality (p. 33).

The Okoge Woman: Female Identity and the Gay Male as Social Tool

Gay male imagery and themes permit the exploration of female heterosexuality and female gender identity within a patriarchal society. The heterosexual female assuages fears of male sexual predation, as the gay male is positioned as a safe friend and even a safe bed partner. Hall (2000) notes that the gay male is presented as a pet for the heterosexual female. "It feels just like petting my cat," says one woman in Crea magazine (cited by Hall, 2000, p. 63). This is not lesbian innuendo; it is a clear dehumanization of the gay male, who becomes nothing more than an animal tool of the heterosexual female target market. Moreover, a cultural commentary is embedded in the text. The same woman says about her gay bedfellow, "When the two of us snuggle up together, there is no disgusting feeling" (p. 63). She is reflecting a social norm and a gender imperative for heterosexual females: that heterosexual relations are "disgusting" (p. 63). Whether the Crea advertisement purposefully creates or simply reflects social norms falls outside the province of Hall's analysis, but the example reveals the complex, contradictory, and complicated sexualities present in Japanese popular culture.

The woman who might be called a "fag hag" in the West is referred to in Japan as an okoge — "a young woman for whom an interest in and relations with gay men are paramount" (Hall, 2000, p. 64). This may suggest a de-sexualization of the heterosexual female, as she is not interested in intimacy with someone capable of offering her sexual pleasure. Instead, her highest and deepest pleasure is to connect with a gay man — someone who is safe and who does not carry the threat of a lesbian identity. As Hall (2000) points out, however, the relationship is constrained neither by sex nor by gender. Sexual relations are ruled out, but so too are the societal constraints of gender norms, which are eliminated through the special relationship that develops between the okoge and her homosexual male friend.

When viewed as a transnational element, the Japanese gay boom is a pastiche of sexualities, gender roles, gender identities, and gender norms. Okoge and other films examined by Hall were produced in the 1990s, which he identifies as the heyday of Japanese gay cinema produced primarily for commercial reasons. Hall (2000) calls Okoge "the central text of the gay boom cinema" (p. 33–34). The film touches upon male homosexuality in ways unconventional from a Japanese perspective, particularly in its subversion of traditional family values and gender roles. In addition to Okoge, Hall (2000) discusses Kirakira hikaru (Twinkle, 1992) and 800 tsu? rappu ranna-zu (800 Two Lap Runners, 1994). These films arrived on a wave of consumer interest in gay imagery and themes, popularized by an issue of Crea, a women's fashion magazine. The issue — titled Gei runessansu (Gay Renaissance) — presented gay male identity and culture as a trend, and it was thus as a trend that gay boom cinema emerged.

Pedagogy, Consumerism, and Pseudo-Feminist Politics

Hall (2000) identifies a "pedagogic purpose" to the okoge representations in the media, which constitutes an important political dimension to his overall analysis (p. 64). This pedagogic purpose is to train, teach, and socialize the heterosexual female audience. As evidence, Hall (2000) notes that magazine articles included liberal footnotes, as if explaining terms in a textbook. One of the learning objectives appears to be the subversion, sublimation, and transcendence of gender categories. Although Hall (2000) concludes that the underlying motive is not truly feminist but "pseudo-feminist," the rhetoric does seem to aim at breaking down patriarchal norms, political institutions, and social structures. The problem is that Hall (2000) also locates the re-branding of both the gay male and the heterosexual female squarely within consumerism: it is a manufactured marketing agenda. Thus, the media representations of both serve only to perpetuate patriarchy. As Hall (2000) puts it, "Male homosexuality, in this schema, serves neither gay male nor feminist revisionings of social systems, but the proprietary standards of female virginity" (p. 66).

Critics of gay boom Japanese cinema point out the distinct cultural nuances and humor styles embedded in its text and subtext. In particular, these films present homosexuality without the sexuality — in ways that are non-threatening and thus in denial of homophobia. Whereas homosexuality in American cinema tends to carry either an erotic or a political dimension (or both), in Japan it carries a lighthearted, approachable quality that appeals to the virginal female in ways not unlike Hello Kitty.

The film Okoge was chosen not only for its content, but also for its commodification as a globally marketed cinema artifact. Being exported may have legitimized Okoge and, by extension, the themes embedded within it — themes reflective of Japanese cultural values and norms related to gender and sexuality. Yet at the time of its production, its filmmakers had already been influenced by American cultural values and norms regarding homosexuality and gender. Thus shaped by American and European frameworks, Japanese cinema absorbed and transformed elements appropriate for its own market, producing a body of work being reflexively analyzed by American scholars like Hall. This dynamic illustrates a process of cultural consumption, digestion, absorption, and regurgitation — Hall (2000) himself refers to "dislodging this constipation" (p. 33), making the digestive metaphor explicit.

Conclusion: Globalization and the Future of Japanese Gay Cinema

The Japanese gay boom is characterized not so much by its gay themes as by its problematic depiction of female sexuality and gender norms. Women are rendered in patriarchal ways, which is ironic given the fact that coming out of the closet subverts patriarchal social structures and norms. If the future of gay cinema in Japan is to be reconstructed, it may need to reflect trends that are more genuinely gender-neutral, rather than presenting a curious mix of suppression and liberation.

There is a push to invoke the American model of LGBT identity while transforming that model for Japanese society. Japanese gay boom cinema is therefore also an example of how Japanese culture has been shaped by American and European cultural norms regarding gender and sexuality. Hall (2000) notes the symbolism in Sayoko's eating habits, as she shuns rice in favor of milk (p. 53) — a small but telling marker of Western cultural influence. Locating the Japanese gay boom within the global construct of sexuality opens space for a constructive discourse on the future of gay cultures around the world.

References

Hall, J. M. (2000). Japan's progressive sex: Male homosexuality, national competition, and the cinema. In Queer Asian Cinema: Shadows in the Shade. Hawthorn.