Differences in Similarities
Love Sick and Heroin-Are you addicted?
Keywords:
“Y”Novels, Yaoi, Boy’s Love (BL), Danmei, PatriarchyAbstract
This article is to study comparatively the boys’ love narratives in Thai and Chinese yaoi novels – namely Lovesick and Heroin – Are you addicted?. It focuses on the development, nature, acceptance and tendency of such relationships in each different social and political context. Applying the critical discourse analysis method, the study found that in both novels all the male protagonists are good-looking, capable and normal men who do not have the same sex affection. Rather, they are quite prejudiced against gay’s love. However, they unintentionally turned to develop such relationships over time. It became the romantic love, holding love for love’s sake. The main couple in Thai context tends to get more acceptance and be happier than the other couple in Chinese context. Yet, the narrative of the main couple in the Chinese yaoi novel implies the criticism of the state’s authority, the resistance and challenge against patriarchal ideology of Chinese society. Besides, the romantic relationship of both couples in the two novels are also depicted as the ideal romantic relationship of the individuals in the new generation, when the neoliberalism has been sweeping all over the world.
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