Queering the Media Mix: The Female Gaze in Japanese Fancomics

Abstract

Although multimedia “media mix” franchises are commonly understood as being controlled by large corporations, the fans of these media properties make significant contributions to the mix, often expanding on the central themes of the source texts and queering them by rendering their subtexts explicit. This chapter focuses on amateur dōjinshi fan comics belonging to a genre often referred to as “BL” (boys’ love), which is notable for its focus on a romantic and often physical relationship between two male characters. The female gaze implicit in BL creates homoerotic interpretations of the relationships between central male protagonists in a way that creatively subverts the male gaze implicit in many popular mainstream narratives intended for a male audience.