Bara (genre)

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Bara (薔薇, "Rose"), also known as Men's Love (メ ン ズ ラ ブ, abbreviated ML ), is the Japanese name for a genre in art and fiction that focuses on the homoerotic representation of men . Bara found its origin in fetish magazines in the 1950s. The name is probably derived from the magazine Barazoku ("trunk of the roses"), which appeared from 1971 to 2004. Popular media for Bara are mangas ( gei komi , ゲ イ コ ミ), illustrations and video games , especially visual novels , with suggestive or pornographic content. The manga series appear primarily as supplements in trendy magazines, alongside a few short-lived manga magazines that are exclusively devoted to the genre. Many works in the genre are published as dōjinshi. Due to the low presence in the classic manga market, however, an anime that could be assigned to the genre was never produced.

Different forms of the genre can differ visually and narrative from one another. In general, Bara is characterized by its masculinity and idealization of masculinity . Bara characters have varying degrees of muscularity , corpulence, and body hair , not dissimilar to the ideals of the bear community .

In Western circles, Bara is often summarized under Yaoi , which in Japan, on the other hand, refers to stories about sexualized relationships between men that are only aimed at women. In contrast, Bara is explicitly aimed at a gay audience. The depiction of homosexual relationships in Bara is often described as more realistic than in Yaoi, with sex being portrayed as carefree and pleasure. In contrast, Yaoi focuses more on the existential fears and drama of a relationship. Yaoi also follows a slim, androgynous ideal of beauty ( Bishōnen ) more closely , although their target group has also opened up to Bara's “masculine” beauty ideals in the course of the 2010s. Bara is therefore less interesting for the female audience of Yaoi, as they are not looking for realistic, but idealized representations of homosexuality. However, the boundaries are fluid. This is also how some series in Shōjo magazines treat homosexuality in a serious, realistic way.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Jonathan D. Mackintosh: Itō Bungaku and the Solidarity of the Rose Tribes (Barazoku): Stirrings of Homo Solidarity in Early 1970s Japan . In: Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context . No. 12, January 2006, ISSN  1440-9151 .
  2. ↑ Jason Thompson: Manga. The Complete Guide . Del Rey, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0345485908 , p. 414. (English)
  3. ↑ a b Justin Sevakis: There's Bara Manga ... Why Isn't There Bara Anime? In: Anime News Network. March 14, 2018, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Wilson, Brent; Toku, Masami. "Boys' Love," Yaoi, and Art Education: Issues of Power and Pedagogy 2003