China
Through the Lense of Mo Dao Zu Shi
The West
Through the Lense of Heartstopper
Background Information
Mo Dao Zu Shi (commonly referred to as MDZS) is a webnovel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (commonly referred to as MXTX).
Heartstopper is a webcomic by Alice Oseman and is one series in a collection of books that take place in what is referred to as the “Osemanverse“.
Orginally published on JinJiang Literature City in 2015.
Adaptions
Published Work
Live-Action Series
Manhua (Comic)
Manga (Comic)
Audio Drama
Mobile Game
Donghua (Animated Series)
Published Work
Live-Action Series
Coloring Book
Yearbook
Movie (Upcoming)
MDZS’s Success in the West
MDZS exploded in the US due to it’s wide range of possible audiences: danmei enjoyers, cultivation enjoyers, and historical setting enjoyers.
“MDZS’s homoerotic (danmei) content guaranteed a strong fan community, it mixed the three main genres (gufeng–ancient style, xianxia-fantasy, wuxia-martial arts)”
Albers, Arianna. When Manhua Comes to the US: A Case Study of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
Advertising
Seven Seas published the novels on high-quality paper to create a sense that this story was a luxary item.
“Publishers responded to fan culture because the relatively affluent fans were willing to consume ever more content. They catered to the fans’ consuming habits by converting online publications into print. This included dealing with formatting the content into panels that were originally in a scroll model. They also upgraded the materials used in publications such as porous paper (used in black and white publications) to glossy color paper. All of these accommodations gave the publishers the opportunity to sell the books at the higher end of the average price range” (Empthsis added).
Albers, Arianna. When Manhua Comes to the US: A Case Study of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
The internet
WuxiaWorld was the first site that had legal translations of Chinese webnovels. The site is now visited over 300,000 times a day. The positive reception gave publishers the confidence to publish English translations of the work.
Heartstopper: Anything But BL
“She [Oseman] has the aim of doing activism, bringing awareness for other members of the community such as the transgender, asexual, aromantic people and the struggles they face in the society.”
Akkülah, Seray. “Representation of Male Love in East Asia and West: ‘Fetish vs Activism’.”
Alice Oseman and other authors who write queer books react to the term “BL” like it’s a dirty word because the internet percieves the genre to be fetish content. Oseman tweeted:
“I wouldn’t describe this comic as ‘yaoi’ or even ‘BL’ – they’re genres of comic that tend to fetishise and eroticise queer men in a really bad way. This comic is just a romance between two boys”
We have this perception about BL because the BL that gets translated is often graphic and shocking. Not because most BL is graphic and shocking, but because graphic and shocking books generate conversation, leading to more people reading them. This cycle perpetuates the idea that the BL genre is fetish content.
Cultural Differences in Queerness
“In a sense, even though characters in danmei works are always described as extremely beautiful and handsome they are more real and have their imperfections among all the beauty surrounding them. Looking from this point of view, Western authors seem to be romanticizing their characters in order to represent, do activism, and increase the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Akkülah, Seray. “Representation of Male Love in East Asia and West: ‘Fetish vs Activism’.”