General Yuzuru Chat

[rockstaryuzu]

7 minutes ago, SparkleSalad said:

 

How does that make it okay? And that “entire video” was pretty short.

You seem to be implying that they should just pretend something that happened, didn't. That's not how news organizations work.

 

 

 

Now, I don't want to derail the thread any further, so I'm stopping. Think what you will. But people are wrong to ascribe malice to any aspect of CBC coverage of Yuzu or his fans. That's not the kind of organization it is. 

[kaeryth]

 

No new information here.

Quote

Orser said the 23-year-old is still in doubt for the Dec. 6-8 Grand Prix Final in Vancouver and the Dec. 21-24 national championships in Osaka, which doubles as a qualifier for next year's world championships in Saitama.

 

The Canadian coach is awaiting news from his skater who has returned to Japan to undergo medical evaluation. Orser says no decision has been made on when Hanyu will return to his Toronto training base.

 

[KatjaThera]

1 minute ago, rockstaryuzu said:

If that's true, then why is there such a negative reaction from Yuzu fans (I'm referring to the wider fandom here, not just the Planet)as soon as a news outlet says anything about them that isn't perfectly sunshine and roses, even though it's true? 

 

I perceive, although I may be mistaken, that there is a strong inclination amongst some fans to pretend that the negative stuff doesn't happen, or at least that it's not the 'real' fans that do it. You are, of course, perfectly free to think as you wish, but that is what I perceive.

Actually, I've seen a lot of other fandom hubs promote the video and say how great it is. I just generally tend to believe opinions here more, because the people here generally seem more analytic and less willing to accept any coverage of Yuzu (actually, a lot of the Yuzu fans who aren't as fluent in English, very often seem more willing to accept any coverage of Yuzu as positive). Admittedly, I don't spend as much time on twitter, so I can't say what goes on there, but twitter is really huge, so it's probably hard to see all sides anyway.

 

And like I said, I haven't watched the video - though I might, later, just to have a better basis to comment - but do they cover all sides of fandom? Sure, every fandom has the less positive aspects, but are all aspects shown? Both the positive and the less positive? If they cover everything objectively, I might be ok with it. If however it's superficial and only cover the surface, then that's not proper journalism in my book. Like I said, I can't say, personally.

 

That said, when media presents the less positive aspects of fandom and uses those to represent the whole fandom, then yes, it's only natural fans would be upset. It's the same kind of generalization that the world generally hates. Like all blondes are dumb, all male figure skaters are gay, all Yuzu fans are crazed fangirls who are into him for his looks (not saying that's what they claimed, but it's a common narrative). I have been interviewed by NYT and absolutely nothing I said that had substance was published, while they wrote this grand article about how popular Yuzu is and twisted it into being all about obsessive fans, some of which were more into his looks than anything else. I have also been interviewed by Nikkan Sports and the only thing they published was also a passing comment I made about him, that can be interpreted as being about his looks, that was an answer to a question I was asked. So, yes, media has an agenda, no matter where it comes from and fans know it and of course, if the portrayal doesn't feel accurate to them, they will be mad.

[SparkleSalad]

Just now, rockstaryuzu said:

You seem to be implying that they should just pretend something that happened, didn't. That's not how news organizations work.

 

Why don’t they trawl Twitter for every off comment ever made about him and report them all, then? It’s obviously their duty as journalists to muckrake and ours to accept everything presented to us as very important information that must see the light of day. The facial expressions the “reporter” made were very professional, too. 

[Fay]

Frankly, I watched the video, failed to see anything offensive about it. What’s the fuss about? 

[SparkleSalad]

2 minutes ago, Fay said:

Frankly, I watched the video, failed to see anything offensive about it. What’s the fuss about? 

 

Unnecessary innuendo. 

[Fay]

2 minutes ago, SparkleSalad said:

 

Unnecessary innuendo. 

To what? My skin is pretty thick, I can’t be offended by innuendoes. I can’t be even be bothered about them. There’s nothing to be ashamed about loving Yuzuru Hanyu and thinking him the best skater.  

 

[SparkleSalad]

1 minute ago, Fay said:

To what? My skin is pretty thick, I can’t be offended by innuendoes. I can’t be even be bothered about them. There’s nothing to be ashamed about loving Yuzuru Hanyu and thinking him the best skater.  

 

 

I really didn’t want to comment at all because I thought it was dragging on far too long already but I’ve just made it worse.

 

Spoiler

“Taking care of” is the innuendo... 

 

Japanese media have quoted older female fans, even grannies, as saying they’d like him as a boyfriend. There are nicer and less sexist and judgemental ways to report on his attractiveness to his older fans. More importantly, it’s possible to do it in a way that would be less likely to make Yuzu himself feel disrespected and embarrassed.

 

[Sammie]

 

[dotsquare]

6 hours ago, SparkleSalad said:

Sorry if it's been posted but it seems there's a small "Hanyu Yuzuru Fair" photo exhibitiom to promote Yuzuru II at Kinokuniya Shinjuku main store from the 22nd-29th of November. They'll be selling the 2018-19 calendars and backnumbers of Sportiva as well.

 

https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/c/store/Shinjuku-Main-Store/20181120120055.html

 

@dotsquare Not sure if you'll be visiting Tokyo during this time. 

 

Unfortunately not I'm in Kansai for this week and Seoul next week. Thanks for the heads up though!!

[Fay]

14 minutes ago, SparkleSalad said:

 

I really didn’t want to comment at all because I thought it was dragging on far too long already but I’ve just made it worse.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

“Taking care of” is the innuendo... 

 

Japanese media have quoted older female fans, even grannies, as saying they’d like him as a boyfriend. There are nicer and less sexist and judgemental ways to report on his attractiveness to his older fans. More importantly, it’s possible to do it in a way that would be less likely to make Yuzu himself feel disrespected and embarrassed.

 

And that’s the point which I’d choose to laugh away than bother getting offended about. But then I don’t take Twitter as something terribly serious. 

Ok, everyone should do as they please. 

[salty]

it's great that some people weren't offended by the video, I wasn't necessarily offended either...

 

I just don't think it's a bad idea to critique these kinds of media bytes, especially when they are sometimes off the mark. For example, saying that all his followers are from Japan or Asia only sort of implies that it's a weird 'Asian' thing - as that stuff is unfortunately a stereotype a lot of westerners have against the Asian community. It's so disheartening and frustrating for your identity to be compressed into a two dimensional stereotype and i just felt that the video, while a great idea, was just a bit tone deaf. I don't think anyone is raging against CBC and trying to take it down or anything. Constructive criticism is important and shouldn't be taken too personally. I thought the piece had good intentions but poor execution of the journalistic elements. Hence: tone deaf

 

also we're not all people who turn our nose away from anything negative written about Yuzu. I myself often find myself agreeing with other skating fans when they say they find Origin lacking. I'll be one of the first to say Yuzu has flaws. So I don't think it's fair to generalize all of us, who come from such different cultures and backgrounds, into people who are blind when it comes to our fave. I don't like Yuzu just because of how good he is at figure skating (well actually I DO!!) but because of the inspiration he exudes as a person. And that he reminds me that everyone has flaws.

[Gaby]

14 minutes ago, Sammie said:

 

Hm. Does he intend to tell us as well ? What could it possibly be??

[Xen]

14 minutes ago, Fay said:

And that’s the point which I’d choose to laugh away than bother getting offended about. But then I don’t take Twitter as something terribly serious. 

Ok, everyone should do as they please. 

I think the reason why this becomes a touchy subject is this- to a degree, this perpuates the idea that Hanyu fans are obessive fans.

I think what @KatjaThera mentioned about how mentioning that you like Yuzu for reasons other than his looks, his stardom etc they chose to really focus on the obsession, not his skating, not that much on his background, not much on his personality. This to a degree, could result in the casual person associating Yuzuru Hanyu with just a. Winnie the Pooh and b. Obsessive fandom.  And unfortunately, it is the negative that tend to stick out and be remembered, rather than the positive.

 

Anecdotally, I am a Hanyu fan, but if you were to ask people who skate around me, they won't think of me as one-because to them, to be considered a "Hanyu fan", you need to be more obsessive. An older guy said it's a bit like a cult, you mention Hanyu and you need to be able to recite and defend everything he does, argue that no one does anything better or even closer to equal to him, want to marry him etc.  To us in the fandom, that's on the extreme end, but based on media report and narrative, this extreme end is now the "average." This is the power of media, I guess.

 

NOTE: I don't have much issue with the majority of the video, I really do find the last bit um, a bit overdone. If they snipped it out, it would have been okay.

[SparkleSalad]