Homophobia in Haixing

[extrapenguin]

If I were to write a Guardian fic the point of which was something completely unrelated to homophobia, but which ended with Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan getting a happily ever after, what level of societal homophobia would not throw you out of the story? Would you find it jarring if they dared hold hands in public? If they dared kiss? If they introduced each other as romantic partners in casual-ish conversation without too much euphemism? Their nearest and dearest would know, and marriage wouldn't be on the table anyway, but ... what is the range of attitudes that wouldn't have the readership's suspension of disbelief come crashing down?

On the one hand, I want this to be happily-ever-after dancing on roses without a cloud in sight; on the other, a lot of the relationship developments of canon make more sense if Haixing is at least somewhat homophobic. So: advice?

Comments

[extrapenguin]

Would it not make more sense to consider Shen Wei's sensibilities vs Zhao Yunlan's shameless wheedling instead?
Due to a thing called "the rest of the fic", Shen Wei has been subjected to a few dozen happiness overloads and currently would be skipping along with a silly grin on his face if not for his self-control. :P He's willing to relax his sensibilities a bit now that he doesn't need to compulsively keep everyone away.

As for the homophobia ... the fact that Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei treat each other as their primary social dates, but don't ever name the relationship (to e.g. Vice-Minister Guo when he's inviting Zhao Yunlan for dinner), and neither does anyone else (see: the entire Zhu Hong arc where she's treated narratively as a love triangle loser but no-one says Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan are together) just reads as society not being super homophobic, but gay relationships still being taboo enough that people don't want to speak about it and leave it at the level of plausible deniability in case an escape hatch is needed. Then there's also that early-episodes joke where Da Qing complains about the flirting and Lin Jing says "Comrades!" (=slang for "Gays!") and that whole exchange is only funny if it's hilarious to insinuate that your boss is gay. I know it's the censorship, but it doesn't feel like a homophobia-free society to me as a result.

(I also didn't see ChuGuo as romantic, since the first instance of Chu Shuzhi having a positive feeling about Guo Changcheng was basically "ah, he's just like my brother!" and I don't have an incest kink. I also didn't pick up on any even vaguely romantic subtext until the very final episode, where Chu Shuzhi dragging Guo Changcheng off from that blind date had some hints of jealousy, but it was much, much less blatant than Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei.)

[jo_lasalle]

Then there's also that early-episodes joke where Da Qing complains about the flirting and Lin Jing says "Comrades!" (=slang for "Gays!") and that whole exchange is only funny if it's hilarious to insinuate that your boss is gay.

In a similar vein, the episode with the personality changes had some stuff around Chu, with Shen Wei very seriously saying "he'd rather die than be like this" (effeminate), that gave me a serious cringe on the homophobia front. I really do want to roll with the hilarity of that episode, but I have to engage in some mental gymnastics to take that as not the Occam's Razor reading. (Made worse by the fact that Shen Wei is saying it.)

(It is a little different because it's more part of slapstick than the other one, but it still seems topical.)

[extrapenguin]

In a similar vein, the episode with the personality changes had some stuff around Chu, with Shen Wei very seriously saying "he'd rather die than be like this" (effeminate), that gave me a serious cringe on the homophobia front.
Urgh, yeah, that one! It's a little more forgiving of alternate interpretations (e.g. Dixing having more rigid gender roles?), but it does fit with the rest of the homophobia-must-exist stuff. I guess Dixing isn't a homophobia-free paradise, either.