Golden Kamuy’s author makes me feel good :)

I’d like to think it’s a pretty safe opinion that a vast majority of male characters are designed with the appeal of a “power fantasy” or adjacent concept. Attractive male characters in pop culture all frequently pretty buff, toned dudes with physically unhealthy builds (looking at you, Wolverine in the movies. Hugh Jackman deserved better). 

Outside of specific genres, the male body is not “objectified” in the same ways as the female body. Captain America may inadvertently appeal to the female gaze, but he is first and foremost an “ideal” for boys to strive for, unlike Black Widow, a character designed first and foremost to titillate.

I also probably don’t just speak for myself here when I say I think it’s nice when an author decides to create a role model for boys or even, for lack of a better word, celebrate the masculine body in a way that isn’t “this is what a man should be!” but instead “I want to celebrate men.” I think that sentence makes sense.

Anyway, the author of Golden Kamuy, a manga that is pretty homoerotic in both subtext and visuals, had this to say when asked about the appeal of his series:

What point in Golden Kamuy that you want readers to pay attention to?

“The beautiful nudity of men. I want to keep drawing the naked bodies of men, be they pot-bellied or with thick chest hair.” (https://www.google.com/amp/s/kamuycentral.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/translation-interview-with-noda-satoru-after-winning-the-manga-taisho-award-2016/amp/)

Seriously, shit is GAY.
Reading that quote made me feel kind of emotional I guess? It’s not often that, especially in an award winning comic series that is pretty popular over the pond, men are allowed to be described as “beautiful.”
Like, I’m a fat guy. In pop culture, fat guys are funny and ugly. Fat guys aren’t handsome or beautiful or role models. Fat guys even when they get the girl are still funny and ugly. So I find myself getting emotional when an author like Satoru Noda describes pot-bellies as “beautiful.”
It’s a similar feeling I got when I first watched Steven Universe. I was in high school at the time, but seeing the hero of a cartoon for kids be this weird, fat little soft boy who isn’t ridiculed for his appearance and is allowed to be weird and fat and soft and it be treated as a good thing made me so happy.
Or even reading some Superman comics! Superman is usually seen as this built, jacked guy. Henry Cavill is one of the hottest dudes in Hollywood for fuck’s sake. So when in a comic like All-Star Superman or Superman for All Seasons, Clark Kent has a nontraditional build, one where he’s more linebacker than bodybuilder, I thought it was nice.

For real, Supes in All Seasons is a LARGE BOY.
So basically this is just a short shout out for Golden Kamuy. That offbeat little series with a lot of passion and heart that makes me feel good about myself and my body in ways that no other media really does.
Side note: I know that, in the grand scheme of things, the way the female form is treated in pop culture is way more problematic. I’m not trying to downplay that, I’m just talking about my own experiences as a fat guy.