Shiro and Kenji: Bourgeois is Good

I complain on Votaries about the archetype of the evil middle class suburban types who are WAY more corrupt and awful than sophisticated city dwellers. 

It's an obnoxious stereotype. It also runs the risk of undermining itself. As I mention in my thesis, Tania Modleski warned feminist scholars against attacking a dominant ideology since many women in so many artistic contexts are connected with the dominant ideology: to attack the dominant ideology in art is to attack those women. 

Lots of people like the middle class suburban lifestyle, and some of those people are those that sophisticated elites supposedly fight to protect.

Take Shiro and Kenji from one of my favorite manga series: What Did You Eat Yesterday? 

Shiro is a lawyer. Kenji is a hairdresser. They live together in an apartment and have for years, for so long that most people in the neighborhood know that they are a gay couple. Granted, they are (sort of) city dwellers, but they live outside of Tokyo (Shiro commutes to work), so they are sort of suburban. In fact, like most people who live even in cities, their local community forms a small neighborhood for that group of people. They talk about where to go to shop and which shrines are open which times. Kenji even does home visits with regular customers. 

The most marvelous thing about the series is that without shying from the occasion discussion and worry over identity and lifestyle, the bulk of the series is not only mostly about eating, it's about everyday life!

A grocery store closes. Costs of certain foods go up and down. Friends come to eat. Shiro gets a new appliance. Kenji's boss opens another branch. Phone plans change. Both men's parents age and need occasional help. Co-workers come and go. 

Everyday, non-dramatic, slice-of-life life matters. It's what most of us are doing most of the time. (One of the most exciting events in Volume 22 is the typhoon--but it rightfully doesn't carry more weight than the cherry-blossoms picnic!)

To ridicule issues, such as "which train should I catch?" and "I think the neighbor is cooking again" is to ridicule the human experience.