In Defense of Saiyans

by KCbakeneko

After reading the opinions of many who do not share my own point of view, I've come to the conclusion that a defense of fannon Saiyan characteristics is in order, and that this defense falls mostly into a yaoi and hentai division (and I use hentai in the heterosexual pairing sense). For most of us in the yaoi Dragonball Z fandom, Saiyans are treated much like any other group of fanfic characters, allowed the most basic and human traits that we'd easily give any other of our characters with a compensation for the greater strength and epic scope of their actions. For a large amount of hentai fans, however, Saiyans are conceived of as barbaric, vicious mercenaries without a single redeeming feature, and who likely had their annihilation coming. Especially taken to task is the fannon feature of the Saiyan bonding and mating process. Seeing as how I am a proponent of bonding and mating in general, I figured I could take the time to try and explain these to the more resistant writers and readers out there.

First we'll tackle the broad yaoi genre itself. Although entire thesis and essays have been devoted to this, I merely wanted to make the point that yaoi should not be considered a negative in and of itself. Homosexual respect and rights aside for the moment, yaoi is an established genre in Japanese culture and is slowly gaining a real foothold in Western culture. Any disgust someone feels for it should be at least tempered into a rational discussion, not released in one of the flames so many of us are familiar with.

Similarly, yaoi should be treated with the same respect extended to heterosexual romance and sex. Anyone who believes that yaoi is disgusting has obviously never been treated to the disgusting aspects of hetero sex, been a victim of the wet spot no one likes to talk about, or considered the practices remarkably similar to yaoi sex that straight couples often perform. Complete aversion to yaoi merely betrays the speaker's homophobia and ignorance.

The fannon Saiyan bond is most often used in yaoi fics, though by no means is it limited to such. Hentai fics, usually the more romantic ones, often make use of bonded mates. For those unfamiliar with the term, a Saiyan and his/her intended "spouse," male or female, will become mates in the Discovery channel sense of the word. This usually involves a deep bite on the juncture where the throat meets the shoulder. Each mate will bite the other, the first to bite is usually the dominant mate, and a link will be formed between the two. This link can be as simple as a bloody pain in the neck (welcome to marriage, people) or can be as deep as a telepathic link between the pair. Usually it's somewhere in the middle, a blend of empathy and blood play.

Why is this bit of fannon so vehemently argued against? Part of it comes from the lengths to which some writers take the bond, creating a link which forces the mated pair to keep in constant or close contact or else face certain death. Then again, if a writer can convince the reader of her subject matter, why protest so much? Another reason stems from the most conservative groups of fanfic writers, especially regarding yaoi pairings or in-depth discussions of (admittedly) primal sexuality. After all, Saiyans are an animalistic lot, and Western culture tends to avoid discussion of sexuality or any notion that humans can be as animalistic as our furry friends. Sexuality is treated as something disgusting, dangerous and corrupting, to be avoided save for purposes of procreation and even then the man should simply do his duty and the woman should lie back and think of England. And only a man, and only a woman, and you never ever take pleasure from such a dirty and lewd act. Remember, Western culture likes to pretend that it has nothing interesting under its clothes while keeping its "obscene" materials in a dark closet for private perusal. So of course the passionate, sexual formation of a bond, though similar to marriage and the honeymoon, is railed against.

(At this point I'd just like to state to all the leftists/democrats/atheists reading this that we Republican Christian conservatives are not a petty and close-minded group on the whole, and that Republican Christian conservatism should not immediately bring to mind the yelling people with little signs saying God hates "...". We are a varied and diverse group of people under that GOP umbrella, folks.)

Anyway, back to the Saiyans. You'd think the formation of a lifetime bond, especially in hentai fics, would be easy to swallow for most people since it so neatly mirrors marriage, regardless of the sexual content. There shouldn't be such a backlash to bonding, right? There is, though, and it comes mostly from some people's perception of the Saiyans themselves.

Since Saiyans are initially introduced as the enemy, naturally there is a negative stigma attached to them. They are called barbarians, mercenaries, killers, and uncivilized, a vicious race of creatures which would as soon as kill you as look at you. A lot of this comes down again to Western cultural influence, however. First of all, the word barbarian implies a person's arrogance over another culture. Barbarians aren't as civilized as we are, they do things less efficiently, and are probably unwashed to boot. We don't tolerate this kind of language in real life, so why tolerate it in fanfic? Barbarian basically means condescendingly different, and different doesn't naturally mean bad.

The term mercenaries is pretty much accurate, though I don't see why it's considered negative. Any study of mercenaries throughout history will find soldiers and armies who performed just as courageously or atrociously as any regular army. Often used to augment other forces, mercenaries could be the pivot that turned a battle, as well as serve as an added influx of new ideas. In strict terms, any paid army is a mercenary army, although mercenary usually carries the implication of having no loyalties beyond the coin. It's probably this lack of idealism which makes mercenaries seem bad, although this is a woefully naive attitude about the world in general.

Saiyans are obviously killers. Again, this isn't necessarily a negative attribute. Of course it would seem so to weaker creatures, but then to the rabbit, the puma is an oppressive bastard. People often like to say that killing is bad and usually root for the antelope when watching a cheetah hunt, but killing is a natural function in the world as animals prey on weaker creatures for food, mates and territory. A lot of this sentiment comes from people sympathizing with prey animals, which in my opinion tells you where they stand on the food chain, but this is also another facet of Western culture pretending that humans are not animals. We like to distance ourselves from death in general and the act of killing in particular.

We aren't shown much of Saiyan culture, but what we do see leads to this conclusion. Vegeta often eats his kill. Though we have taboos about eating intelligent species (mostly because we are one) he is a predator eating his prey. Also, predators killing without intending to eat their kill, or indeed without much of a reason at all, is not unprecedented in the animal kingdom. Animals have the same capability for murder as humans do. You quickly realize this when you see a pack of monkeys rip another monkey apart and then make sure every member of the pack gets a bit to eat. The only differences between animals and humans are opposable thumbs and a somewhat more sophisticated means of expressing ourselves.

We have to also take into account Frieza's influence on the Saiyans. He focused their killing abilities, using them for his own profit before eradicating them. He simply used them as a tool and then destroyed them as a possible threat. This really isn't too surprising or out of left field if you simply consider it as an extended animal function. Every animal acts in regard to its own interests. Even our higher ideals of freedom, love, justice and civilization are in our self-interest. We only tell ourselves that they're good and proper. It all comes back to wanting to believe that Saiyans could not possibly be capable of these higher ideals because they're too good a reflection of ourselves. We can't believe we're animals.

Using Vegeta as representative of his race, all of the extenuating circumstances of his childhood aside, he is perhaps the most human character on Dragonball Z. No wonder he's one of the most popular. He shows human faults, wrath and pride, suffers through tragedies completely out of his control, and yet shows enough adaptability to change according to new environments. Always striving to win though often failing, he shows the same dogged perseverance that most people feel throughout their lives, trying to do their best in a world that often seems set against them.

Then again, perhaps "human" is not the most accurate term. After all, he isn't human. And he isn't just an "animal," with its primitive connotations. The solution is in realizing that humans are simply more evolved animals, with the exact same characteristics though they manifest differently, and that animals are the same anywhere. The only argument comes from those either deeply entrenched within religious doctrine or too arrogant to admit their own disgusting, primitive and bloody animal nature.

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