Yuri on Ice: Agape vs. Eros

I remember reading about agape and eros in Plato’s ‘The Symposium’. Agape was a higher, purer love, almost a state of grace, which transformed someone into a better person. Eros was a highly sexualized romantic desire, the driving power of lust.

The speakers at the dinner party had a much higher regard for agape than eros. One of them, Pausanius associated agape with ‘Heavenly Aphrodite’ while the latter was matched with ‘Common Aphrodite’. He gave a beautiful speech about the two Aphrodites and the two loves, which I never forgot. Ever word showed a low opinion of women and the feminine in general.

My characters came up with their own interpretation of this story, a complete inversion of it in my f/f science fiction story, ‘A Symposium in Space’. Victor came up with one, too, in ‘Yuri on Ice’, only he didn’t invert it. He took this classic concepts and paired each with a song. He picked a beautiful, gut wrenching tune which still echoes in my ears for agape. He picked out a lively, playful one with a hint of flamenco about it for eros.

This character was so much more than simply a beautiful, self inventive figure skater. Victor showed a creative, inspirational side which makes my eyes widen by coming up with all this. He didn’t stop there. He gave the agape song to a pretty, selfish, and ambitious youthful protege and challenged him to find those qualities in himself. He gave the eros song to an insecure, awkward virgin and encouraged him to awaken erotic beauty in himself. For Victor saw these things in both of the Yuris. He set the stage for his two students to find them in themselves.

This is the story which plays out in ‘Yuri on Ice’. It’s one of the elements which made such a powerful anime for me. Not to mention Victor won my heart by breathing new life into this classical concept. The Yuris won my heart as well, by living that new life through their skating.

Thank you, bishounen. Thank you for taking one of my favorite books and sharing one of its key concepts with a new audience. These concepts should not locked up. They should be taken out, reinterpreted, and reformed. Like fairy tales, they have so many shapes waiting for them in people’s imaginations. Thank you for giving them a beautiful new form.