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happypotato48 · 3 months

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This Is A Gay Asian Rant About BL Comments Made By Some Queer Westerners I See Sometimes.

So you know of those gays (usually white) that made dumb tiktok dancing to list of countries that legalized same sex marriage and list of countries that discriminate against LGBTQIA+ poeple as a way to say something racist. yeah i kinda got the same vibes from some comments regard how asian BL is homophobic just cause they don't live up to queer western standard. look, i'm not saying that some BLs and their creators don't deserve criticism regard how they capitalized/exploited queerness for an easy cash grab.

But people need to understand that Asian countries despite recent progress are still very much culturally conservatives. so when people says that thai bl is homophobic and all the characters looks like bunch of straight guys, which is true for some olders thai BLs i'm not gonna denied that. but after all this time and newer BLs generally being very queer and most of creators being out queer themself and poeple still making these comments, i'm annoyed.

And don't get me start on the actors. you don't know them! why are you making assumption and calling them queerbaiter just cause they acts in bl. like maybe they're straight, maybe they're not but what they're definitely doing is making queer content for you know, queer people here. so when you made halfass comments about their sexuality what do you think that made other queer people who still in the closet feels. and when you add the nationality to that, "these thai bl pair are this and that, this korean actor is so ungrateful for his bl past", etc. when our societies are still very much still in progress regard LGBTQIA+ acceptance. it make us living here feels fucking awful like somehow we're lesser queer than people in the west just cause we don't have citibank at pride or some shit.

And the shittiest in my humbled opinion are comments regard censored chinese bls. people do know like, that the creators making these bls are risking their livelihoods for this. that these shows getting make at all are miracles. yes it sucked that they're censored but they're still very much queer shows making by queer people who want to express thier queerness despite the chinese government being the chinese government. when people dimissing these shows as not belonging in queer media, you're also dimissing their creators and audiences as not belonging in the community.

Look what i want to say is that we're trying our best over here, and maybe our best are not up to your liking. the ways we talk and express our queerness maybe still can be perceived as problematic by western queer standard. but these media are our house and you're the guests. for people aren't shitty we appreciated that you're here engaging and loving our media, this is your home too and you're welcome in it. i can speak for myself that i very much love being here on tumblr and interacting with people from all over the world who love BL. but for people who are being shitty sometimes about asian bl.

YOU'RE THE GUESTS, BEHAVE!

#bl drama #thai bl #asian lgbtq dramas #personal rant #japanese bl #taiwanese bl #korean bl #asian ql #asian bl series #asian bl dramas #ql dramas #bl fandom #ql meta #queer media #just fandom things #fandom #chinese bl #dumb boy rambles

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ineffable-opinions · 2 months

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Omegaverse BL - Japan (Part 1)

[This is a summary of these posts 1 , 2. Corrections and critiques are welcome.]

mibu no tsugai

Omegaverse, which was born in 2015, has become a large [BL sub-]genre with over 1000 works as of 2023.

Omegaverse basics

α/β/Ω settings – a setting wherein beings [usually humans] are divided primarily into male and female and secondarily into α, β, and Ω genders which has huge impacts on their lives. Secondary gender is determined through blood tests taken at school during childhood or adolescence. [While this is the basic premise, there is only one rule – every rule is to be bend and broken.]

α (Alpha) – occupies the highest echelon of this fictional setting. Comprised of talented elites. Male alphas [depending on the work may] have knot at the base of their penis.

β (Beta) – Ordinary. Largest in number. Doesn’t experience heats, release pheromones or have knot. Usually born of β parents.

Ω (Omega) - experience heats, release pheromones that seduces alpha and beta automatically. Both men and women can become pregnant during the heat cycle. Occupies lowest strata of society - below α or β.

Roots

Born in the west – from furry moe culuture that incorporated a now discarded theory of ranking in wolf packs.

Became popular in Japan around 2014. First appeared in derivative works, then in self-published works and finally in commercial BL.

commercial BL debut

“Omegaverse Project” published in March 2015 by Fusion Productions - a BL anthology specializing in Omegaverse.

terminology

pair – A setting-specific bonding established when α bites Ω's nape during coitus during omega’s heat period. Henceforth, paired Ω’s pheromones can only be smelt by his α. Usually lasting till death but if an α unilateral breaks it off, Ω’s health and life itself could be threatened. Sometime, Ω covers their nape with a choker to avoid unintentional pair. In some works, forming pair bond is viewed as destiny and in some others destined pairs exist.

heat - begins in the late teens. Roughly once every few months. Involves strong pheromones secretion and intense lust and desire to breed with heightened fertility almost guaranteeing pregnancy if contraceptives aren’t used. Fated encounters such as those of destined pairs can trigger heat.

heat suppressant – drugs to suppress heat/heat cycles. Some works involves inhibitors that offer complete or partial immunity for alphas from getting pulled into whirlpool of lust. There are individual differences when it comes to compatibility of drugs, and strong side effects may occur.

rut – (sometimes extreme) heats of α. Could be triggered by Ω pheromones and heat. Could be characterized by additional features such as aggression, heightened physical abilities and protectiveness especially towards Ω.

nesting - The act of unconsciously bringing the personal belongings of someone or someone you like into your bed to create your own nest.

bitching - gender change to Ω. Could be triggered by (prolonged) exposure to α pheromones, etc. Converting to α = studding; Converting to β = neutraling.

α or β→Ω: Bitching ビッチング

Ω or β→α: Studding スタディング

α or Ω→β: Neutering ニュータリング

(To read more about gender changes)

Everything associated with omegaverse vary from work to work.

α (seme) x Ω (uke) – royal road progression (odo) of omegaverse

Kono Te wo Hanasanai de by Sakimoto Saki

Kamisama Nanka Shinjinai Bokura no Eden by Ichinose Yuma

unconventional – works that overturn the premise

α・β×Ω Romantic Joutou by Moriyo

Ω×α Boku no High Spec Kareshi-sama by Yotsuashi

β×Ω City Lights Birthday by Hongou Chika

α×α Bokura wa Unmei Janai by Binzoko Keima

α×? Kowamote no Rinjin ga Ω datta Toki no Taishohou by Nikuya Inui

(source)

Looking at popular works and what made them popular

Commercial BL manga - works listed in chil-chil.net

Commercial BL novel - works listed in chil-chil.net

2015 Dawn of the Commercial BL Omegaverse

Omegaverse Project – omegaverse as niche [sub-]genre. Therefore, what got published was also content did not conform to the mainstream:

Romantic Joutou by Moriyo - β×Ω pairing

Sayonara Koibito, Mata Kite Tomodachi by Yoha – disturbing content including a violent r4pe.

Paradigm Shift by Pii - β becomes Ω

Content catering towards a niche audience.

The popularity of these three works mark a big turning point for omegaverse which from the onset was willing to go beyond the framework.

2016 Birth of popular series, popularization of Omegaverse

Kashikomarimashita, Destiny by Sachimo

Another masterpiece that not only soared to popularity but also became gateway for may new fans. Characteristics – setting akin to medieval Europe, α×β, fighting fate and instinct.

Tadaima Okaeri by Ichikawa Ichi

A slice of life BL that tipped its toe into severe social circumstances such as familiar disapproval surrounding marriage and discrimination based on secondary gender which probably struck too close to home for some reader’s comfort. In the same vein, Kurui Naku no wa Boku no Ban by Kusabi Keri depicted omega sacrificing his body for the sake of promotion. Another popular manga that catered to niche interest was Pendulum: Kemonohito Omegaverse by Hasumi Hana.

2017 the Year of KUSEGATSUYOI!

(クセが強い = unique)

The three highest rated works from this year are unique and pushes a bunch of boundaries.

Sayonara Alpha by Ichinashi Kimi – shota α in a fated mates/destined pair narrative

Ai to Makoto by Moriyo – α・Ω×Ω 3P with twins (α & Ω). Moreover, Ω twin is riba.

Shounen no Kyoukai by Akabeko – looks like odo but is far from it.

Omegaverse seem to make a lot of unsual plotlines palatable – at least better than regular settings.

2018 Light-hearted comedic works trend

2018 witnessed a 180 degree turn in terms of what got really famous. It was a year of lighter works. Even the covers are lighter.

Kekkon Shite Kudasai! by Tsurugi Ichiro – unique Ω

Megumi to Tsugumi by SI Mitsuru

Both of them are comedies that would appeal even to those who are not necessarily into omegaverse.

Okusama wa Alpha by Natsushita Fuyu - α×α romantic comedy involving α uke struggling with gender roles while seeking professional help along with his husband and α pregnancy.

Gender doesn’t matter, what matters is you!

Omegaverse is finally a popular BL sub-genre.

2019 Finally! A Odo Work is the most popular

[I too am frankly surprised by how long it took for an odo omegaverse to become the most popular.] This is probably due to the expansion in readership base – as it is no longer a niche interest, expanded readership is probably most comfortable with works that are easy-to-understand odo omegaverse.

Kiraide Isasete by Hijiki

Anti Alpha by Okuda Waku

Both these works featured odo

Yukyu Omega by Fujimine Shiki – broke away from the popular imagination of a pitable Ω

2020 Speedy & Business Relationships

Meppou Yatara to Yowaki ni Kiss by Koshino – destined pair but not the type they are into

Unmei no Tsugai ga Omae da Nante by Haruta – mate finding service, a reflection of IRL dating apps

Maku ga Oritara Bokura wa Tsugai by Zarame Same

Are you really into me or just my body?

2021 Omegaverse as a habit of living things

Kamisama Nanka Shinjinai Bokura no Eden by Ichinose Yuma – depicts [what-if] first α and Ω characters ever.

Gochisou Ω wa Chuu to Naku by Hanasawa Namio – funny and heartwarming depiction of apex predator behavior paired with beastman omegaverse

2022 Omegaverse + A New World View

While in 2021 works that viewed α, Ω, and β as from a new perspective became popular, 2022 saw popularity moving to works with unique worldviews.

Ruby Red wo Kamikudaku by Saku Hiro – Ω can see pheromones.

Aijitsu to Hanayome by Nagisa Ayumu – sweet romance between God α x villager Ω in the backdrop of a setting wherein Ω are offered as sacrifice to God due to their lust-inducing nature.

Kono Te wo Hanasanai de by Sakimoto Saki – α×Ω odo omegaverse that depicts the burden associated with each [secondary] gender.

Omegaverse BL works that are popular range from those with classic progession (odo; royal road) to those with unique worldviews. This sub-genre with a premise rife with rigid class system and reinforced discriminations has become a sanctuary for narratives that emphasizes looking beyond gender.

(source)

PART 1 (you are here)

PART 2

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twig-tea · 6 months

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I'm baaaaaack!!!

Hello friends! Omg what is time. How long has it been? A month? More? 😬

Life kicked my ass for the past several weeks. No word of an exaggeration, I recovered from COVID after weeks (and it was difficult to focus on screens during that time) only for three different loved ones in three different countries were in hospital within a week of each other for three different things, and it took a lot of coordination to get everyone healthy and home (they all are, thank goodness). Emergency surgery, oxygen, dealing with pharmacists in languages none of us speak fluently, insurance....it's been A Time. And I did what I do when I get overwhelmed: I isolated. So I am very sorry to everyone who worried and reached out and thank you for thinking of me! I love and appreciate you lots.

I can't wait to catch up on the liminality league, I hope people are enjoying The Sign as much as I am, etc etc, but perhaps most importantly because I abandoned @my-rose-tinted-glasses to being frustrated alone: I am so mad about Absolute Zero. It has moments that are so good. It could have been so, so good. Instead it makes no sense, goes nowhere, and everyone just suffers for no reason. Not even a guarantee from the mystical video rental guy that they'll be able to grow old together now that they've both sacrificed ten years of their lives to loneliness. Also the timeline/memories makes NO SENSE and I remain furious about it. The cinematography was beautiful, the actors were great, I loved adult SuanSoon and Ongsah happy together, but AUGHH I could barely even enjoy it. This is definitely my biggest disappointment of the year.

Also idk how many people are also watching the GL Love Senior but I need you all to know the critical information that though this show has problems (mostly the editing, a little bit the acting, sound, and copyright issues whew) I forgive all of it because the main character has sex with another character who is not endgame! And it's mostly fine! There is drama of course but she doesn't have to apologize for it and she still gets her woman! I am THRILLED that queer protagonists in Thai QL have broken through this ceiling. Purity culture can get fucked, people of consenting age can have consensual sex with someone they're not in love with and it doesn't disqualify them from a future monogamous relationship if that's what they want. The end thank you.

My media consumption has been extremely sporadic so I will be pretty non-linear popping around tumblr as I try to catch up but I just wanted to reassure everyone that I'm ok and get these rants off my chest!

#absolute zero #absolute zero the series #bl meta #ql meta #sapphic media #love senior the series #typed so i can stop thinking it #what are tags how do i function #real life nonsense

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fellharder · 10 months

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Stay Away From Me

While watching Wu Di In Love I've been digging around a bit and I found another Malaysian BL, Stay Away From Me (2021). I can only find two episodes, I don't know if more were made. That's it, as far as Malaysian BL goes, it looks like.

And no wonder.

Stay With Me was made to air in-app on Blued in Malaysia and it's hugely controversial, even more so than Wu Di In Love.

One thing is making queer content in a country where homosexuality is illegal and LGBT rights are non-existent, that's really fucking brave. Quite another thing is hiring young Muslim influencers to act, at least one of them a minor as far as I've been able to figure out, and then allegedly leaving the romantically flavoured scenes out of the script until right before shooting and then springing those scenes on the actors. I say allegedly, because the other actor, Reese Ayman, seems to have been fine promoting the show for a while. It's possible they knew what they were doing when taking on the roles and panicked when SAFM drew unwanted attention. It's also possible Blued's production people manipulated them.

Either way, Danish Iskandar was unhappy and considered taking legal action.

It seems Iskandar and Blued reached an agreement, judging by this interview with his father about blurred pictures from Stay Away From Me used by promotion elsewhere (link to the article Google translated to English). At least I and my amazing Malay research skills haven't found any other mentions after this.

Meanwhile, Wu Di In Love putters quietly on over at AMM's streaming service. It's made by and for people belonging to the large ethnic Chinese minority in Malaysia, not by and for the mostly Muslim Malays.

Malaysia is very very very conservative. That's not just the homophobia of the government and Islam (the official religion), it's also culture spanning all ethnic groups and significant religions. Malaysia even seems to have grown more conservative in later years - I've seen it compared to Russia in rising intolerance. The LGBT rights summary table on Wikipedia is a chilling overview that gives some broad hints on what it's like being gay in Malaysia.

Malay Muslims playing gay characters just isn't done. The ethnic Chinese can get away with making a small BL for their own people, although I'm sure it's not entirely without repercussions for the cast or crew.

Personally I almost find it a duty, as a queer person in a country with a very different rights summary table, to give Malaysian BL views. Wu Di In Love wasn't great and it doesn't look like my machine-translated watching of the two available episodes of Stay Away With Me will be great, but I cheer the people making them.

#malaysian bl #ql meta

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doublel27 · 14 days

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We Are: Queer Found Family and Romance

Or the meta I didn’t intend to write.

It’s taken 9 eps (of me admittedly watching We Are through gifs and clips on Twitter, because I have yet to pay for iQIYI and I am bad at grey watching) but I think I have figured out the central conflict/plot of We Are and why the mostly linear narrative of Phum and Peem with the in media res relationships of our other three pairings made this impossible to fully tease out until we got all the pieces.

The through line that connects all of these stories about how incredibly hard it can be to be part of a queer friend group when the lines of friendship and romance blur, especially when there’s a real aspect of found family to that group.

Two things really cemented it for me this week: Tan telling the gang (and therefore the audience) the full scope of his background with Fang, as well as the beginning of Phuwin’s IG live where he talks about why he likes Kluen as a character is that he’s very direct with people he likes and isn’t blurring the lines between friends and possibly fucking up the friendship.

Because that’s the central problem that all four main couples of the show grapple with in different ways. I’m gonna get into all of that under the cut.

I’m going to start with Tan and Fang because aou contains multitudes and is my beloved while going for Fang could have always messed up his relationship with Phum, we find out in episode 9 that Tan met Fang first. Unsurprisingly, it’s not a great first meeting between what are seemingly two known fighters of what appear to be rival high schools. But then Tan finds Phum and Fang being jumped by a group from his own high school and saves them and eventually becomes friends with them sometime two years+ before the start of our story. Within this time, Tan falls so far in love with Fang, who can both out bitch and out fight, him that Tan goes full simp instead and cuts out the fighting(love that for him).

And mixing his reveal to his friends of how he met Fang and how Fang eventually consumed his waking thoughts to the point he would wish to order Fang as a pizza topping (my love for Tan is immeasurable).

But take us back to episode 2 (which is now on YouTube for US watchers for how long I don’t know) and Tan has clearly not seen Fang in awhile. He asks Phum to invite Fang out where Tan will happen to be. At the time, it was taken as Tan and Phum are university friends and Tan and been obsessed with Fang ever since and needs Phum to make the connections. But the clues that Tan and Fang were also close were already laid down. Their exchange goes:

Tan: Hey. It’s been awhile. Right?

Fang: I thought you were dead.

Tan: Come on. I haven’t seen you in ages either. (That’s the English translation, but the flow of the conversation connotes that Fang hasn’t sought him out either)

At which point Phum makes the face he always makes when Tan is in Fang hyperfocus mode of looking away and sighing. And Fang pointedly asks why Phum invited him out and what is going on.

Which is a weird exchange when you think Tan is Phum’s friend who is obsessed with Fang. It is a less weird exchange between friends that have been avoiding each other for an unspecified amount of time. And we can assume Tan started avoiding Fang because he was madly in love with him and didn’t know how to handle it and didn’t tell Fang why he was avoiding him.

In the episode 9 speech to his friends, Tan outlines that he didn’t think Fang would ever reciprocate his feelings (that it was impossible) and didn’t want to fuck with the friendship (at which point Pun sends a longing look to Chain but we’ll get back to that later) with Fang and Phum and he buried it. Until he couldn’t live with it any longer and decided to do something about it.

Which with the limited information we have, his feelings were already fucking with his friendship. He already didn’t know how to approach Fang because of his feelings at the start of the show, so is it better to not try and hope the romantic feeling dies while avoiding your friend or shoot your shot and maybe get a boyfriend out of it or maybe continue to fuck up your friendship. Tan chooses to roll the dice and it’s clear from the moment they leave the bar in episode two that Fang likes him back.

They both watch each other when they think the other isn’t looking. Fang is the one who sends Phum and Peem home together and sets himself up with a taxi ride with Tan. It’s particularly interesting to me after episode 9, this exchange, because Fang looks at a passed out Peem, mouths Peem? And proceeds to ask Phum if this is the guy that hit him while Tan snickers and Peem looks like the saddest wet cat. It’s only after the affirmative from Phum that Fang is essentially like “well, you can take him home Phum. Take home your drunk friend who hit you and I will go home with Tan.” Which our besotted Tan jumps at.

And considering the parallel between Tan and Fang meeting and Tan immediately sassing him and Fang throwing a punch leading to a fight, and Phum ruining Peem’s painting which led to mutual sassing and a kick to the nuts and a fight…I don’t know if Fang is a mastermind and connected the dots because these brothers need someone who will occasionally not be afraid talk back if need be and sees the potential for Phum to care as much about Peem as Fang does for Tan. Or if he just wants time alone with Tan and doesn’t see it. Look, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fang is secretly a long game mastermind.

Once they’re alone, Tan and Fang steal glances and flirt in the way that Tan makes very loud attempts at flirting and

Additionally, Fang is reserved like Phum, and seemingly as isolated as his only friends seem to be Phum’s friends. We don’t know if he is just not paying attention to other members of the architecture faculty or knows stuff about Kluen he won’t share. As previous parts of this narrative are folded in later episodes, we may find out. What we do know is he’s either ever only appeared alone or in connection to Tan and Phum and Phum’s friends. Even with the flashbacks, Tan points out that the head of the Fang, head of cheer club, approaches him alone and later it’s just Fang and Phum when Tan finds the group of guys jumping them. We know he and Phum adopt Toey who is bullied in high school. It makes sense why he’s potentially reserved about pushing things with Tan if Tan becomes his first real high school+ friend that he has outside of his brother.

Which is why by the time we get to episode 5, Fang says yes before Tan finishes talking. He’s been waiting but also wasn’t willing to be the first to put himself out there. And considering how much Fang and Phum seem to live in their heads and not in the world with everyone else, I can see why he needed Tan to be the one to commit to it first, especially with Fang’s later comments about not understanding why hanging out with him is a preference of Tan’s. I do hope we cross his “don’t tell tan how gone I am on him” bridge later in the narrative. Cause I think Tan knows, but also it’s nice to hear.

Let’s go back to another long-suffering pair where only one half really knew why they were suffering, and the other got a nasty shock, QToey.

I know the guys are all team if Toey loves Q and Q loves Toey then why is Q so hesitant? And I get it, but let’s talk about the double shock Q suffered and the potential layers of risk Q is facing.

It’s not just that Q is cautious with his heart. That is a factual truth. It’s why he ghosted Milk Frappe Boy, because while he fell in love with Milk Frappe Boy I think there was a deep worry, and a self esteem issue that the reality of Q, instead of Pencil Senior, would not be enough for Milk Frappe boy. So Q bolted and then deeply regretted said bolting enough say so to both Toey, not knowing the truth, and to Peem.

But the fact that he learned that Toey was indeed Milk Frappe boy at the same time he learned all of his best friends, his family for all intents and purposes, also knew and no one told him. And the way the confrontation is staged between Q and Toey, it is Q against Toey and everyone else is behind Toey.

And that, friends, that’s the real third rail for Q.

It’s one thing to know that he loved Milk Frappe Boy and that he loves Toey. And that is scary enough. The fandom loves to joke about how Toey is everyone’s little brother and they’ve all adopted him: and that is a correct assessment. But that means if Q fucks it up with Toey, he stands a chance in his mind of everyone else choosing Toey over him.

That fear doesn’t even feel that unfounded when everyone calmed Toey down mostly before Peem, Q’s true bestest friend, came out to be with him. Like Peem caught Toey before going after Q. The next episode nearly every character but Q (aside from Fai who is at all connected to this group) shows up to plan how to support Toey in getting Q.

And while I know my brain cell-less brain trust fully believe they’re helping Q, no one actually seems to ask what Q wants. Aside from Peem trying to get him to come to some that first night on the curb, no one ever asks. And that night all Q wants is to sleep in a pile with his four best friends, because that’s his family. Losing them is even scarier than losing Toey. In essence he’s lost Milk Frappe Boy once. He could do it again. But if they chose Toey…IDK.

We don’t know anything about their families really, aside from Peem’s lovely aunt and the fact that Phum doesn’t get along with his dad. And I get why when the focus is really on these large groups of found families (that are becoming one large found family) that the audience is really in love with. The bonds between the friends are just as much a part of the romance as the actual romances. Because the friendship is where the complications come from.

And while I can’t speak to mlm spaces, as I have never identified as a man, within queer wlw and non-binary spaces there are jokes about dating yourself out of friend groups. There are people you used to know who you don’t anymore because you dated someone in the friend group and were too new and got bounced. Or you date and the way it ends make everyone choose one side. Or, a person in the friend group has a crush on another person in said group, that is an open secret but when the person who was crushed upon gets a new relationship people get mad at them for not dating the person in the friend group who liked them all along because didn’t everyone know. (None of these are from personal experience I assure you 🙃)

And it doesn’t always happen like that. Sometimes the people figure out a friendship or a queer platonic solution when they’re not attracted to each other anymore. Sometimes they orbit around the friend group like two comets on opposite trajectories, occasionally crossing in awkward moments. Sometimes everyone gets past the weird. Sometimes no one does.

But that’s the risk that we’re playing in this show. I can choose the romance, but if it doesn’t work out, I am gambling this safe zone.

Which is gonna bring me to our last two pieces of this: one has had the most development and one the least but both are struggling.

I’m gonna start with Chain and Pun who are the most unhinged, gay yearning codependent besties that exist in the middle of the week and give Potae and Payos on Only Boo a real run for their money. (Both have lips touching earlobes and I don’t have a platonic answer for either) The thing is, I think both Chain and Pun are very aware of the mutual feelings. They both have moments where you know they’re aware but neither will do anything about it. And they are in the case of the story, the most embedded in one single friend group, and have the potential to explode their core group of five if things go sideways.

Now, they’re also the pair that has been effectively dating this entire time without actually dating. The ear biting and the blowing on things in the other’s mouth and the…I don’t have platonic explanations for their behavior okay? I don’t. Not naming it keeps it from being real though. It’s a collective hallucination or the biggest game of chicken.

Eventually, though, one of them is going to cross the line in a way that can’t be erased or the line redrawn. And it’s gonna have to be big because their friends watched them gaze longingly into each other's eyes for 20+ seconds and thought it was normal. Because this is how they are.

And that brings us to not quite friends not quite lovers and not quite enemies, Phum and Peem. The risk is, as discussed in many other metas, mostly on Phum’s side here and it’s why he spent the episode so hesitant. Yes he started off particularly entitled and rude. His and Peem’s relationship started as a fight (but so did Tan and Fang) and Phum feels incredibly comfortable with Peem. He’s definitely neurodivergent coded my Phum, which doesn’t make his assholery okay, but it explains his hesitancy to try new things and his struggle with making friends and expressing his feelings.

He’s got friends but he doesn’t feel particularly deeply connected to them. Yes, Beer makes time for him and actively seeks him out to give advice. He and Fang have a level of sibling codependency that hints at neglect and Fang protecting Phum at all costs. We see Tan approach Phum most of the time and while some of that is angling to get to Fang, Tan does genuinely care. But Tan is also incredibly loud which seems to be a lot for our neurospicy Phum, and Tan also has his large found family with Peem. Same with Toey, who Phum and Fang adopted long ago, and clearly Phum adores him, but he’s also the little brother of the art faculty.

And Peem is a very loving and giving soul and he makes time and space for Phum even though he’s annoying and high handed and gets Phum out of his ruts and comfort zones. And Phum clearly wants Peem to choose him, because Phum has already chosen even if he hasn’t said “I like you and want to date you.” He’s said other very direct things about how safe he feels with Peem and how connected he feels to other people by hanging out with Peem. And Peem is this safe space for him to go out and connect with the world without it being overwhelming and he even feels more connected to his own friends.

And that’s the danger that Kluen represents and what Phum struggles with. He wants Peem to choose him, but he also doesn’t want to force Peem to make a choice and not choose him, and then lose out on the experiences he’s building with Peem as well as a break in some of the connections he has with the people closest to him as Fang and Toey find love within Peem’s group. And so again, the question comes around, is it better to stay in this limbo where no one says anything and maybe Peem dates Kluen but I get to keep him as a friend, or do I roll the dice like Tan and maybe win.

I think it’s been a hard thread to pull because without the context of Tan & Fang meeting first, and Phum and Peem mending their relationship to become something akin to friends who kiss sometimes and don’t talk about it, and the lingering feelings of betrayal for Q by his friends (where they learned about his largest secret/mystery and NO ONE TOLD HIM) which are later revelations in the course of the show, they feel like different types of love stories without the mess of friendship blurring the lines. The story feels linear, because we start in a school year with the meeting of Phum and Peem, the connections between the other characters are older than this year, leaving some of their stories in media res.

And it’s an interesting core struggle taking a risk when the line between who you’re friends with, who you depend on, and who you’re attracted to blurs and the potential for rifts in your safety net are everywhere. It’s not the first show with this as a central tangle nor is it specific to queer television. But the reality of the deep ties that can exist within queer friendships and how they form deep supportive communities makes the stakes higher. And that’s why the friendships are developed nearly as much if not more than some of the romances. That’s where a lot of the risk lies for these characters.

Anyway, that’s nearly 3K of thoughts I didn’t know I had in me about We Are until today. But here we are.

#we are the series #we are series #we are #phumpeem #qtoey #tanfang #chainpun #thai bl #thai ql #gmmtv #gmmtv 2024 #we are meta #we are the series meta #queer media meta #doublel27 talks #doublel27 meta #I know I rambled here #sorry if it’s not coherent

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pandasmagorica · 25 days

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GMMTV has a new QL trope and I am not a happy camper

With the last few series I've watched or partly watched on GMMTV, it would seem there is a new trope. I'm not certain it's a new trope, but I searched @absolutebl for trope posts for at least half an hour and didn't find it, so I don't think I'm totally off about this.

I'm calling it emotional punching bag. Instead of seme/uke representing chaser/chased, it represents emotional aggressor/victim.

The general pattern is this:

Character A gets angry at character B over a real or imagined slight.

A claims to be the victim.

A is unaware (or pretends to be) of any contribution A made to this issue.

B apologizes, whether or not B contributed to the problem.

A never apologizes and never acknowledges their part in the problem.

The problem gets papered over (if they get back together) or never gets resolved (if they don't).

I think it started with Only Friends. Boston (B) gets set up by Atom (A) and is made to be the villian. The truth is revealed. Boston apologizes for his other behavior in the series but nobody apologizes to Boston for him having been set up. Never gets resolved.

Then there's Last Twilight. Mork (B) tries to engage in self-care and Day (A) makes it all about Day and breaks up with Mork. The problem gets papered over when, plot hole, Day wanders through a hotel lobby without the cane he got so he could be more independent and which we never see again, and Mork steps in and helps him, and then they get together and Day gets his eyesight back at the same time with no real narrative resolution. Mork gets back together with Day.

And now we have 23.5. Sun (A) outs Ongsa (B) to Ongsa's parents. Ongsa objects. Sun storms off. Ongsa seeks out Sun and apologizes. Sun breaks up with Ongsa. Ongsa again seeks out Sun and apologizes.

At this point (partway through episode 11, segment 2) I paused the series. I have not intention of going back unless I get word from you Tumblerites that Sun acknowledges her role in all the trouble and apologizes to Ongsa. If they get back together without Sun doing the emotional and reparation work I want no part of it.

And I'm worried. Do I need to wait and binge the rest of Wandee Goodday, which I, as of two episodes, absolutely adore? And this is a boxing series. Is Wandee going to become a literal punching bag?

Do I need to never watch another GMMTV QL series week by week again? Do I have to wait for an all-clear and then binge?

GMMTV, please get your ending act together, I beg of you.

#yaoi #yuri #thai ql #taig gl #thai bl #thai bli meta #thai gl meta #thai ql meta #23.5 meta #ofts meta #last twilight meta #pandasmagorica #bl tropes #ql tropes #gl tropes #wandee goodday meta #gmmtv

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heretherebedork · 1 year

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I really love how Between Us managed to use 'consent is sexy', 'actors deserve personal lives', 'homophobia is shitty', 'don't catfish people' (or, don't lie to protect people when the truth coming out will hurt more) and 'let yourself be yourself to be loved' be their central themes for all their couples and somehow made it amazing.

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waitmyturtles · 7 months

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Your post about your upcoming Bad Buddy meta got me thinking about Bad Buddy (again), and I remembered one particular thing that had an impact. Apologies if this is long and rather incoherent, I wrote this past midnight.

In the final episode, the part where we see Ming and Dissaya turn a blind eye to Pat Pran's shenanigans really struck a chord with me.

[I'm an Indian, born and raised, and queer, but it's well worth mentioning that my experiences are not universal- in fact, they may be the exception rather than the rule; I'm not quite sure.]

What it reminded me of was, that asian parents tend to come around eventually- in particular mothers. We've seen time and time again in series' that deal with difficult/not accepting family members; Bad Buddy, GAP, Wedding Plan, maybe even Double Savage (haven't watched this one but I believe the dad feels bad in the end?), that even if the parental figure(s) doesn't agree with their children's choices, they learn to compromise. Because the difference in opinions isn't worth losing their children over. Obviously, for every parental figure that comes around there's one that the children cut ties with (Wedding Plan remains a good example), but I think it's something worth seeing.

It made me think of how I was never scared of coming out to my mother, because I knew that, despite the difference in views, and her prejudice, she'd accept me, no matter whether she thought it was a phase or not.

Do I know what the point of this ask is? Not really, I was rather nervous sending this ask, especially not on anon, but I'd love to know what you think of this, since I've come to really enjoy reading the thoughts you have on these shows.

Ohhhh, wow. @starryalpacasstuff, come 'ere for a big mom hug! HUGE HUGS!

I'm gonna unwind a little randomly; I hope this is coherent. A ton of what I write about on my blog vis à vis Asian dramas are the unique characteristics of Asian families and an Asian upbringing. Parental conditional love, competitiveness, our unique experiences with intergenerational trauma. I write a lot about how Asians, in our cultural expectations of life, accept pain and suffering as an assumed part of our existences. The reason why I watch Asian dramas exclusively is that, as I'm Asian-American, I just connect far more easily to the Asian cultural experience of growing from a child into an Asian adult, than I do the experience of white Western folks growing into their adulthood. I grew up intimately with Asian cultural practices and expectations; but I also grew up with racism in my external American world, and came to my adulthood in a society that still values white Americans above all other demographics.

But one thing I'm cognizant of, that I don't think I write about enough, is that many of these characteristics of the Asian cultural scopes of life are indeed similar to those that a fully American person (for example) might experience. It's not like intergenerational trauma doesn't exist in the West. It's not like homophobia in families against a child doesn't exist in the West.

However. As an Asian-American, one thing I note about many (not all, of course) Western families and family systems is that very often: Western adults will give up their agency to be loyal to what I might call a "higher power" -- a philosophy, a political preference, a religion. If a queer person wants to come out in a conservative American family, that queer person may very well be risking cutting permanent ties with their family.

That, of course, also happens in our Asian family systems. But I think you're onto something, @starryalpacasstuff. While divorce rates are sky-high in the West -- there is also a paradigm of family systems being and looking different in the West than they do in Asia. Asian family systems still don't accommodate for divorce and blended or chosen families as they do in the West.

The Asian family systems and paradigms that you and I grew up with as Indians absolutely still value a heterosexual two-parent household -- and I'd posit that our past generations, our grandparents and great-grandparents, put HUGE, HUGE pressure on our parents to keep the two-parent family systems together and whole. And to keep the children close. It's a huge value in our Asian cultures to have whole and complete families. The West has become far more accommodating, culturally, on this issue.

And, so. I totally agree with you, @starryalpacasstuff. I think we do see the beginning of a coming-around on the parts of Ming and Dissaya. And that coming-around is certainly something we can relate to. Our parents will likely accept us for our differences. I fucked a lot of shit up with my folks when I decided to live independently of their desires -- and I don't think things really healed (and I still carry tremendous traumatic baggage) until after I had my own kids, and expanded all of our families. Because in the end, the value in our Asian cultures is that keeping the family complete and close still matters more than any one's individual biases or desires.

Ming and Dissaya are remarkably traumatized people. Ming was traumatized by the expectations of his father. He screwed Dissaya over, and literally handed his trauma to Pat on a silver platter, for Pat to embody for most of his life. And Pat flipped that platter over in his father's face and ran away. Ming, at the end of the series, is passive-aggressive with Pat, despite Pat's efforts to try to work with him. And yet -- Ming still sips Pran's scotch.

To your point -- does time heal everything? I'm not so sure in the West, with the Western predilection for Christian/Puritanical/conservative values to supersede reasonable family resolutions. But I think, because of the value that Asian systems put on having complete families, that you are right -- that there may be more room in Asian family systems for eventual acceptance of a child's "differences," despite us living in collectivist societies. This is definitely not an absolute. There are environments in which it's still dangerous to come out. But the value that Asians put on family does indeed give us a tiny bit of comfort that our cultures can move the needle on acceptance in different ways over time.

#thank you for the ask!#the father in double savage does indeed come around #there's so much to think about here #and it's hard to talk in generalities #but i really think it's important that asian dramas about queer experiences show all facets of acceptance and rejection by asian parents #like i appreciated seeing the discriminating father in i feel you linger in the air #because back in that time discrimination was far more common #i think acceptance is growing and growing across asia #we still have conservative asian societies #but as our parents become more familiar with minority demographics #and as WE have our children and teach them about equity #over time #certainly the needle of acceptance will be moved #asian family systems #asian family systems in BLs #asian family systems in QLs #bad buddy #bad buddy meta #bad buddy the series #bad buddy the series meta

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evaristelonely · 7 months

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As a person who didn't like the ending of Only Friends, I'm frankly astonished by people calling it 'not authentically queer'. Like guys, the story is literally based on how Ninew's relationships with his ex played out in college; I don't know how much more authentic you can get.

Is it satisfying at the end? I would say no, it isn't. I guess that's how life is, our actual lives don't always communicate any sort of grand message. Sometimes life is just the way it is, people are horrible and you don't know why exactly because you can't actually get in their heads.

The only thing that stands apart forn everything else are Sand and Ray's relationships. They both are completely fictional, so their story ends up being the one that is wrapped nicely, the one full of the most joy and hope.

#only friends #only friends the series #gmmtv #ofts #only friends meta #thai ql

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hallowpen · 3 months

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This is not meant as a call out post or to single anyone out in particular. It's more of a plea of sorts...

If you are not Thai or if you've never lived in Thailand, please do not make generalized assumptions about our country or our culture. And if you have reached out to speak with someone who is Thai in order to back up your statements please please please remember: like a lot of places, we are a diverse community and one person's lived experience does not hold true for all of us.

There is just a lot of meta/commentary going around, in reference to opinions about the content of Thai QL series, that has me concerned. Just please be mindful of how you word things and be clear about the perspective it is being written from. That's all.

Thank you ❤️❤️❤️

#thailand #thai bl #thai gl #thai media #thai ql meta #thai culture #koda vents #...sort of

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ineffable-opinions · 18 days

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Danmei tropes in My Stand-In

This is a quick introduction to some popular BL tropes that are fairly new to live-action BL:

wife chasing crematorium

substitute lover

transmigration

(Contains spoilers)

All corrections and critiques are welcome.

As you probably know My Stand-In is based on the danmei novel Professional Body Double. Specifically, it belongs to 188男团 (“188 group” where 188 cm is the height of every gong (seme) in the novel series). It is a shared universe of novels with characters from one featuring in another and almost all gong are very scummy (or “red-flag” so to speak) initially.

Trope #1: wife chasing crematorium

What 188 group novels all have in common is the trope popularly known among English-speaking fandom as “wife chasing crematorium”. This is a super-popular trope, not only in danmei.

origin 追妻火葬场 (zhuī qī huǒzàng chǎng; chasing his wife’s crematorium) derived from the longer phrase 傲娇一时爽，追妻火葬场 (àojiāo yīshí shuǎng, zhuī qī huǒzàng chǎng; Tsundere was on his high horse for a while, now chasing his wife’s crematorium.) Alternative form: 追夫火葬场 (zhuī fū huǒzàng chǎng; chasing husband’s crematorium) – usually involves scum shou (uke) chasing after his gong (seme) after initially abusing gong’s love.

The trope involves the love interest being initially cold or even cruel to the protagonist who is in love. This continues until all of that love gone. By then, the love interest would have come to his senses, eager to seek forgiveness and chase after the protagonist. In some cases, the love is already lost irrevocably, especially when the protagonist is dead – hence, literal crematorium. There are also works where the love interest is discarded all together and protagonist moves on to someone else. Rarely, there are works where the protagonist is the scum.

In 188 group novels, this is how the basic structure of wife chasing crematorium:

Shou loves gong. Gong treats shou terribly.

Gong goes too far. Shou is fed-up and leaves gong, one way or other. Gong realises that he has been in love all along.

Gong regrets his action and chases after shou. Grovelling ensues.

Gong and shou gets back together. Gong dotes on shou and the couple face other challenges (family, villains) together, if any. Happy ending.

Fans are in it for the melodrama. They want to watch scummy gong to go too far, the relationship to break down and for the gong to grovel and make amends through various selfless deeds, until they reestablish the relationship and trust (as much as possible). Every one of those stories end with a happy ending with the gong endlessly doting on shou and the relationship having turned wholesome.

Trope #2: substitute lover

Other than the previous trope Professional Body Double and its adaptation My Stand-In involves the “substitute lover” trope.

Substitute lover trope involves, usually the gong, having a 白月光 (white moonlight): a person whom he loves a lot but can’t reach/touch. This is usually his first love and has a profound impact on him.

Aside: White moonlight in itself is a common trope. Both Vip Only and Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun used white moonlight trope to in a typical kishōtenketsu narrative structure.

Since white moonlight is unattainable, gong finds a substitute lover.

The relationship between gong and substitute lover is usually just physical. This is because gong doesn’t plan to move on from white moonlight, instead stubbornly carries the torch. Gong doesn’t plan on betraying the pure feeling he have for his white moonlight by giving any of his love to anyone else. So, he tries to ensure that no love leaks out of the dam he has built to store his love for the white moonlight. This is, from gong’s POV, a kind of emotional fidelity which he extends to his white moonlight. A tribute of gong’s unshakable love for his white moonlight.

The substitute lover sometimes resembles white moonlight in some way –

in body – first ever live action BL (shonen-ai actually) adaptation Summer Vacation 1999 (1988) based of Hagio Moto’s The Heart of Thomas plays around with this trope, a lot. More recently, Playboyy sorta lampshaded it with the twins premise.

in spirit – a recent example is Love is Better the Second Time Around wherein prof. Takashi sleeps with his assistant Shiraishi Yuto because the assistant (or his desperation at least) reminded him of his white moonlight Miyata Akihiro.

Aside: There is only one live-action BL that actively subverted this trope: HIStory3: Make Our Days Count. The series introduced a doppelgänger of Yu XiGu (Xiang HaoTing’s white moonlight), a perfect candidate for substitute lover trope. But instead of pursuing it, they subverted the trope.

There are usually two outcomes to the substitute lover trope:

gong falls for substitute lover. In some cases, this involves white moonlight turning into rival or villain.

gong and his white moonlight get together. In this case, substitute lover turn into rival or get a lover of his own.

Itsuka no Kimi e, first ever live-action adaptation of a yaoi manga, employed substitute lover trope in one of its best executions. It is so brilliantly done that I can’t think of anything topping that, unless 4th volume (particularly the case-solving plot involving the photography club) of Takumi-kun series gets live action adaptation.

Trope #3: transmigration

Basic premise of Professional Body Double and its adaptation My Stand-In revolves around transmigration of soul.

This too is a popular trope in BL. One of the most popular danmei Mo Dao Zu Shi and its adaptation The Untamed involves this trope.

Maybe I should say set-up instead of trope for this one. Transmigration involves soul of a character getting transferred to a body different from his own at the time of triggering event.

Own body, different time – either past or future. When past is involved, it is likely a do-over story where the protagonist gets to redo their life, change their love interest, make different life choices, take different course of action, etc.

Reincarnation – completely different lifetime but with retained memories of past-life/lives. Until We Meet Again; Choco Milk Shake (different lifetime for the pets)

Different body, present (near-present) time – character’s soul enters a different person’s body. The character gets involved in his previous circumstances but now in a different capacity. Revive (2016), that danmei adaptation no one ever talks about, went to town with this set-up.

Different body, different life – soul enters character in a book, game, simulation, etc. and would be primarily tasked to thrive there. One Room Angel (2023) explored a type of badro with this set-up.

With transmigration set-up, it is common to have one of these two:

Transmigrator retaining some connection to previous life.

Transmigrator’s previous life doesn’t matter anymore.

These Tropes in My Stand-In

These tropes are explored to varying degrees and with different levels of efficiency in Professional Body Double. In its live-action adaptation, there are a bunch of limitations. Primary one being the cultural difference – audience of a danmei novel are already familiar with these tropes to some extend but the live-action audience is one which has been primarily consuming sweet BL from Thailand that are inherently deficient in BL literacies.

Another is the khujin problem. Branded pairs are very important to Thai BL industry, so they cannot have two different actors playing before and after transmigration. (Actually, this was not impossible but there hasn’t been any precedent. Also, The Untamed enjoyed success by having Xiao Zhan play pre- and post-transmigration Wei WuXian. I wish they tried two khujin (UpPoom & UpWinner) one couple, since they chose to introduce Winner as pre-transmigration Joe. I don’t know, maybe that’s asking for fan wars and pitting actors against each other.) [In the tags, @deliriousblue reflects on what having two different actors could do with example from Cupid's Last Wish (a series I haven't watched) and its impact on audience on an emotional level. @myezblog has commented that Alchemy of Souls (another I haven't watched) is an excellent example of transmigration played two different actors.]

Third limitation is one that comes from medium – you can’t have long monologues in live-action. This deprives audience of the inner workings of character’s minds. Most of the motives, especially Ming’s trouble with warring desires of his heart, is inaccessible to the audience. @clairedaring have posted a deep-dive by Liltsu into some of that here.

Aside: Another interesting trope is giving watch (a taboo gift) – Chinese superstition rising from 送钟 (gifting watch) and 送终 (to bury the dead/attend funeral) being homophones. Taboo gift trope - white lilies associated with death and funerals - have appeared in Summer Vacation 1999 (1988) and Forbidden Love; both of these have substitute lover and death.

Ming’s characterization as a young master, coming from money and prestige that breeds arrogance and deficient in empathy (this post by @tungtung-thanawat is particularly enlightening) is a highlight of his cruelty as a 188 group gong.

While redemption of scum gong is what 188 group offers its audience, it is not necessarily what live-action audience would be wanting from the set-up. It is likely that a part of the audience was in fact looking for revenge plot.

As @lurkingshan highlighted in this post there is no exploration of identity (tied to Joe’s body pre- and post-transmigration) forth-coming precisely because this isn’t that kind of story and body is only treated as a temporary shelter for the soul for most part when transmigration trope is involved. Moreover, the novel is steeped in Confucian values. So, most of the resolution to what it means for Joe to have a mother now is dealt through his selfless gratitude and the filial piety he offers her.

The same is the case with his old body – a proper funeral for that body is what he owes his own parents for having given flesh and blood to the body which housed his soul previously. Remarkably, his own house figures prominently as an inheritance and as an enduring connection to his own parents – a bond more precious to that him than the bond he had to his old body. I am unsure how much of those core Confucian values they will retain in the live-action adaptation, given the cultural difference.

As @befuddledcinnamonroll discusses here, it is tied to cultural ideas of self, religious beliefs, etc.

@bengiyo has pointed out a weakness in execution of the transmigration trope over the substitute lover trope: the latter is a recurring and inverted trope in this series while the former plays out straight. Even though it is clear that coma!Joe is basically friendless and his career already dead (or that he has no career to speak of), it might have been better to hint at a lack of resolution and impending doom, and build anticipation by leaving clues about the troubles that coma!Joe has left behind. That way when the substitute lover trope peaks again, audience would feel as trapped as Joe.

This is where I think Revive (2016) did a better job with friends, colleagues, past-lovers and rivals especially with such similar set-ups: entertainment industry, classism, scum gong, and intersecting lives pre- and post-transmigration.

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starryalpacasstuff · 1 year

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So ever since I joined tumblr and started engaging with the asian bl side of it, I've learned a lot about analyzing the significance of color and objects in media, especially from following blogs like @respectthepetty @dribs-and-drabbles @miscellar and so many more. They're all so awesome and I've learned more from them then I ever did in a literature class.

And to my surprise, I've found myself actually noticing examples in the dramas I watch. While it can be ever so slightly immersion-breaking, most of the time I find myself going, "yeah! I noticed that!".

But there is a minor problem, which is, when I do something, I fully throw myself into it.

So now I'm seeing color and object symbolism in my very real life

#asian bl #asian dramas #asian ql #literary analysis #meta #color symbolism #object symbolism #i came up with symbolism for a pair of eiffel tower keychains i was giving to two ppl the other day #soooo yeah #:)

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visualtaehyun · 10 months

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ทำไมถึงเต็มคิดอะไรลึกซึ้งไม่เป็น = Why are you utterly unable to think profoundly?

me @ myself, trying to order my thoughts about this episode

Disclaimer: I'm still learning Thai so feel free to correct me on anything 🙏

I'll probably make a separate post about the poem since that's pretty far outside of my current Thai abilities lol but I found it was so central to the episode that I wanna take a closer look at it anyway! The book is called ขอบฟ้าขลิบทอง (khawp faa klip tawng) 'gold-trimmed horizon' and this specific poem seems to be named after its first line มิ่งมิตร (ming mit) 'cherished friend(s)'. The author's name is อุชเชนี ประคิณ ชุมสาย ณ อยุธยา (romanizations as shown in the end credits of the episode even though it's not helpful in finding info on her anyway lol). To me, this poem carries the same tone as the entire show, as I think the script/writing emphasizes kindness, empathy, and hope for the future. And มิ่งมิตร (ming mit) also speaks about equality/liberty:

...which brings me all the way to the end of the episode, actually:

This was what stuck with me the most. It's not just that Kawi has no living relatives left, it's that his longterm partner is not legally considered family and thus has no rights concerning Kawi. The implications of not having marriage equality already hit me hard when it came up in Moonlight Chicken but it's truly sad now after the disappointment of the 2023 general elections in Thailand (very briefly: progressive democratic Move Forward party winning the most seats but continuously being blocked from forming a government, their leader Pita Limjaroenrat losing the bid for Prime Minister and even being suspended from being a member of parliament).

I'm not sure what Pisaeng is supposed to have learned or needs to do differently, from what we've been shown. That Pisaeng and Kawi need to join Max in fighting for their rights? That Kawi, like his dad, should see a doctor sooner rather than later? That Kawi can't be giving up everything to be with Pisaeng, considering we never saw him leave the condo for work, friends, hobbies, anything?

We've also got Schrödinger's ace!Kawi, considering Kawi's feelings in that regard didn't get resolved this week plus there being no indication either which way if their relationship in this future had a sexual component or not. Actually, that reminds me- @rocketturtle4 basically predicted this episode in broad strokes last week! I basically spent the entirety of parts 2-4 in a state of slight confusion, waiting for the other shoe to drop or for the clearly-left-out conversation about intimacy we all expected last episode to be shown. Something felt, intentionally, off.

A few last notes:

What were Phong and Daow (aka Pear's dad and Pisaeng's mom) referring to with "messy issue"? The word used was วุ่นวาย (woon waai) which could mean anything from chaotic, to troublesome, to confusing, ... you see my confusion? I'm not sure if we're supposed to take this as the parents knowing about the whole love triangle weirdness or if I simply forgot about an earlier tidbit from Pear and Pisaeng's past as childhood friends. This was a lovely scene btw, the meaning of parenthood and child-parent relationships are portrayed so nicely in this show.

If you've read my post from last week about Pisaeng and Kawi switching to different pronouns and are curious about any changes this week- From the moment we hear the boys talk with each other on Pisaeng's bed after moving in together, they continuously use ผม (pom) / คุณ (khun). Meanwhile the after credit scene (that I'm not sure when to place in this time travel chaos) contained no pronouns at all! In the preview, I heard both of them use them again.

Maybe it's my love for Thai but I felt like "I'm glad you're happy." was a bit of a curt translation for what Pear said to her mom so here's me trying to preserve the sentiment: "แต่ถึงยังไง หนูก็ดีใจนะค่ะ ที่แม่มีความสุข" = But still, I'm happy. Because you're happy./...that you've found happiness. She's my baby angel and I won't hear a single word of criticism about her!!

#be my favorite the series #be my favorite #thai bl #i'm super sleepy so i have a feeling my aimless ramble doesn't say much of anything but at least it's out of my system #gotta wait to read meta until i've had some sleep #local woman harps on about linguistics #ql musings

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bengiyo · 1 year

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My School President Ep 11 Stray Thoughts

We're nearing the end and heading back to the beach.

Last week, we finally faced Hot Wave, but not before saddling Tinn with the responsibility of keeping a health scare away from Gun. Gun finally learned how much Tinn has done for him, and the two are finally looking at each other properly. I still tear up watching the video for Let Me Tell You when I think about the last thing Mrs. Gim might have seen was her son singing his heart out on stage.

I know I said last week that it didn't matter if they won at this point, but this shit hurted. I think about how much of a loser Gun feels like all the time, and he put so much hope into this competition.

Win and Gun haven't gotten into any universities.

Chinzhilla is not okay, and you can feel them tearing at the seams.

Oh, Gun, please talk to Tinn.

Wasn't exactly expecting Por to be the one trying to hold the band together, and it's so sad to see him crying alone.

I'm so relieved that Mrs. Gim is okay and seems like herself. She consistently asks the right things to Gun so he's receptive to more uplifting perspectives.

Oof, Fourth is so dehydrated in this hospital scene. Get some chapstick for my boy.

Tinn remains the best boy. He knows things aren't great for Chinzhilla and so arranges a performance before a friendly crowd, and he was trying to bring a gift for his boyfriend's mom.

I like the design of Tinn's family's home theater setup.

Baby Tinn photos!!

You know Tinn's parents have their shit together. They both have actual pajamas.

I get Photjanee. She can be worried about her son without being a villain. She worries that she wasn't a good mother. She worries that she can't help her son and that be won't forgive her. She cares that she was a good partner to her husband.

At least the show is doing some interesting character work with the band's loss. Win's breakdown is affective, and I like Sound just letting him get the feelings out.

Oh good. They're by the pool. Hopefully we get Gun back on his feet.

It's interesting seeing them okay in the past without Sound, because now it feels like he's missing.

I feel so much for Gun, because he's just a a guy, you know? We see him through Tinn's eyes a lot, but so many other things and people tell Gun that his best isn't enough.

Fourth is a good crier.

"I want to eat you." Listen, Mark Pakin, you have no idea how hard these folks ride on crumbs.

The greatest subversion of a trope ever is future winner of the 2023 NAMGOONG BEST BOY AWARD Tiwson not catching Por before he fell down those stairs.

That's right, Por. Get these boys back to the beach.

I just knew they were gonna cut off the question. I like Photjanee going to see Gun away from school. I like that she seems to be trying to understand Gun more now that she's aware of his importance to Tinn.

Look, y'all, I have never doubted Photjanee, and we're seeing it here. Whatever reservations she has, she's not inflicting them on Tinn. She didn't forbid the trip.

Gun's shirt says TOGETHER FOREVER in a heart shape.

Gosh I love Chinzhilla, but they do seem to always face unforseen troubles.

Did Phat just quote Sam from The Lord of the Rings??? I'm gonna McFuckinLoseIt.

I love playing You Got Ma Back as they make the trek together.

Things were getting tense. Oishii must save us. Everyone drink the BL Juice so we can make it up the mountain.

Gosh Chinzhilla is so dumb together sometimes. Tinn's reactions to them are golden.

A band is a little family, and only family can cut you this deep. And just like that, they also come back together. I just really want them to succeed together.

Of course Tinn went with Gun to get water for them while they rested.

I love these boys so much. Gun just didn't want to let his friends down.

I NEVER ONCE DOUBTED PHOTJANEE. This is how parents should work out their worries for their kids. We talked about this during 21 Days Theory, and here we are again. You talk with the other parent or caregiver, and you make sure that whatever your kid might face, you have their back.

Suddenly Tiwson. You just knew he was gonna show up. Ford Arun, you be careful with those eyes too!

"I want veggies." We know, Fourth.

Oh, Yak. You're such a weirdo, but you care. He remembers them as glowing. I love this show when they tried to sing their seniors home. Now they're singing themselves home. I need to lay down.

Oh my God. I said it felt like Sound was missing, and so they just put him in this song.

And now Tinn is here? Help

They let Tinn and Tiwson be part of the Chinzhilla tribute. I am HOLLERING through my TEARS.

Tinn for him a music box that plays the song he wrote for him. I can't take anymore! I surrender!

Noh Shinwoo would love Tinn.

I swear this show better not deny me like Mr. Unlucky or I will revolt.

FINISH YOUR DRINKS!!!

Okay, Tinn, you're getting smoother.

I believe in Photjanee. This cliffhanger and preview cannot stop me.

#my school president meta #my school president #thai bl #bl series #ql series #Ben watches

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fiercynn · 11 months

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so @manogirl, @inventedfangirling, and @sharingfandoms all tagged me in the thai ql favorites tag game (thanks friends!), and i wasn't sure if i had enough to say about shows other than bad buddy to do it, but i figure you can't ever talk about bbs too much amirite

favorite thai ql: yeah so it's bad buddy, surprise surprise. i watched it all in the course of like 36 hours in february 2022, not long after it had ended, and it has been thoroughly stuck in my soul ever since. i've watched it so many times and in so many pieces that i couldn't even guess at a number. i've posted...uh...200k words of bad buddy fic in the past year and half? the obsession is real. it's just such a perfect mix of antagonistic and silly and tense and sweet and heartbreaking and healing that i keep going back to it over over. i love its narrative arc, and i love its little details, and i love all the ways we get to keep reinterpreting it over and over in fanworks. and i love the people i've met in the fandom, which is really hard to separate from the show! i've made really close and awesome friends here, which seems extremely fitting tbh. so yeah anyway i like that show a lot

favorite pairing: seems obvious given my previous answer, but patpran, followed closely by inkpa! idk i just think they're both neat and extremely in love

most underrated actor: JENNIE PANHAN I NEED HER IN EVERYTHING OKAY

favorite character: parakul siridechawat. he's just so in love you guys, even when (he thinks) it's hopeless. i love a character who pines. my sexuality is pining actually and pran's might be too (jk i love pran for many many many reasons but this is the one i felt like talking about today)

favorite side character: i think it has to be a tie between mae from 3wbf and longtae from a tale of thousand stars...two very different characters! i love mae in all her complexity, her efforts to be good and kind and empathetic that are interrupted by the death of the one person who was good and kind and empathetic towards her, and her search for revenge once he's gone, and then her ultimate realization that she needs to stop the cycle of violence even if it takes one more act of violence herself. meanwhile i love longtae because he is sweet and funny and adorable and such a good friend to literally everyone in pha phun dao and also it's khao, how could i not?

favorite scene in a ql: so if i type the letter "y" in my browser, the first search result is the youtube link to bad buddy episode 5 part 4/4. does that answer your question

favorite line in a ql: i thought i was going to struggle with this one but it came to me instantly: uncle tong from bad buddy saying, "you might think one man can't change the world. but i want you to know that this world can't change someone like me either." have i mentioned i am both queer and work in climate activism for a living

most anticipated ql (& why): 23.5 degrees the series!!!! i was already one million percent there for milklove but the recent confirmation of viewjune is just like the icingest of icing on the cake. i'm so fucking stoked you guys

i'm sorry i'm not going to answer the question on guilty pleasure series because like @manogirl i do not believe in the concept, nor the ones on healthiest vs. toxic relationships because i simply do not feel like it <3

most underrated series: hmm, most of the thai ql series i've seen are too well-known/watched to count for this. like would we call gap the series underrated? probably not, right? maybe...triage? but i personally felt like triage got pretty uneven in the second half...idk this is the problem with having mostly stuck to gmmtv huh

i really have not kept good track of who has done this meme already so ummmm @citystoryscapes @mahuhumaling @melto @mousieta @incandescentflower @galauvant @dancing-out-in-space

#thai ql #bad buddy #bad buddy meta #3 will be free #a tale of thousand stars #23.5 degrees #bad buddy episode 5 part 4/4 #knowing meme knowing you

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