#BLs that are about narrative

[absolutebl]

best bls with external conflict (conflict outside the relationship)?

Hum, this one kind of answers this but it's not been updated in a while:

BLs With The Best External Conflict  

Until We Meet Again (Thailand) - will probably always top this list. It’s a perfectly executed story, fantastic well seeded plot twists, and the only BL I would love to see adapted by other countries or read professionally translated. There is a lot of internal strife but the conflict is the result of the sins of the past, so I think it counts.

Color Rush (Korea) - I lost my mind over the allegory and the perfection of the story to the point of forgiving it certain other sins in stiffness and low heat. The world-building is too simple for it to play well to a SF/F genre only audience but it’s absolutely groundbreaking for BL. (Color Rush 2 continues the story and while I don’t like it as a BL, and the plot is somewhat typical, it’s still better than most.) 

He’s Coming to Me (Thailand) - such a clever take on both paranormal romance and the cohabitation trope, what I love about this is how closely the story and the supernatural conceits are married to each other. Basically boy and ghost move in together, fall in love while they investigate murder. 

HIStory 3: Trapped (Taiwan) - Taiwan often struggles with story structure but Trapped is different. It has a baby murder investigation that promotes conflict between the leads, so the romantic tension is between plot and character, it’s so clever.

Long Time No See (Korea) - Catfishing assassins on either side of a turf war who fall in love not knowing they are on opposite sides. Or do they? Good fight sequences, mature characters, high heat, very suspenseful, AND an HEA. If you like KinnPorsche you will LOVE this one.

Bad Buddy (Thailand) - This was GMMTV’s flagship BL and it started 2022 on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Romeo masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. The conflict is all family and friend pressure, some of which is overworked, but it has great production values, killer acting, and some conscious effort to correct for half a decade of Thai BL’s anti-queer mistakes. Full review.

Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korea) - this has a 12th Night meets Cinderfella feel to it, plus some great story tricks like a plot that requires a historical setting (I love it when narrative elements are codependent).

Triage (Thailand) - a “correct the past” Groundhog Day story, that has narrative baggage I normally do not like but is so clever about time loops, I have to forgive it my own hang-ups. About a doctor who must save a boy to fix reality, but not in the usual way. 

Not Me (Thailand) - GMMTV gave us a dark disestablishment narrative (in a time of civil unrest) with established queer award-winning director Anucha and starring the biggest guns of BL, OffGun and IT WAS AN AMAZING THING to get to experience at the time - nerve racking but remarkable. But was it ACTUALLY BL? It certainly has a lot of BL elements, but in the end romance was not what this show was about, or even what it was genuinely trying to be as a performance piece. Still a special moment in Thai cinema, certainly worth your time. Don’t worry, it all ends happily. Full review.

The Eclipse (Thailand) - GMMTV does gay Blacklist with a good boy/bad boy pairing. Starred First & Khaotung plus the side dish pair from FUTS NeoLouis. This is a good show but the cast was excellent and the leads were absolutely flawless elivating it beyond good. They gave us a nuanced and multifaceted burgeoning relationship: philosophical (and socio-political) conflict contrasted to moments of empathy; flirtation contrasted to moments of genuine affection. This narrative is less about love than it is about courage and tenderness. However, near the end the pacing was off and the plot frustrating. Still, this is an enjoyable watch, with an finale that features verbal consent and a funny blooper reel.

Others to try

You Make Me Dance

Manner of Death

Tinted With You

3 Will Be Free

Great Men Academy

[pharawee]

Winner Tanatat Kunaneksin as JOE —MY STAND-IN · Episode 12 (fin)

[nabi-unveiled]

Cir: What if I told you that you will like me more than cardigans?

Phu: That's not possible.

[fanfictionroxs]

Keen, Fadel and Bison - Doomed Siblings

Fadel saying him and Bison never cared about Keen makes me think of how the two were probably resentful of Keen getting to stay behind the scenes. It's such a horrible situation and it was bound to tear apart these three brothers. On one side, you have Keen who hates that his mother considers him less talented than his brothers, but on the other side, you have Fadel and Bison who hate being turned into murderers while one brother gets to enjoy the 'cushy' job. The dictomy of it all. Fadel and Bison would have happily taken Keen's place and Keen their's.

Lilly would have taken advantage of the brewing resentment and distance between the three brothers because that's exactly how parents control you - by manufacturing divide among siblings, starving some of them of all affection and giving crumbs of affection to the other ones while also destroying their life. But while Fadel and Bison formed their own unit and brought some love and warmth to each other, Keen was left isolated from all sides because Lilly always kept moving the goalpost of her love. Keen would never be good enough so he keeps starving and running after the carrot he will never get, but Fadel and Bison tasted that carrot and want nothing to do with it.

[lurkingshan]

Starting to think fast track release is an intentional tactic shows use when they know the end of their story makes no sense and just want to move on.

[teatitty]

"Kakashi would run his AO3 account like the navy" wrong Kakashi is an old hand at fandom who had to exclusively get his fics and art in the mail via fanzines and letters and meeting up at secret bookclubs with giggling ladies!!!!

[starryalpacasstuff]

Day and Mhok; Mee and Light

We all knew that episode six was going to be an intense one, but wow, did it go above and beyond. Putting aside everything else (for now), the scene towards the end where they're in the car prompted me to look back at some of the moments where the book is being narrated in the background of the show.

She only stayed inside her room and refused to meet anyone. One day, Mee couldn't stand her loneliness anymore. She decided to step outside her house.

In that split second, Mee didn't realize that stepping outside of her dark room into the sunlight could gradually make her fading body feel tangible again

The fear she had eventually disappeared. She was back to being the same person who used to play happily with her friends

As the last light went out, she went back to being invisible.

A ray of sunlight from the next day recreated Mee's shadow. In that split second, Mee realized that the only way to break the curse was to keep chasing after the sunlight

The parallels between Day and Mee's stories are obvious, they're shown to us as both stories simultaneously progress. And, Mhok fits into this as well. Mhok is the sunlight to Day's Mee. Similarly, Mee's tangiblity is a parallel to Day reclaiming his old life; her curse his isolation.

Throughout the series so far, it's been made immensely clear that Mhok brings light into Day's life.

By just the second episode, we see the difference that Mhok makes to Day's room by simply being present. And, you can often see him drawing the curtains apart like so.

He is, literally and figuratively letting light into Day's life.

Mee cannot be tangible without light. Day cannot reclaim his life without Mhok. This episode, and the ones that preceeded it, have shown that Mhok is helping Day regain bits of himself one by one. But, it tends to come crashing down when Mhok isn't present. The scene in the bathroom at the bar showed this, and episode 6 just drove the point home.

When Mhok is there, Day feels tangible. He feels like he can overcome his struggles, because he has someone beside him who will support him with everything, and never pity him. When Mhok is gone, Day falls apart, loses the control over his life that the two of them have fought so hard to give him. And I think this is something really interesting to be navigated further into the show.

[heretherebedork]

The fact that Nick leaves Boston and then just vanishes entirely from the narrative is just so jarring. He's gone. Boston is in a picture he sends to his former friends and all of them are there to stare at a new guest like they've never seen a pretty boy before but Nick is just... gone. Nick never had a past and he doesn't have a future and most of his present was to show that Boston couldn't keep any relationship safe no matter how much he cared or didn't care and then Nick walked out of Boston's life and out of the show without leaving anything behind with the people we saw again, no sign of him, just gone like that, like he never was at all in his their lives and that hurts.

[kiisaes]

every now and again i reread "always raining here" and get so got dam emotional !!! FUCK !!! that's my EMOTIONAL SUPPORT BL WEBCOMIC RIGHT THERE !!!!!!!!

CHECK IT OUT AND SUPPORT THE CREATORS IF U FEEL INCLINED

[danmeichael]

both ad lib lovers and the summer hikaru died to something really interesting wherein they take typical genre conventions and set-ups of BL and place them into a genre other than romance, while still portraying the romantic undertones. where the summer hikaru died does this with horror, ad lib lovers does this with comedy.

as opposed to hikaru's focus on horror, in ad lib lovers, jealousy, desire, and a fear of inadequacy and loving someone more than they love you is portrayed through the lens of improv. this accurately depicts that having a crush on someone as an adult is humiliating.

[obstinaterixatrix]

the vast canyon of difference between seeing a female character in an m/f and weeping and wailing and frothing at the mouth because she would be SO good for f/f but is trapped in het tax hell. and seeing a male character in an m/f and going like lmao I think he’d be great for m/m. he steps on so many rakes. needs to step on so many more.

[jingyi-ma-boi]

The way that this totally matches half of @curioussatoru interactions with @sugurusasks is gold

You will not believe the things people say on tiktok

support memes or command me to make shitposts on my patreon, link in pinned.

[watchthisqqq]

I’ve been thinking a lot about criticism because of the discourse recently. Which really is all about criticism and how it should be done. Because everyone criticizes, even those that I’ve seen staunchly against voicing criticism, do it untagged or in some other way.

It’s also about what you prioritize and I think the people that are getting the most backlash care the most about narrative (don’t quote me on this just my perception). For me I have come to realize characters are probably the most important and I can forgive a lot as long as the characters are interesting and stay consistent. This might also be because I binge things I’m not sitting with an annoying episode for a week and can move on to the next. I do think if you are much more character focused you might get more attached and therefore more defensive. Though I’m not very attached to actors. (Tay Tawan is my fav but I stopped watching peaceful property)

Personally I see things I disagree with and sometimes I think the person is being harsh but I’m just not offended by it? For the most part I get where people are coming from even if I don't agree. Obviously we have our limits or sensitive points. For me if I see a female character being called a bitch numerous times or being hypercritical of women without the same scrutiny on men. Survivors of abuse also I feel are often misunderstood. I could probably go on.

I think criticism is actually vital in this bl ecosystem. How many posts would there be if you could never say anything bad about a show? That would ruin engagement. Also why can't you want and wish for things? "I wish the show had done this instead" and enough feedback like that can lead to that type of show existing. Criticism is effortful and start of a conversation and not someone spitting at your feet. Sometimes criticism has steered me away from shows but other times it’s oh you don’t like that? I like that I’m going to watch this.

This has also lead me to thinking about how I engage in criticism. I think I have been reactionary when I’ve seen the things I mentioned above which typically does not feel good and I’m not sure how productive that is. I am more likely to write a post when there are strong emotions involved and my previous goal was to post instead of overthinking it. But I want to shift focus.

I really want to work on my praise of shows. I have a difficult time saying anything meaningful about the shows I love and I want to get better at it. In my head it’s always I love it! I love it! what more can I say. I watched this Big joel video where he is reviewing Disney movies for 6 hours. This could have easily been a video about how trash these movies are but his reviews are somehow so compassionate and he tries to find emotional connections to them. The reviews are often humorous and kind. I want to go in that direction. Because in end I do want to make people aware the shows that I care about. But tbh this is a hobby I mostly just want to have fun.

[bunni-bun]

anyway, playboyy is rewiring my brain and it's because i care a lot about sex workers and their safety and circumstances in general and also about the human condition and how sex or lack of plays a part in that

[1stthingsfirst]

2am musings:

how established/couple pairings (CPs) in bl function similarly to ships in fanfiction

both work by allowing the creators to capitalize on an ingrained love for the actors/characters and an understanding of their personalities and interactions. AUs ask us to examine (or play with) how these characters we know would work in a new setting, under new circumstances, relying on a shared understanding of certain fundamental character traits.

both work as shortcuts. you don't have to spell out all the details and you don't have to spend as much time fleshing out the characters because there is an implicit understanding that if you're engaging with the show/fic, you're there because you're already somewhat into the pairing and you like (at least something about) them.

basically, CPs = OTPs

tl;dr: we make assumptions about how the characters will be and act, both in relationship to each other and the core aspects of their personalities. as a creator, you can choose to use these preconceived notions to lean into or to subvert expectations.

[hxperion]

//Man i love the fact that Jack at his core is a cowardly man, he manipulates people into doing work for him and taking the glory at the end. But yet says that he can deal with Lilith, the most powerful siren in existence when it comes down to it. He only deals with her as well as he does because of the siren collar and her recklessness in rushing him and going to Angel's chambers in the first place. That man would get wrecked by Lilith if it wasn't for that//