#WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY SIWAJ SAWATMANEEKUL (NEW)

[bl-bam-beyond]

A LOOK BACK at Ae & Pete

LOVE BY CHANCE (2018, THAILAND)

This was my first experience with original creator MAME and I adored her because I loved this story (meaning Ae and Pete and even Tin and Can)

I loved that Ae (TANAPON SUKUMPANTANASAN aka PERTH) hadn't really thought about his sexuality so the presumption was he was a heterosexual and then he met the timid heart of gold Pete (SUPPAPONG UDOMKAEWKANJANA aka SAINT) by running into him with his bike and a seed was planted.

From that moment on Ae was in Pete's universe and vice versa beginning with Ae helping Pete with disgusting bully Trump.

In the sequel (for lack of better word) I learned MAME herself wrote it deciding to retell the Tin and Can as the lead couple since due to behind the scenes issues between the managers of Saint and Perth, Saint was not asked back for the "sequel" what I didn't know is though Love By Chance is based on a novel called My Accidental Love Is You by MAME the series screenplay was written by NEW who also directed.

Love By Chance 2: A Chance To Love was directed by NEW but written by MAME.

Anyone who watched these series knows that Tin and Can were brought together because of Ae and Pete's relationship as Tin was a snob that looked down on Pete and Ae's relationship and as such he had several run in with Can and they develop a instant hate for one another until one day Tin kissed Can and turned Can's world upside down.

Without Pete, MAME decided to have Tin and Can meet randomly on the campus as if the Pete component didn't exist anymore all the while Tin and Can were starting at zero. Ae, Pond and some newbie were in a parallel storyline where Pete left Ae and Ae became a sniveling idiot about losing Pete. It was like two different series that barely had anything to do with one another. I hated Love By Chance 2: A Chance To Love so much.

I will always love this BL. Then came the unsequel sequel. Love By Chance: A Chance To Love so began my love to hate with MAME.

But I always loved PerthSaint and AE & PETE

@pose4photoml @lutawolf

[forkaround]

Since I've already collected this for a reddit argument (they said "You saw a handful of gay men get some praise..." and I was like babe, get a reality check) let me just paste it here:

2gether - Director: Champ Weerachit Thongjila (M) ScreenWriter: Pratchaya Thavornthummarut (M), Bee Pongsate Lucksameepong (M)

Vice Versa - Director: X Nuttapong Mongkolsawas (M) SW: Pratchaya Thavornthummarut (M), Bee Pongsate Lucksameepong (M), Nichakorn Pairachwatin (F)

Theory of Love - Director: X Nuttapong Mongkolsawas (M) SW: Pratchaya Thavornthummarut (M), Bee Pongsate Lucksameepong (M), Au Kornprom Niyomsil (M)

Fish Upon the Sky - Director: Golf Sakon Wongsinwiset (M) SW: Pong Pattarawalai Wongsinwises (F), Noolek Sureechay Kaewses (F), M Rittikrai Kanjanawiphu (M)

Be My Favorite - Director: Waa Waasuthep Ketpetch (M), SW: Issaraporn Kuntisuk (M)

Manner of Death - Director: Ma-Deaw Chookiat Sakveerakul (M), Aum Natthaphong Aroonnet (M) SW: Title Nirattisai Ratphithak (M)

Triage - Director: Ma-Deaw Chookiat Sakveerakul (M), SW: Aum Natthaphong Aroonnet (M)

Bad Buddy - Director: Aof Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon (M) SW: Bee Pongsate Lucksameepong (M) Pratchaya Thavornthummarut (M) Best Kittisak Kongka (M)

My Only 12% - Director: New Siwaj Sawatmaneekul (M) SW: Not mentioned

Yes, Not Me is directed and written by women. 2 Women and 1 Men, to be specific.

Kinnporsche is directed by a man and a woman and SW is a man.

So yeah, a 'handful' of men make BL. You are 100% correct.

"But the originals are by women" - So? It makes no difference. It doesn't make any difference all over the world who the OG writer is. Because the show/movie is a thing on it's own. And even if you add them, that is still a majority of men making BLs.

I know this isn't a popular opinion. I personally found out about it very recently. I'd totally bought into the BL is made by women idea. But it's factually not. You can look up any BL and statistically you will find more male crew than female. And not all of them are gay like JoJo and P'Aof. Nor do I believe queer media can or should only be made by queer people. Just like I don't believe that male targeted media can only be made by men or female media can only be made by women.

Sure only a handful of Queer men are making BL. Then why isn't anyone going after the cishet men who make BL? Everyone is going after a woman. It's not sexism because they don't talk about what I like. It's sexism because it's sexism. And don't say - but they could be closeted. So could MAME.

Anyone else notice that the only female screenwriter/director that's also a 'household' name is loathed for her work when the same tropes/situations in other BLs, by male screenwriters/directors are not? I'm talking about MAME. (who else?)

Pan BL fandom she is hated no matter what and she is the only BL writer (OG and Screen) that's treated like this. She is a very good writer. I've seen people complain about the plot but she is very much not a plot writer, she is a character writer and her characters are brilliantly crafted. They don't fall into pure moralities. They are complex. Human. She makes brilliant shows. She knows the foundations of writing very well. Not a single one of her shows has fizzled out at the end like most of GMMTV and many other companies/writers work. She started a business by herself to tell the stories she feels compelled to tell. She doesn't stick to a 'formula' (12 episodes, 11th episode breakup, etc.). Each story is told in a format that suits the story being told. Hell I'm sure she saw the DSN reviews about the second half not being as good and came up with the LITA formula (which, imo, is genius). I believe Wedding Plan is one of very few proper QLs where the female characters are crafted/given screen time equally to the male characters for the story being told. (Looking at you Bad Buddy, would it hurt you to have more InkPa?)

And despite all this she is, first of all, the only female 'household' name in BL and, also the most hated. People talk about her like spiting venom. The fandom picks apart her work in the most bad faith way possible just because it's a MAME product. Somehow it's fetishization only when she does it. The same story, the same tropes/plot line, the same SA under a male writer or director's name isn't scrutinized the way it's under MAME. If a man does it, it's a realistic queer experience. But it's the same thing. So I'm wondering why people hate when she does it but not when they do it? Especially since most of BL is written and directed by MEN! (Anyone going BL is for-by women really needs to look up who is writing and directing 90% of BLs in Thailand. Japan has the opposite stats, it's mostly made by women, that is as much as I could find.)

I believe Thai people love her (from what I've heard) and this is a everyone else thing. Foreigners hate her for some reason.

As a writer myself the mentality of the English speaking fandom I encounter on the internet is very concerning. Purity is very important to these fans. That's why they opt for the most tame BLs, all from GMMTV. And when some character does something slightly bad the fandom has to justify it with something. Take Only Friends for example, they are making these 20 smts into Korn TPKL level masterminds to justify liking or hating a character. Or fans would justify a characters bad behavior as them having been abused at home like Tantai from Laws of Attraction. As if that's an excuse. (explanation, yes. Excuse, no).

Purity has no place in art. Art isn't pure. Art is messy. It can't be anything else.