#and so many BL shows also are subsuming lgbtq+ media references into their works--especially CMBYN and Skam

[maybe-boys-do-love]

So well put @bengiyo! Especially your focus on the audience and their input into defining the genre through their interests! A scholar, Kuzuko Suzuki, interviewed BL writers to try to get a hold on what exactly BL was in an article called, "Yaoi/BL Temrinology and Classifications," and the close participation of the audience was one of the key continuities she and the writers noted, whereas genre conventions really through some of the major authors for a loop even though they participated in them once they knew what was expected at the time.

I think getting so stuck on the genre conventions hampers a lot of conversation and the potential for the genre to experiment and grow. That rigidity also conceals the genre's origins in JUNE stories and the input from new knowledge and audiences about queerness.

New rules and approaches can be adapted without disrupting something's belonging to a genre. We don't, for example, deny most romance stories from belonging to that classification despite their lack of a marriage at the end, a plot that was the original expectation in that genre.

In fact, I'd say that the romance genre sits within a bigger grouping that aligns better with the audience's current use of the "BL" label: Chick-lit (Chick-flicks, for cinema). Women's media, if we wanna be less pejorative, is defined less by conventions than the Romance genre (or genres in general) and much more clearly defined by its main subjects--women--and intended audience--people interested in women's stories. Some would say women are the intended audience but the category would not be what it is without queer men's consumption and participation.

You have plenty of romance and romantic-comedies within the Chick-Flick genre, but you also have... Tragedies (The Notebook, Terms of Endearment, One Day) Friendship films (The Women, Thelma & Louise, Waiting to Exhale) Coming-of-age (Clueless, Legally Blonde, Now & Then) Sports (A League of Their Own, Love & Basketball, Bend It Like Beckham)

You'll also see plenty of more distant genres explored under this header, although I'd add the caveat that, unless its full-on romance, films that mash-up with other genres usually have an element of comedy or lightness to keep it within the chick-flick realm--Jennifer's Body and The Craft can be considered horror chick-flicks while The VVitch or The Descent, despite their female focus and feminist themes, cannot. The ages range, the number of main characters shift, and the emphasis on romance varies, but the focus on girlhood and womanhood is consistent.

TLDR: I think it's correct to say rather than its former use to dictate certain generic tropes and beat requirements like strictly happy endings, fans currently use "BL" as a term to define media intended for an audience of people interested in stories that positively center boys loving boys and men loving men. How the creators choose to 'positively center' them has changed throughout the genre's history and continues to be explored.

The people on here getting mad about one couple getting too much screen time or another not doing enough in 4Minutes are the same to me as the booktok people who can’t read anything without romance. Sometimes it’s about storytelling that makes you scream into your pillow every week idk what else to fucking tell you