#like neither extreme of Thai bl couples are true

[doublel27]

I’m not going to use the word stan (as I’m old enough to hold the negative origin of the term) but as another person who enjoys teasing apart the lines between promotional activities and personal activities, it’s fairly well considered they’re together but no one talks about it.

I mean, the thing about earthmix is they don’t actively engage in wild levels of independent “fanservice” while still a lot of stuff they do post jointly are ads like the traveloka ind right now. (I’m personally of the opinion that celebrities know that everything they share is for an audience, and therefore whether they’re in a real couple or a fake couple anything not shared to close friends only or on their locked private Instagram is fanservice aka a service for the fans. But that leads me to want to talk about American actors and fanservice but that’s a separate post.)

Specifically post divorce era they’ve gotten even quieter on social media than they were before (and wildly more quiet since the passing of marriage equality which I find particularly curious) but there are little things like the many late night videos of Earth’s cast with Mix in Earth’s pajamas. They also, like FirstKhaotung, have a shared closet where clothing and jewelry seem to flow between them seamlessly. Though unlike FKT I’ve yet to see them pack one suitcase for a trip. They also tell on themselves about how much they’re together. A few months ago, Earth pulled a whole “it’s been a long time since we’ve been together like this” at some event and Mix immediately shot back they see each other every day. And Earth was like “for work, it’s been a long time since we’ve been together like this for work, with the fans.”

When Mix wasn’t posting from Earth’s house earlier in the year Earth made it clear that he was spending significant time at Mix’s house in an interview (while mix was finishing his degree) saying if Mix couldn’t come to him then he goes to Mix. This week at their book fair fansign when Earth was asked which of his cats Mix most resembled, Earth wrote down one of Mix’s cats first before that was pointed out he was asked about his cats and then crossed it out and wrote one of his own. They co-plan vacations and Earth was supposed to go on Mix’s solo graduation vacation but couldn’t make it. They had originally wanted to do Europe (Scotland which is Earth’s bias) for that trip but when Earth couldn’t make it Mix switched to Japan and Korea with friends. Mix also when taking about that trip discussed how hard it was to do that trip alone as usually all international travel is coordinated by the company or by P’Earth, and how because he’d done japan with Earth it felt safer to do alone but he got lost. In relation to that, their individual friends comment and react to each of their respective posts. Mix’s P’ who is living in Korea replied to earth he needs to come with Mix next time. Earth’s friends posted on Mix’s graduation posts. Many shots of them together are captured and posted by others (like the aforementioned p’aof who posted a picture of them curled together asleep on his couch for New Years Eve 2023-24) as are references to how often they’re together. With Neo’s Mint joining the company, NeoMint went on a special EarthMix Space and Mint was like “well, I’ve already met EarthMix before. We played board games.” And as we know, Neo was perennially EMFK’s favorite Steve (I wonder what Earth tastes like. I bet he’s salty. I’ll go ask Mix and Have you forgotten I’m here are both pre-divorce era Neo as EM’s Steve) and it’s interesting that on two different vlogs, NeoMint have referenced essentially double dates with FKT and EM respectively. Joong outright refers to them as Mom and Dad.

The stuff they do post is also interesting. They were retweeting the same sets of house images a couple of months ago with in seconds of each other. They also habitually post birthday messages for friends in rapid succession, once this year accidentally wishing Rin a very early birthday. Their posts have a habit of sharing the same songs. Earth and Mix both posted for Mix’s birthday with the same song, and then Mix deleted the song from his Instagram post for his birthday but left a “great song choice, dad” comment on Earth’s. Mix’s birthday this year lead also to a 7 day spree of Earth posting various quotes about daisies and love, with regular good nights on his main IG and his broadcast. Daisies have been a symbol of his for Mix for years (at least since ATOTS) and he was making his own fan edits of himself with daisies and a picture Mix took of him surrounded with hearts. Most of Earth’s thirst trap ig posts are all taken on days he’s with Mix (including the last one in Europe) They’ve also been very quiet about what Earth’s actual gifts for Mix for birthday and graduation were this year aside from the immediate shopping spree. There was a jewelry box for graduation that Earth said had 10k baht, but Thai fans were quick to point out the box was too small for all that. His birthday message to Mix ended with the non-sequitur “Let’s discuss it again after your birthday, alright?” and Mix almost tipped out of his chair. And then when Earth walked out on stage with the largest bouquet of roses, Mix turned bright red, looked ready to die, and just stared at Earth like “Really?!” And Earth immediately burst into awkward laughter and covered his mouth, until the roses were revealed to be from Mix’s sister that Earth delivered.

Which is also an interesting point of how close Earth remains with Mix’s family. At the graduation event last week, Earth held hands and walked with both of Mix’s parents at different times. Like, if they were for real still broken up, considering how emotional Mix was during divorce era, I wouldn’t expect them to be that close now.

And then I think there’s the little cues post divorce era, which is how emotional they both still are when they talk about it. The way they both get shy when talking about their trip where they finally made up during divorce era. (And it still comes up as one of their favorite places to go two years later) There have been multiple trips to temples, but the favorites are the New Year’s Day 2024 one with Mix’s family and FKT, where Mix sits in relation to Earth as a spouse would, and a trip to the Temple of Red Thread in Hong Kong during their fan meet this year which is known for people looking for love or to solidify relationships.

They’ve also been very loudly in support of marriage equality for years, and did (together) respond in a live after the vote went through “we can get married now” before looking at each other and nodding with a “yes it’s very exciting” it’s very debatable if they were reading a comment in the live, and what we they were using…but…

It’s just if we’re going to make comparisons Mosbank and Daouroad (and BillyBabe for me personally) are close to a Ryan Reynolds/Blake Lively type of professional couple, whereas Earthmix is on a Tom Holland/Zendaya vibe for how public they want their private relationship vs their professional relationship.

But you know, judge for yourself. (I recommend checking out some of MewTul’s content and comparing it to EarthMix and judging from there. They have similar vibes) Also, be polite and don’t go yelling this stuff on Twitter or IG and in comments on lives. Again, I’m old, and I like to pretend that celebrities don’t walk among us here in the gremlin site and if they do people aren’t out here tagging them in the comments.

Hii! I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what do you mean EarthMix are probably dating? I try to keep up with all the basics of the QL rumor mill, but most of it still passes right by me, so I spend a lot of time in a confused state, honestly. I thought EarthMix were roughly on the same level as a lot of other GMMTV pairs, which is to say: fanservice-y, but probably not a thing. So would you maybe mind explaining that one a little more? 👀🙏

I woke up to three separate asks about this and it was a very sobering realization that while I thought we were all just pretending not to know EarthMix are dating, apparently that was just me??? I don’t actually follow them all that closely though, so someone else feel free to jump in with the actual evidence because I know y’all have it.

Here’s the thing about EarthMix: they were 100% dating prior to their divorce era. There’s plenty of evidence that they were living together (my favorite is here) and the way they each reacted to their “break-up” was not…platonic. Mix was posting moody poems about lost loves on his Instagram for god’s sake.

I waffle about whether they’re back together now but to me, it comes down to proximity. They try to be coy about it, but Mix posts way too many videos of Earth’s cats after midnight to not be living with him. And when actors live together, I’m inclined to believe they’re dating because no one’s going to do that for fanservice.

We know that Khaotung gifted Earth and Mix a copy of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis—a letter he wrote to his lover from prison while he was jailed for homosexual acts—and we also know that P’Aof, a queer director, favors them. P’Jojo has talked openly on his Twitter about how, if given the choice, he will always cast queer actors because he knows how hard it is to be queer in the BL industry. I would imagine that most queer directors feel the same.

We’ve been talking a lot on my blog about how GMMTV seems to discourage any verbal acknowledgement of queerness, so whereas the other two couples I mentioned—MosBank and DaouOffroad—have been as explicit as they can about the nature of their relationship, I don’t have any evidence of that nature about EarthMix. But like I said, I don’t follow them all that closely. EarthMix stans have my full permission to hijack this post and educate me because this is not my area of expertise and the thin line between “fanservice” and “actually dating” is one of my favorite topics of discussion.

[absolutebl]

Heyy it's me again lol .

So in the post about your Gmmtv predictions of 2024 you talked about Gmmtv making gay versions of Kdramas , right? I have been thinking about this for a long time too and I have a question for you somewhat related to that. What are some tropes/dynamics/setups you'd like to see more in BLs which are less used or has not been used at all in BL as of yet ? You said you are busy in the last ask so take your time :)

Also thanks for answering your asks in details . Your answers are extremely interesting everytime.

Hi hi!

Kdrama Tropes/Archetypes/Dynamics I'd like to see in BL?

AKA what if Korea just actually made Kdrama's gay

Hum, most Kdrama's (I watch) are pretty much love stories and romances just like BL. It's just that they get longer treatments and better scripts. KBL in its current form, isn't long enough to encompass the true value of its own het genre. Thai BL, which is long enough, rarely has the story structure or production values or aesthetic.

So, it's more that I want the BL romances to be given Kdrama respect in terms of narrative and packaging and length or treatment (money money money). And style. I do love Korea's very fashionable, mannerly, repressed way of pimping romance.

So I lot of my choices have more to do with that, I suppose?

Here's some I'll just throw out:

Historical (serious political or romcom)

Martial Arts / Sports / Teams (olympic hopefuls?)

Fantasy (cultivation/progression)

Suspense (like proper murder investigation)

Super Hero (esk) - special powers

Fictional alt-world (like isikai)

Medical drama (not just setting)

Military

Political thriller (corruption)

Supernatural creatures (like Kumiho)

Soldier/healer

Capers (think Leverage or something like Taxi Driver)

Small town up in EVERYONE's business

Idol boy band romance (of course)

A lot of these are too expensive for BL (either because Thailand who would do it, can't afford it, or Korea doesn't find gay bankable enough) in costumes, setting, cast size, and so forth. A couple are out because of content (neither country would ever do military BL, and Thailand can't do political stuff).

I did do a pull on Kdrama's I really want remade, and many of these contain the things I named above:

Some of my favorite Kdramas (so you know my taste/perspective):

And here's:

10 Famous Kdrama Actors Who’d Never do BL but I Want ‘em To

[absolutebl]

Why Ai'Hia was so funny in Cutie Pie

in response to @isisanna-blog’s question which tumblr doesn’t want answered directly. 

Can you explain the significance of the ‘Ai’ Hia’ in this weeks Cutie Pie please? I realised something linguistically important happened but didn’t know what!

(Okay a reminder Thai is a language that exists in registers: high, low, frozen. And that it requires the use of honorifics (particles & pronouns) between ages: polite, formal (not the same thing). So something can be said formal but not polite, both, or neither. BL relationships exist within these different registers and levels of formality. Like most languages Thai is ever evolving and flexible with very few hard and fixed rules.)

Ready?

Hia honorific & pronoun

Hia functions the same as phi but is used only by those with Chinese ancestry and is basically older brother (phi = older sibling, no gender) and is slightly more household intimate than phi (more strongly associated with actual brother/cousin/family member).

Like hyung/oppa there is no direct translation but hia is applied to older males by a younger person (any gender). It is used by the younger person to address the older male both directly, Hia Lian, and as a pronoun (you), hia, and also by the older person to refer to themself (I pronoun) when in conversation with someone younger. So grammatically it behaves like phi. 

In UWMA Team calls Win hia (and leaves off the P'Win most of the time - cheeky boy), but he uses phi and P'Dean for Dean. (It’s a bit different in Between Us.)  In Bad Buddy Pat’s sister uses hia with him.

It’s rare to hear hia used IRL on the actor circuit. But New uses it with Zee (Cutie Pie) on and off set, which is interesting. They have a soft but strict older/younger dynamic (Zee is almost a decade older). And Zee has been through the wringer with a pair before so there’s a lot of subtext going on here. You can watch them (and hia) in action here.

In Cutie Pie both couples use hia as both pronoun and formal address: Hia Lian & Hia Yi.

The formal address use of Hia is rare. 

I've never heard it before in a BL until Cutie Pie. So hia is used for I & you, while Hia Lian is used for formality's sake and in third person referencing. This is a *tiny* bit like how mister used to function in old English, as in: Mr Lian for formal address, mister as direct address. These days, it's a little more like master in the kink circuit. 

There's an inherent strictness to the formal application of Hia Lian partly because it is so unusual. It indicates a different kind of relationship than just P'Lian would in other BLs - both more intimate and more structured.

The lost Ai

Ai’+ name is technically supposed to be used between age mates but it is usually dropped in BL and on the interview circuit. It can and is applied in cases where social formality is required - meeting a stranger’s kids who are the same age or something like that.

But in BL it ALSO will be applied with a long drawn out tone when insult is required between close friends. Ae and Pond do it a lot in Love By Chance. In which case Ai’+name is a little like an affectionate “my asshole friend here.” The opposite is also true, Ai can be softened and applied for affection.

Fiat uses Ai’Leeooo with Leo all the time in Don’t Say No. It’s a kind of bratty affection coming from him. Leo, on the other hand, only uses Ai’Fiat when he is annoyed af with his boy. (Remember these two are the same age.)

Ai+name, as a result, almost always implies a downgrade (formality wise) it's used as a sarcastic contrast (rude informal) to what it once was in older versions of the language (formal).

Ai'Hia

Right, so basically, Kuea called Lian his "asshole master" or something roughly equivalent to that in this scene in Episode 5. 

There's extreme contrast in this (contrast = surprise = humor). He contrasted not just an extremely formal type of address, Hia, with an informal one, Ai, but he combined two pronouns that also function as honorifics, but in a highly dishonorable way: Mister Jerkface. Which is a secondary contrast of rude vs polite. That’s double down funny. 

He did all of this while ALSO dropping to low register, so all his other particles and pronouns became informal (or entirely absent). This is how you would talk to a peer/friend. I talk about Duen being the biggest linguistic brat in BL (My Engineer) - this is what he does. 

It's a really bratty and insulting thing to do to anyone older, let alone the older man who is courting you. Because it’s kind of like, linguistically, pulling the older boy down to your level.

Kuea is doing this out of frustration, but it gave Lian insight into how bratty (naughty) Kuea actually could be. (Which I think we all know Lian likes and wants.) But also how, when emotional, Kuea actually *thinks* of Lian more informally, more like lovers. That Kuea would perhaps like to be more relaxed around Lian. That all along Kuea has been performing his high register "good boy" behavior in an effort to both please Lian and be more of the perfect doll he thinks Lian wants.

Kuea’s slip up into informality, but especially using Ai'Hia, was the crack in his armor that Lian has been looking for all along.

It was hope.

It was also absolutely hilarious. 

(source)