I L O V E BLs, especially Thai BLs, but why are the srory lines so repetitive these days and the chracters so… BLAH?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about those white shirts, piggieback rides, sponge baths and so on… But the basic story always goes the same way and the characters are always the same like :
secret crush
bottom is shy as h*ll
obnoxious girl/ guy wants to get with the ML and doesen’t care if the ML is even interest about them
break up at ep 11 (Yes, I’m talkin about you Bad Buddy… You scarred me for life!)
get back together at ep12 and live happily ever after
MLs don’t communicate, so the mess is ready to be cooked
“omg, he touched my shoulder with his elbow, am I pregnant… This can’t go on anymore!!!”
Yes, ofcourse there needs to be something, that keeps the story going, but can we have something elese for a change? And yes, there are many series that are different, but I’m talkin about the rest 97%… You know what I’m talking about, if you’ve watched as many BLs as I have
Now what I would love to see more is
much younger top
rough af bottom (WHY do they always have to be so innocent )
MLs are not afraid to hug, kiss and touch eachother
age cap
dark past and how to survive it
supportive parents
office romance
friend group where everybody is not gay and daiting each other
Yes and I think there is something wrong with me since Vegas raised my standards for men Or maybe it’s just a Bible thing
And as I said, there are some that are different, and I want MORE I’ve watched almost 200 BLs so I kind of think I know what I want to see next and what has been done over and over again
For one, I think that the categorization in “top” and “bottom” is archaic and needs to disappear. As it has almost disappeared in the real world in most Western countries.
It’s like replicating outdated gender roles (woman is shy, meek and submissive, soft and sensitive, man is rough, proactive, daring and at least externally cold), which women have fought with tooth and claw to eliminate in the past 100 years. I don’t see why those dinosaurs should be replicated by gays.
Of course in real life, each couple is free to do as they wish, but we do see that in BL it’s a given, an undisputed “fact of life”.
Not to mention the ludicrous thing that one of the main leads was totally straight so far, (even anti-gay in some dramas), and only becomes gay for the sake of this one person. Come on!
I think that BL movies and series in general have a bunch of ridiculous tropes that are very off-putting. One of them is non-consensual sex, which is portrayed as rather “normal” and leads to romance. The other is that, as you say, women (apart from the occasional mother) are non-existent or bitchy or boring, seen as the enemy. Last but not least, the primitive writing and the terrible acting in 99,9% of the Thai dramas.
You have a very good point there regarding the “top” and “bottom” issue! I don’t have any gays/ gay couples in my immdiate friend group, so it’s hard for me to say how it is now days and how they think of it. But I 110% agree, that if it is used to weaken a person, it should not be used (It’s difficult to express your self, when English is not your first language, so I hope you get what I’m talkin about… )
I think it’s possible to fall in love to same gender even if you have concidered your self straight before… BUT the way they portray that in BLs is probably very far from how things would go in irl… Not to mention that in many series those not consensual NC scenes are the start of their relationship - how many of us really would forgive and forget that?
The other thing that I hate in BLs (and non BLs) are the over the top, “not so attractive” gay gyus, who are most of the time a bit bigger in size, hilarious and all over some hot guys calling them daddy… Same goes to those trans women most of the time… Can’t you just give them a realistic character to play? I hope they give Paper a proper chance to portray Fern in War of Y.
Have you watched “Dear Doctor I am coming for soul”?
How about “Baker Boys”? It is not 100% bl series but try watching it if you haven’t
Have you watched “He is coming to me”?
BLs are evolving quite quickly, they’ve only been around for a few years, they started out as mostly school dramas and now we are seeing some maturity, which is good, I’m far too old for high school dramas. Hopefully the writers will move past many of the tired tropes. I do have to agree that I could do without the Ep 11 curse, it’s far too predictable.
Oh, have you watched DNA Says Love You? It’s certainly not formulaic, it does have some tropes, but it’s an Asian drama, what do you expect?
A couple of BL classics that are not just ordinary BLs star Tul Pakorn and Max Nattapol as Korn and Knock. Tul and Max are one of the most famous BL pairings.
Together With Me
Together With Me Next Chapter
While the series started with “Bad Romance”, that’s not one I recommend since Korn and Knock were a side couple in that show.
One of my favourite shows is “The Untamed”. While the original story is a BL, this production is not. The BL overtones between the two lead characters, though, are unmistakable. This is an epic, period/fantasy drama and it’s done extraordinarily well. It’s rated 9.8 here on Viki and it well deserves that rating.
@manganese
Bangkok Love Stories 1: Innocence is the only one I haven’t watch.
Like I said, I’ve watched a LOT of BLs and 97% fall in to those ones that I rant about.
I really hope to see some new and fresh.
Here a re some of my toughts…
Vice Versa - has a good idea on the story… but that’s about it. Old fashion cupcake - had something there: age gap, office romance etc. but still lacking something First love again - loved the idea of reincarnation Minato Shouji Coin Laundry - LOVE the age cap in this one, I also read the manga Call it what you want - very different story and what I’ve heard, based on true story in BL industry, Golden blood - the base of the story is interesting, but the series was not that good Manner of death - THIS! Totally different from the basic blaah high school scenarios
I am an avid fan as well, but like this link says, FRESH Story lines. ok, kinda weary fo the love angle, or revenge,vengence , and the rest.
.
. this may sound corny to some but how about a story like “angels among us” , those act of kindness type stories, yeah I may be thinking of that wish one of Wookies, but listen, when you dream about a story, like Angels among us,(I did)
those last requests, place they want to go , etc, remember Move to Heaven? and I could name more, but those acts of kindness,that can and will show Gods love in those little acts
in word deed or action, someone we need this more today, than ever! lets get some moving stories on here that will and can touch others.
I don’t recall the full name of the little girl that had a severe disease, she did survive,
yes the untamed story was awesome, that duo continent wqas too,
I am just wanting something different
I hope this doesnt delete me
You ask why 99% of the BL use the same tropes? Simple answer: Productions will use what sells. These storylines consistently get lots of viewers, so they are replicated over and over. How to change this? Audiences need to support the productions that are different. If production companies see that these different storylines get views/$$$, then they will create more BL dramas with the different storylines. I think the audience for these BL, especially in Thailand, skews toward young women in their teens and twenties, so the production companies focus on high school and college settings and storylines because that is their target market. They want to have storylines that are familiar to and appeal to those ages. That said, I do believe that production companies are slowly broadening their focus to include other types of stories and characters because they have seen that there is a market and audience for those other storylines. The huge success of series like “Trapped” and the mini drama “Long Time, No See” showed that audiences would watch a BL with adult characters and a crime drama story focus.I’m sure it was a factor in the decision of the producers of “KinnPorsche” to invest in that mafia world set series, which was also a huge success. The more we can support BL dramas that are different, then the more we will see of different productions. Request these different dramas here at Viki. Help to show there is a market for these “different” stories. That’s really the only way to get any positive change.
Other series that are different storylines:
“Long Time, No See”
“HIStory 3: Trapped”
“HIStory 2: Right or Wrong” (age gap couple)
“Dark Blue and Moonlight”
“Goodbye Mother”- Film
“To My Star” 1 and “To My Star 2”
Sadly we are not going to see them new fresh story lines any time soon because the people/viewers, keep watching them, and since this business is all about money they will keep showing the same thing over and over again, no matter how much we beg them to start giving us new story plot.
I have seen people/viewers actually suggesting stories that are quite good, but they never write anything similar to them. If only they make the woman the rich CEO and the guy the poor guy maybe that would be something different. They can also make more stories like ANNA with Suzy Bae that was awesome! or the one she was also in START UP which was so different (except the damn break up for 3 years). VAGABOND was totally different and so was Kill me , heal me or Secret those were the days where I ran to watch the next and the next episode. I hope those days do come back.
[frustratedwriter]
and a lot of people leaving cause of that? wow. thanks for the info though
I haven’t left, and I don’t think they are leaving because of that. I believe you misunderstood what I wrote here that they keep writing the same stories because a lot of people keep watching them although it has the same story pattern. Even I do that
I keep watching the dramas/movies even though is the same thing because is different people in the drama/movie, and I might like the actor/actress playing in the drama. They have stopped the ‘‘piggy back ride’’ which annoyed me a lot and that makes me really happy!
PS I’M SO SORRY! I just realized this thread is directed for BL dramas, but I still think the BL’s also repeat their story plot, and that’s why I stopped watching them because they are too painful to watch since the ones I watched had very sad endings.
)
I’ve watched almost 200 BLs so I kind of think I know what I want to see next and what has been done over and over again 
