Lgbt+ themes

Thanks. I requested them. Maybe @maria_lavendula_77 would like to request them, too.

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Requested them all, let’s hope we gett any or all of them. :slightly_smiling_face:

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And may it be the start of a new trend on Viki! :muscle:t3: :pray:t3:

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I’d better request them too. We need some balance in same-sex movies and series :slightly_smiling_face: I watched Wedding Plan recently on Youtube. This is about 50% BL, 25% gay and 25% GL. It was quite a sweet story with likeable characters and some good life lessons.

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I liked that one too… :slight_smile:

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Thanks to everyone for requesting the GL series. Hopefully, we will see them here at Viki.

Well, I think the GL audience is still small here at Viki as compared to viewers for other types of shows. That said, Viki hasn’t really invested in either liscensing or promoting GL content, and maybe if it did, the viewership numbers would rise. I see a lot of comments from people wishing Viki would have more GL shows, so there is an interest. I agree with you that some of the GL content available now at Vk isn’t the best quality. As a casual GL viewer who is just looking for good stories, it is disappointing.

Yes, I agree we need to have more balance in the GL and BL content at Viki. Thanks for the info on The Wedding Plan. I’m glad to know that the more recent Thai BL series have included more realistic story elements that speak directly to LGBT viewers. I will have to check that drama out. It is also encouraging that some of the recent Thai BL series have included lesbian side characters and storylines. It will be interesting to see how the Thai GL series are received by the viewers. Some people feel that they can be as successful as the BLs. I don’t know about that, but I did get the same vibes while watching the “Be Mine” Preview Video, so I guess we will see.

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Thailand are definitely being more adventurous these days and BL or gay story lines are often seen as part of a bigger picture. In “Why You… Y Me”, there is a boy/girl couple and a gay storyline that has some BL aspects. The split would be something like 60% boy/girl and 40% gay/BL. Again this is an easy-to-relate to story and well put together. It’s enjoyable viewing.

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Wow, that is interesting to see the Thai BL series branching out and being more inclusive with other characters and storylines, and having a mix. Thailand being innovative once again.

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Many Thai BLs are shown on TV in Thailand. When I was in Bangkok last year, GMMTV were showing The Eclipse on their TV channel. It was available as free-to-air TV at the Novotel where I was staying.

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gap the series is a gl that should be mentioned, I almost forgot about it.

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Yes, I have heard about GAP. I think it is the first Thai GL series. I don’t like Age-Gap storylines, so I haven’t watched it. It got mixed reviews on MDL. It seems people either loved it or hated it. The comments ranged from “masterpiece” to “terrible and perpetuating negative views of lesbians.” Apparently, the series was on national TV.
Did you watch the show?

After watching the preview video, I’m looking forward to checking out “Be Mine.” I like stories with multiple couples.
Someone mentioned in the comments of YT they are hoping that “Be Mine” will improve on the flaws present in GAP.

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I honestly dropped it, I don’t know why but I never really got the need to continue it. I think I had really high hopes because of Saints (Suppapong Udomkaewkanjana) involvement in the production.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on GAP. From what I read at MDL, you weren’t the only viewer to drop the show. Overall, it got mixed reviews.
Things also hit a rough patch when one of the main leads was revealed to be dating a man in real life by some crazy fan who had been stalking her. She got a lot of hate and harassment. This is why I really hate the “ship culture” of Thai Entertainment Industry. They make the actors do and say all kinds of things at the promotional events and in interviews to make fans believe they are all real-life couples so that when the truth comes out that these actors are not romantically involved with each other, all kinds of hate, harassment, and sometimes worse can happen to these actors (and their loved ones) and ruin lives and careers. There has got to be a better way to promote TV series and films!
We don’t see this type of thing in US promos and shows and films are still popular and make lots of money.

To be honest, I was hoping since the GL industry is newer, they would take a different direction with promotion and not do all of that type of nonsense. So disappointing to find out that didn’t happen. In fact, from what I read on MDL, I think this production team went even further with the “shipping” than most.

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I don´t really understand “shipping” and the lead from GAP was dejting a man that has been in a few BLs so it really became bigger than it should have (and acting is a job so they have the rights to dejt anyone they want on their free time)… I don´t understand how some people gets so obsessed with something that isn´t real.

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Opinions of real gay people vary. You’ve got a positive answer here by my friend manganese, but others scoff, saying that BL dramas do not represent them. See this thread, to which you had also participated (maybe you forgot about it, otherwise you would have put your question there):

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The issue of BL comes up in Gay studies forums. The debate is whether they are harmful or not to the Gay community overall. However, the opinion is fairly uniform among scholars that the BL’s are not related to Gay life at all, and not merely unrelated, but laughably so not related to Gay life at all.

On Mydramalist you will come across actual Gay movies where BL Fans write reviews. They show how BL fans really don’t understand Gay life at all, but also they usually are offensive.

There is a Japanese Gay movie where a Gay person in high school is in the closet and he is dragged to fujoshi events by his high school female friend. One of the themes of the movie is how the fujoshi have no idea of what Gay life is, how they aren’t really supportive enviroments. I will see if I can find the movie title.

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I know when it comes to Pride month and they do the pride month collection people have said they need to do better at representing other members of lgbtq +.

Also I have a question for those that read Chinese bl how does it make you feel when they Chinese drama adaptation and they do it more bromance?

For me it makes me really sad that it won’t be an accurate telling of the story it is either a sad ending or open ending.

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I did not know that her boyfriend was a BL actor. Oh my. So there were actually 2 different fandoms who got upset. To be honest, I can understand why fans get swept up in the fantasy and certain ones get carried away. That is why I really hate the Thai entertainment industry for encouraging this type of thing. In my opinion, it is not fair to anyone: the fans, the actors, and the actors’ loved ones. Especially since I believe that this type of “shipping” is totally unnecessary to promote a project and make it successful and profitable.

Thanks for your comments, @irmar and for the link to past discussion. I had forgotten about that thread, posted over 2 years ago. It was interesting to re-read, as I think the landscape of BL TV series has changed quite a bit since it was posted.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, @edwardsebesta_621
I have also wondered if the BL TV series were considered a positive force helping the Gay community or a negative one. I can understand how some people would feel that the BL genre is unrelated to Gay life, since the majority of shows are romance fantasies. The same could be said of many straight Asian dramas. And yes, some BL fans can be extreme.
Not surprised some Gay people feel the fujoshi environment isn’t supportive, since really it’s just a hobby for these people.

The BL TV genre may be slowly changing, though, to include more stories that try to accurately represent LGBT people and community. I came across this YT video about BL from a bisexual female fan, and she mentioned that more BL productions are including actual gay people as producers, writers, directors, and actors. And the scripts are also changing to include more diversity of characters, storylines, and try for a more accurate portrayal of LGBT issues. @manganese had mentioned this, too. I found it a very interesting video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDBu8bVBTFA

Yes, I have seen that as well. I hope that Viki can get more content and broaden the representation. I do find it sad that there are only 2 GL series available and over 125+ BL series available at VIki. (At least in my region) I think there are 2 films that feature Transgender main character. There is 1 series that features a Crossdressing main character. Bisexual, I only find 1 series that have bisexual second lead. So, less than 10% of the Viki LGBT content devoted to other members of LGBT community combined. probably around 6-7% of total LGBT content, perhaps even less.

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The original poster’s comments refer to the BL genre from an academic perspective. I do not know what that perspective is, but I’m guessing that it is a little more rigorous than the term that the general public use. These days “BL” is used loosely by most people in the public realm to mean any show that is based on stories about same-sex male relationships (including shows that purists may call “gay” shows). Because it is such a friendly term, the use of “BL” led to the development of “GL” as a way of describing same-sex female relationships.

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If you read his other posts in Discussions (he used to be quite active here in that period, and writing exclusively on this topic), you’ll see that in real life he is concerned with the academic part of it, as you say, but at the same time he’s also a keen viewer of films and dramas.

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