i've seen love in the air (LITA) and i would like to argue in its favor... i think in 2022 we should all be past demonizing or belittling bl shows which plot focuses mostly on sexual relationships as if they're an unimportant part of lgbt people's lives (this has happened recently with ''only friends'', just after the trailer was released, its own director had to come out and /defend/ himself against what were blatantly puritan and subtly homophobic ''bl fans'' making this same argument). first of all, LITA is a romance bl so of course, the main plot is about the main characters falling in love with all it entails. and they do a excellent, excellent job at portraying 4 very different people in 4 different stages/backgrounds in life with 4 very different life experiences and how they come together and work through all things standing between them. LITA is more than a simple romance bl that says nothing once it's done. it has incredible SA survivor representation with all that it entails (dealing with PTSD, how it affects someone's perception of love and sex, how people help victims, how to slowly heal from it, etc) and it also has a great representation of ''you're more than just someone's boyfriend and being in love is not everything in life'' in the sense of academic success, hard work, determination, etc. yeah the NC scenes are good because the chemistry between the actors is great, but there's literally 5 NC scenes in 13 episodes total and they all make sense in the totality of the TV show.

i understand romance-based bls might not be everyone's cup of tea and people would rather watch things like triage, manner of death, not me or vice versa, which are more about the storyline than the love line, but ruling out LITA just because it's got NC scenes in it is doing a disservice to the effort and talent the actors have in portraying human, real and raw lgbt love experiences.

i hope you can give it a try, especially prapai and sky's story, since it tells a very beautiful tale of care, acceptance, overcoming trauma and building a healthy support system. <3

okay, that's another way to see it. the way you describe this series makes it sound way better than the basic university bl it seemed to be, which makes it seem actually interesting. I still probably won’t watch it bc I have many other shows in store & also sa survivor storylines that are too graphic bother me. (also mame’s OBSESSION with having sa survivors in every single on of her stories is weird, I’m sorry 💀 especially considering she’s romanticized sa multiple times as well 💀) that being said, I wanna make something clear (which I thought was clear if you scrolled to my blog but anyways): I am not against sex scenes. only friends is one of the 2023 shows I'm the most excited for, and I've praised p'jojo's (the same director) works featuring sex as an important part of life like the warp effect before. my issue with sex scenes in bl comes with bl not being a genre for lgbtq+ people to start with. it suffices to look at the original novels that inspire 99% of thai bl shows: they almost all feature & excuse sa in some form, and rely heavily on stereotypes of the small feminine main character with his pushy masculine love interest to only present ONE type of relationship, when lgbtq+ people are all unique & different. sure, bl has now a huge lgbtq+ following & many of the people creating bl shows are now lgbtq+ themselves, but that doesn't mean that most bl shows aren't still mostly meant for straight women. and if anyone opens their eyes for five seconds, they will realize that there is a reason why bl shows are a thousand times more sexual than straight thai dramas: bc most of those scenes are for fanservice rather than in service of the plot. and fyi I LOVE romances. it's the reason I love thai dramas so much, bc pretty much all of them are romances in some way. and I LOVE well done sex scenes like seanwhite's first time. so to pretend I'm demonizing all bl sex scenes instead of acknowledging the truth that most bl sex scenes are unnecessary & only there to arouse its audience is misplaced. if non bl thai dramas were as sexual as american shows for example, I wouldn't say a thing bc this oversexualization would be generalized (still not sure it would be okay though.) but here it's present ONLY in bl, which tells me everything there is to know.

xxx

Hey, just wanted to say that I'm really thankful to you for all the posts you've made about Krist so far

I didn't know him at all before BMF and only slowly "learned" about him through some people making snide comments about him before the show aired and people in the tags/comments then reiterating all the reasons why he's awful and should be cancelled with links to those standard "proof" compilation videos + posts and it's terrifyingly easy to get caught up in the hate spiral and the image it paints when that's all you hear about a person who at that point in time merely existed in the periphery of the fandoms you hung out in, especially if the people constantly spreading and reinforcing that image were people you used to really enjoy having on your dash. It made me apprehensive of the show before it even aired, which did both the show and Krist a terrible disservice

Your posts gave me a much more nuanced picture of him and the context within which the hatred got started and has kept persisting even now and it's really been a bit of an eye-opener regarding Fandom Discourse™️ and how it can influence your opinion of people you know nothing about even as you try to just mind your own business, possibly even thinking yourself somewhat immune to that sort of mindless cancel culture

I've made some adjustments to my dash and it has become a much kinder place for it now

I'm glad other people I follow also actively loved the show and posted about it and I'm glad you've been so vocal in talking about Krist as a person, it acted like an antidote to all of the vitriol that had one-sidedly poisoned my perception of him

Should it have been necessary? Probably not but that's not what this is about. Sometimes all it takes is one person speaking up and telling you to fact-check your blind bias and it really matters, especially when things have been taken out of context and twisted and amplified as much as was done with him. Thank you for unknowingly being that person for me, I truly appreciate it

Oh, Anon. :')

Thank you so much. I've teared up reading this, and it just makes me so happy to know I've done something small to change hearts.

When I became a fan in June of 2020, I barely knew him. I'd binge-watched SOTUS in May, and the hate went supernova shortly thereafter. I'd just been so moved by his empathetic portrayal of Arthit, I was skeptical that he could be this Deeply Homophobic Bigot that people were painting him as. And honestly, when I saw the IG story the first time, I just thought it had been a half-joking exaggeration to a question that annoyed him and it landed poorly. It wasn't enough to convince me of anything.

Fortunately, because I'd done a watch thread for SOTUS, I'd made a bunch of friends in the Peraya fandom, and a good number of them were queer like me. So I went to them and asked what they knew. They explained the whole thing: that it was from years before, that because KristSingto were the ones who started the "First Wave" they'd put up with a whole higher and wilder level of scrutiny and obsession and homophobia. They told me Krist had had a relationship with a girl at the time, that she and her family, his family, his friends, everyone close to him was being spied on or investigated by people who Needed to Know if Krist was secretly dating Singto. (Later, I found out about the whole KristGun thing, that their friendship had been tested by similar prying and accusations and homophobia and possessiveness by the more unhinged fans of the Real Branded Pairs.)

With that much background, and knowing Krist couldn't have been more than 19 or 20 at the time, I said, "Oh," and figured most people would have the same reaction when they looked into it.

But instead, it got worse.

It was surreal to experience as a new fan. Krist's Thai fans were exhausted by these interfans showing up and baying for his blood in languages they couldn't communicate in, and Krist's interfans were protective of him and impatient with the interfans on Twitter who'd just clap back with "LMAO NOT YOU DEFENDING A HOMOPHOBE?????" and racking up hundreds of likes and retweets for dunking on Krist fans. Any time Krist posted, they'd flood him with cruel replies and QRTs, and I have to reiterate that, like, to get that amount of hatred in foreign languages must have been such a horrible feeling. People demanded he apologize, but he already had. Multiple times. He'd just done it in Thai.

Worse than that, I've been told by an older Peraya that when the IG story was first posted, Thai fans knew he wasn't homophobic, so it didn't blow up with them. It was interfans even back then who misinterpreted him. He did apologize, though, and unfortunately, the fandom was small enough that the only person who translated it was neither fluent in English nor Thai. Apparently he said something like, "I was raised in the genre of Y series, and it's my home, and one I'm deeply proud of, so I'd never harbor any kind of bigotry like that," but the person's language ability limited what they were able to understand and translate, so they posted something like, "I'm a BL actor so of course I'm not homophobic," and of course interfans at the time only redoubled their attacks on him. "He thinks he can't be homophobic just because he was in BL!?" That kind of thing.

And when people have pushed back on the IG story, I've seen people just make bad faith interpretations of Krist's intentions in other scenarios. Like when he and Gawin were watching their sweet scenes in Be My Favorite, Krist hid behind Gawin's shoulder during their kiss scene, and there was a brief but enthusiastic wave of, "SEE HE CAN'T WATCH TWO MEN KISS." Even though…he was one of them?

The people who say, "He was jobless so he came back to BL," when he rarely has a day off, the people who say, "He was poor so he came back to BL," when BL doesn't pay well and Krist bought a house and supports his entire family off the money he makes doing other work. The music shows he co-hosts have higher ratings than literally any GMMTV BL series. They get something like 2.0 where the average GMMTV BL series gets 0.2.

I know it takes time and patience and resources to learn all of this, and I don't expect everyone to do the amount of research I have. I love him, so it's a pleasure and not a pain to spend time learning who Krist Perawat is. All I've ever wanted by talking about him and sharing more about him is to help lessen the hate he gets. He truly, truly doesn't deserve it, and he never has.

Like, Aof recently posted a GMMTV job listing to Facebook and one of the requirements was that you be a woman or LGBTQ+. I think the only way you'd remain employed in GMMTV with that level of community support if you were homophobic is if your family is well-connected or wealthy. Krist famously cleared his family's debt with the meteoric popularity of SOTUS, so he does not come from money, privilege, or connections. Arguably the one thing he had going for him when he was auditioning for SOTUS apart from his acting talent was his ability to Be Pale if he avoided the sun long enough. (Colorism, alive and thriving.)

So, so many of his friends are queer. His close friends. Not just random people he posts in his stories for clout or to Clear His Name or whatever. These are people who cuddle him and call him their son and speak of him with true knowledge of his faults and his virtues and love him deeply. People dismiss this as, "OH SO HE 'HAS QUEER FRIENDS' LOL OKAY SOUNDS LEGIT," but again, you have to look at the depth of these friendships. Oat has been with Krist since SOTUS. He "adopted" Gawin on the strength of how close Gawin got to Krist over the past year.

As far as I know, Krist has never made his sexuality public knowledge. What he has said (apart from the IG story, which, y'know, wasn't super nuanced) is that he doesn't care how people perceive his sexuality, and that if he ever dates someone of the same gender, he'll be open with the relationship because he wants his fans to know that side of his life and the person he loves—no matter their gender.

I see a lot of people saying, "Oh, he was homophobic, but he's better now," but from everything I've ever seen, I just don't believe it. At best, he was clumsy with how he expressed himself, which is understandable because he was nineteen or twenty and I'm sorry to be Like This but it is rare that you find an Overnight Famous Twenty-Year-Old Guy Without Media Training who's going to know how to communicate his feelings about being constantly harassed to the point where his girlfriend breaks up with him and he's bombarded with questions in multiple languages by fans around the world about his sex life with his senior and costar.

(I got to this point and was like, "I should add some photos so this isn't just a block of text.)

He's not homophobic, he never was. He's just a dude who loves his cats, is really good at acting and drumming and singing and causing chaos, is the beloved baby brother of PeBaCa, and wants more than anything to take care of his family.

Okay, I'm done.

Thank you again, Anon. The more I learn about him, the fonder I get of him, and it's harder and harder to stay quiet about how frustrating it is to see him get so much vitriol. I'm so happy you told me. Thank you, really. <3

……………

Okay.

I have to end this tangent on a positive note.

GMMTV, give me a KristGun series I'm so serious or I'll throw durians through every single one of your windows.

I apologize for the length of this in advance but I need to nerd out here for a moment. I love that you covered Bill and Frank because it very much reminded me of a point I have always made about Buddie scenes.

So if you watch TLOS, it's a mix of gamers and casual viewers. I watch with my BF and a group of friends and I am actually the only one who played the game. Now in the game I always thought Bill was gay, but we never even met Frank. He's already gone and their relationship is presented very differently. In fact the notion that Bill could be gay was a huge controversy in the gamer discourse.

On to when the actual episode aired. Unless you know all this, it can't be fully appreciated what this show accomplished. From casual viewers to those aware of the source material like me? The showrunners accomplished completely removing us from the world, the threats, introduce 2 character you have never seen and tell a 17 year long love story about them without me, fully processing we are in a different universe. Also add you had to make me understand and almost root for the suicide at end and not even be mad. How could they accomplish it, I truly believe it was the scenes, the lighting. There was no wasted space. We bridged 17 years knowing what happens without being beat over the head with it. Frank wasn't with Bill because of running water and hot food. Bill wasn't with Frank because he's lonely. The fact that their marriage scene is no dialogue, yet I get it, and I am bawling like it's masterclass.

So the Buddie aspect. It's always been the same for me. It's the filming and attention to details that show the love, but also alert me to like I need to pay attention. When Buddie goes Canon I feel like a large part of the audience will go oh yeah it all makes sense now. It's sad that in queer storytelling it can't be more obvious, but hopefully in a few years that will change . However again when it comes to showing Buddie as family there has never been wasted space or shortcuts in their scenes.

Does that make sense or am I being a romantic clown.

Oh one more thing. If you didn't watch all of TLOU, Tessa (the girl from the garden lunch is a perfect example of why Bill and Frank were beautiful. Because the Tess we know in the present day wasn't the Tess you saw giggling with Frank. It proves how Bill was able to protect Frank in a way Joel couldn't with Tess.

Hi Nonnie! Thank you so much for sending this ask referencing the gifset I made paralleling Buddie with TLoU's Bill and Frank.

Okay, I am going to start from the end and point out that I LOVE that comparison you pointed out of what Bill managed to do for Frank, versus where Joel couldn't do the same for Tess. But Bill did more than that. Bill could protect Frank because he was naturally a hermit. It didn't require effort for him to shit the rest of the world off and build defenses against it. He was doing that even before the apocalypse hit. What's truly amazing about Bill's love for Frank is the moments it allows any openness in Bill. First to Frank himself, to letting him in, talking to him, sharing personal stuff, playing his favorite song for Frank and letting Bill's own pain be present and seen. That's the moment Frank falls in love with him, after all. It's when he sees that and he wouldn't be able to if Bill hadn't chosen to be open and vulnerable with him.

(just take a second here to consider how much this reflects Eddie, who chooses to be open with Buck as early as 202, sharing Christopher's pic, letting Buck into their lives, and then letting Buck in on the pain and the vulnerability during his breakdown arc starting in 513)

Then there's the fact that Bill DOES NOT want to have other friends. He doesn't want Tess there, he doesn't like Joel, he would never have let them in no matter how many advantages friendship with smugglers may offer. But he accept their presence because Frank wants it. That's love. Leaving your comfort zone, making room for what the other person needs.

(don't think about Eddie not wanting to go to the horse ranch in 514, but agreeing to just in order to humor Buck, not even realizing how much this in turn is actually going to end up helping him)

But I wanna add something to all this. I heard Tess and Joel's relationship was discussed and what TLoU ended up going with is them being lovers, but never explicitly stating it. And I think that's SO interesting. 'Coz that means you can easily see some of the same tropes we see with Buddie happening with Joel and Tess as well. They're life partners, and we're never told in what way, but it is implied, and we're meant to pick up the hints and figure it out for ourselves, it explains their dynamics in ways that platonic friendship/business partnership does not. One trope, for example, is the parallel of the subtextual relationship to a canon one. Bill and Frank are canon. Tess and Joel are subtextual. Yet we have basically the same line from both Tess and Frank uttered at their partners: in 102, Tess reminds Joel she has never asked him for anything before, and in 103, Frank does the same with Bill.

(Buddie and every freaking piece of meta I've ever written about them paralleling every single one of 911's canon couples, like in the Buddie vs Lone Star meta posts, or the parallel with Madney in 512 or with Henren in 606...)

Thank you for this! Have a great day, lovely! As always, here's my ask tag. xoxox

Book Review: Portrait of a Scotsman (A League of Extraordinary Women #3) by Evie Dunmore

Evie Dunmore has quickly cemented herself as one of my favorite must-buy-need-now historical romance authors. As such, with my love for the first two books in this series already duly noted thanks to their refined and complex courting of romance, propriety, history, and feminism in the Victorian era, Portrait of a Scotsman is one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. To be candid, I was impatient as could be to feast my eyeballs on all the dripping pomegranate goodness that was bound to await me inside with Hattie and Lucian. The story starts off like this: she's an Oxford-educated artist from a wealthy and well-connected family of bankers. He's a self-made financier with a reputation that reeks of illegitimacy, of villainy, who is desperate to get his foot in the door with people of influence so he can affect real change in society. The two them are of different backgrounds, of different temperaments, but when a passionate spark ignites between them and they're caught in the throes of a compromising lip lock - which was somewhat premeditated on his part and somewhat not - it's to the chapel they go! Can they be happy together? If the marriage was a trap from the beginning, a trick, can they still fall in love? Their romance itself is a hodgepodge of delicious paradoxes. It's essentially a creative re-rendering of the classic Hades/Persephone, Beauty and the Beast tropes with a suffragist-imbued marriage of convenience twist. (Which, for anyone who knows me, are tropes I consider to be my own personal brand of literary heroin...making it impossible for me to stay away. Gimme, gimme!) Naturally, that means Hattie and Lucian have to navigate some bumpy terrain in the form of secrets and distrust throughout much of the book. It's tense between them, it's complicated. They have to give themselves time to settle in, get to know each other, and most of all, they must learn how to communicate. Luckily, being confined together in a small coal mining village in Scotland *with only one bed* grants them ample space and opportunity to do that. You know, among other things... "At first sight, they were still an unlikely match—opposites in looks, upbringing, and temperament. But on the artist’s color wheel, two opposite colors were considered complementary. Their high contrast caused high impact, and they looked their brightest when placed next to each other." Anyway, while I was appreciative of the slow unwinding of hostility and suspicion that existed between Hattie and Lucian, I also found myself wanting things to move along quicker at times. I got weary of their angst, their misunderstandings. It felt overexaggerated. Almost like they were having the same fight over and over without anything changing, especially toward the end. The separation-to-reconciliation plot point should have been instituted much earlier as well and not tacked onto the last couple chapters like an afterthought. It was too abrupt not to mention underdeveloped. As a reader I wanted to be privy to all his wooing - to see it, feel it, love it - instead of only being told about it. Unfortunately, that searing lack at the end sucked a lot of air out of Hattie and Lucian's overall romance for me. I was locked in for most of the book, however. I was. Dunmore is beyond skilled at crafting tugs-on-your-heartstrings romances with compelling and complicated characters. There's no question about that. She creates emotional, believable backstories for Hattie and Lucien in addition to grounding the story in relevant tangible history that echoes through everything. I guess I was just hoping this book would devour me as much as I devoured it, so even though I was entertained by the characters and invested in all the social discourse around the suffragist movement and mining villages, that simply didn't happen. I wasn't as charmed as I wanted to be or have been in the past but I was close, so close!

Still a pleasurable and well-written addition to the series, though. No doubt about that. Now excuse me while I park my butt in this lawn chair so I'm at the front of the line for book four! 3.5/5 stars

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