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artist-issues · 8 months

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I know, “enough with Snow White, Rapunzel!”

But I was thinking about now part of the “One Song” sequence that I think says so much with so little.

It’s this part right here:

When he’s surprised her by joining in on her song (which is literally about the love she wishes for most, a very vulnerable and revealing song) she understandably runs into the castle. That could be for lots of reasons: I think the one we jump to immediately is “stranger danger.” The Evil Queen could also have forbidden her to talk to anyone; she might also just be shy. Regardless—

This part where she looks down and seems to remember that she’s in rags, and think of her appearance. It’s so interesting.

I maintain that this is the part of the movie where the Prince and Snow White learn the core of who each other are, fall in love, and get engaged all in one song. But this part where she looks at her rags is such a good argument for that.

She’s listening to him start his song, and she literally looks down st what she’s wearing right at the moment when he says, in the song, for the first time, “only for you.”

It doesn’t matter if she’s thinking, “Oh, I’m about to go back out where he can see me, how do I look?” or “he loves me even though I’m dressed like this?” Doesn’t matter which. The animators hand-drew this moment of her looking at what she’s wearing, not when she first realizes he’s there, but after that—when he declares his love for her.

He’s expressing that she’s won his heart, and she’s realizing that she’s in rags. He’s choosing her even though she’s dressed like a scullery made. He doesn’t know she’s a princess, you also have to remember that. So obviously she’s still the Fairest of All in spite of what she wears, but her clothes also signify her place in society, and that’s still not stopping him.

No wonder she follows this up by going out onto the balcony, favoring him with a smile, and sending him reciprocation by way of a kiss on a dove. No wonder she instantly accepts him—not just because she’s a love-starved child who’s longing for her dream to come true, but because of who he is demonstrating himself to be.

He’s a guy who heard her deepest wish and was bold and secure enough to come offer to fulfill it—even though she’s a scullery maid dressed in rags. Even though he has no assurance of being accepted. Even though she ran away. He’s not afraid to tell her that he has one love that has possessed him, thrilling him through, and wants to be constant and true and give it to her.

If a guy were confident and secure in who he is enough to hear your fondest desires, and treat them gently, and offer to give them to you no matter what, even though there appears to be a huge class disparity between you and you didn’t exactly respond in a gracious manner off the bat, wouldn’t you feel like you’d found a treasure of a human? No wonder.

No wonder she’s able to have faith in his promise and sing “Someday my Prince Will Come.” What a prince he is!

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bettsfic · 10 months

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i can't stay quiet about this anymore. for weeks now i've thought, noo i won't write about knights of the zodiac on my blog. nobody cares. BUT it is the weirdest fucking movie i've ever seen and i need to tell you about it.

knights of the zodiac is an american made live action adaptation of the anime/manga saint seiya. before this film, i'd never even heard of it, but that doesn't matter, because i watched an interview with mackenyu (who plays seiya) who said that the director told him not to bother watching the anime or reading the manga, because he wanted this movie to be its own thing. you know, which is always a great way to bring in your core audience.

with that said, i'm viewing this film entirely on its own merit, with no context of the source material. so saint seiya fans may not want to read this.

the movie came out this past may. i was excited about it for no other reason than mackenyu starring in an american action movie. i'm honestly a little surprised people weren't more jazzed about that. there aren't a lot of japanese actors starring in big budget american action movies.

other cast members include sean bean (who, spoiler alert, dies), famke janssen, and mark dacascos. in case you don't recognize those names, they are, respectively, boromir/ned stark, jean grey from x-men, and the iron chef. if nothing else, i think it's worth watching for the utterly bizarre casting.

the premise, sort of: mackenyu, who appears to be contractually obligated to play angsty younger brother characters (i think this is the 7th thing i've seen him in where he is an angsty younger brother), has an older sister who is missing. he's a poor orphan boy who gets by on winning cage fights. or something. so boromir finds him and tells him he's destined to be athena's bodyguard, and he gets on board with this alarmingly fast, but not after antagonizing athena (who is not yet athena) and throwing out some snarky one-liners. he trains in the middle of nowhere with a masked lady who repeatedly kicks his ass, and he never changes clothes the entire time. there's other stuff too but it's secondary to the absolute batshittery of this movie.

i saw it on premiere night, which was also the premiere night of the new guardians of the galaxy movie. again, A+ move by the promotional team. so there i was on a saturday at 7pm. prime movie going time. and my best friend and i were the only ones in the theater.

although i had no real expectations for this movie beyond Mackenyu Hits Things And Is Sad, i believed one of two things would happen: it would be as terrible as it sounded, or it would actually be phenomenal. but no, it was neither bad, nor good, but a secret third thing: it scratched a deep and rabid part of my id.

and by that i mean, it appeared to be a very high budget love letter to glaringly submissive men.

here's my letterboxd review that i wrote in the brief hypomanic episode succeeding my initial viewing:

okay so first and most importantly, this scene made me actually scream:

it's a joke line, sure, but 1) he definitely means it, and 2) he immediately calls her "princess," which if you've ever read my fic, you'll know that that's a one-hit KO for me.

(putting this under a cut because it's already long)

you see how athena is framed above seiya? that is one of approximately 1000 shots where this occurs. to every male character. at one point, mackenyu perches gingerly on the back of athena's motorcycle. in fact the only male character who attempts to be dominant aggressive and toxically masculine becomes the punching bag of the film.

in the beginning, seiya is in a cage match where people are getting angry at him for "dancing," which means he doesn't fight so much as avoids getting hit and looks pretty doing it. a solid third of the movie involves a very large lady beating the crap out of him. the premise of the film is getting him to devote his entire life to a goddess and obey protect her at all costs.

i'm probably the only one who watched this movie and was like, hmm is this kink coded? am i insane for seeing this? usually when i think of kink coding i think of quentin tarantino's foot fetish, these long gaudy shots of women's feet hanging out of car windows. it's in the imagery and shot composition and power dynamics.

here, the imagery is a lot of kneeling men, the shot compositions repeatedly place the men lower than the women, and the power dynamics are simply that the women have all the power, and the men have a little, as a treat. jean grey is a straight-up femdom, leather and all.

by the end of the climax, seiya is naked, having been stripped of his (magical and very powerful) armor as pre-athena becomes athena and uh, blasts his clothes off in the process. there's probably something to be said there about, you know, literally stripping him of his power.

i think what i find particularly remarkable about this is that the repeated feminization of the male lead is treated as a good thing. a self-actualizing thing. it's the process through which he accepts himself and his destiny. that's the reason i say it's a love letter--i've known a lot of submissive men and many of them really struggle to accept that part of themselves. i had a friend once who was so ashamed of himself--not just that he was submissive, but that submission was an integral part of his identity--that he had a breakdown in my car over it. so i think it's nice seeing a vaguely positive portrayal of finding oneself through (textually) devotion and (subtextually) submission.

god help me, seiya spends the entire film being irritating and bratty. this movie is my personal kryptonite.

don't get me wrong, it's a terrible movie. the writing is awful, the direction is awful, and if it gets a second film, i'll be shocked. it received a 1.9 (out of 5) on letterboxd and a 4.4 (out of 10) on imdb.

but i've also always been a lover of the star wars prequels (and oh boy there's a lot to be said there about submissive men) and so my patience for bad writing is infinite in the face of interesting things happening on a character level. in a world of disneyfied stock plots and bloated marvel franchises, i appreciate when a movie tries to do something different, even if it doesn't do it very well.

anyway, i can't in good conscience recommend it, but i for one plan to watch it at least a hundred more times.

#i would love to tag this so i can find it later but i really don't want it to show up in the official tag #so uhh #film meta

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doesnotloveyou · 1 year

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the problem with goncharov is that it takes itself too seriously. it needs what that one film had (i forget the name) where jeff goldblum plays a reluctant president and keeps making bad decisions that turn out great. those fourth wall breaks? *chef's kiss*

#goncharov (1973)#goncharov 1973 #goncharov #unreality #gonchposting #og #bad takes #hot take #film meta

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intrinsicklutz · 1 year

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Much has been written about the apple scene between Goncharov and Andrey in Scorsese’s seminal Goncharov (1973); essays dive into the tension between the two men, the symbolism of the forbidden fruit, the flashes of vulnerability expertly displayed by both actors.

I cannot claim the same scholarly CV as my fellow film enthusiasts, but I still believe it’s worth noting here that: the knife that Andrey uses to split the apple and share it with Goncharov is the same knife he uses in their final confrontation.

The foreshadowing! Andrey carves the flesh of the apple with love, out of love for Goncharov. At the end, Goncharov says that he’s glad it was Andrey! What is love if not a knife between the ribs of the person you care about the most. If someone had to do it--and they did, Goncharov ensured that through his actions--it was going to be Andrey.

This film, y’all.

#goncharov #goncharov (1973)#gondrey #film meta #unreality #gonchandrey #that apple scene

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degenderates · 10 months

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tv and movies are too oversaturated now. where is the dedication to the browns and the greys. the muted greens and the faded oranges. if i have to see one more harsh dichotomy of red and blue im gonna self-obliterate on the spot

#film meta #josiah speaks

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sepdet · 7 months

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This is an odd question, but does any film expert know when "breaking the fourth wall" began to be applied not only to characters acknowledging they're performing to an audience, but simply to facing the camera?

It was more common on British TV, which arose out of theatre rather than cinema and so retained (and retains) monologue, just as cinematic TV relies on incidental music.

But what I particularly remember from TV I grew up watching was closeups of actor's faces meant to show each character's view of the other in face-to-face conversation. Nowadays, that's verboten.

I don't remember seeing complaints about it until the 2000s, although I now know it had become taboo by the early 80s.

Maybe it's just one of those conventions I hadn't encountered pre-internet, like shipping, due to having almost no contact with other viewersfans.

At any rate, I lack most people's aversion to actors looking directly at the camera, even though direct eye contact a social anxiety issue I struggle with in real life. On TV, it feels more immersive, pulling the viewer into the story and seeing these character-driven moments with intimacy and immediacy. Small screen size and static couldn't hide eye acting or complex face journeys. used sparingly, there was a raw realism and emotion to these moments.

I offer this for anybody who has trouble with actors facing the camera and older media. I don't know if it will help if you're not used to it, but knowing the effect that they were trying to present might help overcome modern day, feelings of intrusion into the real world.

#film meta #tv mera

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 1 year

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I’m watching “Triple Frontier” for the first time and, halfway into the movie, I’m starting to see why reviews were mostly average. The movie is trying to be both “Heat” and “Expendables”, but it’s lacking a spark that you’d usually see in team-up movies. I think it’s because the pacing and characterization is lacking, especially since the main guys don’t come off as close-knit as the movie wants you to believe.

With this story, the movie should’ve started off with a flashback to the main characters’ last mission together. Show them as one unit and that this was the peak of their lives. After that scene, then smash cut to the present day when the team has disbanded and are trying to live normal lives. Ben sucks at suburban life, Pedro lost his license, Garrett is a mid-level MMA fighter, and Charlie is a motivational speaker. Oscar Isaac goes last since he’s the one who has a reason to “get the band back together”. Oscar should then be shown recruiting the other four members and Pedro and Garrett should’ve been recruited separately so they can stand out on their own.

The movie would be longer, yes, but I feel that the movie needed that extra bit of character development in order to sell the story. Without it, the heist team feels disconnected and lacking chemistry. And what I’m suggesting isn’t out of the ordinary, just look at the opening of “Reservoir Dogs” or “Heat”.

#triple frontier #movies #movie meta #film meta #films #ben affleck #pedro pascal #oscar isaac #garrett hedlund #charlie hunnam #netflix movie #action movie #action movies #movie thoughts #film thoughts

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pigtailedgirl · 2 years

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Nope questions and thoughts

So question first, does it seem like the Dad’s horse Ghost possibly survives? We don’t see or hear it eaten and it is I think important maybe that it’s the untrainable one, maybe the “smart” animal that returns to the wild on instinct and thus escapes the captivity of the art and the alien.

Lucky is the stay with survivor horse because well he’s lucky and because OJ actually takes the time and relationship to train him to survive and he’s like OJ, a good adapter/quiet learner.

Which leads to I need more OJ meta. Or OJ centering and contrast to Jupe. Because they are two sides of the business, the animal show, the bad miracles and traumas.

It’s like everyone is talking bout the impact and theme of Jupe and Gordy and how that shaped Jupe’s reactions. Where are you all on how OJ watched his Dad die!? Got the bad miracle coin. Got the animal attack in JJ. The show must go on in trying to save the ranch. I don’t think you can say it was just the age difference that means Jupe had more trauma but there is something there in their parallel reactions to their bad miracles and how they processed. Jupe needed therapy not Hollywood. OJ never lost sight of what happened, or of seeking to understand but not justify or rationalize like Jupe did, aka animal/alien JJ attack, and the truth of it, aka the animal, being an independent unknowable outside your own narrative control.

#Nope #Nope 2022 #i love this movie so much #film meta

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anotheruserwithnoname · 2 months

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In defence of nuking the fridge

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny deserves all the criticism it gets (I've seen it and, yeah, it's special in a way that requires air quotes around the word "special"). But one film I've always thought was unfairly treated by fans and critics was Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

No, I don't think it's the best film in the series, although it's a masterpiece compared to Dial, but I do agree with the consensus the series should have ended with Last Crusade (I'm not even a huge fan of Indiana Jones Chronicles, really, other than the one episode with Liz Hurley in it). But it's not that awful a film. From Cate Blanchett rocking the Louise Brooks bob to the welcome (if random) use of Bill Haley's Shake, Rattle and Roll on the soundtrack (possibly a nod to co-creator George Lucas using Rock Around the Clock on American Graffiti), it's a fun little movie.

But people seem to never want to let it live down the infamous nuking the fridge scene:

For those who don't know, it's an infamous sequence in which Indiana (for plot reasons) finds himself at the Nevada Test Site where they exploded nuclear bombs for testing, and he ends up inside one of the homes they set up to gauge effects. These were real - they fitted them out with working appliances and furniture, even TVs, and then did this to them...

...in the process providing stock footage to a generation of filmmakers making WW3 movies in the decades to come.

Indy realizes what's about to happen, so he hides instead a refrigerator (which were cast-iron jobs back in the day) and he rides out the explosion seemingly not only without injury but as Dial of Destiny (not to mention the rest of Crystal Skull) indicates, without so much as radiation poisoning.

Why I'm defending an obviously silly sequence is people refuse to take the rest of the film seriously because of it, yet Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a much better regarded film and the middle part of the "holy trinity," has a sequence in which Indy and his friends (including the kid who later grew up to be everything everywhere all at once - sorry, couldn't resist) dive out of an airplane riding a rubber life raft that doesn't even inflate until nearly on the ground. And they survive unharmed. Even after the same raft immediately falls off a huge cliff and ends up in a shallow-looking river:

The Mythbusters tried to replicate the stunt using a mannequin and to paraphrase something said after impact: "We have a full forearm and a hand over here on the raft". And Jamie is apparently talking to somebody with the rest of the dummy - using a walkie-talkie. Needless to say Indy would probably not be in any shape to take on the bad guys after.

So I guess my point is, if you can take the Temple of Doom life raft parachute seriously, nuking the fridge in Crystal Skull really isn't that far fetched. (This is not an original idea - Redditors have mentioned this too).

Too bad the Mythbusters didn't properly test to see if nuking the fridge would have worked. I know they liked blowing stuff up, but I doubt they would have been able to make their own warhead or find one at the surplus store...

#indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull #indiana jones and the temple of doom #indiana jones #film meta #mythbusters #can you tell i'm bored at work?

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the-crooked-library · 1 month

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regarding Dune Part 2: i am obsessed with its consistent visual theme of self-destruction. the shot of paul surrounded by his new followers seems triumphant - until the viewer remembers that each crysknife is made from a tooth of shai-hulud, and paul is standing in a circle of them, in the allegorical mouth of the worm. he orders a missile strike, and the viewer sees them fly directly through his head. every victory for the prophecy is a blow to paul himself; he's killing himself with every step he takes towards his destiny, and we know that already, and the film is screaming it, but it's a hell of a thing to watch it happen, isn't it?..

#dune #dune part 2 #dune 2024 #paul atreides #kwisatz haderach #shai hulud #dune 2 #dune meta #film analysis #visual metaphors

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bismuth-209 · 1 year

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"Ivan Goncharov" this, "Nikolai Goncharov" that, when will you guys realize there's a reason we don't know his first name. the POINT is that we don't know. Goncharev is a family name and whoever Goncharov used to be totally went up in being the head of the Family. he doesn't HAVE a personal name to denote who he is outside of his mafia persona.

#unreality #bis speaks #i said a thing #Goncharov #fake film #meta

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artist-issues · 2 years

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Okay, far be it from me to act like I could do a better job than Tennessee Williams.

EXCEPT THAT I COULD. Anybody could, with any kind of moral compass.

What SHOULD have happened is Stanley should have tried to rape Blanche and Blache should’ve killed him with that bottle. She had enough parallels in her character to that of Norma Desmond for that to be a believable action for a lying, self-deluded, self-satisfying, cougar of an alcoholic woman.

Then she should’ve kept descending into madness. Then Mitch should've come in, seen the evidence of everything (Stanley’s intent-to-rape guilt, Blanche’s killing him) and told that to Stella. And THEN Stella, with the newborn, should've suddenly accepted, like the freakin SEARCHLIGHT TURNED ON THE WORLD, that a) her husband was a monster and b) her sister is a monster.

And then Eunice goes, “let the doctors take your crazy sister away, you and the baby come live with me.”

But heartbroken, yet clearsighted Stella would say, “‘No, I’m going with her. I’ll take care of her.”

And Mitch (who’s still hanging around in kind of disgusted fascination,) would continue his self-righteous train of thought and be like, “‘What? But didn’t you hear me: it’s all true, she really did stay at the Flamingo, and she really did get involved with a 15 year-old. And she’s crazy.”

And then Stella would look him dead in the self-righteous useless thuggish eyes around that humongous nose and be like, “‘I know. I always knew, deep down, but I didn’t want to believe it. [insert some line about keeping things in the shadows] But the fact is, even when I see her as she is, I can still love her. So i’m going to take care of my sister. Come on, Blanche, honey, we’re going to be free of this place after all.”

And then she takes crazy Blanche by one arm and carries the baby in the other, and the two of them step over Stanley’s stupid pig corpse, and they join the doctors peacefully at the door and drive out into the New Orleans sunshine. Before the ending, the whole movie was using light as a symbol, this threatening thing that Blanche had to hide from, because she knows if people see her, not just her fading beauty and advanced age, but if they really see her and all her wrongdoings, they won’t help her. She thinks showing people the truth will end in something bad, and it does: Stanley keeps smashing her over the head with harsh truths and judgements, and when Mitch finds out the truth he abandons her and tells her she’s no good. There are plenty of characters who keep banging the “"Truth-is-Dangerous-and-Will-Leave-You-Unloved” gong.

What they needed was for Stella, another character who, like Blanche, hides from harsh truths, to grow past that. And in that growth process, she could've taught Blanche, even as a crazy broken shell of a person, that not everybody who learns the horrible truths about you will abandon you. It would've worked two ways! Blanche could've learned that the truth was the new start she was looking for with her sister’s loyalty and shelter, and Stella could've learned that real love isn't lust; it's choosing to acknowledge the bad and help anyway.

Because you know what? The consequences of broken people being seen as they really are should not, in fiction, be cruelty and more cruelty. You can punish monsters, and you can kill monsters, but if you have the chance to represent the light of truth shining on monsters as something that ends in love and redemption, you should take that chance every time. Not leave the world more arbitrary and cruel than you found it.

And certainly not expect me to believe that a character who spent the whole movie refusing to believe anything she didn’t want to believe would stick to a commitment…to live ten steps above her rapist husband as if she’ll never see him again. Honestly. What a freakin ending fumble.

#a streetcar named desire #film rewrite #fix-it #tennessee williams #tennesee williams #marlon brando #elia kazan #50s film #film meta #meta #fan #old hollywood #stellaaa #stella #stanley #blanche #classic film #classic films

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freshmoviequotes · 8 months

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Barbie (2023)

#barbie #greta gerwig #margot robbie #america ferrera #movies #film #quotes #funny #meta #2023

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malinaa · 5 months

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thinking about those two minuscule moments in the movie when lucy gray leans in for a kiss it's coriolanus that pulls away and when coriolanus leans in for a kiss it's lucy gray that pulls away. like in each other's homes they would never be comfortable with one another, not fully and instinctually their bodies know this. it just takes their minds to catch up

#films #the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #snowbaird #coriolanus snow #lucy gray baird #meta #text #tais toi lys #thgpost #i finished the book yesterday and watched the movie today. i will be insufferable . apologies (is not sorry at all)#*

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witchesroad · 1 year

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I DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU END AND I BEGIN.

unknown / jennifer’s body (2009) dir. karyn kusama / twin peaks: fire walk with me (1992) dir. david lynch / crimson peak (2015) dir. guillermo del toro / yellowjackets (2021-) dir. karyn kusama

#yellowjackets #shauna shipman #jackie taylor #twin peaks #fire walk with me #donna hayward #laura palmer #jennifer’s body #jennifer check #needy lesnicki #crimson peak #horror #web weaving #parallels #meta #quotes #film #cannot find a source for the first quote unfortunately

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absolutebl · 4 months

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TOP 10 BL Trends of 2023

This is just me with my analysis hat on.

1. 2023 = the year EVERYONE went outside their lanes

Everything went topsy-turvy this year in BL.

For example, Korea gave us agonized yearning and outright queerness (The 8th Sense, The New Employee) while Japan served up soft office workers and tender family (Our Dining Table).

The BL world went askew for a while, especially in the spring of 2023.

Not that we still didn’t still get Korea’s soft angsty bubbles or Japan’s “what are you doing and why does it hurt?” kink-fests. But there were quite a few BLs that made us chronic watchers sit up in confusion and wonder if Korea was dabbling in Taiwan’s territory or Japan in Thailand’s. Then they fudged the kisses and we were like... okay, back in familiar territory.

In contrast, Thailand stayed course-correcting for the damage they’ve done in the past with tropes (2022) and self referential meta criticism (2021), but also almost aggressively returned to their BL roots after last year’s series of shockers. Certainly, they are reexamining those roots, transplanting some, aerating others. But they really went back to classic Thai university and high school BL and pulps in a big way in 2023.

Taiwan is always difficult to gage because they produce so few but they seem to have stuck with what they do best with no deviation while producing more this year than they have in ages. I’m happy for that, why change a good thing? But there is a tiny part of me that really wants them to hit it out of the part with a quality piece soon. For me, We Best Love still reigns supreme, but I would really like the HIStory franchise to give us that level but longer - like a happy version of Your Name Engraved Herein. I think Taiwan has the chops to give us something as good as The 8th Sense or Old Fashion Cupcake but in their style, and I would like to see them exercise their talent for good rather than just profit.

I know, what a very odd thing for me to say. But if any BL is going to break into the mainstream American market, I genuinely think it’s most likely come from Taiwan.

Vietnam and the Philippines are falling behind, in general. They just didn’t bring out very many shows in 2023, and what the brought out tended to fub the endings. This is forgivable in Japan (because of their style and quality) but not what watchers want in the lower production value propositions. In other words, if you do a pulp, you can’t mess up the ending (by romance standards). that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.

2. The Office Romance Dominated

After years of Thailand serving us an endless (and slightly bland) buffet of university (and a few high school) BLs, this year Korea was basically like...

Ofiice. We like the Office. It’s cheap to film we can use grown up actors, acting (mostly) their actual age.

And yeah... it totally worked.

To be fair, Japan has always given us office live action yaoi from the beginning (they had the source material) but this year everyone else, including Thailand, seriously started playing in this setting.

3. Boys Danced with Boys

The darling @heretherebedork was a big fan of this one, and I rather like it myself. Prior to this boys dancing together was very very rare in BL, but this year we got way more than our fair share. It was lovely.

Never Let me Go

My School President

Bed Friend

The Day I Loved You

Step by Step

Be Mine Superstar

Tie the Not

Dangerous Romance

I think there were a few more. These are the ones I remembered to write down.

4. Getting (even more) Meta With Tropes

BL has been getting more and more meta over the past few years but this year they really focused in on tropes specifically. Calling out their own biggest and most favorite tropes in a massive way, especially Thailand and especially GMMTV.

Like they tunneled in on damaging tropes with Bad Buddy and the like over the past 2 years, and now they are just having fun with us.

I mean they just started the dancing trope and already they are calling it out? That’s like rapid-fire regurgitated meta there, GMMTV.

5. Cameos are the norm now

Taiwan has always loved cameos but in the past the other countries have been show and steady with only one or two a year. (Unless Japan does a parody.)

This year Korea got in on the game.

Korea rarely starts trends but they do adopt smaller and lesser known existing ones and make them super popular.

This year they did that with cameo couple appearances, even borrowing a few of Thailand’s pairs (TutorYim and MaxNat traveled north). They did it so much I stopped tracking. Love Class 2, Why R U?, and Jun & Jun were the heaviest hitters.

Taiwan, of course, came back swinging. Kiseki was the gum-ball machine of pair cameos. (In Taiwan mafia = gay.)

6. We are entering the cross pollination age

The number of remakes picked up or started this year was startling, not just countries revisiting their own content (Thailand, Japan) but countries revisiting OTHER countries stuff.

Lemme explain...

Korea has started remaking Thai content (Why R U?) alongside cameo'ing Thai pairs.

Thailand is doing Korean IP (My Dear Gagster Oppa) and has 2 Chinese ones slated for next year.

GMMTV acquired a lot of Japanese IP (Cherry Magic, Ossen, and My Love Mix Up) - and then had problems distributing it.

This is probably the most surprising trend for me. Especially the Japanese stuff. I would have thought these properties well outside of Thailand's price range (even GMMTV's) not to mention Japan’s legendary IP issues (I swear I typed this pout before the pulled TayNew’s excellent Cherry Magic).

Also why not option some of the older popular manga instead? Bet that's much cheeper. (I did see a NEW Thai translation of Finder into Thai, which is 90s yaoi, so I have my fingers crossed on that front.)

I shouldn't be too surprised.

Thailand is running out of y-novel content. Their publication industry is just not robust enough (I was just talking to a friend about this at length recently). But I didn't think they had the funds to option, especially from Japan.

Perhaps the option deals are for peanuts?

7. Korea got cheeky

I’m not sure quite how else to put this.

After finally figuring out boys can kiss, Korea started to do not just higher heat but playful higher heat, with more aggressive word play and linguistic innuendo, like they are entering their racy rom-com teenage years (Why R U? Love Class 2 and Jun & Jun in particular.)

I guess: Welcome to your BL teens, Korea?

It’s cute of them. I am very much enjoying it.

And now that comedy is warming them up, we get to see them play with actual queer burgeoning physicality in shows like The 8th Sense.

It’s nice. I like seeing Korea stretch its wings. They still stick to their bubble, but that bubble seems to be expanding.

8. The Amnesia Trope is back

And I, for one, would prefer to forget about it.

9. BL got trendy

I’m not quite sure how to articulate this category but basically we started seeing a lot of “modern” romance trends out of the west (like a/b/o) show up in our BL. Not a ton and sometimes quite small, but there has a been a steady rise of things like: no seme/uke, femme gay, out gay, condom use, messy gay.

We also got an increasing range of sub genre frameworks (like mafia, office setting) that’s moved BL pretty firmly (even in Thailand) out of school and into the workplace, whether actual working is involved or not.

It’s not to the point where it feels like we get more non-school BL than school BL (if I include all countries in this assessment).

Japan, in classic Japanese fashion, quietly started moving in the opposite direction. It’s what they do.

10. The Vampires are coming

This is an announcement trend, which I don’t usually report on but it’s so CLEAR.

So last year we had a spate of announcements of possible Omegaverse (2 from China, 1 from Japan, 1 from Thailand - the only one that’s happened).

This year we got 5 Vampire (or vampire-esk) Thai BLs announced including one from GMMTV.

Whether all 5 will actually get made is unlikely, but having had (basically) none prior to this (Kissable Lips), I’m pretty confident that we will get at least 2 of them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one other country made one as well. (Side eyes Taiwan with interest.)

Final thoughts

It feels like we are also seeing a decline in BL (both by quantity and quality) from Vietnam and the Philippines. As you all know, I don’t track or really watch either of these two very closely. But it feels like, now, no one else is either.

I think we have likely seen the BL heyday already in both places and their industries are now on the decline.

We might be witnessing a thinning in the players in the BL field.

FYI we had approximately

136 BLs in 2023

Previous Years

2022: 117

2021: 95

2020: 62

2019: 40

2018: 30

2017: 44 (China’s last gasp)

2016: 27

2015: 17 (50% micro)

2014: 17 (50% micro)

And that’s it! Let me know in the comments if you’ve spotted any additional trends you want to call out.