You don't know how happy I am to find this discussion. I know I am late to the party but as someone who consumed a whole lot of western m/m contents before very recently watching BLs (except for many a few manhwas over a decade ago), I must say most often consent does not seem to be even a concept in Asian media (I am talking in terms of BLs). And you can't even talk about it without getting attacked by rabid fans !! So I appreciate your thoughts.
It was very interesting to hear WL's side as the aggressor and how it also impacted him. WL and GT were both victims of the circumstances. But I just want to add that for HY and SY the consent violation to me seemed more complicated. It was not just the grape, but the systematic way HY messed with SY's health repeatedly, intentionally and I felt that it wasn't addressed. A real world parallel would be to mess with someone's birth control for months while they suffer from unexplained hormonal issues that is putting their health at risk. THAT to me felt like a bigger and more serious abuse than the explicit grape because as you said the grape was a consequence of the circumstances. I strongly believe media reflects the real world in a more dramatized light. And even in the context of this fantasy world, it is not hard to translate the character's actions to something that can easily happen IRL. HY's behavior seems very textbook abuser and so it left a very bad taste for me. WL and GT could have provided a much needed fluff in the show since their dynamics is a perfect hurt/comfort setting but it would not have undone the "dafuq was that". 🤷♀️ 🤷♀️
