GL Drama Lovers Club

 Ryn:

I avoided this because comments indicated it might have an unhappy ending, but now I'll put it back on my plan to watch :)

The end is somewhat sad but the rest of the movie is so good and I loved it so much that I think it outweighs the ending 

Yall im watching Hate you love you (short thai webseries that aired this year) and the acting is really good and the actresses are gorgeous but the way the plot is progressing is terrible which sucks because I think it started out really interesting 

 kristen711:

I'm new to GLs, but I really like 23.5 so far! Please feel free to give me recs!

Are there any things that you particularly like or don't like in a drama? For example, do you prefer cute and fluffy dramas or more serious and angsty ones? Are there any particular themes or tropes that you find annoying and wish to avoid, such as love triangles, age gaps, controlling psycho parents or homophobic characters? Any information you provide will help people target their recommendations to your preferences. If you really don't have any preferences, that's fine as well. Just tell us and people can recommend whatever they want. Best of luck with finding the dramas you enjoy.

 AthenaTheStorierX:

For me, while I completely understand where the belief the BL/GL is lighter and more idealized/unrealistic than “queer stories”, i personally think that so much has come out that operates between the two extremes,

This is true. I don't think it's possible to draw a hard line of separation between the two anymore. It's blurry. Some media leans more towards unrealistic idealized 'BL/GL' and some more towards realistic 'queer media', but in the end a lot of productions are somewhere in between, often taking elements from both. 

There's also people who consider BL/GL to only belong to Asia and 'queer media' to be mainly western, but personally I think Heartstopper, Red White Royal Blue and a lot of fanfiction and webcomics (like Lovespells) fit into the BL/GL mold really closely. They have the same indie web origins, the same female-dominated communities surrounding them, the same tropes and conventions etc. If you go on Tapas, the majority of gay webcomics label themselves as BL/GL in the thumbnail. Western producers haven't yet realized how profitable this could be, so there's very few TV/film BL adaptatations and afaik basically none yet for wlw :(, although maybe 'Crush' (2022) somewhat counts, based on vibes.

 AthenaTheStorierX:

and so many circumstances have changed in real life

This I'm not sure. Things have changed, yeah, but homophobia is very much alive and at least in a lot of places in the west is making a strong and really scary comeback. The BL/GL world where the majority of acquaintances would start shipping the leads rather than judging them is still an idealized fantasy that only makes sense in a BL/GL context.

 kristen711:

I'm new to GLs, but I really like 23.5 so far! Please feel free to give me recs!

'Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko', my absolute fave :)

 MarkWasHere:

With those low budget webdramas, you just need to watch them with realistic expectations. They are cute and fun, but they're not going to win any awards for cinematography, script writing or acting.

Well yes, I'm aware.. I've watched a fair amount of them. But I can still point out if something doesn't make sense or that I don't like. Also, there are plenty of low budget webdramas that are well done or that I like better than high-budget pieces. This one for example had really good acting from the leads. Or Led Astray By love, which is one of my favorite gl of all time and that show fit an entire 30-40 hour cdrama esque 4 arc plot into less than 30 minutes total with stunning efficiency. 

 kardasx:

And if you want something darker then: Soshite, Yuriko wa Hitori ni Natta

Second this rec. I never see anyone else recommend Soshite and it's a shame because it's absolutely one of my favorites. 

 kardasx:

But if I compare two romances of similar genres, I think GL is softer, because there is at least less testosterone in it.

Hmm disagree. BL can be really soft too. I don't think the testosterone is at fault. It's not a biological difference. 

But there is of course a difference in social expectations on men and women, with women being expected to behave in softer ways while men would be ridiculed for the same behavior. And sure, the majority of men and women conform to those expectations, because that's easier than going against the grain, and because it's something people get taught from the time they're kids.

So yeah it makes sense that some GL also conforms to those expectations, out of the same habit. But going against the grain is also partially exactly the point of queer media, so I think GL is actually the perfect place for women to not always be soft. We do see some badass/harsh/aggressive/stoic GL protagonists here and there (but there could be more, imo). 

It's fine to only want to watch soft romance though. That's fine to prefer as a genre.