Service Provider Inquiries - GagaOOLala

I am from the UK and have been using GagaOOLala since 2021 which I discovered as a platform in comments on this very website!! It is a fantastic resource of LGBTQ+ media, and over the years I've watched it pick up more and more licences of trending shows enabling //legal// distribution of south east asian media with multiple subtitle languages.  It really is a crying shame GOL continues to be sidelined.

 Saeng:

I agree.

Now, if only there was a day or two that people could use for activities to raise awareness for matters of LGBTQ+ matters...

I could get behind this. 

 andoR:

I don't think it's necessarily about LGBTQ representation. It's more that MDL is all about KDrama and KDrama doesn't have any LGBTQ representation. When's the last time you had a news that wasn't from Korea on the front page? It takes ages for them to add some Thai GL dramas and JDramas sometimes air for two weeks before they get added to the db, while KDramas usually get added 6 months in advance. Sure, Netflix loves Korea, but that's no reason for an internet database to basically ignore every other country.

Kdramas do have lgbtq representation . Theyve been had it.  as some examples:

• Life in the Big City (won awards, based on a Korean book)
• Personal Taste (explores a main character pretending to be gay that then meets a closeted gay man)
• The Painter of the Wind (has a bisexual leading lady, based on a Korean historical fiction novel) 

This is such a small example, there are tons more. If you're curious, use the search for dramas and filter by gay,  lesbian, and bisexual.

 fiflydramalover:

Also I thought MDL was an Indian company. Did they sell it over the years?

omg really? O_o No one knows for sure where the HQ resides in, that's so funny.

Someone said US, you say India, someone else said South Korea afaik

Lol at least we know they're on planet Earth. :)

 fiflydramalover:

I might be wrong. I remember seeing India on this site when looking up the company, but I don't see it anymore. https://www.similarweb.com/website/mydramalist.com/#overview

That's so strange. You do have to wonder what happened. :(

 fiflydramalover:

Kdramas do have lgbtq representation . Theyve been had it.  as some examples:

• Life in the Big City (won awards, based on a Korean book)
• Personal Taste (explores a main character pretending to be gay that then meets a closeted gay man)
• The Painter of the Wind (has a bisexual leading lady, based on a Korean historical fiction novel) 

This is such a small example, there are tons more. If you're curious, use the search for dramas and filter by gay,  lesbian, and bisexual.

First of all, sorry, I could've phrased my original post better. 

I couldn't find the first title here on MDL, but the other two are basically about hetero relationships, at least if you only read the synopses. I don't really know (or want to know) anything about Korean entertainment, KDrama, or BL for that matter, so I can only represent a "from the outside looking in" perspective by stating what I know from news, Yuri/GL communities and reading synopses here on MDL.

What I meant in my OP was, by now MDL is basically a KDrama site that only recognizes other Asian countries in their database and there are not really any TV aired KDramas centered around LGBTQ representation, especially in a romantic way. Which is what GagaOOLala is mostly about. The maximum I've seen by above stated means is that there's a gay man as a semi-important character or comedic relief. Or that stuff in Nevertheless when they couldn't be true to themselves and it got nowhere. Or the one episode in Seonam High School Girls Investigators in which the lesbian couple is condemned and the main characters initially don't even want to help them. Everytime I see or read about a Korean TV adaption of a Yuri/GL themed source, the Yuri/GL gets completely written out, like in Pyramid Game or Jeongyeon for example, and it is, at the absolute most, only underlying or hinted at that it could also be romantic. Wasn't Friendly Rivalry basically the first Korean TV drama that openly showed a kiss between two women that was more than their lips slightly touching? And even that drama was more suggestive in that they could be romantically involved with each other if you squint real hard rather than openly say or show it. Also, just to be clear, I know there are LGBTQ themed Korean movies out there, but as far as I know, that's not really what GagaOoLala is about. There are also a lot of web series and short movies about LGBTQ themes, but those are often free on Youtube, Viki and/or other sites.

And just to reiterate on the original topic. I'm not saying that is definitely why MDL doesn't include GagaOOLala, I'm just saying that MDL is absolutely Korean centric and that could be a reason.

Also, I think MDL is owned by a few different investors from different countries, maybe one company or person was from India and that was what you've read. 

Thank you! Thats my bad on the title.

Love in the Big City is a drama about a gay man who moves in with a straight woman and the lives they live. 

Painter of the Wind is about a protagonist who (SPOILERS), depending on your interpretation, is either a trans man in a straight relationship, or a lesbian woman in a gay relationship. They dont use terms like trans or gay i assume becauzse of the time period. 

Personal Taste does have a straight main narrative, but its an interesting look at homosexuality as well, especially through its side character. But again, these are not the only titles. Direstor Leesong Hee Il for example is a well known out and  gay  director from the early 2000s to the 2010s. Theres also the production company Matchbox which does short films of lgbtq content. Again, if you go through the search and filter, you will find tons of movies and dramas. 

The korean tv market does have a problem with erasing queer narrativezs, but thats why its all the more important to watch and/or pay attention to the projects that do make it. 

 Selbey:

BTW, do you know if Gagaoolala is listed as a service provider on Letterboxd and Serialized?

Both letterboxd and serializd get their information about streaming sites directly from JustWatch. JustWatch is a site where you can check whether a title is streamed legally anywhere, depending on your location. It has a lot of services but not all of them. IQiYi, for example, seems not to be listed.
(Both serializd and letterboxd are much more automated than MDL. MDL adds everything "by hand", while the other two get film/series info from TMDB.)

 Tina:

No one knows for sure where the HQ resides in, that's so funny.

I don't think it's funny at all. It's just another example of how opaque MDL is. No imprint. No address. No known owner. No official communication about editing/submission rules (sorry, staff members posting on feeds with their own accounts doesn't count), nor about future plans. That they don't give a statement about GagaOOLala is just one puzzle piece of a whole problem.

 andoR:

I'm just saying that MDL is absolutely Korean centric

While that's obviously true, especially regarding the news gossip about Korean "celebrities", them adding iQiYi, a streaming provider who is based in China and mainly has C-Dramas or, indeed, adding any Thai TV channel contradicts your hypothesis.

 -Aprillen-:

Gaga started as a platform for LGBTQ content and only later branched out to include BL and GL. They still have a huge catalog of non-BL /GL LGBTQ content. 

Correct. There are a lot of indie productions which are not BL/GL, short films and full-feature movies alike. Many of them Korean, btw.