Yaz

I've been looking to see if Hong Yao is the one who can't speak fluent standard mandarin? Does anyone know if this is true or just a rumor? There's about to be a big flushing of actors who can't speak standard and I just want to know where to stock my marbles loooooool. I'm hoping Hong Yao isn't one of them.

I just started the drama but I sure hate the FL, Charmaine's character. They better give me a good reason why she's only sabotaging Yuk-Ying and not anyone else. She literally LEFT HER TO DIE in the beginning. I already knew something was up but, man, this lead into a crazy antagonist/protagonist fight is already looking good. Idk who I would even want to win.

This is barely a palace drama. This is a warning for anyone wanting anything remotely like a palace drama. It's rarely even ever set inside the palace or involving any of the consorts. It doesn't even have court politics to balance it out. It's just boring ANGST and will she or won't she or will he or won't he.

Thanks.

I hated it.

Yeah. . . I've been watching BLs/LGBTQ+ movies for at least the last two decades. It's a good movie. Is it the best one, even isolated just to Thailand? No. It's not particularly the most beautiful one I've ever seen either--Bangkok Love Story is still up there after 10+ years. But at least this one isn't a tragedy. So--there's that.

This is just my opinion. Not trying to step on any toes. If most people disagree with me, that's fine with me.

Idk, nothing is nowhere near as bad as that drama was loooool

His acting is really good. I've only seen him in two dramas but the switch from core melting hand to a friendly sidekick is amazing. He became completely different people.

I mean, yeah, but it's not real. If I wanted real, I'd watch a documentary about LGBTQ+ in Thailand. They didn't have to look good just not bad idk. I really think they just didn't know how to cry while acting which is fine. They're young and all. They got time to get better. But if people were expecting top notch tears, they won't get it here.

Pop culture and celebrity culture is an issue in any country that doesn't have proper laws to protect them. Mileage may vary but they still get to same place the same way.

If you don't mind a rando adding in a penny. As someone who started in Shounen ai as a 12 years old, graduated to yaoi, not much later, then as a fully grown adult generally open to more LGBTQ+ oriented work(including some international BL).

Indie/"mass produced" LGBTQ+ made for LGBTQ+ tended/tends to be really depressing no matter what country they come from. And part of me understands it, like when I watch a documentary/docudrama on Freddie Mercury(not the recent one), Elton John, or even Ma Rainey, to the fictional stories of like SKINS or the L Word and all that, their stories are both triumphant and depressing. On that same hand, It also makes it difficult to want to watch some of them knowing that I'm not watching a show about people but more like a show of people beholden to circumstance. Even something as great to watch as POSE is a similar grain of that. It's part of the reason I've still been hesitant to watch Moonlight because I'm afraid to see more of what comes off to me as torture rather than a complex full life.

So the byproduct of knowing what the general audience would be more inclined to watch, the BLs and the new "Yaoi" are cuter and happier. It makes me think a little of how Bridgerton is and there is much to be said about why pieces of work like this can be both valuable and problematic. But that the largest consequence will be that you're going to have an enthusiastic fandom because they're telling stories that younger people/teenagers can also digest.

If I had never read shounen-ai, then I never would've grown to question and think about the problems of heteronormativity and sexualizing/objectifying genders based on my interpretation of that. And maybe I would've been better off to just simply nod my head and just donate to LGBTQ+ causes but would I ever be able to interact with anyone identifying as LGBTQ+ as easily or as comfortably? I don't think so. Would I have been able to deconstruct my own biases? I don't think so.

To wait until adulthood to consume the media of what most indie LGBTQ+ creates would be fairly late in a person's life to learn about people we already know exist and likely have already interacted with.

Ignore me if it just seems like nonsense. I'm getting old lol.

I feel like I'm about to make an unnecessary comment but like--in the words of Tropic Thunder--you don't have to go all in. The ugly crying really had me laughing and feeling like an asshole.

I'm sorry.

Really great production and acting outside of that tho.

Oh man, I just realized this must be the lead up into Serenade of Peaceful Joy which I JUST FINISHED watching. I know they're not in the same "world" but it always makes it easier to make generalizations about certain characters or see the differences in how the same characters are portrayed. Now, I'm just gonna watch it backwards I guess.

Tell me why I burst out laughing when we realized he actually WASN'T blind. Too funny.

We prolly do! ToT But like, if you can't see the reasons why people enjoy this in just the simple way it used an overused trope/theme/bag of characters and made it enjoyable, cute, and refreshing to watch. Idk what to tell. The clear values of consent and communication is enough to destroy even the most popular of BLs.

I'm off to see the Kdrama that was similarly based.

Imagine a good palace drama like Zhen Huan then imagine a bad one. Now you got something a little better than somewhere in between these two. It's not good. Nowhere near as good as even Virtuous Han but it dosen't suck. I finished it at least lol.

Well, this is how everyone learns. Everything was Slash, then Shounen Ai/Yaoi, then Boys Love, and now we have Danmei to add to the mix with the five hundred other designations lol all existing since the beginning of literature.

Have you already watched Ruyi's Love in Palace? It's considered to be the "sequel" to this and I feel like there needs to be a looooong convo about these two shows lol.

Yeah, but all the dramas weren't "delayed". Only the BL ones. That's already telling enough.

And yeah, this honestly started a few years ago in urgency because of the Alibaba stuff and their investors committing fraud. It's more about curbing "capitalistic" tendencies than it is about BL, I get that.

I mean, it's more likely the fact that women are harsher to other women because of the shared womanhood and therefore critical bias. We go, "I know what she's thinking but it's dumb. She's wrong." versus seeing a man and going, "Well, I've been told men are complicated. This dude is so complicated it's turned right back around into stupid. Or is it?".

It's almost like women are taught to give men multiple chances to be better people and women aren't. Definitely easier for men to get a woman that thinks that way.

Good job society.

I don't think Korea has escalated to prison sentences yet but they're nearly on their way. China could do that if they really want to take it seriously, I guess, but like this just seems like they're panicking because too much "gay".

The easy solution would've been just to do it like Korea. Track everyone who makes an account and then prevent cyberbullying that way while allowing people who don't want to make an account prevented from being active fandom participants with benefits. China always has to go extreme when the solution is literally staring them in the face.