3
When politics meets romance? Queer!
An over-the-top performance from Supanut Lourhaphanich headlines this comedic period piece that mixes standard BL rom-com with some rather unsubtle political messaging—expectedly, about gay rights; less expectedly, about structural inequality in society. The story presupposes a culture where anti-gay bias has hardened into tradition enforced by law. Dominant rom-com tropes include a body swap, a love triangle, and a second couple. As a bonus, the series also concocts a plot seldom associated with rom-com at all: a literal plot to overthrow a king. Steeped in the political principles that fueled the great liberal revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries—equality before the law, abolition of hereditary titles, and the rights of a people to determine their own rulers—the plotting of the would-be revolutionaries fuels the sub-plots underlying the body swap, the love triangle, and the second couple. Without doubt, this mélange of story ideas unspooled by I’m the Most Beautiful Count counts as unusual for a BL series.
The end result is a series that sometimes sparkles, sometimes meanders, and sometimes plugs political ideals. The action commences in the present day, in a country that resembles Thailand—but decidedly is not. (One suspects a plot about abolishing the monarchy in Thailand would have encountered legal challenges; hence, the invention of a fictional country.) For centuries, this country has criminalized those who "act in a manner inconsistent with their birth gender." The main character is Prince, a 21st century pop idol played to flamboyant perfection by Suppanut. Nut doesn’t so much chew the scenery as flounce his way through it. Poisoned at a nightclub for the temerity of public non-conformity to gender norms, Prince falls unconscious. His soul then travels into the country's distant past, where it inhabits the body of the recently deceased Woradet, son of a nobleman. The two souls converge in some netherworld, where Woradet challenges Prince to complete his life’s unfinished goals. These goals include achieving true love and inciting his country to revolution. So, you know, nothing too difficult. Prince quickly deduces that the anti-gay laws that constrain his own life originated in Woradet’s era. Can his actions prevent their enactment in the first place? This particular body swap therefore has the potential to change history if Prince can complete the tasks set to him by the late Woradet.
To achieve Woradet’s mission, Prince must untangle the baggage of Woradet’s abandoned life. First up, sort out a love triangle between himself and two other noblemen. That this pair are the masterminds behind a plot to depose the country’s king and establish a republic only complicates the messiness of the romance since all three must work together to achieve their shared political aims. On the personal side, Prince must come to terms with the antagonism of Woradet’s father, who resents the disgrace of his son’s unmanly ways, and with the devotion of a personal slave, whose constant attention suffocates our transplanted 21st century hero. (Heroine. Hero. Either works.) The would-be revolutionaries soon gain a most unlikely ally: the very king they seek to dethrone. He has sought refuge in the countryside to escape the clutches of a nobleman who wants to use the youthful monarch as a puppet. This twist rather muddles the political intrigue since Woradet and his noble suitors end up simultaneously trying to preserve the king’s throne (against usurpation by the pretender) and to unseat the king from the throne (to bring about a republic founded on ideals of equality for all). The king soon establishes a rapport with Woradet’s slave that explains his sympathy for those seeking to abolish the monarchy. Though stunted in the telling, that relationship supplies the second couple.
I am the Most Beautiful Count amounted to a fun watch, but it will not go down as an all-timer. Mixing serious political theory with light romantic comedy yields a strange brew. While the series provides a level of escapist entertainment, neither the romance nor the political aspects of the series mount any great degree of sophistication. The viewer’s best approach is to enjoy the ride and not sweat the finer details. The actors seemed to have a ball making the show, and regarding it as a lark is likely the best way to enjoy it.
Two final notes, one theoretical and one cultural. The series does some adventurous things in the way it conceptualizes gender and sexuality. Obviously, we have the fictional country that criminalizes behavior that goes against the person’s birth gender. That very contemporary phrasing would have had no currency in the past, but it nevertheless sets up Prince’s mission to complete Woradet’s life. Original-flavor Woradet may have been obviously gay (and therefore a gender traitor), but Prince-as-Woradet minces and prances through life with such reckless flamboyance that Woradet’s near-and-dear notice the difference. So, while not rooted in any "real" historical place or culture, the series nevertheless demonstrates the fluidity between masculine and feminine. More substantively, it speaks to very real ways in which state power was used to marginalize queer people in the past. On the cultural side, the series highlights the difficulty in translating the Thai term khatoey. Various subtitles resorted to “trans woman,” “transgender,” “transvestite,” and “gay,” not to mention a couple instances where “khatoey” manifested in the subtitles as itself. Strictly speaking, these are discrete concepts. Only "transvestite" and "khatoey" actually predate the 20th century (in the meaning implied here). That khatoey works for any of the equivalents the subtitle writer resorted to (depending on context) illustrates how foreign notions of gender become when translating between cultures.
ADDENDUM
For several years, your author has maintained three lists of BL series on MDL. One highlights series that blur the boundary between BL and LGBT; one highlights series that implicate history in their telling; one keeps track of series that incorporate a body swap theme. Over the years, a handful of series have landed on two of the three lists. I am the Most Beautiful Count becomes the first to warrant inclusion on all three. Not because the series is brilliant. Rather, because it happens to feature themes that merit inclusion on each list.
For what it’s worth:
LGBT Vibes: https://kisskh.at/list/3Dg6K6JL
Historical Settings: https://kisskh.at/list/3bgDRkJ4
Body Swap: https://kisskh.at/list/389KOMq4
The end result is a series that sometimes sparkles, sometimes meanders, and sometimes plugs political ideals. The action commences in the present day, in a country that resembles Thailand—but decidedly is not. (One suspects a plot about abolishing the monarchy in Thailand would have encountered legal challenges; hence, the invention of a fictional country.) For centuries, this country has criminalized those who "act in a manner inconsistent with their birth gender." The main character is Prince, a 21st century pop idol played to flamboyant perfection by Suppanut. Nut doesn’t so much chew the scenery as flounce his way through it. Poisoned at a nightclub for the temerity of public non-conformity to gender norms, Prince falls unconscious. His soul then travels into the country's distant past, where it inhabits the body of the recently deceased Woradet, son of a nobleman. The two souls converge in some netherworld, where Woradet challenges Prince to complete his life’s unfinished goals. These goals include achieving true love and inciting his country to revolution. So, you know, nothing too difficult. Prince quickly deduces that the anti-gay laws that constrain his own life originated in Woradet’s era. Can his actions prevent their enactment in the first place? This particular body swap therefore has the potential to change history if Prince can complete the tasks set to him by the late Woradet.
To achieve Woradet’s mission, Prince must untangle the baggage of Woradet’s abandoned life. First up, sort out a love triangle between himself and two other noblemen. That this pair are the masterminds behind a plot to depose the country’s king and establish a republic only complicates the messiness of the romance since all three must work together to achieve their shared political aims. On the personal side, Prince must come to terms with the antagonism of Woradet’s father, who resents the disgrace of his son’s unmanly ways, and with the devotion of a personal slave, whose constant attention suffocates our transplanted 21st century hero. (Heroine. Hero. Either works.) The would-be revolutionaries soon gain a most unlikely ally: the very king they seek to dethrone. He has sought refuge in the countryside to escape the clutches of a nobleman who wants to use the youthful monarch as a puppet. This twist rather muddles the political intrigue since Woradet and his noble suitors end up simultaneously trying to preserve the king’s throne (against usurpation by the pretender) and to unseat the king from the throne (to bring about a republic founded on ideals of equality for all). The king soon establishes a rapport with Woradet’s slave that explains his sympathy for those seeking to abolish the monarchy. Though stunted in the telling, that relationship supplies the second couple.
I am the Most Beautiful Count amounted to a fun watch, but it will not go down as an all-timer. Mixing serious political theory with light romantic comedy yields a strange brew. While the series provides a level of escapist entertainment, neither the romance nor the political aspects of the series mount any great degree of sophistication. The viewer’s best approach is to enjoy the ride and not sweat the finer details. The actors seemed to have a ball making the show, and regarding it as a lark is likely the best way to enjoy it.
Two final notes, one theoretical and one cultural. The series does some adventurous things in the way it conceptualizes gender and sexuality. Obviously, we have the fictional country that criminalizes behavior that goes against the person’s birth gender. That very contemporary phrasing would have had no currency in the past, but it nevertheless sets up Prince’s mission to complete Woradet’s life. Original-flavor Woradet may have been obviously gay (and therefore a gender traitor), but Prince-as-Woradet minces and prances through life with such reckless flamboyance that Woradet’s near-and-dear notice the difference. So, while not rooted in any "real" historical place or culture, the series nevertheless demonstrates the fluidity between masculine and feminine. More substantively, it speaks to very real ways in which state power was used to marginalize queer people in the past. On the cultural side, the series highlights the difficulty in translating the Thai term khatoey. Various subtitles resorted to “trans woman,” “transgender,” “transvestite,” and “gay,” not to mention a couple instances where “khatoey” manifested in the subtitles as itself. Strictly speaking, these are discrete concepts. Only "transvestite" and "khatoey" actually predate the 20th century (in the meaning implied here). That khatoey works for any of the equivalents the subtitle writer resorted to (depending on context) illustrates how foreign notions of gender become when translating between cultures.
ADDENDUM
For several years, your author has maintained three lists of BL series on MDL. One highlights series that blur the boundary between BL and LGBT; one highlights series that implicate history in their telling; one keeps track of series that incorporate a body swap theme. Over the years, a handful of series have landed on two of the three lists. I am the Most Beautiful Count becomes the first to warrant inclusion on all three. Not because the series is brilliant. Rather, because it happens to feature themes that merit inclusion on each list.
For what it’s worth:
LGBT Vibes: https://kisskh.at/list/3Dg6K6JL
Historical Settings: https://kisskh.at/list/3bgDRkJ4
Body Swap: https://kisskh.at/list/389KOMq4
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