Not a Robot

To me, if the viewers are able to romanticize, the author/director is also romanticizing. Author and reader/viewer are in a symbiotic relationship. The author spins this story of falling in love even though the foundation is unhealthy. It is glamorized in luxury, fighting, life saving scenarios, and a seemingly close family to cement the bond. My perception was not that they were bad guys, but that they were good guys in a bad business. This is the romanticization that I felt was presented to me.

Pete, who was kidnapped, raped and tortured was romanticized as well. Throw in a hedgehog and a shared screwed up childhood, was to elicit empathy for a psychopath, or at least a person with psychopathic traits. VP was romanticized in such a way that people were rooting for the couple from start to finish. The same analysis for Kim and Kamol could be applied to Pete and Vegas. Vegas gets hard over torture, but the viewer is expected to believe that he is just a lost little boy in a man's body.

I think all of it is "toxic" (MDL definition) but I can deal with it. What sometimes gets on my nerves is how people will go crazy because someone kissed a sleeping person on the cheek, and attack other viewers who are enjoying the series. Many of the same people will excuse bad behavior in a character they love. These viewers also pick and choose which shows to brigade against. Teh from ITSAY/IPYTM in my opinion is one of the most "toxic" characters in BL. Some of the viewers hated him in IPYTM, but did not write "toxic" responses to viewers who had a different opinion. There was more discussion than vitriol.

We can agree to disagree. I appreciate. your comment and it is something to think about.

The one good thing is, if you are attacked and give an intelligent response, they block you, saving you a block. Most of them are kids who have been taught if you are loud and shout people down, you win. They are too ignorant to realize we are shaking our heads, walking away out of pity. One unblocked me to make room, then I promptly blocked them. The boards have been a much better place since.

I didn't like the bullying that I saw on the Cutie Pie board. If a person liked something, they were accused of supporting SA. That is one of the most kindergarten arguments I've ever heard. I don't engage with them because it wouldn't be a fair argument. Who wants to debate a person with 5 year old critical thinking skills?

Please don't give up. I'm not sure how it happened but the bullies did not gain traction on the KP board. It could be that I blocked the NPG automatons, and do not see the zombies, but some of the people I've engaged with have given rational responses, and use analysis to make their point. I don't mind disagreement if the person puts thought into it. I do not engage with the zombies, if it gets personal, I'm done.

I agree with you, if you think something is that horrible, don't watch it. I will be 100%, that I CHOSE to not watch Squid Games or Game of Thrones. Did I run around accusing my co-workers of supporting murder for sport, incest, rape, violence? Do I think they are horrible people? No. My co-workers are adults who can separate fiction from real life. Actually they were very supportive of my not watching the shows, never made fun of me or pushed me to watch them.

I say it's romanticized because we viewers knew they would become a couple, and were more accepting of the stalking and threats toward Porsche. Kinn trashed Jade's bar and threatened his family, but the viewers accepted it because we knew they would eventually be a couple. Was it really consensual when Kinn and his family held so much power over Porsche and his family? There was a huge power differential. Had Porsche ended up with Pete, we may have seen Kinn as a villain, sort of like Korn. Pete and Vegas started out with criminal acts, but viewers love them, and rationalized Vegas' behavior. I don't have a problem with fiction, so I did not have a problem with KP, but toxic behavior is toxic behavior in my opinion. I also believe in redemption.

As much as I hate what Kim did to Porchay, if they make a series about them, I will watch it because I believe in redemption, and I also would want to support the actors.

It seems like Phayu graduated with the last class, so he is probably 22-23.

I blocked the self-appointed keepers of morale virtue, from the Cutie Pie board, so I don't see them. I don't mind when people hate something I like, but the brigade actually bullied and tried to make others feel like crap for having a different opinion.

I must be toxic because I love this series so far! The sexual tension is so thick, almost as thick as Rain's lack of common sense. I'm biased because I like the Rain/Phayu type dynamics in written BL. I tend to like odd couples, and I absolutely love it when the cool, detached guy falls in love first, and hard. Phayu taking responsibility for Rain at the race was very risky for him. I busted out laughing when Phayu told Rain that the thought Rain was mature. The bathroom stall scene was very hot to me. Rain was losing it without over touching and kissing. Whew!

I loved it! Phayu was teasing Rain almost to a breaking point. Rain didn't even realize that the too guys were gone, he was so caught up in the teasing. Men love being teased, and Rain loved it. No lip contact needed, just sexual tension and energy.

In my opinion, KP was toxic and the toxicity was romanticized. Stalking and threatening family to get Porsche to take the body guard job was romanticized. The worst, was the mindf#cking Kim gave to Porchay, still that was romanticized as well. Viewers were like, Kim's song was so, sigh, touching, sob. The forums do not have the authority to declare someone morally inferior for liking something "toxic," especially when some people's behaviors here are real life toxic.

I misunderstood your point regarding yaoi, so I apologize. BL, yaoi, shounen ai was not written for nor ever claimed to represent LGBT values. From the start that it was by women for women. I think that it most BL leads are characters hetero women would have the hots for. I was never fascinated by gay romance fiction where the sex is really fast and steamy. Gay fiction written by and for their audience is very different from BL. I think there's room for inclusivity, and dramas are adapted by male authors such as Patrick Rangimant. Yet very few BL works in manga, fiction, webtoons are authored by men. Bara as a subgenre has never been as popular with readers either.

I was reponding to the OP, "If people don't like Mame and her writing style, why do they continue to watch her dramas?? She's not going to change if she continues to have the support of the viewers. " I personally do not care for twisted types of characters, so I hardly read stories about them. That said, I think that manga such as Castehate and Jealousy have a place in the genre. The Korean BL webtoon artists who love to publish violent, bloody, horror BL, will continue to do so because it's popular. So I think you and I are on the same page. We don't read certain things and do not agree with some content, but do not want to ban them.

The Thai readers are the people who read her books. It isn't the general BL audience because only those who can read Thai are able to read her books. It's the Thai readership who have elevated her works to be popular enough to be made into live action series. Love by Chance was not made because of worldwide popularity but Thai popularity.

Early BL, and even some today have rape or twisted fantasies. I do not deny this. Noncon/dubcon is not exclusive to BL or gay works. Heterosexual stories have similar fantasy plot lines, or you wouldn't have "bodice rippers." It's just that people continue to try to shame people out of reading or watching these works, and think they are morally superior doing this. They also have no problem kink shaming, which is another morally superior judgment call. If I think Harry Potter is toxic, so should I start a campaign to make people stop reading the books because I think kids behaving violently along with adult allies should not be presented as entertainment? That people justify the violence because magic is involved is condoning violence? That readers are now being told that a major HP has been gay all along should be cancelled for gay baiting and "problematic?" Oh yes, and the author is now being called a TERF? Wouldn't I be morally superior for pointing all of this out? NO!

I personally feel that Mame writes for people who have similar tastes and instead of trying to make her stop writing these types of stories, people who do not like them should stop reading them. If people really hate her works and stop reading them, she will change because her sales would drop. I think Mame should write what she wants to write, and we as consumers should choose whether or not to consume them. What another person thinks is toxic should not define what is toxic to another.

I like your statement that literature should offend people. The works that have lasted for centuries, such as Inferno, Shakespeare and the Greek classics are largely offensive. We are still reading and analyzing these types of works centuries after they are written. Hamlet was one of the best things I was forced to read. Shakespeare's lines are still in common use 300 years later. Yukiko Mishima's works are still as gut punching today, as when written. I think everything should be allowed. There would be people who would throw Harry Potter books into the fire, since there are a lot of toxic events in them. I just believe that we should be careful about declaring things should not be published or produced based on our personal feelings.

Your analysis is valid and makes sense. I get tired of the puritanical, almost religious fervor that people write (to be clear, not talking about OP) about May. I'm not saying Mame is Shakespeare, but I was assigned to read a Shakespeare play that had teen sex, murder, gangland feuds, deception and double teen suicide, as a 14 year old in 9th grade. The Bard is hailed as a master, yet his works are mostly toxic by 2022 standards. Sometimes I think we have lost sight that no one is pure, and we are all toxic at times. I usually don't like group sex, or cheating, so I tend to not read those stories, but I don't want to deny those works to people who enjoy them. If people have a non/dubcon kink, they shouldn't be kink shamed either. Mame does have a place amongst Thai BL readers, and I think we're a little unfair to her at times.

I love the puppy dog man chasing the runaway master. I like that trope, I don't know why. The 3P isn't my thing, Lop should have demanded condoms before being passed back and forth like a hot potato.

Mame is a Thai author who writes for Thai readers, and they seem to like her books. Sometimes, Thai fans seem to like things foreigners don't care for. I'm sure if Thai readers read some western fiction, they would hate it too. People just have different tastes. Foreign BL readers like to cancel anything they do not like, but their views must be "validated" and "affirmed" because they're special, and of course, morally superior to Thais right? I have purchased Thai BL ebooks and the English translation usually has its flaws, but I've read plenty of English pulp fiction, and I do not feel that we have a morally superior high ground to stand on.

It's interesting how Ai and Nhai are the in this series compared to TC. I never got used to the recast of Bar in Love Mechanics, so I'm hoping that I will get used to T & C. I am looking forward to Porsche and Art as the dads.

Yes, I agree and that's why I'm worried. I think having Wang being raised in a boarding school is the way they get this story to work. Most people are raised by parents, and even when there is conflict, most parents know the child pretty well, even if they have different points of view. Neither Mol, nor In really know Wang. Yes, Mol had Wang on weekends, but since she was in a power position, I'm sure that she missed many weekends with him. If she has a problem with alcohol, even more. I can see this series having the potential to be very special, as long as they stay on course and do not let the story turn in to a "lakorn" plot. Truthfully, I don't want to see Wang die young like his father, nor do I want to see In become a martyr so that Wang can be with someone younger. The older adults need to let Siam rest in peace by helping Wang be true to himself and be happy.

I'm hoping history doesn't repeat itself, leading to a death, or In will sacrifice himself so Wang can go be with the guy from school, who is closer to his age. I'm so used to films and series from all countries devolving to end in a cliche. I'm hoping this series doesn't jump the shark, I would be disappointed.