"Is this a straight washed heteronormative Korean drama?"
Yes, it's straightwashed, and I stand by what I said
"The thing that annoys me the most about most hate ..."
You know what annoys me? Excessively high, glowing comments, ratings, or reviews that suggest dissenting voices are in the wrong and bash them. Nothing is perfect. A 10/10 rating leaves no room for growth or improvement
"But on the other hand, I didn't like how the genre of BL fed onto this fantasy that every man is magically gay. I couldn't fully feel a connection to the characters at times"
I'm gay, and I enjoy stories that take me outside my own experiences. A story featuring exclusively male or exclusively female characters, all of whom are gay, provides that kind of engaging escapism. I don't have a problem with it
Fiction isn't obligated to adhere to real-world demographics and societal norms. It gives us the freedom to envision alternate realities where homosexuality is the norm and everyone finds happiness in it. The unease you feel about the gay utopia is a result of internalized homophobia or heteronormative biases, rather than a fault of the fiction itself
"Honestly in the original, I actually kind of had wanted Jiyu and Chanyoung to get together"
I don't want them to get together. "Hee Su in Class 2" isn't about Chan Yeong and Ji Yu, or it would've been titled, "Chan Yeong/Ji Yu in Class 2"
"Do I wish there was more of the main couple? Yes, sure. But it was never about them"
It should've been about the gay couple
"So the main essence of the drama is still very much present"
The essence of a story is in the eye of the beholder. To some of us, the source material's core appeal was its unwavering commitment to exploring diverse non-straight relationships. The "adaptation" strayed from this essence, adding a straight storyline and losing sight of what made the source material special
If you watched through the eyes of the people who aren’t busy bending over backwards to defend straightwashed media or the dominant straight agenda, you’d understand it's not a good adaptation
I believe Jiho, the actor playing Heesu, was freshly 18 when they filmed this drama so it's better off that they…
It's hard not to see the casting decision as an act of homophobia. One lead being a minor worked to avoid any suggestion of gay romance for the majority of the "adaptation"
That comment does not define the BL genre, any more than you do. It articulates a point of difference between…
"Your individual taste doesn't define the drama or the genre"
Does your individual taste define the drama? If it were worth watching or as good as you claim, you wouldn't have written an essay to defend it
"It articulates a point of difference between BL and gay genres"
The level of realism in a gay story doesn't determine its validity or gayness. A rosy, dreamlike romance between two men is gay, provided it places the romance front and center
"Arguably, idealized, fluffy BL is the true distortion of homophobic reality"
That distortion is called healing and reclaiming the happiness we were told we didn't deserve. I didn't crawl through a homophobic reality to sit through it again on screen
"Everyone seems to be going crazy over the fact that this drama isn't "BL enough," and there's been a lot of bashing about the inclusion of a straight couple as a secondary pairing"
You're a different flavor of the same meltdown, going crazy over other people going crazy
"There’s no wasted time with fan service or pointless subplots just to fill the runtime"
The straight story is the unimportant filler. Producers wasted airtime on it to scratch your weird itch for "real-world struggles"
Imagine buying tickets for a horror movie, only to be subjected to the characters bickering about household chores for two hours. That's how betrayed we felt watching the straight story
There's a discrepancy between your preference for realism and your failure to acknowledge the reality of media being saturated with the straight narrative. Polluting a platform meant to focus on non-straight experiences with the straight narrative or dragging bright, colorful gay stories down into the depths of despair isn't groundbreaking, it's homophobic and a form of straightwashing
"Not every story is meant to offer a dreamlike fantasy"
"The BL genre ... typically disregards, blithely so, the ramifications to the individual in emotional and social terms"
You've put on a grand performance of pseudo-intellectualism, weeping over the supposed shortage of misery in the BL genre. You see, BLs champion hope over hopelessness, knowing that some of us gay people would love to see stories or fictional worlds where our existence isn't defined by misery
"Heesu in Class 2" is a pitiful excuse for a drama
Want to cry? Watch the news or go outside. Fiction isn't a documentary to imitate our homophobic reality
The flow of dramas is pretty consistent…the difficulty is access. Japan doesn’t target the international market…
It's unfortunate that Japan didn't follow in the footsteps of Thailand, Taiwan, and Korea. We need more high-quality BL and GL content, and Japan has the potential to deliver it
Most of the time when people hate on the series I like, I can understand the reason even tho I don't agree. But…
From where I'm sitting, you're the unreasonable ones. One personal experience and you’re acting like you're a certified relationship guru
The concept of perfection is unrealistic and unattainable. Nothing is perfect. Definitely not this drama that's all over the place. It wasn't flawless in handling its storylines or the main gay couple
I think he needed to tell CY first because they've been friends forever, but more importantly, this was about…
He had to come out to his toxic "bestie" first. Next year, he’ll come out to his mailman, his dentist, and his neighbor’s cat before he comes out to his love interest. Can’t rush true love, can we?
Fans are doing Olympic-level mental gymnastics to defend this homophobic "adaptation"
The source material seamlessly transitions from the season 1 confession and kiss to the dating phase in season 2. Straight relationships don't steal attention from the core story
Now that the "adaptation" has gone off the rails and deviated from its intended course, it’s unreasonable to stick to season 1’s conclusion when season 2's nowhere to be found. They should've introduced elements of season 2 around episode 6 or 7. Why didn't they? Because a functioning gay romance threatened their fragile sense of "normal." They wanted to keep the gay romance on life support for as long as possible
I am absolutely in love with this show and the characters. The development has been slow and steady, making it…
Lots of people making excuses and complaining about other people complaining
"The show is making a very deliberate point about how social expectations make straight relationships far easier"
Straight relationships aren't the template or standard for understanding gay relationships. To fully understand the diversity of gay relationships, we should approach them with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Forcing ourselves into the framework of straight relationships won't give us that understanding
The cliché or trope of straight identifying people being all-knowing guides to happiness or swooping in to save the day for the gay community might sell in fiction, but in the real world, we learn to lead independent lives where we don't have to observe or contrast our experiences with those of a nearby straight couple 24/7. We find our own way
Feeling something for someone is difficult and confusing for everyone. No one has an easier or harder time with it
Yes, it's straightwashed, and I stand by what I said
"The thing that annoys me the most about most hate ..."
You know what annoys me? Excessively high, glowing comments, ratings, or reviews that suggest dissenting voices are in the wrong and bash them. Nothing is perfect. A 10/10 rating leaves no room for growth or improvement
"But on the other hand, I didn't like how the genre of BL fed onto this fantasy that every man is magically gay. I couldn't fully feel a connection to the characters at times"
I'm gay, and I enjoy stories that take me outside my own experiences. A story featuring exclusively male or exclusively female characters, all of whom are gay, provides that kind of engaging escapism. I don't have a problem with it
Fiction isn't obligated to adhere to real-world demographics and societal norms. It gives us the freedom to envision alternate realities where homosexuality is the norm and everyone finds happiness in it. The unease you feel about the gay utopia is a result of internalized homophobia or heteronormative biases, rather than a fault of the fiction itself
"Honestly in the original, I actually kind of had wanted Jiyu and Chanyoung to get together"
I don't want them to get together. "Hee Su in Class 2" isn't about Chan Yeong and Ji Yu, or it would've been titled, "Chan Yeong/Ji Yu in Class 2"
"Do I wish there was more of the main couple? Yes, sure. But it was never about them"
It should've been about the gay couple
"So the main essence of the drama is still very much present"
The essence of a story is in the eye of the beholder. To some of us, the source material's core appeal was its unwavering commitment to exploring diverse non-straight relationships. The "adaptation" strayed from this essence, adding a straight storyline and losing sight of what made the source material special
If you watched through the eyes of the people who aren’t busy bending over backwards to defend straightwashed media or the dominant straight agenda, you’d understand it's not a good adaptation
Does your individual taste define the drama? If it were worth watching or as good as you claim, you wouldn't have written an essay to defend it
"It articulates a point of difference between BL and gay genres"
The level of realism in a gay story doesn't determine its validity or gayness. A rosy, dreamlike romance between two men is gay, provided it places the romance front and center
"Arguably, idealized, fluffy BL is the true distortion of homophobic reality"
That distortion is called healing and reclaiming the happiness we were told we didn't deserve. I didn't crawl through a homophobic reality to sit through it again on screen
You're a different flavor of the same meltdown, going crazy over other people going crazy
"There’s no wasted time with fan service or pointless subplots just to fill the runtime"
The straight story is the unimportant filler. Producers wasted airtime on it to scratch your weird itch for "real-world struggles"
Imagine buying tickets for a horror movie, only to be subjected to the characters bickering about household chores for two hours. That's how betrayed we felt watching the straight story
There's a discrepancy between your preference for realism and your failure to acknowledge the reality of media being saturated with the straight narrative. Polluting a platform meant to focus on non-straight experiences with the straight narrative or dragging bright, colorful gay stories down into the depths of despair isn't groundbreaking, it's homophobic and a form of straightwashing
"Not every story is meant to offer a dreamlike fantasy"
Not every story is meant to be realistic
You've put on a grand performance of pseudo-intellectualism, weeping over the supposed shortage of misery in the BL genre. You see, BLs champion hope over hopelessness, knowing that some of us gay people would love to see stories or fictional worlds where our existence isn't defined by misery
"Heesu in Class 2" is a pitiful excuse for a drama
Want to cry? Watch the news or go outside. Fiction isn't a documentary to imitate our homophobic reality
"They're just friends" is a common trope. There are many more interesting stories yet to be told about romantic love between people of the same sex
The concept of perfection is unrealistic and unattainable. Nothing is perfect. Definitely not this drama that's all over the place. It wasn't flawless in handling its storylines or the main gay couple
Coming out isn’t a complex mystery that needs 10 episodes to solve
Fans are doing Olympic-level mental gymnastics to defend this homophobic "adaptation"
Now that the "adaptation" has gone off the rails and deviated from its intended course, it’s unreasonable to stick to season 1’s conclusion when season 2's nowhere to be found. They should've introduced elements of season 2 around episode 6 or 7. Why didn't they? Because a functioning gay romance threatened their fragile sense of "normal." They wanted to keep the gay romance on life support for as long as possible
"The show is making a very deliberate point about how social expectations make straight relationships far easier"
Straight relationships aren't the template or standard for understanding gay relationships. To fully understand the diversity of gay relationships, we should approach them with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Forcing ourselves into the framework of straight relationships won't give us that understanding
The cliché or trope of straight identifying people being all-knowing guides to happiness or swooping in to save the day for the gay community might sell in fiction, but in the real world, we learn to lead independent lives where we don't have to observe or contrast our experiences with those of a nearby straight couple 24/7. We find our own way
Feeling something for someone is difficult and confusing for everyone. No one has an easier or harder time with it