MAI

I'm just joining an existing conversation.

100% feel you there. I find the whole "they didn't mean to offend" argument rather weak, to be honest. Sure, I completely believe the scriptwriters had no malicious intend in depicting Africa in the way they did-- but we can't deny that such depictions do actually influence and shape the way people perceive a continent. We are constantly bombarded with the image of Africa as a some rural, primitive place that is doomed to fail (in academic spheres they often use the term 'Afro-pessimism' to describe it). Africans are always poor, walk around barefoot, and need to be saved. And that is the image people continue to have if films/series like this are made.

It's just all convenient that people forget Africa is not homogeneous. It consists of many, diverse countries and cultures. It has bustling and developed cities (yes, shocking, Africa is not all desert like this show suggest...). Depicting an entire continent as some backwards place is lazy writing. It is boring and overused. And in this show, the whole Africa subplot didn't even seem relevant to the story. It also made Tae Sung look like some ignorant development-tourist: the guy doesn't even try to speak English or French to the people there (boy, you really think they understand your Korean?)

Agreed. Shouldn't they know by now the whole 'saving the poor children in Africa' trope is overused and only perpetuates stereotypes? The whole thing made me uncomfortable. Tae Sung's year spent in Africa wasn't even relevant to the plot at all.

Like a modern-day rendition of Iron Pussy, but with additional social commentary on Thailand's politics and gender norms. I'm a fan!

Can be watched here: https://fastzer.com/watch/kvXB1PrG-phuket.html

Fun fact: the book that Ayan has been reading since the last episode is 1984 by George Orwell. It's a dystopian novel about the dangers of totalitarian regimes.

Realistic and clever. It's a nice watch about a young woman trying to navigate life in the metropolis, and the changing neighborhoods, friendships, and the men in her life are meant to reflect her different life-stages and inner desires. I can't necessarily say I was always able to fully empathize with young Saito's never-ending search for fulfillment-- mostly because of cultural differences-- but I still shed some tears during the last episode. And while it's a female-driven story, I also especially liked that the show also implies that the male characters in Saito's life have complex lives and challenges on their own. None of the characters are demonized; they are all well-rounded individuals.

Remind me to look for those requirements next time I decide to browse Tinder!

Oh, much better translation actually, thanks!

"you belong to me now, talk and listen to me" (said in third person).

-- yeah that's enough internet for me today. 😂

Payu must be one rich motherfucker considering he's got a two-story house, massive bathroom, and garden in the middle of Bangkok.

Meh. Fraught with misinformation and bad editing. The voice-over even mispronounces the Thai terminology. Sure, you can watch this to get a feel for the topic but there are certainly better documentaries to watch if you wanna know more about LGBTQA+ culture in Thailand.

Holy crap, that was simply magical. That editing must have taken months!

A nice take-away message: the promised land is not a destination, but a journey in itself. This is a phenomenal story about vastly different characters and their search for belonging, community, and happiness (their own "promised land"). Little do they know that this paradise is closer than they think: they merely need to open their eyes to the forgiveness and peace that is right in front of them. And not all of them can do so.

While I did really like this movie, I don't know whether I would actually recommend it. The story leans very heavily on symbolism and demands quite a bit of Biblical (specifically old testament) knowledge-- without that knowledge the actions of the characters can seem random and weird.

I may have misread this (this thread about this mysterious curse is loooong) but am I the only one who doesn't even remember seeing substantial evidence for the existence of the curse in these first place? For all we know the curse doesn't even exists and it's just some ploy created by the professors to keep students in a constant state of fear. Scared students are more easily controlled.

Like Ayan has said: "A curse doesn't have arms. And a flower pot doesn't just fall of a building." It's not that implausible that the flower pot was simply yeeted of the balcony by some frustrated professor, is it? Same goes for those blood/paint splattered protest signs: professors can easily access the building.

To add to your wonderful analysis: don't forget that Ayan's name also literally translates to 'solstice'.

Solstices are bi-annual events during which the earth's equator is either closets or farthest away from the sun. Most people know them as the days that either have the most or the least daylight hours in the entire year (some might even celebrate them). But what might be interesting for this story is that they also happen to mark the start of summer/winter: they determine the changing of seasons. This name-- surprise, surprise--suits Ayan exceptionally well since his character also seems to be symbolizing (and foreshadowing) the change that will undoubtedly happen to Suppalo's schooling system. The name tells us all we need to know: Ayan has come to shake things up.

So far this show has been slightly obsessed with imagery of the solar system anyways. Ayan has been showing off his black solar system hoodie, his mom has been seen wearing some sort of star necklace, and even Suppalo's school logo is sporting a sun (who's gonna play 'Where is Waldo'-solar edition with me?). It may be too early to say this with absolute confidence, but it seems like the approaching eclipse might represent the overshadowing of Ayan's (aka the young Thai generation's) truth and light by the dark inheritance of Suppalo's (aka Thailand's) historical traditions/past.

I'm not completely sure whether I'm convinced by the 'everything's fine and dandy because some crew members are queer' argument, to be very honest. As much as I like to believe that LGBTQA+ involvement cancels out the offensiveness of our little flamboyant boy band, I don't think we should forget that the internalization of stereotypes is a real thing. The fact that some crew members are queer doesn't mean that they are also automatically perfect advocates of queer rights (shocker!). There are plenty queer people that firmly hold onto certain prejudices about their own community, many of which might not even be aware of it themselves. (Bisexual erasure is just one of the many examples).

In fact, I dare say that the whole Thai entertainment industry thrives on the display of the stereotypical flamboyant kathoey character (think show host etc). I rarely see queer people on Thai TV that don't fit into the sassy-extravagant box. It's a vicious circle: the audience wants to see these kind of people exactly because they are seen as 'fun' and because they are free to break certain social norms and, at the same time, producers will continue to cast them. You may think a kathoey show host will improve queer representation, but this show host is also just one cog in the machine. They are also just expected to follow a particular script and bring on the sass. The same thing is expected from kathoey characters in TV shows: they are there primarily for comedic relief (have you ever seen a ladyboy main character? I have not).

I'm not saying the crew had malicious intend with creating these flamboyantly queer characters but I just want to note that queer writers/directors are also part of a larger entertainment industry where one has to play according to the (heteronormative) rules. Stereotypes can also be reproduced within the queer community.

But, then, it could also very well be that the crew wanted to depict the protesters as overtly flamboyant just to be sure that the audience would understand that YES THIS IS ABOUT GAY ISSUES OKAY (and in that case, I fear they're largely underestimating the intelligence their audience-- which is actually not implausible). They could have been more subtle by giving the characters a personality or so (wild idea, I know) but I guess it worked: there is no doubt, everyone knows these characters are very, very queer.
There is simply no way to know what the crew was actually thinking, I guess.

I legit had to come back to this page because every other BL that's airing right now is subpar at best. 😭 This was the last show I truly anticipated watching each week. Guess we got spoiled too much with this and got faced with the harsh reality that most BLs are indeed thinly written fluff.

Also, I'm starting to suspect that all Thai production companies are sharing one (overworked) sound(wo)man because I've yet to watch a single BL that has proper sound mixing. It's clear they invested quite a bit in the overall production of the show-- I can only imagine the cost of that overused rain curtain-- but why not spend some of that budget on fixing the audio as well? I can hardly hear the dialogue over the sound of the background music.

Well, good thing I actually watched the first two episodes before inviting my sister to binge this with me. 😂 I don't think I would've had the courage to show my face at future family gatherings knowing that she'd now associate my taste in TV shows with that spanking scene. The secondhand embarrassment of watching Rain getting his cheeks smacked (and having to do the mental gymnastics to justify watching it really) is bad enough without anyone around. This definitely is a strong contender in the 'most-cringy-BL' competition (although CutiePie's levels remain unmatched, luckily).