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heretherebedork · 1 year

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Oh no I love Woo Jae so much. He is so desperately seeking peace and quiet and is slowly realizing he's never actually going to get it and he hates it so much. My darling boy. And the way everyone dismisses his concerns and his complaints because he's 'cold'? Oh, I love him even more. He's just trying to write his stories and lead a quiet life and no one lets him.

Oh no, this pairing is going to drive me mad. Because all Woo Jae wants is this quiet life and he's been working so hard to get it and he can't keep it and yes, he might actually be lonely, and yes he did a bad thing by leaving so suddenly but he's also been clear now and I just...

Oh, I relate to characters who prefer isolation a little too well, y'all.

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heretherebedork · 1 year

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I feel like Korean BL don’t pick up with the public, I mean there was some, that I can literally count with one hand but unfortunately it’s not enough with how many K-BL came out. I absolutely hate to say it, but I don’t believe it’s because of any homophobic feeling, even though I know some productions companies said it was hard to find sponsors because of the genre, I think it’s due to the reasons BL got popular in the first place which is it’s insanely tropey, the age of the actors and the pretty privilege. Don’t get me wrong the Korean actors are good looking but unfortunately I think they suffer from ageism and not fitting the pretty boy look. K-BL has been mostly 30+ years old men in kitchen or office, there hasn’t been any use of tropes and also we have to include the fact the format of the BL (8 episodes of 15 minutes) is not enough. Of course, I enjoy the fact that each country is different and don’t want them to look all similar however Japan, Taiwan and Thailand know what sell, something I feel like Korea does not. I don’t know but the future of K-BL does not look bright at the moment and it’s truly sad because Semantic Error proved that a BL can become massively successful if done correctly.

So, there are a lot of things going into this. And a lot of details and behind the scene things and cultural things I don't know. I know @absolutebl has talked more about this and so have several creators including Strongberry.

And there is definitely a huge issue with getting the sponsors and the money to make BL in Korea because it's queer. It's a hugely cultural thing that I cannot comment on because I only know the most basic and surface level details and believe the people saying it's almost impossible to do so in their culture and their society.

Plenty of the K-BLs are filled with both BL and K-Drama tropes! Filled to the brim with them, honestly, and they're enjoyable for that. They might be set in different times or settings but the tropes themselves are fairly common. No, they're not university or high school set but that isn't a requirement for the BL tropes. Some don't use them but those are more queer shows than BL shows in the end.

The format is due to the budget. And it's worked in some shows and failed in others.

Honestly, considering the increase towards the end of the year, I agree with @absolutebl's analysis that they're going to stick with the short format but keep on making these. And I enjoy a lot of them. Honestly, the end of this year was a very interesting wave of Korean BL for me that's lead me to wonder about the production and if anything changed.

Because we went from Very BL, not queer at all, just Boys In Love With Tropes And No Queer Concepts Whatsoever (which is delightful!) to BL But With Queerer Undertones and I love it. Comparing Semantic Error to Roommates of Poongduck 304! Both have plenty of tropes but Semantic Error is a romance completely devoid of any ideas about queerness besides it being two boys while Poongduck touched on his old crush and on the idea that being gay can make you feel like you don't love 'normally'.

Chocked full of tropes, both shows, and both quite good! But, for me? I preferred Poongduck 304. Am I wrong? According to most people, yes. According to me? Nope! I loved Poongduck. It was darling and sweet and trope-y and queer all at the same time.

Part of this, anon, is that I disagree with the idea that they're not trope-y. They might be a bit different in setting but that's just refreshing and enjoyable. But the tropes are everywhere. Floppy drunk, touch my lips, messy eater, secret crush, oh moments, holding hands, sweet hugs, pining boys... there's so much and so many in them and they might look a little different because they're adults but that's half the appeal!

I think the problem with BL in Korea is one that I truly cannot comment on from the view of why they struggle to get money or budget or production (though the production value in most is far higher than Thailand to my understanding. Definitely less sound issues) but I can comment as an international viewer and, for me, the biggest issues tend to be the kdrama tropes because I don't actually watch kdramas and thus don't know them that well not the same way I know BL tropes so they don't always work for me.

But I believe the producers and the companies when they say that they're struggling to get money because the show is queer. I believe that their struggles are what they say because I absolutely assume they know more than I do about their own business.

I also think the Korean boys might be older but they're often prettier. I dunno, though, I have no idea on that, my idea of attractive doesn't always match up to most people's nor would I expect it to.

Anyway.

This is a lot of words to say that I mostly disagree with what you're putting forward but also that my lack of industry knowledge and international cultural difference puts me in a position where I cannot do say any of that with certainty.

#korean drama #korean bl #kdrama #kbl #korean boys love #korean series #koreanbl #korean ql #koreanql #bl draam #bl series #ql series #ql drama #i am not an industry expert #i know nothing #and i do my best not to make assumptions

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