Agree. As we dive into BL stories, the responsibility to critique the reality shaped by these "products" becomes greater, to ensure that the story is ours to claim, not theirs to sell. But will say that the fact that we find it possible to critique shows our agency as we consume. https://twitter.com/mykelandrada/status/1248682776615743488

"Reflexivity is a human reaction to Thai BL" is true, but that is the case for any medium. "Self-reference" happens in stories we relate to, & we can feel for things that haven't, or things that are - we hope - to be. That doesn't remove our autonomy in the dialectics.

In 2007, Thai cinema was shocked w/ Love of Siam, possibly the OG of all BL storylines. Its success is impt bec at a time when gay main characters were a struggle to find on Thai TV, the message it sent is: There’s money to be made, but there’s also a reality to be explored.

This genre isn't new. Since 1990s, BL storylines (referred to as Y) existed in Thailand. 2 decades late compared to the Fabulous 49ers fr Tokyo, but the underground market was a bit more consolidated in Thailand compared to other hetero-patriarchal societies.

Story consumption in secret, alone by yourself, wondering if there's another soul sharing the emotion and aspiration you have inside you was the old market. The rise of BL made these stories more personal, and ~shared. That does not make the struggle less authentic.

The rise of PH pink films in the early 2000s portrayed homo-erotic AND tragic stories. It's a reality portrayed, but growing up w/ only sad endings for LGBT material surely didn't make me hopeful. "Is there happiness for anyone who's not straight" was the recurring question.

What I like most about Thai BL is the going beyond coming out stories. Ofc it's not perfect. But the moments that hit, hit more than the imperfections. When Pete's dad told him he's free to date anyone, & love isn't abt gender, I cried. Asian parents doing that? Man.

I agree that capitalism has the tendency to exploit social realities. In this, I say audiences could be more critical. Plus, the price of putting a story in the mainstream is financial security. Commerciability is a function of art. The brands are there, but so is the message.

I also agree that the just world we dream of will be built by our tireless work and activism, but amplifying the message and visualizing that world inside Thai BL is an add-on. It's a benefit, not a damage. We know what's lacking, we have new weapons. https://twitter.com/mykelandrada/status/1248702225175547904?s=20

Fantasizing & idealizing the world we want are legitimate responses to current society. Attaching faces and places to those fantasies are not a priori evils. The first Pride March was a response to violence against the LGBT, but it was rooted to a physical space - Stonewall Inn.

Fantasy is a shaper of reality, if not the future reality. In the time of white supremacists, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster had issues where Superman fought the KKK. Racist parent saw kids who were rejecting the ideology because of the idols they attached themselves to.

And tbh, we need fantasy to re-imagine what it's like - the world we want, the world that could be, the world that we deserve. It's important to see that world, to smell the air, to see the parties, to have an idea how it's like to live and LOVE there.

If anything, any young LGBT kid who lives in the world of Thai BL should get the message: you should not be ashamed of who you are, who you love, and who you choose to take pain for.

To be unashamed is power in itself, and that power is given to audiences. That's one war won.

So, yes, Sarawat is fantasy. Tine is fantasy. Pete and Kao, too. It might feel impossible to have what they have, but as Amanita in Sense8 says: Impossibility is a kiss away from reality.

The courage to re-imagine the world comes from that - yearning to kiss our way to reality.