Yes, I’m Obsessed With This Scene And Not Just Because Pran Treats Pat’s Fingers Like This Is A KFC

“you happy now?”

Kurosawa: :D

Adachi: he’s the mf sun

Smug Shi Lei is the best

High Quality BL Deep Dive 

Top 10 Highest Production Values in Thai BL 

I TOLD THE SUNSET ABUT YOU - say what you like about ITSAY (and I have) the production values are unreal for Thailand. It’s on par with Japanese cinema BL like Restart After Come Back Home or His (Japan knows what tf it’s doing, okay? You don’t come from a tradition that gave us Kurosawa and fail at broad scope cinematography). ITSAY uses soft lenses, diffuse lighting, and a nostalgic atmosphere, paying close attention to framing, and forgetting neither background nor close-focus expressive detail. It’s a remarkable piece of cinematography. I caught no mistakes in makeup, wardrobe, body positioning, reflection, or boom mic placement - so they clearly had continuity eyeballs during filming and on final product (which most Thai BLs don’t spring for). So yeah, the filming, directing, and acting is insane but what’s really sand out in ITSAY from a film perspective is their smooth as butter invisibly perfect editing. Post production on this series must have been a BEAST. 

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN - UWMA relies almost entirely on a killer story and pitch perfect acting to carry it. This puts production values squarely into workhorse mode. In other words: filming, cinematography, directing, editing, and everything else are designed to invisibly service the story. They are there to serve, not to distract or even enhance. It’s very different from ITSAY, UWMA does not draw on high cinema at all, it’s using small screen TV techniques - like a great suspense show, say 24 or The Wire. The editing is sharp and choppy as a result. UWMA is meant to move you with narrative first, acting second, and visuals third - like a play. 

OXYGEN the series - I crowed about it at the time but what Oxygen does, more than anything else, is be very very stylish. It has an atmospheric staged yet subtle filming style that makes it feel like a perfume advertisement or music video (in the best possible way). It’s precise and focused with soft lens, making everything just so pretty. it’s not particularly fantastic cinematography, but all its other production values are spot on (except wardrobe, what WERE they thinking?) and the editing is seamless. It reminds me a lot of the kind of filming style and techniques we get from Korea. For Western watchers we can think of this as utilizing the techniques of fashion-forward TV shows like Sex in the City. 

GREAT MEN ACADEMY - not strictly BL but I don’t wanna argue about that. It’s on this list because it’s got such high quality production values. Unfortunately for us, it’s hard to find an HD version of this series to truly appreciate how good those are. Sure some of the special effects are naff, but the filming, sound, and directing is spot on for what it is - a YA boarding- school coming of age narrative. It actually uses a lot of Japanese live action yaoi techniques. It has that early superhero movie use of a strong storyboard, pushing it into advanced focus on framing and staging. There is a lot in common (filming wise) between GMA and yaoi adaptations like Seven Days and Takumi-kun (or, more recently, Color Rush). I happen to really enjoy this style of BL because it reminds me so strongly of manga but there are some who find it stilted. 

SOTUS - lots of people have issues with SOTUS but you can’t knock its production values. GMMTV threw money at this baby in a way that they wouldn’t do again until 1000 Stars (and 1k* would spend their budget differently). What GMMTV built its brand on was sit com style dramas and gameshows. They took the lens and techniques of those products and applied them to SOTUS. What does that mean? There is a lot of bold direct lighting, very close focus, and central framing. Nothing is subtle, everything about SOTUS is very crisp, in your face, and forthright. All other aspects: cinematography, sound, wardrobe, and makeup are designed to be there, but not noticeable in either a positive or negative way. GMMTV is not trying to win awards, just produced a branded reliable product. It’s more tailored than it is edited - like high quality athleisure wear. SOTUS showcases GMMTV’s BL technique and GMMTV has stuck to the formula it gave them ever since. 

HE’S COMNG TO ME - GMMTV takes its patented SOTUS style but puts story front and center (they would do this again with 3 Will Be Free). It’s probably my favorite thing GMMTV does, but it only happens when they luck into a really good script. 

DARK BLUE KISS - is an established pair in an LTR both as characters and actors given a very relationship-heavy talky script, surrounded by support cast and crew who are all clearly comfortable with each other and their jobs, churning out another installment in GMMTV SOTUS-born formula for success. And it is successful, but no one is surprised by this. This should be the bar for GMMTV. 

THEORY OF LOVE - is basically the culmination of what SOTUS started. GMMTV took their most functional BL pairing, their best support actors, a good director, and a great post production team and gave them a solid little script with a happy ending that pushed emotional buttons in a precision formula. ToL is the natural result of everything GMMTV does best in BL (Water Boyy is the version of this were a bad script and poor directing failed the formula). 

2GETHER - what started with SOTUS got twisted in a new brighter more sugary direction with 2g. Everything SOTUS did well, 2g does too, only far more funny and saccharine. GMMTV lucked out with a pair of very charismatic leads who could carry the weight of a truly ridiculous script. Then they put a solid (if not ace) team on post production. Sure there are some continuity mistakes and we all caught a boom mic here and a crew reflection there (and they cut costs on wardrobe and makeup), but that signature candy-coated sitcom style of TV filming is tailor made for this series. 2g is pretty because they are pretty and absolutely no effort is put into doing anything more than serve up that prettiness in as palatable a way as possible - like any good romcom. If you’re okay eating all the delicious fluffy pink layer cake you can, then cake is what 2g will happily give you… over and over again. 

1000 STARS - is the best produced BL that GMMTV has ever given us and I think it’s owed entirely to the unprecedented autonomy they granted the director, the $$$ they threw at it, and the location shooting. Artistically it’s not as good as ITSAY but it’s the closest GMMTV has ever come to that level of cinema. All production values are extremely high, and perhaps the lens and post production are more in service to the narrative and less designed to dwell on cinematography, but that works beautifully for this particular story. In the end, 1k* is a stunning, simplified, grown up combination of ITSAY and UWMA. 

A recent conversation here in the DMs made me realize that some BL watchers are actually interested in the filming side of the equation. So that’s why I composed this list of Thai BLs that are on par with BL produced in countries that specialize in high production values (like Japan and Korea). 

Thailand has been the highest producer (by volume) of BL since 2017, but their quality control tends to be all over the place. It ranges widely. There are seriously flawed pulps with decent acting and story (like So Much in Love) but terrible directing, lighting, sound, cinematography, hair, makeup, wardrobe, and filming technique. Then there are shows with very high quality but that are hugely flawed in one particular arena (Lovely Writer’s sound department). While others fail on every possible level (Cupid Coach). That said most Thai BL fails on at least makeup and wardrobe, and a lot of it suffers from sound issues and with editing problems (which always ties to pacing).  

More? 

Here’s a few others out of Thailand that have good production values for Thai BL, but aren’t Top 10. 

Ingredients the series - it’s a  long form advertisement and its filmed like one. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad style, just that it has a very specific point of view. From a filming technique approach its worth looking at just to see if you can identify how and why it does what it does. Ingredients should make you feel a little bit like Korea’s home-set stuff like To My Star which uses a lot of the same techniques. 

2 Moons 2 - not the highest production value out there but nothing to complain about with some manga style staging and framing techniques and no fatal flaws in production. 

3 Will Be Free - GMMTV does suspense, production-wise it’s not an unqualified work of brilliance, but it’s interesting to see GMMTV take their style and apply it to a different genre, and I love the story. Is it ultimately successful? You decide. 

Manner of Death - hard to judge since i never saw a clean version and the story is a mess, but it feels like romantic suspense. The filming style and production values were totally unobtrusive and entirely served the plot, which is exactly what they should do for a cozy mystery. This one owes it’s technique to British cozies, it’s using a lot of the style one might expect from something like Midsomer Murders. But Thailand isn’t used to this kind of show, so it did struggle in places with post production. 

Fish Upon the Sky - fits into the same category as a bunch of others like My Engineer, Tonhon Chonlatee, and My Gear and Your Gown in which production values are okay but only really because they aren’t noticeably egregious. They’re fine. It’s fine. it’s a perfectly serviceable show. 

Note that much as I adore Love By Chance it’s not on this list? Neither is TharnType, A Chance at Love, TharnType 2, or Why R U? 

I honestly think these all have the same post production team/company (or a variation on that team) and it’s not good. Sorry. It just isn’t. These shows are riddled with continuity errors (like a hand placed one way in one shot, but another way in the next shot even though time has not lapsed), lighting and sound issues, and wardrobe malfunctions. 

The cinematography and staging can be fine, but where they really suffer seems to be on the editing floor (or lack of editing) which has the most profound impact on pacing. Frankly, this may not be entirely the editor’s fault as these shows often feel like they’ve been rushed to production and have no solid storyboard guiding them or their editor. 

I should end on a positive, shouldn’t I? 

I think, over all, Thailand is getting better at post production at the very least (with the possible exception of sound). They still churn out loads of dross, but GMMTV is tight these days, and there are one or two solid smaller companies doing good work and even pushing for improved cinematography (which no one expects in a romcom, let alone a BL). 

I’m optimistic. 

We’ll be living together for a while, and I think it’d be best if you had some manners.

The longer it takes, the better love is. Like us, right?

me: i'm fine

me, actually: constantly thinking about jaechan having to stand on tippie toes to kiss seoham in semantic error (2022) episode 8

BL: Bad Buddy

🥀 Like or reblog if you save 🥀

Two more days guys! In the meantime, a mini analysis for you all!

The Romeo and Juliet act where they commit suicide is actually represented in Bad Buddy!

Remember this scene? aka the only moment we get to laugh in this curse ep?

Here me out. So we all now Bad Buddy is somewhat based on a modern version of Romeo and Juliet.

[Pat is Juliet. Fight me.]

So. In the ending of that tragic play we have the iconic sequence in which Juliet supposedly drinks a poison that kills her, but in reality just makes her appear dead. Then Romeo follows killing himself for real, and then, Juliet stabs herself, and the whole thing is a mess of non-communication.

So let’s compare, shall we?

1. We have Pat, “throwing away” his cellphone chip. Aka, Juliet faking her death.

2. We have Pran, doing the same right after Pat. Aka, Romeo actually following Juliet.

A this time we’re all like. Shit. They really did that.

But THEN

3. “Haha, you dummy!” Aka, no, Romeo, Juliet was not really dEAD! Pran really threw it out? He really actually killed himself?

4. Haha! You thought! Of course he didn’t! And then this:

“Do you really think I don’t know you?”

Here’s WHY I think this scene heavily shows a representation of the suicide scene in Romeo and Juliet:

Let me start with a question. How many of you would simply get rid of you’re phone number? Throw it away into the sea without a care? Throw away your whole life, cause FACE IT. It IS your whole life. Your family? Your friends, a huge part of yourself?

Exactly. You’d have to be in a lot of pain to do that right? Commiting suicide is the very last stage of indescribable pain. Throwing away the “heart” of your phone could be thought of as throwing away your life.

But they didn’t. Here’s where it obviously goes differently. Pran knows Pat to a point where he knows he would never do that. Pat knows Pran to a point where he knows Pran would never believe he’d do something like that.

Here’s where it doesn’t end up tragically. They both live.

Because they know each other. They understand each other. They communicate. They love each other too much to ask the other to take such risks.

And I think that’s beautiful.

Thanks for reading!

Color Rush- Crushes and Obstacles (Ep 5-6)

So I already analysed episode 5 of Color rush with the question focusing on the nature vs nurture of monos and probes. We basically have a show that keeps reminding us about the world and stigma of being a mono, the psychological regression, issues and lack of control that occurs once a  mono meets their fated probe. Because of this ideology, our main character finds himself being forced to make a choice of if he should embrace becoming a monster to keep his probe by his side or if he should be alone forever stuck in a depressive state, empty and lifeless. The issue with this way of thought is that apart from maybe the media showing him clues about how monos react when they meet their probes, there’s not enough evidence in my opinion that this is the only choice/way for a mono and probe to end up. Especially since our mono had seen a relationship where it was more or less successful before the mono maybe lost control once the probe died, that’s his mum and dad. So this analysis focuses more on that same question is it really the only ending for a mono and probe relationship; to end with chaos, and pain, and obsession, kidnaps, crimes etc., or is this just all a placebo effect that has been embedded into the minds of monos to be this way.

Monos and Their Probes

Let’s look at the details of episode 5 and 6. Yeonwoo and Yoohan’s relationship evolves as they both start to fall more and more for each other. For Yeonwoo, this is hard because he’s never known what that feels like, and his crush and attraction to Yeonwoo is even more enhanced in his mind because of the connection and link to Yoohan being his probe. But if we don’t focus on the fact that Yoohan and Yeonwoo are probes and monos and just see them as two high school boys who have feelings for each other who went on a date, went home after and chilled, their relationship becomes like every other normal relationship, no danger, no questions of obsession and addiction. Pause.

Devotion vs Obsession

When we have feelings for people we tend to become obsessed and addicted to their presence just a bit, it’s because of the serotonin, and dopamine released when we have a puppy love, a crush or even when we start to fall even more deeply for someone. It’s feelings of happiness, of euphoria, excitement, and more. So Yeonwoo and Yoohan just like every other couple are going through phases of these euphoric feelings, wanting to spend as much time with each other as possible, wanting to touch each other, wanting to stay together every single time. It’s what happens in a honeymoon phase of a relationship. You can’t let go of the other person. Now this doesn’t mean for us we want to go kidnap and commit crimes to keep our crush next to us, we may miss them, and want to keep talking to them but it doesn’t mean we’re insane, addicted or obsessed. Do you see my point?

I think Yeonwoo truly has exaggerated his feelings of a crush on Yoohan. He’s made it so much more worse than it has to be because he’s been fearmongered by the media into thinking just because he doesn’t want Yoohan to leave it means he’s turning into a monster when really he’s just liking and crushing on his new crush. He didn’t have to make the decision to go buy these kidnapping tools and to think of ways to make himself a monster, since that’s the only choice he believes he’s left with. No, he could have like every other normal person just missed him. So why is Yeonwoo letting himself go deeper into obsession and addiction and letting himself think he is a monster? In order to really look deeper to see if it’s truly the only end for a mono, or if it’s the environment that is making them this way; we have to analyse the psychological mindset of monos when they meet with their probes

Monos: The world of Lonliness and Depression 

The metaphor already for monos is lack; they lack color, lack brightness, lack vibrancy in their lives. They’ve been forced since birth to see the world in such a dark and oblique way. And as they find out about their condition, they are seen as monsters from the get-go, forced to be alone to avoid people in case they bump into their fated probes. The loneliness and the forced mindset of a mono to stay in this lifeless energy is really psychologically depressing and tiring. And it’s when they get a glimpse of hope, of companionship, love, colour, and more with their probes that Monos start to feel happy and joyful. Now it doesn’t have to be this way, Monos could end up feeling comfortable with their condition if they were just treated equally and right, but no they’re prejudiced, pushed away and bullied horribly once it’s discovered that this is what they are.

From a young age, monos are told that they are going to be monsters, they are going to hurt people, they are going to lose their minds one day. And this is just exacerbated in the media with fears and warnings of how monos interact with their probes. If from a young age, a mono is repeatedly told, this is who they are, then it forms a placebo belief and effect, and brainwash that this is the only way they can be. Mono’s don’t see any other way out, or a chance to be different because everyone feeds to them the same narrative of pain, despair and obsession. And it sucks. Look at how immediately Yeonwoo’s aunt reacts when she notices Yeonwoo and Yoohan have found each other, she immediately scolds him and tells him he has to move, so he doesn’t break and lose his sanity. She doesn’t give it the benefit of the doubt, or ask questions; she resorts immediately into trying to push them away from each other.

Now, this makes sense because she has lost her sister who was a mono who probably lost her mind once her probe died. And then went missing/ taken by maybe another mono (that’s what it seems Yeonwoo and his aunt believe happened). Because of this, there is a negative stigma with the aunt on how monos can behave, she has already lost so much because of monos, and so she doesn’t want Yeonwoo to be the same. The aunt is like everybody else in this world, whose first reaction to monos is to push away and to avoid, this world isolates and distances monos away from a chance to be happy, and live freely because of their condition.

The Psychological Implications of Being a Mono

The psychological implications of being a mono are so fascinating to me. It’s like a psychological disorder (despite it not being that way) are all psychopaths forced to hurt and become serial killers? Are all sociopaths meant to avoid people just because there’s a higher tendency that people could get hurt if it goes awry? No. Because just because you have a gene or a link to a family member that went crazy and started hurting people, it doesn’t mean you would make the same choice and do the same thing. Not everyone is the same just because they have the same disorder or mindset. And that’s the same for monos, monos don’t have to go crazy and hurt their probes. The separation from their probes obviously enhances anxiety and fear of going back into this lifeless, darkness that they finally found a way out of; this is what drives their actions. It’s just enhanced emotions and enhanced fears, but they don’t have to act on it, the people who do act on it are people who were weak or predisposed to other factors that make them want to be violent. Yeonwoo doesn’t have to plan ways to kidnap or take Yoohan when Yoohan would gladly stay by his side. He doesn’t have to be this broken or fearful of becoming a monster; he’s making these choices because he has a placebo mindset that this is who he should become. And it’s heartbreaking.

The thing is we see  Yoohan and Yeonwoo having a great time together, being happy and liking each others company without the color rush having to be the only focus of why they’re interacting. We do get to see Yeonwoo panic because of decolouring, and he enhances those emotions because of his already ingrained anxiety about what it means to want to keep Yoohan by his side. The way I see it, Yeonwoo has formed an anxiety about who he is because of how the world treats him and other monos, and because he has that issue with stress coupled with physical evidence that he’s losing colour, it drives him to think it’s a sign he’s becoming a monster. It’s not.

First of all, of course, he becomes worried and scared about losing colours, the decolouring effect is like going from a high to a low, when colour rush happens to monos it’s a euphoric effect, it doesn’t last, but like a drug it can lead to a crash and a hangover, so of course immediately Yoohan leaves Yeonwoo starts to crash and regress back into seeing the world as grey, and that makes his mindset also feel depressed coupled with the fact he does not want Yoohan to go because of his crush (not dependency). So Yeonwoo misunderstands his reactions when Yoohan leaves as him becoming addicted and obsessed with Yoohan with no point of return when really he’s just moody because his high is gone and he misses Yoo Han as a normal person does with their crush. So he’s talking himself into thinking the only explanation is his dependency on Yoohan for color and his obsession as a mono growing. And it’s sad, monos have been forced to feel this way, that they’re predatory, horrifying and cruel in their love when really they’ve just met the one, and they wish to be happy.

Society vs Monos

It’s his aunty who triggers this emotion, her conversation with him made him think there’s no other way out of becoming this monster because she put that fear that he may be forced to separate from Yoohan. And this is really where I think Monos become the versions they are shown (crazy, obsessed, crimes) in the news because not every mono and probe is going to be in love, not every probe may want to be with their monos, everyone has a different circumstance and that fear of losing colors, may drive a mono to doing things. However, I don’t think it’s natural for them to become so obsessed and so desperate to live with colors so much that they hunt down their probes and hurt others. That’s a specific few, ones that had those warped mindsets, or a more problematic background or a harsher philosophy. Not everyone becomes violent, some monos probably retreat from their probes and stay depressed, some fall in love with someone who isn’t a probe, there are so many different ways it could go, the thing is monos are only shown in one light, and that’s the people who chose to go far to keep their probes by their side through fear.

This self-hate and deprecation Yeonwoo has of who he is naturally reminds me so much of internalised homophobia, hating who you are naturally and thinking you’re wrong because of how society has made you see yourself. It’s the same feelings; the disgust, the anxiety, the repression etc. And we’ve already mentioned how monos and probes are probably metaphors of LGBTQ+ struggle, society making monos think it’s wrong to be with the people who love them and they love. This self-hate will make Yeonwoo feel he has no other option but to check himself into a hospital or institution or to (trigger warning)  end his life. And that’s just so messed up. I’ve seen many people question his mindset because from what we’re seeing his mother seems like she had a happy marriage with his father, shouldn’t she be proof that monos and probes can be healthy? But I think we’re forgetting that his father died, and from knowing how monos react to missing their probes, I’m guessing his mum couldn’t take it and also lost some of her sanity or she fell into depression and couldn’t get out of that. Also as mentioned, I think Yeonwoo thinks it’s a mono that kidnapped his mum, and so that also maybe gives him more resentment towards who he is, and again makes him think monos only end up committing crimes and hurt people they love.

But we need to know more about why he thinks this way and what other evidence they have about his mother’s missing case. Plus his mother has not been by his side for four years, and in those four years he’s been bullied, mistreated, have to move schools each time his condition is found out, so it’s been a long time of society again making him think he’s a monster, and without his mum there to help him see different, he just follows that mindset, unfortunately.

Yeonwoo and Yoohan; Just a crush

For Yeonwoo and Yoohan, their relationship is not just based on dependence, Yeonwoo thinks it’s the colours, and he does not understand it’s just feelings and him liking Yoohan since he first met him. Yeonwoo has had to push people away, and find excuses not to have friends, and Yoohan barged into his life without warning, both have been attracted and wanting each other from the start. Yeonwoo struggled with this information and rationalised it into thinking it’s because he wants the colour rush, but it isn’t that, it’s more than that, he just wants to be happy, in love and with Yoohan. Yoohan is the same as Yeonwoo, he’s also had to push people away, and alienate himself, and not care about the world or society because of his own condition, seeing Yeonwoo made him want to do more, he liked what Yeonwoo was to him, he liked having a crush on Yeonwoo, and so he also found himself wanting to stay with Yeonwoo for as long as he can. For a long time I’ve also been thinking he was just as obsessed and addicted to Yeonwoo like monos are to their probes, but no, he’s a teenage boy with a crush, and so is Yeonwoo. We also let the media and how society views mono make us feel worried and scared about these two’s relationship forming and whilst it was thrilling to think it could be more dangerous than it is, it’s really just two people falling in love with each other, and one psychologically scarred and brainwashed into thinking there’s something wrong with who he is naturally. And that’s just painful.

So yeah Color Rush; a look into psychological mindsets, nature vs nurture, the addictive feeling of what love is, and more, this show is so fun to watch and analyse and see how it’s going to turn out, but there are moments where it hurts and makes you think and question how society and media play a role in showing minorities, how they control the narrative about certain things and if that’s right. Fearmongering, prejudiced mindsets and more isn’t cool, but the world has always been led by these ignorant ideas without education and open mindsets, and it sucks. So watching color rush is an interesting metaphor and symbolism for the struggles some people have because of stigmas associated with conditions they have from birth, or just ideologies formed that isn’t necessarily true about who they are as a person, it only leads to self-hate, depression, anxiety, self-harm just to fit into society’s narrative and it sucks. Let’s hope Yoohan shows Yeonwoo he’s not a monster, and he’s okay being himself and loving Yoohan. he doesn’t have to hurt or go insane and do crimes because he’s a mono. He’ll be fine.