In case you’re wondering why Thai BL is such a hit: it’s a capitalist reification and idealization of gay experience. It uses the “gay gaze” — to salivate over good-looking and sexy actors portraying gay or gender-bending roles. It makes viewers live vicariously through fantasy.
Reflexivity is a human reaction to Thai BL. We aspire to have what the story offers. We admire the characters while dreaming to have what they have. We wish and want to be in that idealized gay relationship. We want what we don’t have. We yearn for that fantasy to be real.
Thai BL, as with any visual cinema, makes captive audiences out of us. We make ourselves part of the story, often times connecting it to our real life experiences. We make it our own experience, thus our tweets, memes, Zoom reacts, fan art. We don’t want the feeling to fleet.
We embrace the ideologies Thai BL offers. We have included ourselves in its nuances. We even wish to learn the Thai language. We sing their songs. We tend to forget that Thai BL is a capitalist product. We are at awe with the product placements. We want to buy Sarawat’s jersey.
Fandom is a simple yet complex dialogic narrative. The business of Thai BL relies on fans not just to consume their offered kilig but to fan their business. As we become Thai BL fans, they make more profit. More viewers & fans mean more advertisers. We have been morphed as fans.
We sometimes forget that we have been transmogrified by the Thai BL business as consumers of a capitalist product. We live in a world dominated by capitalist thinking. We dive into the ocean of their business, but let’s not drown ourselves. Do not forget to breathe reality.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Thai BL fan. I spend sleepless nights watching Thai BL. I anticipate Fridays for #2getherTheSeries & Saturdays for #MyEngineer. I use hashtags. I aspire, wish & kilig vicariously via Thai BL, but I always remind myself to be critical of what I consume.
Thai BL popular culture is an invented world where capitalists utilize social realities for profit. It may champion social causes & challenge backward norms about sexualities. It may even radicalize viewers. But it is our human agency & collectivity that will create a just world.
