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mellowtigger) wrote2023-08-25 03:44 pm
Viki tv subscription
Somebody here on Dreamwidth mentioned Viki.com nearly a year ago. I looked it up and eventually subscribed in February, I think. I spent these last 2 days doing absolutely nothing except for watching shows on Viki. It's has been a wonderfully lazy recharging of mental fortitude after the last week of work.
Viki is interesting. There is no English dubbing for any of their shows, but they do all come with English subtitles. It's been interesting to learn which English words or phrases are in common use in Asian countries. These shows come from many countries (Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and probably others), representing many languages.
I originally came here to watch the good Three-Body sci-fi show about the impending arrival of an alien species at Earth. Sadly, Viki's sci-fi library just isn't very long yet. Another decent show, though, is Seo Bok, about a genetically engineered human.
What has kept me subscribed, instead of the science fiction, is the "BL" dramas. When I first looked at the list of categories in their library, I had no idea what "BL" was, but it turns out to be "Boy Love" stories. That's right, a whole catalog of television stories about gay men... sort of. Mostly, the shows are okay but not great. It's sort of like a cross between the Lifetime channel (which is famous for low-budget copy-and-paste tales) and spanish telenovelas (famous for ridiculous plots and overacting). Mostly, they're not wonderful tales, and mostly for the same reasons:
- Sometimes based on comic books, the plots can be unrealistic. Many characters make the worst possible decision or misinterpretation, because that creates a fun plot, right? It's fine in moderate doses.
- Intended for heterosexual female viewers, the writing is often very weird about the relationship dynamics. Some shows come across clearly like they were written by straight men for viewing by straight women about relationships of gay men while trying to justify straight male dominance in a world where it has clearly lost any sense of justification at all.
- Based in eastern relationship dynamics, it's often explicit that one man in a pair is the high-status and overly-successful man while the other is lower-status and gets socially dominated by the other. It's a dynamic that I'm not keen on, personally.
- Taking a cue from western video arts, it's too often the case that violence is required, and the more violence there is, the more likely the show also will be more open about sex. Almost every show is very chaste with the kissing, even. Fine. At least the stories are there in abundance, which is a new experience to this western viewer.
Social dramas aren't something I would normally watch, but Viki's BL library is just so extensive. Here's a heartfelt "thank you" to the heterosexual women of asian countries who provided a reliable demand for this stuff.
More later about specific recommendations for shows. I've watched a lot of them and certainly have favorites.
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https://www.tumblr.com/absolutebl
https://absolutebl.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/recommended%20bl
He's an academic with some interesting takes on BL--the gender politics, language, media aspects, how it mirrors Western Romance, etc.
This is interesting as well: https://www.tumblr.com/absolutebl/727019018625679360/as-someone-who-wrote-a-thesis-on-this-very-subject
Random things to note--
Most Westerners I know came to Asian BL through Untamed--a breakout hit on Netflix (also now on Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/36657c-the-untamed)--it's Chinese, which means it's censored so the BL is all subtext.
Viki's collection is largely Korean shows with a growing catalog of Chinese, Thai, and Japanese.
Thailand actually makes the most BL; quality is highly variable. Korea makes the highest production quality shows and is better acted, but is often more reticent about the gayness. You can find most Thai BL on Youtube with a few exceptions (also Pinoy, but they might be hard if you started with high production value KR and JP shows on Viki).
You will also see more trans people and [butch] lesbians on Thai shows. They have a lot of gender essentialism, but also more variety of acknowledged genders.
You can find links to most BL shows on this comprehensive site: https://world-of-bl.com/
In no real order, my favorite shows on Viki:
https://www.viki.com/tv/38375c-semantic-error (KR, probably the best whole package in terms of quality story, acting, actor chemistry)
https://www.viki.com/tv/38172c-until-we-meet-again (TH, good but it's a reincarnation/red thread story, so there is an unhappy ending before the happy ending)
https://www.viki.com/tv/38885c-love-in-the-air (TH, pure fun tawdriness)
https://www.viki.com/tv/37301c-love-by-chance (TH, one of the OGs, slow at times and full of acting newbies, but the main story has a really good self-discovery/coming out arc; also one of the few shows with an overtly horny bottom)
https://www.viki.com/tv/36410c-history-3-trapped (TW, Cheesy, but also one of the first longer series with a non-school-based plot; also Taiwanese which is interesting for having the most diversity of actor looks, smuttier sex, and less gender essentialism for gay men.)
https://www.viki.com/tv/38173c-why-r-u (TH, filming was disrupted by the pandemic, so the latter half is wonky, but still fun. The leads have amazing chemistry.)
https://www.viki.com/tv/38580c-old-fashion-cupcake (JP, nicely done, good acting and chemistry)
https://www.viki.com/movies/36073c-antique (KR, yaoi adaptation; predates the BL craze)
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I can also highly recommend Stay With Me. It'll eventually get its own post on my blog, because it's so interesting. The acting and story are excellent. The sex is non-existent, more or less. It was halfway through the whole series when a tube of unexplained lube showed up, and I went, "Wait! What?! Since when was this more than unrequited love interest?" And it's because it's Chinese, I'm sure. I found it very notable that 3 other countries were depicted: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Tibet. Immediately after mentioning Taiwan (and I do mean immediately), they cut to a classroom scene where the teacher mentions that China was the first country to unify its territories, or something like that. Whew, the propaganda, it stings.