5
2
Honglou Meng
Erehwon
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Like in the Movies: An Honest Trailer
[This is a review of "Gaya sa Pelikula" written in the form of a film trailer. Imagine an appropriately epic narratorial voice, hovering above images from the show.]
Are you a jaded BL fan? Are you sick and tired of the same high-school Korean BLs that come out once a season? Of the same engineering Thai BLs that come out once a month? Of the same food-themed JBLs that come out once a week? Do you feel somewhat guilty about the fact that BL is still almost entirely written by and cater to straight women? Do you often find yourself bemoaning — if only because you feel you must — the dearth of BLs written by gay men for gay men?
Are you looking for something fresh and innovative, something to revolutionise the whole BL universe? Something that avoids all the tired tropes of a bog-standard BL? Such as… a rich, confident bad boy; a poor, diffident, good boy; unreasonably hot men; strict Asian parents; absent Asian parents; fujoshis; “I’m an ally” divas; enemies to lovers; roommates to lovers; fake boyfriends; and ham-fisted metaphors about self-acceptance and being in and out of the closet?
Well, say hello to “Gaya sa Pelikula”. Just like in the movies.
Written by a gay man for gay men, here’s a show that constantly screams: “This is what representation looks like!!! Nkay?”
Prepare to be bowled over by a show that completely reinvents the genre, in a story that includes such revolutionary ideas as… ummm... a rich, confident bad boy; a poor, diffident, good boy; unreasonably hot men; strict Asian parents; absent Asian parents; fujoshis; “I’m an ally” divas; enemies to lovers; roommates to lovers; fake boyfriends; and ham-fisted metaphors about self-acceptance and being in and out of the closet.
Never mind all the allegations against the writer. Ignore anything that shatters our desperate hope that BL will finally do right by the LGBT community. Why care about all that when we have lines such as these?
“I refuse to be a plot device that trigger's somebody's identity crisis.”
“Have you ever felt like you’re not the protagonist in your own story?”
“I’m not always hurting because I’m gay, but because I always choose to love.”
“Jesus is too forgiving to be a Capricorn.”
They just sound clever, don't they? And they make you feel clever. The lines may be about as deep as spray tan on skin. Not to mention the fact that the show goes on to do exactly what these lines, and the show itself, purports to subvert. (Except the Jesus line. That's on him.) But the writer took a course on film and queer theory in the US, and he’ll never let you forget it. And if you recognise all the movie references throughout the show, from Cinema Paradiso (which to the student of film studies is what The Dark Knight is for straight men) to name-checking every film by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, go on, give yourself a pat in the back. You little clever-clogs, you.
Out with your laptops, keyboard warriors. Tap away at your phones, fanatics. Here is a show that will have you screaming “die” at anonymous strangers on Reddit and MDL. Because if they don't like the show, they are monsters. Engage, once again, with that eternal question: is it BL or is it LGBT? Is it BL because two unusually hot men get together, or is it queer because they don’t stay together? Is it BL because being fake boyfriends in a homophobic country is about as real as "in the movies", or is it queer because the homophobia in the show, it turns out, is all internal? One thing is for certain. For a show written by a gay man, none of the gay characters in it end up truly happy — least of all the fat gay uncle whose only purpose is to be wise, and ruin (I mean, support) his nephew. Because remember, it may be a homophobic convention: but the only true or realistic queer story is an unhappy one. And that’s what makes it a masterpiece.
Prepare to be charmed by these young and beautiful star-crossed lovers, and fall for a rich cast of characters, not one of whom is given any depth or complexity, but all of whom spout dialogues that sound as if they were written by a drunk boomer who spent a little too long on TikTok. Because every person in this show is a symbol, there to serve a particular idea, and a caricature of an idea at that. And that’s what makes it a masterpiece.
So, if you want to watch a BL without feeling guilty about its deep-seated homophobia, Gaya sa Pelikula is the perfect show for you: with a familiar, comforting storyline made modern and profound through self-satisfied one-liners and specious aphorisms. Because it turns out that, even if you have nothing but the bare bones of an unoriginal story, you can get around it by hammering in a reflexive self-serving meta-fictional framework on top of it. (See, we went to college too!) And that’s what makes it a masterpiece.
And if you cannot recognise this masterpiece for what it is, you are dumb as dodo, and have no appreciation for a truly great work of art. Go watch porn, you weirdo.
***
This review was requested by dramaguzzler, a lover of this show, to whom it is dedicated. Be careful what you wish for.
***
Reader’s Digest:
DO SAY: Call Me By Your Name
DON’T SAY: Bad Education
Are you a jaded BL fan? Are you sick and tired of the same high-school Korean BLs that come out once a season? Of the same engineering Thai BLs that come out once a month? Of the same food-themed JBLs that come out once a week? Do you feel somewhat guilty about the fact that BL is still almost entirely written by and cater to straight women? Do you often find yourself bemoaning — if only because you feel you must — the dearth of BLs written by gay men for gay men?
Are you looking for something fresh and innovative, something to revolutionise the whole BL universe? Something that avoids all the tired tropes of a bog-standard BL? Such as… a rich, confident bad boy; a poor, diffident, good boy; unreasonably hot men; strict Asian parents; absent Asian parents; fujoshis; “I’m an ally” divas; enemies to lovers; roommates to lovers; fake boyfriends; and ham-fisted metaphors about self-acceptance and being in and out of the closet?
Well, say hello to “Gaya sa Pelikula”. Just like in the movies.
Written by a gay man for gay men, here’s a show that constantly screams: “This is what representation looks like!!! Nkay?”
Prepare to be bowled over by a show that completely reinvents the genre, in a story that includes such revolutionary ideas as… ummm... a rich, confident bad boy; a poor, diffident, good boy; unreasonably hot men; strict Asian parents; absent Asian parents; fujoshis; “I’m an ally” divas; enemies to lovers; roommates to lovers; fake boyfriends; and ham-fisted metaphors about self-acceptance and being in and out of the closet.
Never mind all the allegations against the writer. Ignore anything that shatters our desperate hope that BL will finally do right by the LGBT community. Why care about all that when we have lines such as these?
“I refuse to be a plot device that trigger's somebody's identity crisis.”
“Have you ever felt like you’re not the protagonist in your own story?”
“I’m not always hurting because I’m gay, but because I always choose to love.”
“Jesus is too forgiving to be a Capricorn.”
They just sound clever, don't they? And they make you feel clever. The lines may be about as deep as spray tan on skin. Not to mention the fact that the show goes on to do exactly what these lines, and the show itself, purports to subvert. (Except the Jesus line. That's on him.) But the writer took a course on film and queer theory in the US, and he’ll never let you forget it. And if you recognise all the movie references throughout the show, from Cinema Paradiso (which to the student of film studies is what The Dark Knight is for straight men) to name-checking every film by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, go on, give yourself a pat in the back. You little clever-clogs, you.
Out with your laptops, keyboard warriors. Tap away at your phones, fanatics. Here is a show that will have you screaming “die” at anonymous strangers on Reddit and MDL. Because if they don't like the show, they are monsters. Engage, once again, with that eternal question: is it BL or is it LGBT? Is it BL because two unusually hot men get together, or is it queer because they don’t stay together? Is it BL because being fake boyfriends in a homophobic country is about as real as "in the movies", or is it queer because the homophobia in the show, it turns out, is all internal? One thing is for certain. For a show written by a gay man, none of the gay characters in it end up truly happy — least of all the fat gay uncle whose only purpose is to be wise, and ruin (I mean, support) his nephew. Because remember, it may be a homophobic convention: but the only true or realistic queer story is an unhappy one. And that’s what makes it a masterpiece.
Prepare to be charmed by these young and beautiful star-crossed lovers, and fall for a rich cast of characters, not one of whom is given any depth or complexity, but all of whom spout dialogues that sound as if they were written by a drunk boomer who spent a little too long on TikTok. Because every person in this show is a symbol, there to serve a particular idea, and a caricature of an idea at that. And that’s what makes it a masterpiece.
So, if you want to watch a BL without feeling guilty about its deep-seated homophobia, Gaya sa Pelikula is the perfect show for you: with a familiar, comforting storyline made modern and profound through self-satisfied one-liners and specious aphorisms. Because it turns out that, even if you have nothing but the bare bones of an unoriginal story, you can get around it by hammering in a reflexive self-serving meta-fictional framework on top of it. (See, we went to college too!) And that’s what makes it a masterpiece.
And if you cannot recognise this masterpiece for what it is, you are dumb as dodo, and have no appreciation for a truly great work of art. Go watch porn, you weirdo.
***
This review was requested by dramaguzzler, a lover of this show, to whom it is dedicated. Be careful what you wish for.
***
Reader’s Digest:
DO SAY: Call Me By Your Name
DON’T SAY: Bad Education
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