 |
| Tua-Prakan's Garden |
It is fascinating to indulge in a new genre and discover...
My tastes remain the same!
Lately, I've been watching live-action BL, which ranges from soap opera to short, cute & sweet to clever & humorous to angsty & profound to everything in-between. It is, across the board, surprisingly PG.
And I've discovered that in the Cinderella versus Beauty & the Beast battle, I still prefer Beauty & the Beast.
That is, I still prefer the couple's relationship to grow over the four or eight or twelve or sixteen episodes as they work or compete or tackle problems together. They don't (necessarily) have to kiss and hold hands (though forcing those natural physical outcomes not to happen gets a tad tedious after awhile) but I do want to see a growth in mutual understanding and affection.
A Cinderella series where the couple either pulls a Ross & Rachel (the members of the couple constantly break up, get together, break up, get together, break up...) or a Sleepless in Seattle (the members never really get together until the end) bores me. It isn't that the tropes can't be done well--it's just that they are so often not done well.
So, regarding Thai dramas specifically:
My School President is one of the most brilliantly gentle satires on record (more Galaxy Quest than Robin Hood: Men in Tights) being unapologetically full of high school tropes (think Hana-Kimi, though less manic)--and it has one of the best couples in BL though they don't kiss until the very end!
The reason the couple works is the growing friendship as well as the easy affection (see "On-Screen Chemistry Defined"). The scriptwriters and actors do a decent job with Gun's knowing-not-knowing reaction to Tinn's help. It is in keeping with the young man's psychology. In the meantime, he certainly isn't going to give up being around Tinn.
Likewise, Tua and Prakan in Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Soul, despite considerably more angst than that between Gun and Tinn, keep moving the relationship forward. I'm generally not a big fan of constant flashbacks (hence, my ultimate lack of total engagement with Until We Meet Again) but in this case, I thought the perfectly placed flashbacks grounded the characters. They have a long history and a potentially endless future. We are diving into their life together at a moment in time. That life includes things like medical mysteries and death. It also includes flower gardens, car trips, time at the beach, and lemon pie.
And yes, I confess, I'm a fan of Can and Tin from Love by Chance and Chance to Love, mostly because I find Can's bull-headed approach to life a refreshing change from "we will now spend three episodes on this minor misunderstanding" writing approach--and also because the bull-headed approach puts the protagonists in each other's company: at the car, at the soccer field, at the mall, at the beach, and so on...
Watching the relationship develop is half the fun of romance. Reconciliation has its moments. And triumph against all odds can be satisfying. But if the series ends with a dubious "Are they really going to manage a life together now that the drama is behind them? Eh..." then the story belongs in another genre: dystopia fiction or "the horrors of contemporary life!" modern fiction or whatever.
Romance is a positive genre. Viewers should believe, I watched a potentially fulfilling relationship succeed.
Beauty & the Beast is more likely to achieve such a reaction.
