enemies-to-friends-to-lovers

Latest Posts by enemies-to-friends-to-lovers

That whole bit, the way the show handled that scene and the way est absolutely nailed it was amazing to me. Like the delivery was so in character, the way Po was just not able to get words out because he was trying so hard to hold it in. And the way he only completely broke down in his room by himself, away from thame cause he knew he didn't have the resolve to walk away if thame continued to console and beg. Oof yep this scene is gonna be talked about in bl history for sure.

Est's delivery on "Thame, aren't you tired?" might just be one of the best bits of acting I've seen in a while

has anyone clocked the change from last to first name in the our youth special episode? because that actually meant a lot, like that final layer of distance between them was closed.. even friends drop the last name sometimes and just address via first name....but they couldn't bring themselves to cross that line...... plz direct me to the gifset if it exists....I just love these additional layers that come with a whole other language and culture...

Might just rewatch every earthmix show ever cause of ossan's love, but atoats will always be the og I go back to

Spare Me Your Mercy, Love in the Big City, and the Trap of Pursuing Mainstream Popularity for Queer Art

I read this excellent post by @waitmyturtles yesterday tackling the frustrating failures of Spare Me Your Mercy, a show that was one of my most anticipated of the year, but that ended up so lost in its own confusing blend of sauces that I didn't even finish it. I appreciated her clarity that despite the show receiving strong ratings and finding popularity with the mainstream domestic audience, that doesn't actually make it a success as a piece of narrative storytelling. And if anything, its popularity underlines why it was a failure as a queer narrative, in particular.

Because here's the thing about great queer art—it's almost never popular with mainstream audiences, especially in socially conservative countries. High quality, well-executed, honest and authentic queer art is more likely to be protested than celebrated in places where real queer people are not safe to live free lives. For an illustration of this, look no further than another highly anticipated queer drama of this year in Love in the Big City. Easily the queerest show to ever get made and aired on Korean television, it drew major protests before it even started, forcing the production to release it quickly in one go to ensure it would reach audiences. And why were those conservative groups so afraid of this little old drama? Because even just in its trailer and promotional materials, it was clear this was no sanitized, G-rated drama created to make gay people seem more palatable to the masses (unlike the film version with the same name, which not coincidentally has been much more warmly received by the Korean media establishment). This show was real, and raw, and QUEER in a way that terrified those bigots, because they know one of the most important ways the oppressed can advocate for themselves is by demonstrating their humanity through art. 

Which brings me back to turtles’ post, and the importance of separating the concerns of art and commerce when discussing the different ways media can succeed. This is something I had some good dialogue about with @biochemjess @pharawee @clairedaring @flowerbeasblog and turtles (and even more of you in the tags) when I was still watching and posting about Spare Me Your Mercy. I originally posted to unpack why the show was flopping narratively, which turned into a discussion of the fact that it was getting good ratings from the domestic audience despite this. And while I appreciated understanding how the show is landing with its priority audience, for me, it’s very important to keep a distinction between these two different kinds of success. Especially in discussions of queer art, and especially for a show whose creators explicitly said they were intentionally downplaying the queer romance part of the queer romance ( @benkaben) to avoid “distracting” from their other messaging goals. 

The important thing to keep in mind is that for queer stories, when they are popular with a mainstream audience it’s often because they are stripping any authenticity from the representation of queer people. Turtles addressed this well in her review of 2gether when she posited that part of the reason it was such a phenomenon in conservative Asian countries (aside from the timing of its release in the early days of the global pandemic), was because its presentation of queerness was mostly unrecognizable to real queer people, stripped of any true notion of queer sexuality or the realities of homophobia. Compare the reception of The Miracle of Teddy Bear—a show that absolutely refused to make its central queer character palatable for a mainstream audience, because the fact that he wasn’t palatable was the point—to that of Spare Me Your Mercy, a show whose creators chose to censor their own story. The ugly truth is that when we’re talking about queer dramas, the best and most vital shows are pretty much anathema to mainstream ratings success.

The impulse to pursue mainstream popularity and commercial success for queer art inevitably leads to watering down queer stories ( @twig-tea) to make them more light, comfortable and familiar to a majority heterosexual and socially conservative audience. And yes, of course, some degree of commercial success is necessary for queer art to get made in the first place. This is how the Thai BL market took off, by recognizing that there was an audience beyond queer people who were open to watching stories about boys falling in love, as long as it didn’t get too real. But there is a careful line to walk here, and it’s so important not to confuse popularity with artistic merit. Queer people won’t win liberation by self-censoring queer media to make it more palatable for mainstream audiences. We win when we make queer art so good and so honest that the mainstream is forced to acknowledge it. We win by challenging the mainstream perspective on queer people and how they should behave, not by catering to it. As @bengiyo said in a completely different discourse, the question is not whether the audience can love queer characters whose actual queerness is suppressed for their comfort. That kind of respectability politics is old hat and it never fucking gets us anywhere. The real question he posed is this: “Do you love us when we’re ugly, when we’re sick, when we’re old, when we’re being mean or catty?”

Which is why a show like Love in the Big City ultimately won by being so excellent, and so true, and so undeniable, that it broke through with audiences around the world and achieved some measure of recognition in spite of how very unpalatable it was to its domestic audience. Unlike Spare Me Your Mercy, this show did not get amazing domestic ratings, but its message was heard far beyond those who watched it on Korean television. And that is the point. Making authentic art that advances the struggle of queer people and making nominally queer art that can achieve mainstream popularity are completely different pursuits, and we must keep that in mind when we discuss whether and how these shows succeeded or failed. And while both must exist in a healthy media ecosystem, one will always be more vital for the survival of queer people than the other. 

The parallels!

The contrast is killing me, like how are they the same people!

Just saw this tweet, which is an old interview Yin did, and

This explains why Jack is Yin's baby, that's his character, their stories are so similar 😭

Bringing more Mark and Joke comparisons because there are SO MANY.

This post will be about posture, and the way War works his characters to be perceived differently purely by the way he stands on his two feet.

Oh, the perfection with which he prepared both of these characters is out of this world.

Let me illustrate:

Joke, when he stands, stands taller; leaves no room of doubt he’s the chillest, coolest, most confident person, and cares very little how people are perceiving him at the moment,

as long as he feels awesome. [his insecurities are not rooted in the way he looks or the way strangers perceive him]

His head is kept high when he speaks. If you watch the show again, you’ll realize he’s always looking ahead and up unless he wants to go unnoticed,

and meets people’s eyes unwaveringly as he works his way through his elaborated ruses to get what he wants.

[We’ll talk more about how that changes with the object of his affection, Jack, on later posts]

Mark, my beloved, on the other hand, stands to look smaller than he is; not on purpose, of course, as it’s a deeply rooted thing within the character itself.

He does not look people in the eye for prologued periods of time, more of often than not looking away when he speaks to anybody.

Yes, that gradually develops as the show progresses, but shyness is an essential part of this character.

His posture is not completely relaxed; it’s slightly tense which casts light into the character’s personality:

Mark wants to be standoffish and cool, but his innocence and sweet, gentle demeanor are truly his worsts enemies.

He tries, though, throughout the entire show, to make it happen, but breaks off of it the moment someone (Vee or Mark’s dad) does or says something that awakens strong emotions.

When that happens he fails, because Mark cannot, for the life of him, hide his true feelings.

A stark contrast to Joke, an absolute master in hiding who he really is.

All in all, Joke’s posture comes from a confidence rooted in a combination of maturity and not giving two single flying shits

And Mark’s posture comes from a confidence rooted in a combination of innocence, self-esteem and guts.

War has done a hard deep dive in both characters; created entirely opposite personas and made both Mark and Joke have so much depth and detail to them a million more things could be said about them.

There are hundreds of little details that War has added to each of his characters. He truly has thought about every single mouth twitch down to a T.

Every head movement, his micro expressions, and even the way he speaks, even though it’s the same language, the same words.

Everything about these two characters is completely opposite. And yes, the fact that they are both making opposite fashion statements adds a lot of weight to their differences, obviously, but that’s not enough at all to create what War has created.

Just imagine eighteen year old Mark in Joke’s crop tops and feeling incredibly self-conscious, and twenty (five? six?) Joke in Mark’s fancy, neatly tucked-in dress shirts and wanting nothing more than to take them off. (Joke has worn that type of clothing before only while pretending to be someone he isn’t, so it does not count. When he’s himself, he opts to wear all baggy items)

I could go on forever, guys, but this post is already too long, so I’ll just say one more thing:

I’d die for this man.

More on these things later, I guess!

Thanks for reading, remember to be nice!

RESTART AFTER COME BACK HOME (2020) ✕ LOVE TRACTOR (2023)

Do you have feelings for me?

WATCHED IN 2023: 

ALL THE LIQUORS, dir. Kim Jin Yeol

Kim Jun Hyung as HAN JI YU & Won Do Hyun as PARK KI HOON

ALL THE LIQUORS (2023) dir. Kim Jin Yeol

“I couldn’t find him an adopter so I adopted him. You don’t have to worry now.”

MY LOVE MIX-UP! THAILAND (2024) episode 03.

gemini & fourth (in every universe) ↳ li ming vs. gun vs. atom + perspectives on love

"Do dreams carry any meaning without someone you love to share them with?"

BOKURA NO SHOKUTAKU [EP 6 vs CH 3] Manga by Mita Ori  

Softness attacked us today. Along with a bunch of my favourite panels.

I’m so happy that I’m scared.

our dining table episode 7

“He must have wanted to express it, as his character can’t play anything.”  — dir. Au Kornprom

“I was a member of the music club at my school. I was a school singer before. So I’m quite familiar with musical instruments. However, I mainly sang. I’d observed how people played different instruments and I followed them.”

GEMINI NORAWIT as Tinn, MY SCHOOL PRESIDENT bts: Open House, Open Heart

Coming to tumblr to see everyone absolutely losing their shit since the our skyy 2 trailer release is hilarious.

It's too funny, you guys are all too funny, it's also going to be scary how many theories are right. *laughs nervously*

heart's unused for 3 years voice was so convincing that i forgot for a good hour that i listen to tinn be gay hit on his boyfriend and lie to his mom every week

simp CONFIRMED

MY SCHOOL PRESIDENT | EP. 3 [2022-2023]

the very first time.

THE ECLIPSE [2022] | EP. 11

ok yes it’s a little on the nose for akk and aye to be reading 1984 and that’s 100% what we’re supposed to be focusing on in this shot but as someone who used to inhale books as a preteen it’s my moral obligation to point out the inkheart trilogy in the background too

We could just tell them we glued out hands together. What kind of excuse is that?

Aren’t you going to ask why I asked you to stay over? Because you’re sad about Joob. Partly, yes. I’m starting to be scared of death. Life is so damn uncertain. I’m afraid that one day I’d wake up and people around me disappear on me. You’re overthinking it. What I fear the most is that it happens to someone I care about. Especially, you. I promise I won’t go anywhere. Nothing will happen to me. Someone like me doesn’t die so easily. Thank you so much. 

VICE VERSA (2022)

vice versa ep 6 talay coming to terms with his feelings for puen

&& bonus:

In this world, there are countless things that we need to cherish. And all the things I cherish, will one day be gone. But, as long as that day hasn’t come yet, I will hold on. I won’t give up. Let’s all keep on cherishing those that we treasure in life.

Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (2022)

NICK & CHARLIE + HEARTSTOPPER SEASON 1

CHARLIE SPRING and NICK NELSON in HEARTSTOPPER (2022) | 1.08: “Boyfriend”

HEARTSTOPPER | 1x04 – Secret