With growing knowledge and increasing open mindedness about the LGBTQIA+ Community worldwide, several countries in the world have started portraying couples from LGBTQ Communities in their Movies or Series. One of the most popular and currently growing industry is the Thai BL Industry that is flourishing and gaining a lot of popularity worldwide. Channels like My Mindy and GMMTv are making Thai dramas available to people worldwide with their YouTube channel and they are also providing people subtitles for better understanding. Even though this industry has opened several new gateways for people, there are negatives of this industry that cannot be ignored at all.
1. BL Fanservice
BL actors several times pretend or are told to pretend to be close to each other to gather more attention of the fans. The actors are fully aware of what they are doing and they sign a contract with their company too before fanservice begins. Their main purpose is to promote the show and Fanservice can be completely different from reality too.
2. Excessive shipping
Some BL series get really popular because of their story and the chemistry that the lead actors have these actors might develop a good friendship while filming but the fans take this to another level. Several fans start shipping these actors together in real life and spread hate if these actors do not confirm their relationship according to the fans. For example, Ja and First the Don’t Say No the Series duo are good friends but they get shipped excessively by their fans.
3. Good Looking, Handsome actors taken for roles
Most BL’s till very soon had a similar storyline they used to follow. Even though it was very interesting in the beginning, this story eventually became cliché and people also started noticing the loopholes which made the storyline toxic. A lot of talented actors are either given side roles or not selected at all because the BL industry is targeting audience who watch shows for looks instead of story.
4. BL actors get hate for doing straight roles
No actor is committed to do only Gay or Straight roles. They have freedom to choose their roles according to their will, but it is not acceptable to some people. After popularity of a BL series, if an actor is seen doing a straight role in another series, it is very common that they receive hate from their own fans. For example, when Bright and Win did straight roles in F4 after doing the BL series 2gether and Still 2gether, they got a lot of hate from their fans even though F4 was a really good series with a nice plotline.
5. Actors getting stereotyped as Gay
Several BL actors are gays but that doesn’t mean that all of them are. Straight actors who do BL roles are often treated in a bad manner by the fans. Not only the actors but also their real-life partners have to suffer a lot because of the fans rage on the actor’s personal choices. After KinnPorsche the series gained popularity, both the main leads Mile and Apo seemed to be close but they clarified that they were good friends with each other. Later when Mile posted a picture with his girlfriend, both of them had to suffer the social media wrath of fans.
6. Spreading toxicity
BL drama series mostly have very handsome actors to gain attention of the female audience. Even though they have been successful in doing that, the storyline of several BLs is extremely toxic. For Example, the storyline of Tharntype season1 is toxic in the beginning but people ignored it when the show was released because of MewGulf’s chemistry and looks.
7. Different treatment after some actors come out
Several BL actors, after gaining a sense of comfort around their fans, came out as gay and couples from popular series like Theory of Love starring Off and Gun came out and announced they were dating. Actors like P’Arm, said in official statements that after coming out they were treated very differently by the members of the industry and they felt left out in some cases as well.
8. Sexual scene preferences of fans
Fans tend to watch BL’s because also because of the spicy scenes that are shot and put into them. The presence of sexual scenes is mostly a guarantee of the BL’s being successful. For this, several times the writers move way too ahead of the storyline and also make some characters loose some of their features. When Why RU the series aired, Tutor, one of the main leads, was a shy innocent character but eventually they bought another side of Tutor to insert some hots scenes in the series. Even though they look really good in some places, there are instances where these scenes seem forced upon.
9. Actors past and forced apologies
The fans have so many times dug up things that popular actors might have said in the past either as a joke or without understanding and criticised the actors for something that they weren’t truly responsible for. Recently the KinnPorsche actor Build had to post an public apology because of some comments he had made several years back. This not only demotivates the actor but also tarnishes their image.
10. One of the two people in the couple being called “wife”
One common feature of BL series is one person from the Gay couple being called wife and it is shown in many series like Bad Buddy and others. This is a very popular thing that is assumed to be normal but it is not. Both the people in the couple are men and it is very offensive for some gays if the world perceives one of them as the wife and other as the husband because both of them are husbands in the relationship and they like to keep it that way.
